PayPal
You’ve heard of PayPal—and if you haven’t created an account yet, it might be the time. PayPal beats out other peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfer apps like Venmo and Zelle because of its accessibility and choice of payment methods. Funds are received instantly into a recipient’s PayPal account, and can be transferred to their bank account as soon as the next day. Another major advantage of PayPal is that if a recipient doesn’t want to link their bank account, they can use their PayPal balance to spend money instead—that’s because the platform is accepted as a method of payment at 75% of online merchants. PayPal also has more registered users than (PayPal-owned) Venmo, a social-centric P2P app best for smaller dollar transfers.
PayPal’s international transfers come with hefty fees, so it’s only best for sending money within the U.S. It also allows for the largest transfers amount with no limit to how much you can send in total (but individual transactions are limited to $10,000).
How it works: PayPal account holders can send money to friends and family through the app, or online via a web browser. Account holders can send money through a variety of payment methods; recipients also have to be PayPal account holders, but can sign up for free.
Payment options: Bank account (no extra fee), credit and debit cards (small fee to send money from these options)
Fees: Sending money domestically to friends and family via a PayPal balance or linked bank account is free. Sending to friends and family, also domestically, via a credit card, debit card or PayPal credit is subject to a charge of 2.9% of the amount sent through this method, plus a fixed fee of $0.30. (International transfers are subject to transaction and funding fees, plus a fixed fee for sending in other currencies.)
Time to receive funds: Funds are received instantly in the recipient’s PayPal balance and can be transferred to their bank account as soon as the next day.
Transaction limits: Verified accounts have no limit for the total money that can be sent, but are limited to up to $60,000 (or sometimes $10,000) in a single transaction.