What is Venmo and how does it work?
Venmo is a payments app you can use to instantly send and receive money. You can send money from your debit card, credit card, bank account, or Venmo balance. When you receive money, it adds to your Venmo balance. You can transfer it to your bank account or leave it on Venmo.
Venmo lets you split bills and other expenses with multiple people. For instance, you and your roommate could use Venmo to pay your internet bill, or you and a few friends could use Venmo to split the check at a restaurant.
Venmo adds social media elements to money transfers. Venmo users can add each other as friends. There's a feed that shows payments between users, and on each payment, you can include a note, emojis, or animated stickers. Venmo also offers privacy settings. If you don't want your payments to be seen by everyone, you can make them visible to only your friends or to just you and the recipient.
Top perks
Quick and convenient payments
Ease of use is a big part of Venmo's popularity. There's hardly any learning curve. You can download it and start sending or receiving money in minutes. Venmo also simplifies splitting expenses -- it offers an on-screen calculator when you send or request money. And if you're splitting a bill with a group, you can request the same amount from all of them at once.
When you withdraw money from your Venmo balance, it can take 1-3 business days to transfer money to your bank account. If you need money faster, Venmo offers instant transfers for a 1.75% fee, with a minimum of $0.25 and a maximum of $25.
Free
Venmo doesn't have regular fees, like monthly or annual fees. There's no fee to send money from a bank account, debit card, or your Venmo balance. Credit card payments have a 3% fee, which is standard among payment apps. There's no fee to receive money or transfer it to your bank account unless you opt for an instant transfer instead of a standard transfer.
Can pay with Venmo at select businesses
You can pay with Venmo funds on several apps and websites, including Uber Eats, Hulu, and Poshmark, among others. Shopping at a business that accepts Venmo payments? The app can speed you through the checkout process.
Offers a debit card, teen debit card, and a credit card
Frequent Venmo users may be interested in one of its payment cards. The Venmo Debit Card is tied to your Venmo balance. It doesn't charge an annual fee, and it offers cash back at some stores.
Parents may be interested in applying for a Venmo Teen Debit Card on their teenager's behalf. The card gives parents insight into and control over underage spending, and it gives teens the power to pay anywhere Mastercard is accepted. There's no monthly fee, and it's free to sign up.
The Venmo Credit Card is a no-annual-fee rewards card. It separates your purchases into spending categories. Every month, you earn 3% cash back on your top category, 2% back on your next biggest spending category, and 1% back on everything else.
The Venmo Credit Card offers solid perks, but check out the best rewards credit cards before applying -- there might be a more valuable option available.
Adds a social element to payments
Venmo isn't your typical payments app. It's a payments app that includes popular features from social networks: likes, comments, and messages attached to each payment or purchase of cryptocurrency (see below). Some users don't care about this, but others find that it makes money more fun.
Buy popular cryptocurrencies
Venmo lets you purchase up to four popular cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash. Venmo charges zero fees for doing so, and you can buy in $1 increments. Venmo offers users short educational content on crypto basics, such as how it works. It doesn't offer staking or advanced features -- for these, see the best crypto exchanges and apps.