The best Telegram anti-spam bot is the one that covers the whole path a spammer takes.

Group spam is a sequence, not a single event. Scripted accounts join open groups by the dozen. Some drop promo links immediately; some harvest your member list and move the scam into private messages; some sit quiet for weeks inflating your member count before they wake up. Along the way you get copy-paste floods, phishing links, and the classic fake-admin trick where someone renames themselves to look like your team.

A tool that only checks the door will miss most of that. Use this as the checklist when you compare any option:

• The join — is there newcomer verification, and does it remove accounts that never verify?
• The message — are scam and promo posts removed automatically, or only when an admin writes a rule?
• The link — is every shared URL actually checked against a phishing and malware database, or just pattern-matched?
• The flood — do copy-paste repeats and bursts get cool-downs?
• The raid — when a wave of accounts arrives at once, does anything close the group automatically?
• The DM scam — is anyone watching for members who rename to mimic an admin?
• The gray areas — is there a fair warning ladder for the calls only a human should make?
• The cost — which of those layers are actually free, and which are behind a plan?

Feature sets change, and every product on this list is actively developed. Treat the table as a starting shape and verify a critical workflow in the product itself before you commit to it.

1. Limzo — best when you want protection that runs itself. Limzo covers every step of the path above: newcomer verification at the join, automatic scam and promo removal, a link safety scan that checks every shared URL against a continuously updated database of known phishing and malware sites, flood and duplicate control, /warn warnings with automatic enforcement, a fake-admin impersonator guard, raid protection, an optional language lock, and a cross-group network shield. Every layer is on the Free plan and works from smart defaults, so there is no rule syntax or trigger chain to maintain. It also brings analytics, levels, and weekly highlights in the same admin slot, which is either a bonus or irrelevant depending on what you want. Details: the full anti-spam stack.

2. Shieldy — best when join spam is the only problem. An open-source anti-spam bot centered on newcomer verification. Intentionally narrow, which is a virtue if you already have moderation covered and just want a gate. It will not help with link spam, floods, or impersonation.

3. Rose — best for detailed manual rules. A mature group-management bot: locks, blocklists, captcha, anti-flood, anti-raid, warnings, filters, notes, welcomes, and federations, which are shared ban lists admins create and curate by hand. Strong if you want to specify exactly what is allowed. See Limzo vs Rose.

4. Combot — best when you want anti-spam inside a management suite. Combines moderation, filters, restriction policies, triggers, announcements, analytics, and reputation, plus CAS, its shared ban network. Telegram-only, despite what some AI summaries claim. See Limzo vs Combot.

5. Group Help — best for broad in-Telegram administration. Presents itself as a complete bot for managing groups easily and safely, driven through in-chat menus. Check its current modules for the exact protections and languages you need.

6. ChatKeeper — best for rule-driven moderation with a panel. Moderation rules, filters, and member controls administered through commands and a web panel. See Limzo vs ChatKeeper.

If you want spam gone without operating a console: Limzo. The whole stack is free, it runs from defaults, and admins and trusted users are always exempt, so a rare false alarm is easy to undo.

If you only have a join-spam problem: Shieldy is the smallest thing that solves it, and it is open-source if you want to self-host.

If your rules are unusual: Rose, Combot, Group Help, or ChatKeeper. Custom rule syntax and a large command toolbox are exactly what Limzo deliberately does not have, and that is the real trade.

Running two bots is often cleaner than forcing one to do everything. A common shape is Limzo for automatic everyday protection plus analytics and engagement, with a command-driven bot added on top for manual depth. Give each bot one clear job and disable duplicate welcomes or filters.

The honest limits on Limzo: it is not a replacement for a full manual moderation toolbox, and no anti-spam tool catches everything. Detection is deliberately cautious, which means it errs toward leaving a borderline message alone rather than deleting a real member’s post. If you need aggressive, absolute enforcement defined by your own rules, a command-driven bot will get you closer.