Skip to Main Content

What's Better: Apple Pay Cash vs. Google Wallet vs. Venmo


Apple Pay Cash is the company’s theoretical Venmo-killer, a service you can use to send and receive money via iMessage on your iPhone. Sounds great, but with so many peer-to-peer payment systems out there, do you actually need to sign up?

Most offer the same baseline security (for more on that, read this—though note that Venmo and Square do offer two-factor authentication now). Beyond that, here’s a comparison of the most popular payment platforms.

Apply Pay Cash

Not to be confused with Apple Pay, which you use at stores to pay for goods and services, this is a peer-to-peer payment system you use with your iPhone that acts essentially as a bank account on your phone (similar to how Venmo holds money for you within the app).

Pros:

  • Easy to use if everyone has an iPhone.

  • More private than Venmo (you may not consider this a plus, but I do).

  • You can spend money on your Apple Pay Cash card the app store, or at retailers that accept Apple Pay.

  • Requires you to set up two-factor authentication on your iCloud account.

  • There are no fees to send, request, or receive money.

Cons:

  • Both the sender and the recipient need an iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch and iOS11.2/watchOS 4.2 installed.

  • There is a 3% fee (of the total sent) if sending money from a credit card to your Apple Pay Cash card.

  • There is a $10 minimum to adding money to your Apple Pay Cash card (and a $3,000 max).

  • Transfers to a bank account take one to three days.

Questionable:

  • You need to authenticate each payment made with Apple Pay Cash with Face ID on iPhone X or Touch ID on other iPhone/iPad models.

Google Wallet

Google Wallet is a free p2p payment system.

Pros:

  • You can send money through the app, in Gmail, on the web, or via text messages.

  • You only need someone’s email address or phone number to send the money.

  • Money can be sent directly into your bank account if you choose that as the default option.

  • Funds can be spent instantly from your Google Wallet card.

  • You can add multiple bank accounts.

  • There are no fees to send or receive money.

  • You can cancel money you sent if the person has not yet claimed it.

Cons:

  • Cannot transfer money to people outside of the U.S. (or the U.K.).

Venmo

Peer-to-peer payment system that’s easy to use and popular among the millennials.

Pros:

  • Anyone can use Venmo, as long as they set up an account.

  • You can use Venmo as a payment option on websites/through apps via PayPal (which owns Venmo).

  • You can send money via iMessage if you have at least iOS10 (the payments are transferred to the receiver’s Venmo account).

  • There are no fees to send, request, or receive money.

  • You can snoop on your friends/make it social.

Cons:

  • Everyone starts with a $299.99 weekly transaction limit. If your identity is verified, your sending limit is boosted to $2,999.99 in any seven day period.

  • You can’t cancel payments made to wrong users.

  • Transfers to a bank account take one to three days.

  • You can snoop on your friends/make it social.

Zelle

Think of Zelle as your parents’ alternative to Venmo. It’s a peer-to-peer payment system that works with major banks such as Bank of America, Chase, Citi, and Wells Fargo, and the selling point is that transactions can occur within minutes, rather than days, if all of the participants’ banks offer the service.

Pros:

  • Faster than services like Venmo—the whole purpose of Zelle is that the money is available in your bank account automatically, even if transferred from another bank.

  • If your bank partners with Zelle, you can use your bank’s app to transfer money.

  • You only need someone’s email address or phone number to send them money.

  • There are no fees to send, request, or receive money.

Cons:

  • You can only cancel a payment if the recipient hasn’t enrolled with Zelle, otherwise it goes directly into their bank account.

Square Cash

Square Cash, or the Cash app, is also a peer-to-peer payment system.

Pros:

  • Anyone can use it, and it’s relatively easy to navigate.

  • Will send you a debit card associated with your account that you can use IRL.

  • Can also use for business transactions.

  • There are no fees to send, request, or receive money as long as it’s a personal account.

  • You can turn on “Auto Cash Outs,” which deposit funds people send you directly into a linked bank account.

Cons:

  • There is a 1% fee (of the deposit amount) for each instant deposit.

  • There is a 3% fee when payments are sent from a credit card.

Paypal

PayPal is the OG P2P payment system, though these days it seems more popular among small businesses, or for people to pay for eBay/services online.

Pros:

  • Easy to set-up/use.

  • Certain retailers offer deals or discounts to PayPal users.

  • No fee when sending money from your PayPal balance or bank account.

  • Can be used to send/receive money outside of the U.S.

  • No weekly transaction limits.

Cons:

  • There is a fee to send money using a debit card or credit card: 2.9% of the sent amount, plus $0.30.

  • You can receive money from your PayPal account in the form of a check for a $1.50 fee.

  • If you use it as payment at retailers, you miss out on credit cards points/rewards.