Calculate fees for every Venmo transaction type — business, G&S, personal, and instant transfers.
Business, G&S & personal · 2026
✓ Verified against Venmo official fee schedule · June 2026
Venmo's evolution from a casual peer-to-peer payment app into a legitimate small business payment tool has made its Business profile one of the more competitively priced options for US-based sellers — provided you understand the meaningful distinctions between its various transaction types, which carry very different fee structures depending on how a payment is initiated.
At 1.9% + $0.10, Venmo's Business profile rate undercuts both PayPal's Goods & Services fee (3.49% + $0.49) and Stripe's standard online rate (2.9% + $0.30) by a meaningful margin. On a $50 sale, that translates to a fee of $1.05 through a Business profile versus $2.24 through PayPal G&S — more than double the cost for the identical transaction. For sellers whose entire customer base already uses Venmo socially, switching to a Business profile rather than asking customers to use a separate payment app can meaningfully reduce friction at checkout while also lowering processing costs.
It's worth being explicit about a common point of confusion: only payments sent to a registered Business profile carry the 1.9% + $0.10 fee. Payments sent as personal transfers (the "Friends & Family" equivalent) remain free when funded by bank account or Venmo balance, but using personal payments for actual commercial transactions violates Venmo's terms of service and provides no buyer protection if a dispute arises. Setting up a proper Business profile is a quick process and the only way to legitimately accept commercial payments through the platform.
Consider a freelance tutor charging $80 per session, accepting payment through a Venmo Business profile after each appointment. The fee on each session is $80 × 1.9% + $0.10 = $1.62, leaving $78.38 net per session. Across 20 sessions a month, total fees come to just $32.40 — noticeably less than the $89.90 that the same volume would cost through PayPal Goods & Services, a difference of over $57 monthly that meaningfully impacts a side business's bottom line.
Beyond transaction fees, Venmo charges 1.75% (minimum $0.25, maximum $25) to instantly transfer your balance to a linked bank account rather than waiting the standard 1–3 business days for a free transfer. For sellers who don't need immediate access to funds, simply waiting for the free standard transfer eliminates this cost entirely — a simple habit that adds up over dozens of transfers per year.
Venmo remains exclusively a US-based service with no international payment support, which immediately rules it out for any business serving customers outside the United States. For purely domestic operations, however, its combination of low business fees and near-universal recognition among US consumers — particularly younger demographics — makes it a genuinely strong option worth considering alongside, or even instead of, traditional processors.
| Transaction Type | Fee | On $100 | You Keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business profile payment | 1.9% + $0.10 | $2.00 | $98.00 |
| Goods & Services | 3.49% + $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| Personal (balance/bank) | Free | $0.00 | $100.00 |
| Instant bank transfer | 1.75% (min $0.25, max $25) | $1.75 | $98.25 |
| Credit card send | 3% (sender pays) | $3.00 | — |