Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards 2024: Peer-to-Peer Payment Services

Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards 2024 list of peer-to-peer payment services winners.

(Image credit: Future)

By Ellen Kennedy

published 28 May 2024

Contributions from

Emma Patch, Lisa Gerstner

in Features

About the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards

The Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards aim to recognize and celebrate the best products and services in the personal finance arena. We asked you, our Kiplinger community, to help us name the products and services you think have delivered excellent value in the past year.

The survey results, which we’re sharing here in our second annual Readers’ Choice Awards, offer valuable insight into which providers shine when it comes to your everyday interactions and experiences with them. Our Awards recognize excellence in everything from credit cards, banks and brokers to insurers, tax software and financial apps. For each category, we’ve listed an overall winner that earned the highest score. We’ve also highlighted other products and services that earned above-average scores for various criteria we asked readers to assess.

By voting, our community has helped us form our guide to the very best financial products. These are the products and companies that you think stand out from the crowd.

Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards: Peer-to-Peer Payment Services

Peer-to-peer payment apps have developed a wide reach as they have become faster and easier to use. Readers rated the P2P service that they use most based on ease of use, the likelihood they would recommend it to others and their overall satisfaction with the service.

OVERALL WINNER: Apple Cash

Outstanding for:

Ease of use
Most recommended
Overall satisfaction

Readers compliment Apple Cash on its security features and ease of use. Those who have an Apple device (such as an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch) can use Apple Cash — a reloadable payment card in Apple’s Wallet app — to send and receive money free with other individuals who have compatible devices. You can send payments through the Messages or Wallet app.

“Very easy to use and convenient,” one reader says.

If you're in the Apple ecosystem, read our review of Apple Cash's companion for purchases, the Apple Card.

PayPal

Outstanding for:

Ease of use
Overall satisfaction

PayPal, the payment app that started it all, is exceptional for its size and reach. You can send money to other people within the U.S. for free with PayPal if you draw the money from your bank account, your PayPal balance or an Amex Send account. The app charges 2.9% if funds are drawn from a debit or credit card.

Zelle

Outstanding for:

Most recommended
Overall satisfaction

Readers like that Zelle is free, facilitates speedy transfers and works directly through banks. “I like that it transfers funds instantly and from bank to bank. No need to have funds in yet another app,” says one reader. In a transaction, at least one user (the sender or receiver) must have access to Zelle through their bank or credit union.

Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards 2024 Awards Categories

Ellen writes and edits personal finance stories, especially on retirement. She also covers the nexus between sustainability and personal finance. She worked in the mutual fund industry for 15 years, as a manager and sustainability analyst at Calvert Investments. She focused on consumer staples, consumer goods, climate change and water. She served on the sustainability councils of several Fortune 500 companies and led corporate engagements. Before joining Calvert, Ellen was a program officer for Winrock International, managing loans to alternative energy projects in Latin America. She earned a master’s from U.C. Berkeley in international relations and Latin America.

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