Molniya Messenger Launches on RuStore and Charges 750 Rubles per Download

The Molniya messenger has finally reached RuStore, a little over a year after its announcement in August 2025. The developer, the Russian-Chinese company Passion Tech, has put a price on the download itself: 750 rubles. As CNews reports, this is not about paid features inside a free app. The money is charged for the right to install the program. In many Russian cities, that amount equals a month's fee for high-speed home internet.

What we know about the launch

There are few facts. The project has appeared on RuStore, the app store run by VK. The same VK makes the national messenger Max, which is why the press has nicknamed Molniya its "killer." The release platform is a telling choice: the project is launching on a store owned by the company whose product it intends to compete with.

CNews's article contains no data on audience size, download numbers, architecture or encryption. It is unknown where messages are stored or what features the app offers beyond the basics. For a product that asks for money up front, that is a significant gap.

• Name: Molniya
• Developer: Passion Tech (Russia and China)
• Announced: August 2025
• Platform: RuStore
• Price: 750 rubles per download
• Model: paid download, not a subscription or a premium tier

A model that stands out from the market

Messengers are almost always free to join. Telegram, WhatsApp and Max make money from advertising, paid subscriptions, business tools or an ecosystem built around the app. The reason is the network effect: a messenger is only as useful as the number of your contacts on it. Any barrier to entry slows audience growth, and a paid barrier slows it the most.

Simple math shows the scale of the problem. A family of four would have to pay 3000 rubles to message each other on the new service. That is an estimate based on the stated price, not data on actual sales. And if friends or colleagues are unwilling to pay, the user is left with an app and nobody to talk to.

Paid downloads have an upside too. Such a threshold keeps out bots and mass fake accounts, and the money gives the team predictable revenue without ads. But in a market where the big players give their service away for free and back it with administrative leverage, only a narrow group will voluntarily pay to install an app.

Context: the messenger market in Russia

Max is promoted as the national messenger. Since 1 September 2025, it has been preinstalled on devices sold in Russia. In August 2025, Roskomnadzor restricted calls on WhatsApp and Telegram, which gave people further reason to look for alternatives. In this situation, demand for new services exists. The open question is whether users are willing to pay to get in when free options exist and have direct state support.

What to check before buying

If you are thinking of buying, do not rush to pay:

• Read the user agreement and privacy policy: where data is stored and who has access to it.
• Find out whether there is end-to-end encryption and an independent audit.
• Check the refund terms in RuStore in case the service does not meet your expectations.
• Make sure at least part of your circle is ready to switch. Without that, a paid installation is pointless.
• Wait for the first reviews and download figures. For a service with a paid entry, those will show whether the project has a chance.

For now, Molniya looks like a bold bet on a small audience willing to pay for an independent alternative. This model will not reach the scale of Max or Telegram. The service has to prove its worth on its own, and the first data on its audience and product quality should appear in the coming weeks.