The best Telegram sticker makers in 2026: the built-in editor, bots, apps and web tools compared

Since April 2024 Telegram has its own sticker editor, which changed this list. For a lot of people the best Telegram sticker maker is now the one already in the app. The web tools still win in a few specific situations, and one of them is ours. Seven makers, compared on what each one's own page says on 25 September 2026.

The short answer

On your phone, use Telegram's built-in editor: one tap cuts the subject out, it adds an outline, and the sticker lands straight in a set. On a computer, or if you want a 512×512 file you keep, use a web tool. Gifsy and Pixes do it without uploading the photo, then the @Stickers bot builds the pack.

Side by side

A green tick means the answer is good for you, a red cross means it costs you something. Plain text means it depends, or the tool's page doesn't say. Scroll sideways on a phone.

The seven tools

Telegram's built-in sticker editor

Telegram announced it on 14 April 2024, and it covers most of what a sticker maker is for. Open the sticker panel in any chat, pick a photo, and the editor offers one-tap background removal, a manual erase and restore, an outline for the classic sticker look, plus text, drawings and emoji. Save it and it goes into a sticker set with its own t.me link that friends can add.

Two gaps. Telegram's post doesn't say which apps have it, and the coverage we found is about the phone apps. And it isn't built for getting a clean file out: the point is that the sticker lives in Telegram.

Pick it for: a sticker from your camera roll, in a set, in under a minute.

Gifsy

Ours. Gifsy's Telegram sticker maker runs in the browser tab: an AI model cuts the subject out on your device, then you set the outline (0 to 40 pixels, any colour), a soft shadow and an optional caption. You get a transparent 512×512 PNG and a WebP. The WebP is re-encoded at lower quality until it fits under 512 KB, which works for normal photos; a very detailed sticker could still come out bigger. No account, no watermark, and the photo never leaves your machine.

It works the same on a laptop as on a phone, which is the real reason it exists now that Telegram has an editor. If the outline is what you're after, the sticker maker with a white border is the same tool with the border set up first.

Pick it for: desktop, a file you keep, outline control and privacy.

LightX

LightX is a big photo editor with a Telegram sticker page. It removes the background and can “add an outline in the desired color and shadow to the sticker”, and it runs on the web and in phone apps. The export is the catch for Telegram: the page says you save “in JPG or PNG format” and doesn't mention the 512-pixel rule or WebP. JPG has no transparency, so pick PNG. Whether you need to log in to download isn't stated.

Pick it for: heavier editing on the sticker before you export it.

Sticker Crafter

Sticker Crafter does two things: turn a photo into a sticker, or generate one from a text prompt. Downloads come as PNG or WebP at 512×512 with a transparent background, which is exactly what Telegram wants. It runs on credits: “free daily AI sticker credits”, then you buy more. No outline option is mentioned, and the page doesn't say where your photo is processed.

Pick it for: stickers from a text prompt rather than a photo.

Pixes

Pixes is the closest to Gifsy in approach. It removes the background with AI, and “files never leave your browser”. It outputs a 512×512 PNG and keeps it under 350 KB, stricter than Telegram needs. No outline and no WebP are mentioned.

Pick it for: a private cut-out when you don't want a border.

toolxox

toolxox is a plain, free generator “with no sign-up”. It takes JPG or PNG, makes an automatic cut-out and outputs a 512×512 PNG. It doesn't say whether the image is processed on its server or in your browser, and there's no outline option mentioned.

Pick it for: a quick 512 PNG with no settings to think about.

Sticker Maker for Telegram (iPhone)

A free iPhone app (App Store) that crops, removes the background, adds text and prepares a set before handing it to Telegram. The listing says “Only for iPhone”, and the last update was version 1.3 on 26 November 2023. Telegram's own editor now does most of this without an extra app.

Pick it for: preparing a whole set on an iPhone before importing it.

The @Stickers bot, the last step

Every web tool on this list stops at a file. Turning files into a pack happens in Telegram, with the @Stickers bot, which “lets users create and manage packs of both stickers and emoji”. Telegram's rules are short: one side exactly 512 pixels, the other 512 or less, PNG or WebP. Custom emoji have to be exactly 100×100. The full rules, file size limits included, are in our Telegram sticker size guide, and the step-by-step for the bot, including the emoji-pack trap, is in how to make a Telegram sticker pack from a photo.

Telegram's design advice is worth copying whichever tool you use: “A transparent background, white stroke and black shadow effect will make your sticker stand out.”

Which one for which job

• You're on your phone and want it in a set now: Telegram's built-in editor.
• You're on a laptop: Gifsy, Pixes or toolxox, then the @Stickers bot in Telegram Desktop.
• You want a white border you can tune: Gifsy (0 to 40 px, any colour) or LightX.
• The photo is private: Gifsy or Pixes. Both say the photo stays in your browser.
• You want a sticker from a text prompt: Sticker Crafter.
• You need custom emoji: none of the web tools has a 100×100 preset yet. Resize to 100×100 first.

Where Gifsy falls short

We make one of the tools on this list, so here is where it loses, plainly:

• Static stickers only. No animated TGS or video WEBM stickers.
• No 100×100 emoji preset. Custom emoji need a separate resize.
• One sticker at a time. The pack itself is built in the @Stickers bot.
• No WhatsApp. WhatsApp packs can only be installed from a native app, not a website.
• No hand-editing of the cut-out. Telegram's editor lets you erase and restore; Gifsy doesn't.

If none of those matter, it's a good fit, especially on a computer. If one does, the table above shows which tool covers it.

FAQ

How this was compared

Every fact about another tool comes from its own page, or its App Store listing, read on 25 September 2026: Telegram's sticker editor announcement and its sticker docs, then each maker's Telegram sticker page. We didn't run every tool on the same photo, which is why this page says compared rather than tested. Where a page is silent, the table says “not stated” instead of guessing. Sticker.ly was checked and left out, because its listing doesn't mention Telegram. Gifsy's numbers come from its source code.

Update log

• 25 September 2026: first published. Seven sticker makers plus the @Stickers bot.