What Is a Super Chat on YouTube?

A paid message that stands out in a live chat and stays at the top for a time that depends on the amount. Here is who can receive one and how the money is split.

Updated October 2026

How does Super Chat work on YouTube?

For the viewer, sending a Super Chat takes a few taps in the live chat of a stream where it is turned on:

• Open the live chat of the stream or Premiere.
• Tap the dollar or Super Chat icon next to the message box, or open the chat's menu for Supers.
• Choose Super Chat, then pick an amount with the slider. The color and how long it can stay at the top change with the amount.
• Write the message, if the amount allows one, and pay with the payment method on your Google account.
• The message appears in the chat, highlighted, and in the ticker at the top if it meets the threshold.

Limits on the viewer's side

YouTube's help center caps spending at up to $500 a day and up to $2,000 a week across Super Chats and Super Stickers, or the equivalent in local currency. Purchases under $5 do not appear in the ticker at the top of the chat, though they still appear highlighted in the chat itself.

Moderation still applies

A Super Chat is still a chat message and has to follow YouTube's Community Guidelines. Moderators can remove one, and YouTube's help center states that Super Chats and Super Stickers that are moderated or removed do not generate a refund.

How much does YouTube take from Super Chats?

YouTube's help center says creators receive 70% of Supers revenue that is confirmed by Google. YouTube keeps the remaining 30%.

The wording matters. The 70% applies to revenue confirmed by Google, which is not necessarily the sticker amount the viewer chose. Purchases can be refunded or reversed, and amounts paid in other currencies are converted, so the figure in YouTube Studio is the reliable one, not a calculation from the amounts you saw on screen.

The money is paid out with the rest of the channel's YouTube earnings, through the channel's linked AdSense account, rather than separately.

Super Chat is one of several revenue streams in the program, alongside ad revenue, memberships, Super Stickers and Super Thanks. How the YouTube Partner Program works, including the thresholds for joining, is covered in how to get monetized on YouTube, and what ads pay by comparison in how much YouTube pays per view.

Who can turn on Super Chat?

YouTube's help center lists three minimum requirements for fan-funding features, and Super Chat has a few conditions of its own:

• The channel must be in the YouTube Partner Program.
• The creator must be at least 18 years old.
• The creator must live in a country or region where Super Chat is available; YouTube lists more than 100.
• The stream must allow it: Super Chat is not available on videos that are age-restricted, unlisted, private or made for kids, on streams with a YouTube Giving fundraiser, or when live chat is turned off.

How to switch it on

Sign in to YouTube Studio, open Earn in the left menu and go to the Supers tab, which only appears when the channel is eligible. Click Get started and follow the steps. The first time, YouTube asks you to accept its Commerce Product Module terms. After that, Super Chat appears automatically on eligible live streams and Premieres with live chat turned on.

When the Supers tab isn't there

The channel isn't eligible yet: it isn't in the Partner Program, or the account owner's age or location doesn't qualify. A channel that was eligible can also lose access if it falls out of the Partner Program or breaks YouTube's monetization policies. If you can't go live at all, that is an earlier gate, with its own requirements.

How long does a Super Chat stay pinned?

It depends on the amount, and YouTube describes the rule rather than publishing a guarantee: depending on the purchase value, a Super Chat may be pinned at the top of the live chat, with a timer showing how long it stays. The more a viewer spends, the longer it stays.

The amount also sets the color. Small amounts appear in cool colors and larger ones in warmer, more prominent colors, so the chat can see at a glance which messages carried the most. Third-party guides publish detailed tables of colors and pin times by price; YouTube's own help pages describe the principle rather than the table, so treat any exact figure as subject to change.

Two practical points follow. A Super Chat under the ticker threshold of $5 is visible in the chat but scrolls away like other messages. And on a stream with a very fast chat, the pin is what gives a message any lasting visibility at all, which is why the higher tiers exist.

What is the difference between Super Chat and Super Stickers?

Both are paid, both appear in live chat, and both share the same spending limits and the same revenue share. The difference is the content:

• Super Chat highlights a text message the viewer writes.
• Super Stickers send an animated image that pops up in the chat, chosen from YouTube's sticker sets, with no text message.
• Super Thanks, a separate feature, works on uploaded videos rather than live chat: the viewer pays and their comment is highlighted under the video.

Which one viewers use

Viewers who want to say something use Super Chat, often a question for the host. Viewers who want to react use Super Stickers. Creators usually read both aloud, which is the main reason viewers send them.

What does Super Chat say about a live stream?

A stream where Super Chats arrive steadily is a stream with a large, engaged room, because paid highlighting only makes sense when the chat is too busy to be heard otherwise. That's why Super Chat revenue rises with concurrent viewers rather than with subscriber count alone.

For creators, the useful conclusion is that Super Chat is downstream of the room. It rewards streams that people stay in: a clear format, a host who reads and answers, a schedule regulars can plan around. A channel with a small live audience earns little from it regardless of how often it reminds viewers that Super Chat is on.

The room is also what new arrivals judge. Someone who lands on a stream reads the viewer count and the pace of the chat before deciding whether to stay. That visible count is what live stream views on YouTube act on, and YouTube subscribers are read on the channel page beside it. Every YouTube service is on the YouTube page.

Questions about YouTube Super Chat