International SMM

VKontakte

Tools for the platformBrand AnalyticsChat2DeskEpicstarsGetCourseJivoLiveDuneOnlypultPerfluencefull list ↓
RegionRussia and CIS

Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.

Overview

VKontakte is a Russian social network with personal pages, communities, a feed, video, short vertical clips ("Clips"), stories, music, games and built-in mini apps. The owner is VK LLC: that is the company named as the rights holder in the rules for developers.

Three features matter when you are choosing a platform for a task. First: a community here runs a wall, publishes vertical clips, takes orders in private messages and sells a paid subscription all at once. Second: the platform provides an API itself — the developer portal lists mini apps, games, VK Donut, Market, Stories, chatbots and VK ID as separate directions. Third: advertising is sold through the shared VK Ads account, which by the platform's own claim covers "97% of the monthly audience of the Russian internet" and places ads across several services of the ecosystem at once.

Who's here

Audience figures are published by the VK holding in quarterly press releases. In the press release on the results of the first quarter of 2026 the company reports: the average monthly audience of VKontakte in Russia is 93.4 million users (up 0.5 million year on year), the average daily audience is 62.7 million (up 1.6 million); the average monthly reach is 90% of the Russian internet audience, the daily reach 57%. The release names Mediascope as the source of measurement (Russia 0+, 12+, desktop and mobile) — that is, data from a research company rather than an internal counter.

The platform gives separate figures for stories: the documentation of the Stories section reports 12 million authors, 71 million stories and 4.4 billion views from 46 million users monthly; the date they were counted on is not given. About games, the developer portal's main page says they will "be seen by 80 million users" (dev.vk.ru), and the overview page clarifies that this refers to the audience of two networks at once — VKontakte and Odnoklassniki (dev.vk.ru/ru/games/overview).

All the figures the platform gives relate to Russia.

Getting started

A personal account and a community

In practice the work of a business or a creator is built around a community: it is the community that gets the API access token, connects monetization and gets advertised.

An access token for automation

If you are not publishing by hand, the procedure is this. Authorisation goes through the OAuth 2.1 protocol (dev.vk.ru/ru/api/overview), and there are three types of token (documentation): a service token (on behalf of the application, with no expiry, stored only on the server), a user token (on behalf of a person, valid for 1 hour) and a community token (no expiry, obtainable only by an administrator). The token is passed in the Authorization header in Bearer format, and each method states which type of token suits it.

The one-hour lifetime of a user token is worth keeping in mind when choosing a scheduler: a one-off authorisation will not be enough, and the service has to refresh the token. The same page says that since June 2024 the former flows for obtaining a user token (Authorization Code Flow and Implicit Flow) have been switched off.

A chatbot

A bot needs a community, a server and event-handling logic. The bot capabilities are enabled in community management ("Messages" → "Settings for bot"), and the token is issued in the "Working with the API" section (dev.vk.ru/ru/api/bots/getting-started). Events arrive in two ways: the Callback API (the platform sends notifications to your server) or the Bots Long Poll API (your server polls the platform itself).

What you can publish

The frame for formats is set by the wall posting method wall.post. A post must contain at least one of: text, a photo, a video, a link snippet or an article. A single post can carry up to 10 media items (photos and videos combined), up to 10 audio tracks or one playlist, album or podcast, one file and one poll — and a poll cannot be the only attachment. An answer option in a poll is limited to 100 characters, an image for a link snippet must be at least 500 pixels wide, and one for an article at least 550. Scheduled publishing is set with the publish_date parameter in Unix Timestamp format: scheduling is supported by the platform itself, not only by external services.

Stories via the API, according to the platform's documentation, "can be uploaded by any users and communities". That is worth noting: the Onlypult service claims the opposite — that stories cannot be automated from personal profiles and that a story is limited to 15 seconds and 10 MB. The discrepancy most likely describes a limitation of the service itself: the primary source is the VKontakte documentation, and it gives no limits on story duration or weight.

What is prohibited is set by the rules for developers. An application must not promise what is not available, help inflate "likes" or otherwise break the network's rules, pass itself off as an official VKontakte product, give access to audio, video and images from VK LLC servers for offline use, or mine cryptocurrency covertly. An application's notifications must not contain extraneous information or spam, and active actions through the API are prohibited without the user's consent: "the user must always know what will happen after pressing the button".

How to grow

What the platform writes about the algorithm

The platform describes only the paid mechanics outright.

Advertising

Advertising is bought in the VK Ads account. The help section lists the placements (ads.vk.ru/help/features/placements): VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, VK projects (Mail.ru, Dzen, Pulse, Auto, Lady, Kids), the ad network (Yula, Avito, Auto.ru, Edadeal) and RuStore. The formats are the feed, the side column (desktop only), advertising inside video, in apps, in clips, in stories, sticky banners next to content, a native block under the VK Video player on mobile, and placements in RuStore.

The financial entry threshold is low: the help section says that "the minimum value of both the daily and the total limit is 300 roubles", and separately "for promotion in Dzen — 10,000 roubles" (ads.vk.ru/help/general/start/budget_limits). Individuals, legal entities and agencies can register; advertising is placed under an offer contract, and the details go through a check — according to the help FAQ usually one working day, and until it passes you cannot launch a campaign. Cost is determined by auction, and the platform gives no individual estimates.

The campaign objectives listed in the help contents: attract customers and followers, take orders in messages, promote a post, a video or a clip, sell goods and services, bring visitors to a site, collect leads. For communities there are separate sections on promoting posts and editing a promoted post (ads.vk.ru/help/general/community).

Statistics

Built-in community statistics exist; the section is available to an administrator inside the interface.

Path to monetization

VKontakte does pay creators, and the terms are described in several places.

VK Donut — a paid subscription to a community

This is the only platform in our directory where a paid content subscription is available not only in the interface but also through the API: you can find out whether a user is subscribed, get the state of a subscription and publish paid posts. The platform calls the subscribers "dons".

The financial terms are in the VK Donut FAQ for communities: the service fee is 10%, and there is no additional withdrawal fee. Funds are withdrawn automatically every day after 00:00 Moscow time to Russian bank cards or to an extended VK Wallet. The limits on withdrawal to a card: no more than 1,500,000 roubles a month, no more than 100,000 roubles per transaction, and up to 50 operations per card per month; the wallet balance can hold a maximum of 100,000 roubles. Only the owner of the community can manage the withdrawal method.

How the levels work is set out in a separate FAQ: up to 20 levels in a community, a level price from 50 to 10,000 roubles, and the price of each next level must be higher than the previous one. By the same text, the upper threshold can be raised through support given a justified reason.

Video monetization

The holding announced the VK Video programme in a press release dated 17 September 2024. The terms declared there: at least 5,000 community followers, original clips longer than 2 minutes, with no copyright infringement. The creators' share is "from 50 to 80% of the platform's income from advertising shown in their videos". General access opened on 23 September 2024; payouts, according to the release, go out within 20 days of the end of the month. This is the data as of the date of the release.

External monetization and developers

VKontakte communities are also accepted by the Yandex Advertising Network: the page "Yandex Advertising Network for bloggers" lists them among the platforms that can be connected, with a threshold of "from 1,000 followers"; only Russian residents can connect, and only legal entities, sole traders and self-employed persons, with monthly payouts after a contract is signed. For games the platform names three sources of income: in-game purchases, in-game advertising and promotion through the catalogue (dev.vk.ru/ru/games/overview).

Tools and automation

The official API

The API is described as "a set of methods for working with the objects of the VK ecosystem" (dev.vk.ru/ru/api/overview). The reference includes sections on the access token, access rights and privacy, the request format, error codes, API versions, the JSON schema, objects and API status (dev.vk.ru/ru/reference).

The rate limits are published openly (dev.vk.ru/ru/api/api-requests): a user token — 3 requests per second, a community token — 20, a service token — from 5 to 60 depending on the number of users of the application (5 with an audience of up to 10,000 and 60 with an audience of over a million). Exceeding them returns error 6, "Too many requests per second". Besides rate limits there are quantity limits on calls of the same type: a method may become temporarily unavailable or require a captcha. Requests go to api.vk.ru over HTTPS, and the version parameter v is mandatory.

Through the community API you can handle correspondence: get the list of conversations and their history, send messages, mark them as read, apply labels, upload images and documents (dev.vk.ru/ru/api/community-messages/getting-started). A limitation from the same page: the full list of users who have allowed messages from a community cannot be obtained through the API — the service has to store it itself.

On 2 April 2026 the platform announced a policy update: integrations are obliged to use only the methods in the official documentation and to observe the limits, and unpublished methods will be restricted in stages (dev.vk.ru/ru/api/overview). This directly affects services that worked through undocumented calls.

Third-party services

Support for VKontakte is confirmed on their own pages by Onlypult (platform page: publishing to the wall of a profile, a page or a community, stories for pages and communities, up to 10 media items in a post) and SMMplanner (the home page names VKontakte among the supported networks: "We work with these social networks through their official APIs").

A service's presence in this list means only that it claims support for the platform itself.

Limits and rules

Under the rules for developers (the edition of 02.04.2026) the platform has the right to terminate an application's access to the public API in whole or in part, including by blocking and without notice. Besides the general rules there are separate sets: for bots, for services on the VK Mini Apps platform and for store applications.

The handling of data is tightly restricted: passing user identifiers to third-party services, including advertising ones, is prohibited; the data from the newsfeed.search, wall.get and wall.search methods may not be used for transfer or resale, for analytical reports or for scoring. Placing an application means granting VK LLC a royalty-free non-exclusive licence for 5 years with automatic annual renewal. These rules contain no country-specific sections.

There is a separate advertising layer: ad labelling (ORD) is set out in its own help section (ads.vk.ru/help) — this is a requirement of Russian legislation rather than a choice by the platform.

Who it's for

The platform suits you if your audience is in Russia: all the published figures relate to the Russian audience, the ad account is aimed at Russian advertisers, and VK Donut payouts go to Russian bank cards and to VK Wallet. It suits you if you need more than a feed: a community here is simultaneously a medium, a storefront, a support desk in private messages and a paid subscription platform — and the subscription is managed through the API, which is rare. It suits a developer: the documentation is open, the limits are published, and there are chatbots, mini apps and games.

It does not suit you if you work with an audience outside Russia and need data about it: the platform gives no country or language breakdowns on its open pages. It does not suit you if your integration is built on undocumented methods: the policy of 2 April 2026 promises to restrict them in stages. And it is a poor fit for a non-resident counting on payouts: the withdrawal methods described are tied to Russian banking infrastructure.

Tools for this platform

The list is built from the tools' own facts: every line is a tool's statement that it supports the platform, with the source named. A tool missing from the list only means we have no such statement.

Scheduling and publishing:

Statistics and analytics:

Customer communication:

Automation:

Social listening:

Other tasks:

Verified data

The checked data this deep dive rests on.

Who's here

story statistics according to the platform: 12 million authors, 71 million stories and 4.4 billion views from 46 million users monthly

Metric: monthly, a platform claim

source, checked 2026-07-28

Russia: VKontakte's average monthly audience (MAU) — 94.3 million users, average daily audience (DAU) — 65.2 million users for the 2nd quarter of 2026 (VK press release on the results of Q2 and H1 2026)

investor presentation. Verbatim: «Средняя дневная аудитория ВКонтакте в России выросла на 5 млн год к году до 65.2 млн пользователей»

source, checked 2026-08-17

Russia: VKontakte's average monthly audience — 93.4 million users, average daily audience — 62 million; reach of 90% of the monthly and 56% of the daily Russian internet audience for the 4th quarter of 2025

investor presentation. Verbatim: «90% российской интернет-аудитории»

source, checked 2026-08-17

HOLDING CLAIM: the average monthly audience of VKontakte in Russia in Q1 2026 was 93.4 million users (+0.5 million year on year)

The source of measurement in the release is Mediascope (Russia 0+, 12+, desktop and mobile), that is, data from a research company rather than an internal counter

source, checked 2026-07-28

HOLDING CLAIM: the average daily audience of VKontakte in Russia in Q1 2026 was 62.7 million users (+1.6 million year on year)

Same source

source, checked 2026-07-28

HOLDING CLAIM: average monthly reach is 90% of the Russian internet audience, daily reach 57%

A reach metric, not a market share

source, checked 2026-07-28

PLATFORM CLAIM: games «will be seen by 80 million users»; the overview page clarifies that this refers to the audience of VKontakte and Odnoklassniki combined

The date the figure was calculated on is not given

source, checked 2026-07-28

What you can publish

per post: up to 10 media items (photos and videos combined), up to 10 audio tracks or one playlist/album/podcast, one file, one poll (a poll cannot be the only attachment)

source, checked 2026-07-28

an answer option in a poll — up to 100 characters; an image for a link snippet — from 500 pixels wide, for an article from 550

source, checked 2026-07-28

Images. A photograph on the wall: "Permitted formats: JPG, PNG, GIF", "The sum of the height and the width is no more than 14,000 pixels", "A file of no more than 50 MB", "An aspect ratio of no less than 1:20". A photograph in an album — the same requirements plus "No more than 5 photographs per request". A story image: JPG, PNG, GIF, the sum of the sides no more than 14,000 pixels, "A file of no more than 10 MB". For an article snippet — a ratio from 1:1 to 1:2 and a width of at least 550 pixels, for a link snippet — from 1:1 to 1:2.5 and a width of at least 500 pixels

"the sum of the height and the width" is the sum of the two sides, not each side; the story — https://dev.vk.ru/ru/api/upload/story-in-profile ; the snippets — https://dev.vk.ru/ru/method/wall.post Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

An audio message is a separate format with its own requirements: "Permitted formats: OGG, OPUS", "A sampling rate of 16 kHz", "A bit rate of 16 kbps", "A duration of no more than 60 minutes"

these are the requirements precisely for an audio message in correspondence, not for music

source, checked 2026-08-04

Per wall post: "no more than 10 media items (photo, video)", up to 10 audio recordings or one playlist, album or podcast, one poll, one file. Photographs into an album — "No more than 5 photographs per request", each "no more than 50 MB". A story image — "no more than 10 MB". The frequency of calls: "An application may call this method no more than 5,000 times per twenty-four hours" (video.save)

the daily limit of 5,000 calls applies to an application, not to a user; the file sizes — the upload pages in https://dev.vk.ru/ru/api/upload/overview Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

Text length. The limits are announced separately and not for all kinds of entries. The title of a video — "The maximum number of characters is 128", the description of a video — "The maximum number of characters is 5,000" (the video.save method). An answer option in a poll — "The length of answers in a poll is up to 100 characters" (the wall.post method). The documentation does not name a maximum length for the text of a wall post itself: it says only that there must be either text or an attachment

the length of the text of a wall post is not announced in the developer documentation; the poll limits — https://dev.vk.ru/ru/method/wall.post Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

Video. A video into a profile: "Permitted formats: AVI, MP4, 3GP, MPEG, MOV, MP3, FLV, WMV". A story video has separate requirements: "Permitted formats: H.264, AAC, MP4", "A maximum resolution of 720×1280 px", "30 fps". The documentation names neither a maximum size for a video file nor requirements for the bit rate

the platform's list of video formats also has MP3 in it — the source contradicts itself, because that is an audio format; the requirements for a story — https://dev.vk.ru/ru/api/upload/story-in-profile Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

Live streams exist at the level of the interface: the video.startStreaming method "Obtains an RTMP address for broadcasting video" — that is, the RTMP protocol. The developer documentation names neither a bit rate, nor a resolution, nor codecs

only the protocol is named; there are no numerical requirements for a live stream in the documentation Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

Content

scheduled publishing is set with the publish_date parameter (Unix Timestamp) — scheduling is supported by the platform itself

Flag native_exists: the task is solved with the platform's own tools

source, checked 2026-07-28

Promotion

There is a short but direct help centre article, "What do the algorithms of the VKontakte feed take into account?". Word for word: "The algorithms take into account your activity in comments, likes, viewing time, clicks on links, reposts, views of content inside posts, the authors you subscribe to and unsubscribe from. All these factors influence how the content in the feed is formed: in what order posts are shown and what material is recommended. You can also press the Not interesting button on posts you do not like, so that the algorithms adjust more precisely to your interests"

this is the whole text of the article, without abridgement. The platform names neither weights nor an order of importance of the signals. The robots.txt of vk.com does not mention Claude's agents and does not close off the help centre pages Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

The smart feed can be turned on and off. Word for word: "To set up recommendations, turn on the smart feed... In the Order of posts in the news feed field select Interesting first. In this case, besides posts from your communities and friends, recommendations will be shown in your feed." The reverse move: "In the Order of posts in the news feed field select By time of publication". And: "you can press the Not interesting button on posts you do not like, so that the algorithms adjust more precisely to your interests"

the chronological order of the feed is named directly as a setting; the second quotation is from https://vk.com/faq18273, the third from https://vk.com/faq23939 Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is no separate document about ranking; there is one short help centre article, "What do the algorithms of the VKontakte feed take into account?" (https://vk.com/faq23939), and next to it "How to set up recommendations in the feed?" (https://vk.com/faq21235) and "How to set up the order in which posts are displayed in the feed?" (https://vk.com/faq18273). For short videos there are separate articles, "How to get into the top in VK Clips?" (https://vk.com/faq20112) and "Why are videos not gaining views in VK Clips?" (https://vk.com/faq21238)

the help centre index vk.com/support?act=home opens without signing in; individual articles open at an address of the form vk.com/faqNNNNN. The full list of the section's questions requires signing in to an account Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

The platform does not describe reduced distribution as a separate measure; what is described is a refusal of recommendations for short videos. Word for word: "All videos in VK Clips go through moderation after the author uploads them... Your video will not pass moderation and will not get into recommendations under the following conditions: 1. The video contains: obscene words; violence; the demonstration of the use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs and other prohibited substances; the propaganda of crime; bullying, discrimination and the incitement of hatred on any grounds; jokes about excrement; material prohibited by the legislation of the Russian Federation; porn, shock content and similar material. 2. The clip contains unoriginal content and mentions of other platforms. 3. Sound is used for which there is no license from the rights holder. 4. It contains aggressive advertising." A numerical limit: "Clips of less than 5 seconds do not get into recommendations"

nothing of the kind is said about the feed of posts. The numerical threshold is from https://vk.com/faq20112. On prohibited means of promotion: "To use programs or tools for the "inflation" of members, likes or comments" (https://vk.com/faq24130), but the consequence is not named there Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

It is said only about short videos, and directly. Word for word: "do not upload to VK Clips videos that have previously been published on other platforms. Create unique content"; and among the reasons for not passing the check: "The clip contains unoriginal content and mentions of other platforms". About the reposting of posts in the feed nothing is said on the help centre pages

no rules about the uniqueness of posts (what is called "Nemesis" outside the platform) were found in the VKontakte help centre; everything found about uniqueness concerns VK Clips Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

Hashtags are named as a means of being found, not of increasing distribution. Word for word: "The use of hashtags and of geolocation. This will help potential subscribers find your community more easily." A warning for videos: "Give up clickbait titles and off-topic hashtags. Users will not watch what does not match their expectations". The platform does not name a number of hashtags

the first quotation is from the article "What free tools for promoting a community exist?", the second from https://vk.com/faq20112 Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

The platform does not write about the best time to post; scheduled publication is described only as a technique for organizing work. Word for word: "If you have shot a great video but its time according to the content plan has not yet come, use the scheduled publication function." About frequency it is said in general terms: "The regular publication of interesting content. Publish quality posts and stories in order to hold the attention of subscribers"

there are no hours, no days of the week and no statements about the influence of time on distribution in the help centre. The second quotation is from https://vk.com/faq23982 Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is no direct admission of "we do not disclose the mechanics"; but the disclosure is extremely short as well — the whole article about the algorithms fits into two paragraphs, and the platform names neither weights nor an order of importance of the signals. The turn of phrase in the article is open-ended: "All these factors influence how the content in the feed is formed"

https://vk.com/faq23939, https://vk.com/faq21235, https://vk.com/faq18273, https://vk.com/faq20112, https://vk.com/faq21238, https://vk.com/faq23982 and https://vk.com/faq24130 were checked — there is no separate statement about non-disclosure of the mechanics Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

Advertising

the minimum value of the daily and total budget limit in VK Ads is 300 roubles; for promotion in Dzen it is 10,000 roubles

The account is shared across VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, MAX and Dzen

source, checked 2026-07-28

VK Ads placements: VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, VK projects (Mail.ru, Dzen, Pulse, Auto, Lady, Kids), the ad network (Yula, Avito, Auto.ru, Edadeal), RuStore. Formats: the feed, the side column (desktop only), in-stream in video, in apps, in clips, in stories, sticky banners, a native block under the VK Video player

source, checked 2026-07-28

PLATFORM CLAIM: VK Ads covers «97% of the monthly audience of the Russian internet»

A claim by the advertising platform about itself; the measurement methodology is not given on the page

source, checked 2026-07-28

individuals, legal entities and agencies can register; advertising is placed under an offer contract; the check of details usually takes 1 working day, and until it passes a campaign cannot be launched

source, checked 2026-07-28

ad labelling (ORD) is set out in a separate help section — a requirement of Russian legislation

source, checked 2026-07-28

Analytics

stats.get — "Returns the statistics of a community or an application"; the data is divided into three blocks set by the stats_groups parameter: visitors, reach, activity. The intervals are day, week, month, year, all

the composition of each block is not spelled out on the method page — see the metrics_not_available row Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

stats.getPostReach — "Returns the statistics for a post on the wall": reach_subscribers, reach_total, reach_ads, reach_viral, links, to_group, join_group, report, hide, unsubscribe

VKontakte is one of the few platforms where "viral" reach and the number of people who hid the post are counted separately Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

"The statistics of posts are at present available only for communities with 5,000 members or more."

the threshold is stated as a number directly; for a community with fewer than five thousand members the reach of a post is given to nobody, neither to the creator nor to a tool Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

"The method returns data for the 300 most recent posts published no earlier than 9 December 2015."

a double restriction: both by the number of posts and by date. For the 301st post from the end there are no statistics Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

The composition of the stats.get response is not disclosed in the documentation: "After successful execution it returns an object with statistics data" — with no list of fields

the platform does not publish which metrics exactly go into the visitors, reach and activity blocks Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

The date_from and date_to parameters are "deprecated"; since version 5.86 timestamp_from and timestamp_to are used instead

the old way of setting the period has been declared deprecated Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

"The user on whose behalf the method is called must be an editor or an administrator of the community"; the call requires "a user access key". The statistics are tied to the community, not to a personal page

an application key will not do — it has to be a user key, from an editor or an administrator Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

For posts — "no earlier than 9 December 2015" and no deeper than the 300 most recent posts. For stats.get the maximum depth is not named

the second part was checked against the page https://dev.vk.ru/ru/method/stats.get — there is no restriction on depth there Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-05

How the money works here

paid community subscriptions («VK Donut») are available through the API: you can find out whether a user is subscribed, get the subscription price, its state and the next payment date, and publish paid posts. The platform calls a subscriber a «don»

The only platform in the registry whose paid content subscription is available THROUGH THE API and not only in the interface

source, checked 2026-07-28

the connection order: «VK Donut» is first enabled in the community settings, then an application of any type is created and an access token obtained; the token's rights must match the method being called

source, checked 2026-07-28

the methods for working with the paid subscription carry the prefixes donut, groups and wall — that is, paid content is not a separate entity but a property of ordinary posts and communities

source, checked 2026-07-28

the VK Donut service fee is 10%; there is no additional withdrawal fee

Opened on m.vk.ru: vk.ru redirects to the mobile version

source, checked 2026-07-28

funds are withdrawn automatically every day after 00:00 Moscow time to Russian bank cards or to an extended VK Wallet

source, checked 2026-07-28

on withdrawal to a card: no more than 1,500,000 roubles a month, no more than 100,000 roubles per transaction, up to 50 operations per card per month; the VK Wallet balance holds a maximum of 100,000 roubles

source, checked 2026-07-28

only the community owner can set and change the withdrawal method; administrators can see the information but cannot change it

source, checked 2026-07-28

up to 20 support levels in one community; a level price from 50 to 10,000 roubles; the price of each next level must be higher than the previous one

By the text, the upper threshold can be raised through support given a justified reason

source, checked 2026-07-28

VKontakte communities are accepted into the «Yandex Advertising Network for bloggers» programme: the threshold is «from 1,000 followers», and only Russian residents can connect — legal entities, sole traders and the self-employed, with monthly payouts after a contract is signed

External monetization: the payer is the ad network, not the platform

source, checked 2026-07-28

HOLDING CLAIM as of the release date of 17.09.2024: taking part in VK Video monetization requires at least 5 thousand community followers and original clips longer than 2 minutes; creators get «from 50 to 80% of the platform's income from advertising shown in their videos»; general access from 23.09.2024; payouts within 20 days of the end of the month

This is a launch press release, not the regulations in force: the terms may have changed

source, checked 2026-07-28

Limits and restrictions

Named by a number, by types of key. Word for word: "In the VK API there are restrictions on the number of requests per second. They depend on the type of access key and on the section of methods". A user access key — "3 requests per second"; a community access key — "20 requests per second"; a service key — by the number of users of the app: "Up to 10,000 — 5 requests per second", "Up to 100,000 — 20 requests per second", "Up to 500,000 — 40 requests per second", "Up to 1,000,000 — 50 requests per second", "More than 1,000,000 — 60 requests per second". For the secure section separately: "Up to 100,000 — 8 requests per second", "Up to 1,000,000 — 20 requests per second", "More than 1,000,000 — 35 requests per second"

The only place where VKontakte names numbers. The platform refuses to publish the quantitative limits (how many times per 24 hours a method may be called) on the same page Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

Described through error codes. Word for word: "If such a restriction is exceeded, the server will return an error: 6 “Too many requests per second”". In the list of errors: "6 — Too many requests per second. Set a larger interval between calls or use the execute method"; "29 — The quantitative limit on calling the method has been reached". And further: "If the quantitative limit is exceeded, the method being called may become temporarily unavailable or may require a captcha to be entered. The restriction is applied only to the method for which the limit has been exceeded"

VKontakte's punishment for tempo is targeted: only the method for which the limit has been exceeded is switched off, and the rest continue to work. The captcha check is part of the regular response, and it must not be circumvented Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

VKontakte does not publish a daily limit on publications and says so directly. Word for word: "Besides restrictions on the frequency of calls, there are also quantitative restrictions on the calling of methods of the same type. We do not provide information about the exact limits"

The refusal to name the numbers is a statement by the platform itself, not our conclusion. Checked in the documentation for developers (dev.vk.com, the sections "Using the API" and "List of errors"). The help centre for ordinary users lies on vk.com, from which Claude Code cannot obtain pages Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

Not named by a number. A rule of consent is announced: "In order for you to be able to send a user messages on behalf of a community, the user must permit their receipt. If the user wrote a message to the community first, this is equated to consent to receive messages in reply (with no restriction as to time, unless the user has forbidden messages manually)". The tempo of messages is subject to the general limit by community key — 20 requests per second

VKontakte restricts correspondence not by the number of messages but by the recipient's permission. There is no separate limit on private messages in the documentation; the messages.send page names only the limit on forwarding — "No more than 100 values at the top level" Quoted text is our translation from Russian.

source, checked 2026-08-04

Restrictions

the platform may terminate an application's access to the public API in whole or in part, including by blocking, WITHOUT NOTICE, in the event of a breach of the rules

Rules edition of 02.04.2026

source, checked 2026-07-28

besides the general rules there are separate ones: for bots, for services on the VK Mini Apps platform and for store applications

source, checked 2026-07-28

prohibited: passing User IDs to third-party services (including advertising ones); using data from the newsfeed.search, wall.get and wall.search methods for transfer, resale, analytical reports and scoring; using user data in advertising

source, checked 2026-07-28

an application is prohibited from helping to inflate «likes» or otherwise break the network's rules, from passing itself off as an official VKontakte product, from giving offline access to audio/video/images from VK LLC servers, and from mining cryptocurrency covertly; notifications must not contain spam

source, checked 2026-07-28

Sources diverge: SERVICE claim: stories cannot be published automatically from personal profiles — only from pages and communities; a story is limited to 15 seconds and 10 MB

REFUTED by the platform's documentation: «stories can be uploaded via the API by any users and communities». This probably describes a limitation of the service itself rather than of the platform

source, checked 2026-07-28

Moderation

There is no formal ladder of violations. The rules: the administration may block a page «в любое время по любой причине или без объяснения причин, с предварительным уведомлением или без такового» (verbatim; our translation: at any time for any reason or without giving reasons, with or without prior notice) and «заблокировать персональную страницу Пользователя и/или приостановить, ограничить или прекратить доступ… если… Пользователь представляет угрозу» (verbatim; our translation: block a User's personal page and/or suspend, restrict or terminate access if the User poses a threat). For communities there is a list of measures (a)–(k): deleting content, blocking access for users and for the administrator, exclusion from search and recommendations, a ban on publishing links, disconnection from the Market Platform and the Partner Programme, and restriction of transfers.

The VK ID help centre adds that during a temporary block «досрочных разблокировок на платформе нет» (verbatim; our translation: there are no early unblockings on the platform), and that with a permanent block the phone number is blocked together with the account. vk.com returns a badbrowser page to simple clients; the text was obtained at the same permitted address with a browser User-Agent.

source, checked 2026-08-07

«Если у вас возникают вопросы или если вы не согласны с блокировкой, напишите в Поддержку — мы детально обсудим вашу проблему» (verbatim; our translation: if you have questions or disagree with the block, write to Support — we will discuss your problem in detail); «необходимо создать обращение именно с заблокированного аккаунта» (verbatim; our translation: the request must be created from the blocked account itself) — the «Contact Support» button on the block screen. Unblocking: a confirmation code to the phone; if the phone-number route does not suit, a restoration application form with photographs.

The VK ID help centre (id.vk.ru is allowed in robots). No deadline for submitting an appeal is set by the document.

source, checked 2026-08-07

The time for considering appeals against a block is not named. The general period under the rules: «Администрация Сайта приложит усилия к тому, чтобы рассмотреть обращения, претензии в её адрес в течение 30 календарных дней» (verbatim, clause 4.2; our translation: the Site Administration will endeavour to consider requests and claims addressed to it within 30 calendar days) — this concerns claims in general, not specifically blocks.

The 30 days is the general period for requests and claims; no separate period is announced for appeals against a block.

source, checked 2026-08-07

there are no country-specific sections in the rules for developers: the 20,000-character document contains neither sections by jurisdiction nor clauses on the precedence of supplementary terms

source, checked 2026-07-28

placing an application means granting VK LLC a royalty-free non-exclusive licence for 5 years with automatic annual renewal

source, checked 2026-07-28

API access

on 2 April 2026 a policy update was announced: integrations are obliged to use ONLY the methods in the official documentation and to observe the limits; unpublished methods will be restricted in stages

Directly affects services working through unofficial methods

source, checked 2026-07-28

How it connects. access tokens are issued under the OAuth 2.1 protocol

source, checked 2026-07-28

Access tokens. three token types: service (on behalf of the application, no expiry, server-side only), user (on behalf of a person, valid for ONE HOUR), community token (on behalf of a community or public page, no expiry)

The one-hour lifetime of the user token means a scheduler is obliged to refresh it: a one-off authorisation does not work

source, checked 2026-07-28

the token is passed in the Authorization header in Bearer format

source, checked 2026-07-28

the description of each method states which type of token suits it

source, checked 2026-07-28

rate limits: user token — 3 requests/sec, community token — 20/sec, service token — 5/sec (up to 10 thousand users), 20/sec (up to 100 thousand), 40/sec (up to 500 thousand), 50/sec (up to 1 million), 60/sec (over 1 million). Exceeding them returns error 6 «Too many requests per second»

NEW FACT: the database had no rate limits for VK

source, checked 2026-07-28

requests are sent to api.vk.ru over HTTPS; the version parameter v is mandatory

source, checked 2026-07-28

since June 2024 the former flows for obtaining a user token have been switched off: Authorization Code Flow and Implicit Flow

The practical consequence for integrators: the old authorisation schemes do not work

source, checked 2026-07-28

the full list of users who have allowed messages from a community CANNOT be obtained through the API — the service is obliged to store and synchronise it itself

A significant limitation for bulk senders and CRMs

source, checked 2026-07-28

bot events are delivered in two ways: the Callback API (the platform sends to your server) and the Bots Long Poll API (your server polls the platform)

source, checked 2026-07-28

besides rate limits there are quantity limits on calls of the same type: when exceeded, a method may become temporarily unavailable or require a captcha; the specific numbers are not published

The platform does not disclose the numbers

source, checked 2026-07-28

Sources diverge: PLATFORM DOCUMENTATION: «stories can be uploaded via the API by any users and communities» — it contains no «pages and communities only» restriction

CONTRADICTS the Onlypult claim that stories cannot be automated from personal profiles. The primary source is the platform's documentation; the discrepancy may be explained by a limitation of the service itself

source, checked 2026-07-28

Languages

the interface language of the home page: ru

The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang

source, checked 2026-07-28

metrics

VK Ads (video): «Старт просмотра — количество стартов просмотра видео» (verbatim; our translation: view start — the number of video view starts); «Просм. 3 сек — просмотр рекламного видеоролика до 3 секунд» (our translation: 3-sec views — viewing of the ad clip up to 3 seconds); «Просм. 10 сек — просмотр рекламного видеоролика до 10 секунд» (our translation: 10-sec views — viewing of the ad clip up to 10 seconds); «Просмотрено 100% — засчитывается при полном просмотре рекламного ролика и при клике по рекламе» (our translation: 100% viewed — counted both when the ad clip is watched in full and when the ad is clicked) — that is, a click on the ad counts as a 100 per cent completion

The definitions are for advertising only. VK does not publish a view threshold for organic video and clips in accessible sources: vk.com/support and dev.vk.com are SPAs and the text is loaded by scripts (the robots.txt of vk.com was read in full, 269 lines, ClaudeBot is not mentioned, /support is not forbidden; dev.vk.com has no robots.txt — 404). A finding: a click = a 100% completion in VTR

source, checked 2026-08-07

Verbatim: reach is «количество уникальных пользователей, которые увидели ваши объявления» (our translation: the number of unique users who saw your ads); «Охват на конец периода — количество уникальных пользователей, которые увидели ваши объявления от даты старта кампании до конца выбранного периода» (our translation: reach at end of period — the number of unique users who saw your ads from the campaign start date to the end of the chosen period); frequency is the ratio of impressions to reach. Impressions: «количество показов по рекламному объявлению за выбранный период» (our translation: the number of impressions of the ad in the chosen period)

The definition comes from the VK Ads help centre (ads.vk.ru — robots.txt has 98 lines, and /help is not forbidden). For the organic statistics of communities, the platform publishes no machine-readable definition of reach (the vk.com help centre is an SPA)

source, checked 2026-08-07

Catalogue section: all similar See also: catalogue index · region: Russia and CIS · scheduler comparison · find by situation · platform restrictions