Editor's Note: On March 31, 2025, Zelle users will no longer be able to send or receive money using the standalone Zelle app. However, more than 2,000 credit unions and banks will offer Zelle money transfers. Our review from October 14, 2020, is below, but we have removed the rating.

Mobile payment app Zelle doesn't have as high a profile as Venmo, but it's not small potatoes: The bank consortium behind it claims to have moved more than $133 billion sent on 519 million transactions in just the first six months of 2020. Zelle differs from most mobile payment services in that it's usually part of your bank's app or website. Payments go right into the recipient's bank account, rather than into a middleman holding area as they do with other services like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Square Cash. This makes for extreme convenience, though the experience is on the bare-bones side, the service shares information with marketers, and it doesn't offer in-store purchases. Zelle is a good fit for no-nonsense money transfers with people you know, making the process easy, free, and fast, with minimum setup hassle.

(Credit: Zelle/PCMag)

How to Get Up and Running With Zelle

There are two ways to get going with Zelle. You can use it within your bank's mobile app or website or by downloading the Zelle app from your smartphone's app store. I used the former method for most of my testing, but I also checked out the app, which is available for Android 5.0 and later, and for iOS 9.0 or later. It works with hundreds of US banks, including the biggest names like Bank of America, Chase, Citi, PNC, and Wells Fargo. You can find out if your bank is among those supported on Zelle's Get Started page.

After clicking into your bank's page there, you can see whether the bank's app included Zelle support or you need to install the separate Zelle app. I tested Zelle within the app from my bank, Ally, a completely online bank. All I had to do was accept getting SMS text messages on the phone I use for the app, choose a primary account (I chose Interest Checking), and confirm the mobile number and my email address. After confirming with a text message, I was ready to send and receive money with Zelle.

For the standalone Zelle app, you have to allow notifications and location access, and then you choose your bank logo from a list. Since my bank's app includes Zelle support, the Zelle app simply forwarded me to the bank app. If your bank isn't on the list, you enter debit card details.

Paying People With Zelle

Zelle is US-only, so if your recipient lives abroad, look to an alternative, such as PayPal, Xoom, or Remitly. Your money recipient doesn't need to have the Zelle app set up on their smartphone ahead of time when you send it to them (although they need to enroll into Zelle either online or in their bank app to get the money). You only need your friend's mobile number or email address to send money.

The Zelle interface is very simple: It's just a mostly white screen with Send, Request, and Split choices. Tapping Send opens an empty Contacts page. You can either add a new contact by entering the name, phone number, email address, or 9-digit bank routing number. Adding from existing contacts is a lot simpler.

You can't send amounts smaller than $1 through the service. You can set a date if you want the payment to go through later. If your payee has also signed up for Zelle, the transaction happens in a few minutes—by far the quickest of any peer-to-peer payment service. There's a blank space on the final confirmation page to put a note about the payment. Unlike Venmo, Zelle doesn't require this memorandum.

Zelle doesn't charge any fees for moving the money, which is another huge advantage over traditional bank wire transfers, which can easily cost $25. Though the Zelle FAQ says there may be charges from your bank, mine confirmed that it doesn't charge any. Since you can't use a credit card as your payment source, you'll never see the standard 3 percent fees for those transactions as you do on other services like PayPal. If you want to transfer money to your bank account from Venmo instantly, it's 25 cents per transaction, and Square Cash charges 1 percent for instant deposits. That's pretty steep, especially if you transfer a large amount.

My favorite thing about Zelle is that the money goes directly into the bank account, rather than sitting in the middleman holding pen as is the case for all the other services. With Venmo, Apple Pay, Square Cash, and others, you also must explicitly move the money from the app/service's account to your bank account to own it.

The amount you can send is determined by your bank, and it increases as you successfully use the service, as with other payment services. My bank let me send up to $5,000 per day and $10,000 per month—a higher initial amount than I from most other popular payment apps. For comparison, Venmo only lets you send $300 per week to start, and with good behavior and adding ID verification, that rises to $3,000. Square Cash only lets you send $250 weekly to start. Google Pay lets you send up to $9,999 per transaction, with a cap of $10,000 per week.

After I confirmed a money-sending transaction, my recipient received an SMS text message informing him about it. Zelle differs from other payment apps in that he didn't ever have to open the payment app to accept the money. Moreover, the recipient doesn't have to have a separate app. If they've enabled Zelle on their bank's website or app, the money goes into their bank account, thanks to its ties with the banks. If not, for security purposes, there's a 1-to-3-day waiting period after they enroll into Zelle.

(Credit: Zelle/PCMag)

Another benefit that I didn't see in most payment apps is a stop payment option. This option is available only if the intended recipient has not yet enrolled with the service. If the money isn't claimed after 14 days, it is returned to your account.

If you want to transfer money from web browser instead of from a mobile app, you can use Zelle only through your banking website. Others, like Google Pay, PayPal, and Square Cash let you make and request payments from the web easily, while Apple Pay only lets you pay people through the iPhone app or in the Safari browser on a Mac.

Security and Privacy

Zelle secures transactions with authentication and monitoring for fraud, but it doesn't require two-factor authentication the way Apple Pay does for person-to-person payments. Since you'll usually be using Zelle within your bank's app or site, that tells you that it's secure enough for the banks to use. A Zelle contact informed me that Zelle takes "precautionary steps during enrollment to mitigate fraud risk for consumers, and to limit losses for our participating banks," but didn't reveal specifics, preferring to keep those close to the vest. Makes sense.

Now we come to the one mark against Zelle: Privacy. It's the only service I tested that comes right out and says that it shares your information with marketing companies to deliver targeted ads to you. Most of the data is only for internal Zelle use to make the service work and for their targeted marketing. But one notable thing sold to third-party advertising networks is your geolocation information. Other Zelle documentation states, "We may use cookies to deliver content, including ads, relevant to your interests on our Site and third-party sites based on how you interact with our advertisements or content."

With its unique benefits–especially its instant direct deposits to your bank account and lack of any fees—there had to be a downside, right? If you can live with more targeted ads, Zelle's advantages may make this a worthwhile compromise.

Speaking of downsides, there have been reports of phishing exploits that take advantage of Zelle. Since the money comes straight out of your bank account and the attacker only needs your email address, Zelle is fertile ground for online villains. As with any mobile peer-to-peer payment app, be sure to only pay and receive money from people you know, lest you find yourself embroiled in unpleasant bunco.

What You Don't Get

As mentioned, Zelle doesn't let you pay in stores the way you can with Samsung Pay. Nor can you pay on web stores, or internationally, as you can with PayPal. That means there's no loyalty card integration like you get in Apple Pay, Google Pay, and LevelUp. Nor does it feature a social network of your payments, as Venmo does. You may consider that either a plus or minus, depending on whether you like your pals knowing who you're paying for what. Unlike most payment apps, Zelle doesn't let you use a credit card or a gift cash card as a payment source. Again, that could be considered a good thing, since you avoid credit card fees. Square Cash lets you buy Bitcoin and stocks, which you don't get in Zelle.

A Fast, Free, Easy Way to Pay

Zelle is one of the easiest mobile payment services to set up, and you probably don't even have to install a separate app for it, since most bank apps include Zelle functions. The interface isn't going to win any design awards, but it's clear and functional. There's no middleman: The money goes straight into the recipient's bank account, rather than staying in a holding place as it does for most services, such as Apple Pay and Venmo. Google Pay, our Editors' Choice, still offers many more payment features such as paying in stores and on websites, as well as offering loyalty programs.