One of the best reasons to use Venmo is that there's a good chance anyone you want to pay—or get money from—is also using it. Though the same could be said of the app from its parent company, PayPal, Venmo remains a high-profile, peer-to-peer mobile payment app. It smoothes the money flow between friends, turning it into social entertainment. This visibility raises privacy concerns and makes Venmo a target for scammers, but the service comes with benefits like split payments and optional debit/credit cards with cash-back rewards. However, Apple Pay and Google Wallet, our Editors' Choice winners for iOS and Android, respectively, are more robust payment options that act as digital wallets for concert passes, airline tickets, ID cards, and other lifestyle-related matters.

Setting Up a Venmo Account

Venmo works on Android, iOS, and the web. We used it with no difficulties on an iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18 and on a Windows 10 PC. It is worth noting, however, that you cannot send or receive money from people via a web browser (though you can make purchases on sites that accept PayPal).

(Credit: Venmo/PCMag)

The signup page clearly shows all the service's fees. There are very few of these, and no monthly or annual fee is charged, though that's par for the course for mobile payment apps. The biggest fee is the 3% transaction charge when paying with a credit card (required by the credit card companies). You also pay 1% if you want to move money from your Venmo account to your bank account faster than the standard wait time of one to three days. 

Signing up for Venmo involves using an existing Facebook account or providing a name, email address, mobile phone number, and password. You then designate and verify a bank account for your profile by entering debit card or bank account details. Adding a credit card as a payment source is an option, but you still need a bank account connected, since the credit card won't receive payments. In all, Venmo is one of the easier payment apps to set up.

Verifying your identity raises the amount of money you can send or receive at once from a $299.99 initial weekly cap to $60,000. This is considerably more generous than Cash App's $7,500 verified weekly limit. Apple Pay lets you send up to $10,000 in a message, or $10,000 per week, but only to other Apple users. Google Wallet doesn't let you send money to friends, but you can purchase items via web browsers.

Venmo has made it easier to pay businesses and even make contactless payments. Similar to PayPal, Venmo uses a QR system that lets you pay by scanning a store's QR code (or letting them scan yours). It's not as straightforward as tapping your phone at the near-field communication (NFC) symbol, but the system works fine. Consider Apple Pay, Google Wallet, or Samsung Pay if you prefer NFC payments.

Paying Friends With Venmo

Venmo needs to know who your friends are to help you give and get cash. The app analyzes your phone's contact list to find fellow Venmo users. You can also invite anyone you know to try out the service. Those two methods work fine, but Venmo prefers to import your Facebook profile to generate a potential friends list. If you're not connected to a friend via that social platform, you can have them scan a QR code to connect for payment. Using this method, we sent money to a non-Facebook friend, and she received the cash nearly instantaneously.

(Credit: Venmo/PCMag)

To make or request a payment, simply tap the Pay or Request button, select a friend (or use the QR code), choose between paying money and asking for it, write a description for the transaction (with an optional emoji), and tap Pay or Request. You then choose a payment source, with any Venmo balances coming first.

Entering a payment description is an extra step not required by similar apps, but it's part of Venmo's social aspect. If you're not feeling verbose, an emoji alone does the trick instead of a text note. You get a final confirmation button once the amount, recipient, and note are in place. Venmo alerts you if and when your friend complies or when you have new pending debts of your own.

One caveat is that Venmo is only available for domestic use within the United States. If you need to make international transactions, consider PayPal.

Social Elements

Due to the app's social focus, your Venmo transactions are visible by default. However, it's easy to restrict the information to Participants Only in Settings > Privacy and Sharing. In the same Settings area, you can prevent anyone from sharing your activity. The current signup process clarifies the privacy options, but Public shouldn't be the default. One small blessing is that the feed doesn't show the payment amount.

Occasionally, this public sharing leads to funny, cryptic stories of past wild nights out for friends to like and comment on. "Tony S." paid "Bruce B." $10,000 for "Science Bro Stuff." But do other people need to know who you're sending money to?

Potential privacy panics aside, Venmo's Facebook integration might be one of its greatest strengths. Not only is Facebook arguably the quickest way to find most people's friends, but the constant newsfeed gives the impression that everyone else is using Venmo, so you should, too.

Using Venmo with Siri on an iPhone resembles using Apple Pay and a few other apps: When we instructed Siri to pay someone $5, the response screen let us choose Apple Pay, Cash, PayPal, or Venmo. Once we chose Venmo, the payment process was identical to using the mobile app.

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Venmo keeps a running list of past transactions. Money added to your account appears in green, while money paid out is in red. Like Apple Pay, Venmo is a virtual wallet to store funds, which you can cash out and transfer to a bank account. However, Apple Wallet and Google Wallet let you save transit passes, movie tickets, ID cards, credit cards, and digital keys—a feature that Venmo lacks. Those features are especially useful for those social butterflies who use their mobile payment apps for more than just sending money.

Purchasing Items Using Venmo

You cannot send money to people using a web browser, but you can use Venmo to make purchases on sites and apps featuring a PayPal checkout button. However, you must activate this capability in the app's settings (Enable Mobile Web Purchases). Sites and app services you can pay using Venmo include Delivery.com, Grubhub, and Uber (as well as Uber Eats).

(Credit: Venmo/PCMag)

Venmo's Debit and Credit Card

Getting a Venmo (Mastercard) debit card has several benefits. It lets you withdraw hard money from your Venmo balance at an ATM (which sometimes incurs a $2.50 fee plus the bank's fee) unless the ATM is part of the MoneyPass network of ATMs.

In a nice touch, Venmo's debit card offers cash-back rewards for certain purchases. One advantage of this system is that the reward cash appears in your Venmo account as soon as the transaction is completed, though that transaction can take up to 30 days. Credit cards usually make rewards available only after the monthly statement arrives.

You can also apply for a Venmo (Visa) credit card. With it, you automatically earn up to 3% cash back on your eligible top spending category. You can use your Venmo card anywhere Visa is accepted, including 200 countries worldwide. Swipe, tap, or pay online for quick, contactless checkout. The card has a zero-liability policy, so you will not be held responsible for unauthorized transactions with your card or account information.

Venmo for Business

Standard Venmo accounts are not intended for business transactions and don't offer the protections found in other payment methods. Business proprietors can opt for a Venmo Business account, which comes with a bevy of unique features. Business accounts let you accept payments using Venmo or other linked payment sources and even receive contactless payments from cards and digital wallets.

A recent Venmo Business addition is Venmo Promos, which lets large companies attract new customers and reward repeat purchases by offering cash-back incentives to customers. This pilot program is part of Venmo's push for more business usage.

Venmo wasn't originally designed for commerce but for friends paying each other. As a result, it lacks protections found in other platforms designed specifically for business transactions. For example, if you sell something and take payment via Venmo, and the buyer is using a stolen credit card, you're out of money when Venmo receives a complaint about the stolen card. This is not the case for credit card transactions.

Venmo Scams

Venmo's peer-to-peer nature makes it prone to scams. It's such an issue that the company's support pages list common scams to avoid.

When we opened the app after an extended period, we saw two payments from strangers: one for $100 and one for $10. Unfortunately, this is a very common scam. Do not accept payments like this, and do not send the money back, either. It's possible that the payment was made with a stolen credit card, is part of a money-laundering scheme, or that the scammer will demand repayment for the money they sent you. If you discover mysterious payments in your account, immediately contact Venmo support and block the user to prevent future issues.

(Credit: Venmo)

We also found phishing emails from Venmo users requesting money from our account. Make sure you don't click the Complete Charge button in these emails. We wish Venmo included a Report Transaction option like every social network does for posts. As it is, you have to go through a time-consuming customer service process to resolve issues.

Verdict: Venmo Is a Fast, Social-Focused Payment App

Other mobile payment apps simply move money between people. Venmo attempts to make payments between friends not only easy but social. Despite potential scams, this focus makes all the difference, especially if you like to share status updates. More privacy-minded people can adjust the visibility of their transactions to fit their comfort level or simply use another service, some of which offer more than just payment capabilities. Apple Pay, our Editors' Choice winner for iOS mobile payment apps, lets you pay other people and house digital tickets, cards, and commuter passes. Likewise, Google Wallet, our Editors' Choice for Android, has a digital hub and makes online purchases via browser a breeze.

Michael Muchmore contributed to this review.