A Twitch gifted sub is a subscription one viewer buys for someone else, either a chosen viewer or random members of your community. For you as the streamer it supports the channel just like a regular recurring sub, as Twitch's Gift Subscriptions For Creators page puts it, and the money is credited when the gift is bought. Three differences matter: gift subs earn no Plus Points, they do not renew on their own, and discounted bundles pay your usual share of the lower price the gifter actually paid.
Most explainers stop at how to buy a gift. This one stays on the creator side: what each gifting option means for your channel, how recipients can decline, how discount events change the maths, and how to plan a gift goal that your community enjoys rather than feels pushed into.
The ways viewers can gift to your channel
| Gift option | Tiers and lengths | How it is bought | Worth knowing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To one chosen viewer | Tier 1, 2 or 3 for a month; 3, 6 or 12 months at Tier 1 only | From a user card in chat or the Support panel; 12-month packages on the web only | Unavailable when the person is already subscribed or banned in your channel | Purchasing guide |
| To the community | Any tier, but single-month only | The /gift chat command with a number from 1 to 100, or the Support panel | Twitch picks the recipients, and the chat command cannot be used anonymously | Purchasing guide |
| Gift 'Em All | One gift for every eligible follower watching, up to 1,000 | Desktop browser only, offered from time to time in a small number of channels | Lag can mean some eligible followers miss out | Purchasing guide |
| Anonymous gifts | The same choices, with the gifter's name hidden | A Gift Anonymously checkbox at purchase | Anonymous gifts do not add to the gifter's badge or leaderboard progress | Purchasing guide |
Mobile buyers have fewer options. The purchasing guide says Tier 2 and Tier 3 gifting is not available on mobile devices and multi-month gifts are not yet supported in the mobile apps, so a viewer who wants to gift a longer or higher-tier sub needs the website. Every gift purchase is final; the same guide answers a plain no to whether gifted subs are refundable.
Who receives community gifts, and how viewers opt out
Gifters cannot hand-pick recipients of a community gift. The purchasing guide says Twitch uses an algorithm that starts with eligible viewers in chat, then followers, moderators and other signals of community membership, and that it tries to avoid giving subs to trolls. Recipients get the same rewards as regular subscribers straight away, and a chat message names them, so welcoming them by name is the natural first step.
Viewers also have controls, set out on the managing and upgrading page. They can stop receiving gifts from channels they do not follow in their Privacy and Security settings, block specific users or channels, or disable the benefits of a gift they received, which cannot be undone. Disabling benefits does not take money from you: Twitch says the support still goes to the streamer, and the purchaser is not refunded, because the revenue reaches the creator's balance as soon as the gift is bought.
A gift ends quietly. Gift subs do not renew automatically; at any point during the gift the recipient can choose to continue, and they, not the gifter, pay from the date the gift expires. Gift months count towards the recipient's sub tenure, which is part of why a continued gift can feel like a natural next step to the viewer rather than a new purchase.
What a gift sub pays you
- It counts in the month it is bought. Twitch's payout timing page uses the example of a $250 sub gift on April 23, which is paid with the rest of April's balance in the middle of the next month.
- It is priced locally. Community and single gift subs both fall under local subscription pricing, so a gift bought in a lower-priced country pays you a proportionally smaller amount.
- It earns your current share, standard or Plus. Once you qualify for the Plus Program, gift sub revenue is paid at your higher rate, even though gifts never count towards qualifying.
- It can come from a brand. During a category-wide promotion, a sponsor funds bonus gift subs for viewers watching participating channels, and Twitch says those count towards your subscription revenue like any other gift; you can opt out from your subscription settings.
Discounted gift subs: three offers and one exception
| Offer | Who starts it | What is discounted | How it pays you | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site-wide discount | Twitch, on dates it announces | Tier 1 bundles of 5 or more one-month gifts, such as the 35% off Twitch ran from March 26 to 29, 2026 | Your usual share of the discounted price | Discounts page |
| Treasure Train | Appears at random on monetised channels in place of a regular Hype Train | Qualifying gift bundles for as long as the train lasts | The same discounted-price share | Discounts page |
| Your own promotion | You, from the Creator Dashboard | 35% off bundles of 5 or more Tier 1 single-month gifts | The discount is split evenly with Twitch, which does not subsidise it | Custom discounts page |
| SUBtember, the exception | Twitch and sponsors, once a year | Sitewide sub discounts during the event | Twitch says it covers the difference, so you are paid as for a full-priced sub | SUBtember 2026 post |
You are opted in to discounts by default. To leave, the discounts page says to switch off Shared Gift Subs Discounts under Monetization and then Subscriptions while you are offline; doing so also stops Treasure Trains appearing and removes your ability to run your own promotions. Twitch argues that discounts usually lift purchase volume enough to more than offset the lower price, but it is your call: a channel whose regular gifters buy bundles anyway may prefer full-price gifts.
Your own promotions run on a token budget. The custom discounts page says monetised streamers receive 3 tokens and 24 hours of promotion time on February 1, May 1, August 1 and November 1, up to a maximum of 12 tokens and 96 hours; each promotion uses a token, lasts whole hours, starts immediately, cannot be cancelled and cannot overlap a site-wide sale. The page is inconsistent about expiry, saying in one place that unused tokens reset at the end of each year and in another that they do not expire, so plan to use them within the calendar year.
Gift subs and the Plus Program
Twitch's Plus Program page is explicit that gift sub purchases do not contribute Plus Points, though their revenue is paid at your enhanced rate once you qualify. The link between gifting and qualification runs through conversions instead: when a gift recipient continues as a paid subscriber, points start in the month they are first charged. Twitch's worked example is a gift received on August 13 and upgraded early, which earns nothing until the paid period begins on September 13.
So a big gifting night can raise your revenue for the month without moving your Plus tracker at all. If you are chasing a level, our Twitch Plus Program guide has a three-month log that keeps gifts out of the count.
Gift-sub revenue worksheet
Your Earnings Analytics shows gifted sub revenue as one figure. Split it by source each month so you can see which events actually paid, then check the total against the Gifted Subs figure in Revenue Sources.
| Gift source this month | Gifts | Price basis | Revenue to you | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-price single and community gifts | Local price paid | Standard or Plus share | ||
| Gifts during your own promotion | Discounted price | Your share of the lower price | ||
| Gifts during site-wide sales or Treasure Trains | Discounted price | Dates set by Twitch, not you | ||
| Gifts during a sponsored or subsidised event | Per the event terms | Twitch says SUBtember discounts are paid at full value; read each year's terms | ||
| Brand-funded bonus gifts | As for any gift | Category-wide promotions only | ||
| Last month's recipients now paying | Their paid price | Move these to your paid-sub line; they now earn Plus Points |
The last row is the one that shows whether gifting builds your channel or only moves money for a month. Carry the totals into the gift line of our Twitch money calculator worksheet.
A community gift-goal plan
- Choose a moment that means something to your community, such as an anniversary, a milestone or a special event stream.
- If you will run your own discount, check that you have a token and enough hours left and that no site-wide sale overlaps the date.
- Set a visible goal and say plainly what the community gets when it is reached, such as an emote reveal or a themed stream.
- Publish the time in your schedule beforehand; your own promotions start the moment you activate them and cannot be scheduled ahead, so plan to start one live.
- Keep incentives inside the rules. Twitch's promotion guidance warns against offering self-destructive acts, such as heavy drinking or dangerous stunts, in exchange for gift subs.
- Be straightforward about the discount, when it ends and what support pays for, without exaggerated claims or invented urgency.
- Thank gifters on stream, and respect anyone who chose to gift anonymously.
- About a month later, mention that gifted subs are ending and what continuing includes, once and without pressure.
- Record the night in the worksheet so you can compare events honestly.
If a supporter appears to be spending more than they can afford, remember that Twitch says completed purchases can only be refunded in limited cases; its payout timing page points creators to its Twitch Cares guidance for that situation.
Limitations of this explainer
Discount offers, token allowances and experiments such as Gift 'Em All change often, and Twitch's own pages disagree on details such as whether promotion tokens expire. We read them on 1 October 2026; check your Creator Dashboard for what applies to your channel now. What any gift actually pays depends on the local price, your current share and whether a discount applied, so we do not estimate gift income. For how gift revenue reaches your bank, see our guide to Twitch payouts, and for every other income line, the Twitch revenue map.