Venmo vs PayPal: Fees, Protection and When to Use Each

How we compared

We took the jobs people actually use these apps for, sending to a friend, selling an item, getting paid as a business, cashing out and sending abroad, and ran each through our Venmo and PayPal fee engines on October 24, 2026, using each company’s own fee pages (Venmo fees, PayPal Merchant Fees).

Fees compared on real amounts

What you’re doing	Venmo	PayPal
Pay a friend $100 from balance or bank	Free	Free
Pay a friend $100 by credit card	$3.00 (3%)	$3.20 (2.90% + $0.30)
Get paid $100 for an item (goods and services)	$2.99 (2.99%)	$2.99 (2.99%)
Customer pays your business $100	$2.00 (1.9% + $0.10, business profile)	$3.98 (3.49% + $0.49, Checkout)
Cash out $500 instantly	$8.75 (1.75%, max $25)	$8.75 personal (1.75%, max $25) · $7.50 business (1.5%)
Send $100 to someone abroad	$4.99 to a PayPal account abroad	$4.99 (5%, max $4.99)

The two are closer than most people assume. Personal payments are free on both, goods and services costs 2.99% on both, and instant transfers cost 1.75% with a $25 cap on both personal accounts. The real gap is business payments: a Venmo business profile costs about half of a PayPal Checkout button (Business Profile Transaction Fees).

PayPal vs Venmo for Selling: The Fee Gap on $100

If you sell occasionally and buyers pay you directly in the app, the fee is identical: $2.99 on $100 on either app. The difference shows up in three places:

1. Your own website. PayPal Checkout buttons cost 3.49% + $0.49, which is $3.98 on $100. Venmo appears in PayPal’s checkout too, at PayPal’s rate.
2. In person. Venmo business profiles offer Tap to Pay at 2.29% + $0.09, cheaper than most card readers.
3. Abroad. PayPal accepts payments from buyers in many countries (international payments add 1.50%); Venmo is a US service.

For a seller with a website and international buyers, PayPal is the practical choice. For a local business taking payments from regulars, a Venmo business profile is cheaper.

Sending money to friends and family

Both apps are free for personal payments in the US when you pay from your balance or bank. The fee appears when you use a credit card: Venmo adds 3%, PayPal 2.90% + $0.30 (Credit Card Fees on Venmo Payments, PayPal Consumer Fees). Below $300 Venmo’s 3% is the cheaper of the two (on $100, $3.00 versus $3.20); above $300 PayPal’s fixed $0.30 matters less and PayPal wins. The cheapest answer is not to use a credit card at all.

Abroad, PayPal charges 5% (minimum $0.99, maximum $4.99) for international friends and family transfers, plus a currency conversion spread if the money changes currency. See the PayPal friends and family fee calculator and the PayPal exchange rate calculator.

Cashing out

Standard transfers to your bank are free on both and take 1–3 business days. Instant transfers cost 1.75% (minimum $0.25, maximum $25) on Venmo and on PayPal personal accounts; PayPal business accounts pay 1.5% with a $0.50 minimum and no cap. That means a business moving $5,000 instantly pays $75 on PayPal, while a personal Venmo or PayPal account pays $25. Compare on your own amount in the Venmo and PayPal instant transfer calculators.

Two businesses, a month each

• A private tutor taking 50 payments of $60 a month. With a Venmo business profile each payment costs $1.24 (1.9% + $0.10), so $62 a month. Through a PayPal Checkout link it’s $2.58 each, $129 a month. Over a year the tutor keeps about $800 more on Venmo.
• A small online shop selling 200 items of $40 a month, paid as goods and services on either app: $239.20 a month on both, because both charge 2.99%. Here the choice comes down to features, not fees: PayPal’s checkout buttons, invoices and international buyers versus Venmo’s reach with younger US customers.

Business features compared

Venmo business profiles give you a public business page, QR codes for the counter, Tap to Pay on a phone and payments that show up in your customers’ familiar Venmo feed. They’re built for local businesses and creators whose customers already use Venmo.

PayPal covers more ground: checkout buttons for a website, invoices with several payment methods (card, bank, Pay Later), payments from buyers in many countries and balances in several currencies. If you sell online or to customers outside the US, PayPal does things Venmo simply doesn’t.

Protection: what each covers

Neither app protects friends-and-family payments, and both tell users to send those only to people they know. Purchase protection applies to goods and services payments on both. For sellers, that matters too: buyers pay more readily when they know they’re covered, and a dispute process exists if something goes wrong. If a buyer you don’t know insists on friends and family to “save the fee”, treat it as a warning sign. The same goes in reverse: if you’re the buyer and a seller asks you to skip goods and services, you’re being asked to give up the one thing that gets your money back if the item never arrives. A 2.99% fee is cheap insurance on a purchase from a stranger.

Which to use, job by job

1. Splitting bills, paying friends: Venmo. Free, social and built for it.
2. Selling a used item to someone local: either, as goods and services; the fee is the same 2.99%.
3. Getting paid as a small local business: a Venmo business profile at 1.9% + $0.10.
4. Selling online from your own site or to international buyers: PayPal.
5. Sending invoices: PayPal invoices, with bank payment enabled on large ones; see the PayPal invoice fee calculator.

Whichever you use, set the app up properly for how you’ll be paid: a business profile on Venmo or a business account on PayPal if you sell regularly, so payments are labelled correctly and you get the right tools. Also weighing Cash App or Zelle? Read Cash App vs Venmo and Zelle vs Venmo.