Circle Pay Alternatives And Competitors

Venmo is an app that allows users to send money to each other via linked bank account, Venmo balance or credit card. The service is owned by PayPal, but it has some different functionality compared to PayPal’s peer-to-peer money transfer service. One of Venmo’s most interesting draws is that the app also offers a free, optional debit card that allows users to spend money from their Venmo account balance.
Users download the Venmo app and create an account. They can then link a bank account or credit card to fund their Venmo account; then they can send, request or receive money from other Venmo users.

Created by Square, Cash App is first on our list for its user-friendly interface and flexible mobile payment options. When you want to send a contact money, you can do so using either your Cash App balance or a linked credit card, debit card, or bank account. In addition to sending and receiving money, you can also use Cash App to buy and sell Bitcoin or invest in stocks. One thing to note is that Cash App does charge a transaction fee if you decide to use your credit card for payments, making it a more costly option than some others on this list.

An early-stage, Techstars and Western Union backed fintech startup building the first social, investment-based peer-to-peer payment platform that allows anyone to create value from every transaction, by making investing as easy as getting paid by your friends through fractional shares of stock.

Robinhood. is an American financial services company headquartered in Menlo Park, California, that facilitates commission-free trades of stocks, exchange-traded funds and cryptocurrencies via a mobile app introduced in March 2015. Robinhood is a FINRA-regulated broker-dealer, registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. The company’s revenue comes from three main sources: interest earned on customers’ cash balances, selling order information to high-frequency traders (a practice for which the SEC opened an investigation into the company in September 2020) and margin lending. As of April 2022, Robinhood had 22.8 million funded accounts and 15.9 million monthly active users. In April 2022, Robinhood rolled out a cryptocurrency wallet to more than 2 million users.

Acorns is an American financial technology and financial services company based in Irvine, California that specializes in micro-investing and robo-investing. According to Fortune’s Impact 20 list for the year 2020, Acorns had 8.2 million customers and $3 billion in assets under management. Since its inception, the platform has expanded to include checking account services and retirement IRA products. This was made possible following an acquisition of Portland, Oregon fintech retirement startup, Vault

While Zelle is currently only US-based, it’s worth knowing about if you deal with any friends and family with US bank accounts. This popular peer-to-peer app lets users send and receive money either directly into bank accounts or their Zelle account. Transfers are processed within minutes, and the app’s compatible with most major banks and credit unions within the United States. Users benefit from sending and receiving funds directly into their bank accounts, without waiting on processing times.