--- title: "mssgs introduces credits: an in-app currency that can be given away, and a Premium account paid for with it - Press - mssgs" description: "mssgs has added credits, a one-off currency that pays for a Premium account, a bot account or a gift to another member. The company states that credits and Premium fund the application in place of advertising and tracking. Twenty-two achievement badges arrived alongside it." canonical: https://mss.gs/en/press/credits-and-premium language: en --- # mssgs introduces credits: an in-app currency that can be given away, and a Premium account paid for with it Members buy credits in packs, spend them on a Premium account or a bot of their own, and can hand them to anyone else in the app. The company states that credits and Premium are the entire business model, and that they are what allows a European alternative to be built without advertising or tracking. **Brummen, the Netherlands**, 11 September 2026 **mssgs**, the independent Dutch group chat application, has added **credits**: a currency bought in packs, spent inside the application, and given to other members. Credits pay for a **Premium** account, for a bot account, and for gifts that can be handed to a person or dropped into a channel for whoever picks them up first. The company states that credits and Premium are the whole of its business model, and that they are what makes it possible to build a European alternative to the large messaging platforms without introducing advertising or tracking into the application. Credits, gifting, coin drops and twenty-two achievement badges reached the iPhone application on 8 September 2026 with version 3.1.0. Packs can also be bought on the website at [mss.gs/en/credits](https://mss.gs/en/credits). ## Paid for by the people who use it, not by advertisers Every free messaging application is paid for somewhere, and the industry standard answer is advertising, which requires observing who a member talks to, about what and for how long, and selling the result on. mssgs was built without that mechanism and states that it will not be added. Credits are the alternative answer: the members who choose to buy something pay for the application, for everyone. Five packs are on sale, from 5,000 credits at 10 euro to 75,000 credits at 120 euro, VAT included. Each pack is bought once. Nothing renews by itself and credits do not expire. A Premium account costs 8,500 credits for a month, or 90,000 credits for a full year, which is 12 percent less than buying twelve months one at a time. Premium adds larger files, longer and sharper video, longer messages, a badge next to the member name, unlimited pinned chats, custom names and sounds for friends, and one restore of a broken streak a month. A bot account costs 2,500 credits, paid once per bot. A member who never buys anything keeps the application in full. Communities, channels, direct messages, voice calls, the built-in games, file sharing and the map are free, and stay free. mssgs has taken no outside investment, which the company states is what makes a model of this size workable at all. *The five packs on sale, at the prices published on mss.gs/en/credits. Every purchase is one-off.* ## Credits can be given away, which is most of the point Credits can be handed to another member from a profile, from a comment under a story, from a voice room and from a live stream, without leaving what is happening at the time. A gift arrives as a card in the conversation, in the same style as the balance it lands in. A coin drop puts credits, or a month of Premium, into a channel as a card that belongs to nobody yet. The first member to pick it up receives it, and their name goes on the card for the whole channel to see, so picking one up asks for confirmation first. If nobody takes a drop within twenty-four hours, it returns to the member who made it. Settings has a Credits tab holding the balance, the full history of what came in and what went out, and a page setting out what Premium includes before any of it is bought. ## Twenty-two badges for what a member actually did Alongside credits, mssgs has added twenty-two achievement badges. Each carries a name and a description, sits on the member profile and under Settings, and is revealed the moment it is unlocked. Badges are awarded for playing and winning games, for reviewing and handling reports in a community, and for being active across several communities. The badges a member does not hold remain visible in a greyed-out state, with what each one takes and what it gives, so the list reads as something to work towards rather than as a locked cabinet. *A selection of the badges a member can earn. Each coin carries its own artwork and is revealed the moment it is unlocked.* > We are building a proper European alternative to platforms that are paid for by watching their users. Advertising and tracking are settled questions here, we are not going to do them, so the only honest way to fund the work is to ask the people who use it. Premium and credits are that ask, and they pay for the next thing we build. It also means a gift to a friend is a contribution to the thing itself. René van Sweeden, founder of mssgs ## Availability Credits, gifting, coin drops and achievement badges are available in the mssgs application for iPhone from version 3.1.0. Credit packs can be bought in the application and on the website at [mss.gs/en/credits](https://mss.gs/en/credits), where payment is handled by Stripe. What a Premium account includes is set out at [mss.gs/en/premium](https://mss.gs/en/premium), and the full release notes at [mss.gs/en/releases](https://mss.gs/en/releases). mssgs is free to use, carries no advertising and no tracking, and hosts all data in the European Union. Downloads for every platform are available at [mss.gs/en/downloads](https://mss.gs/en/downloads). Feature Credits, gifting and Premium Available iOS from version 3.1.0, 8 September 2026, and on the web at mss.gs/en/credits Packs Five packs, from 5,000 credits at 10 euro to 75,000 credits at 120 euro, VAT included Premium 8,500 credits for a month, or 90,000 credits for a year, a saving of 12 percent Bot account 2,500 credits, paid once per bot Renewal None. Every purchase is one-off and credits do not expire Business model Credits and Premium only. No advertising, no tracking, no sale of member data, no outside investment Badges 22 achievement badges, shown on the member profile mssgs is a group chat app for friends, communities and teams: channels, direct messages, voice and video calls, built-in games, bots and AI integrations over MCP. It is free to use and available on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux and the web. mssgs is built by RUAL (Deverence Group B.V.) in Brummen, a Dutch software company that has been making business software and no-code platforms since 2009. All data is hosted in the EU, there are no ads, and nothing is sold on. mssgs is entirely self-funded. Sami Bouchagratan Press & communications, mssgs (RUAL) [sami@mss.gs](mailto:sami@mss.gs) Deverence Group B.V. (RUAL), Brummen, the Netherlands [Press kit](https://mss.gs/en/press#press-kit) [Back to the press room](https://mss.gs/en/press) ## Sami Bouchagratan Press & communications, mssgs (RUAL) Brummen, the Netherlands For questions, interview requests or additional imagery, we normally reply within one working day.