Venmo personal account vs business account

With just one click, mobile payment apps like Venmo help users send and receive money quickly, safely, conveniently, and contact-free. From divvying up restaurant tabs to paying your half of the rent, Venmo makes splitting bills with friends and family easier than ever.

But Venmo isn’t just for personal use. You can also create a business profile on Venmo to accept payments from customers — whether you’re a freelancer, involved in a small startup, or in charge of a medium-sized business.

In fact, you must create a Venmo business profile to use Venmo for any form of business-related spending and payment collection. Using your personal account for anything other than personal transactions is prohibited.

Overview of Venmo for personal use

Built for personal transactions, Venmo personal accounts help users purchase items, transfer money among friends and family, and engage socially with “likes” and comments on personal transactions. To get started with a Venmo personal account, either download the app (as long as you’re 18 or older) or register on the Venmo website with your bank account or debit or credit card information to begin receiving and transferring payments to your bank account.

Overview of Venmo for business use

Venmo business accounts help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with less capital and social reach to increase their visibility and generate referrals among current Venmo users.

For the most part, Venmo for business offers the same features as Venmo personal accounts — from accepting and managing payments to “liking” payment purchases and allowing social engagement. The main difference is that businesses can use these features to interact with customers — helping to improve customer relationships and loyalty through payment convenience and speed. You can even create a Venmo business profile for an association or club — such as a sports club or political organization — by selecting which type and category best fits your organization when you’re creating your business profile.

However, there are some differences when it comes to Venmo personal vs business accounts, specifically in terms of transaction fees, payment limits, and bank transfer limits.

Venmo personal vs business accounts: Transaction fees

You don’t have to pay any fees to either open or maintain a Venmo personal account. With a personal account, you can

• Send or receive money through your bank account, debit card, or Venmo balance
• Request or receive a refund from a merchant
• Speak to Venmo’s customer service department

However, you will be charged transaction fees for the following:

• Sending money to people using your credit card (a fee of 3 percent of the transaction),
• Depositing payroll or government checks (a 1 percent fee, with a minimum fee of $5),
• Depositing non-payroll or non-government checks (a 5 percent fee, with a minimum fee of $5)
• Instantly transfering money to your linked debit card or bank account (a 1.75 percent fee)

With Venmo for business, your primary fee is the nonrefundable seller transaction fee, which is 1.9 percent plus 10 cents of every payment you receive that’s $1 or more. This fee is the same for all business profiles, regardless of business size or industry.

Venmo personal vs business accounts: Payment limits

Until you complete the identity verification process for your Venmo personal account (i.e., provide information like your name, address, and Social Security number to Venmo), you’ll have a weekly spending limit of $299.99.

But once you verify your identity, your weekly spending limit for purchases increases to $60,000 — which includes authorized merchant purchases (both online and in-store payments using QR codes). Additionally, Venmo personal account limits cryptocurrency purchases to $20,000 per week and $50,000 in a 12-month period.

As for Venmo for business, you do have much more flexibility when it comes to payment limits since business expenditures tend to be much higher than personal expenses. Similar to Venmo personal accounts, your weekly spending limit for a business account is lower until you’re verified — $2,499.99 for unverified accounts and $25,000 for verified accounts.

Venmo personal vs business accounts: Bank transfer limits

Venmo personal and Venmo business accounts also differ when it comes to bank transfer limits.

For Venmo personal accounts, the standard limit on funds you can send to your bank account is $999.99 per week if your account is unverified and $19,999.99 per week if it’s verified. And with Venmo for business, your weekly bank transfer limit is $999.99 until you’re verified and $49,999.99 once you are.

Venmo personal vs business accounts: Making the right choice

If you don’t run a business, a Venmo personal account is all you need to send and receive money between family and friends. But if you do have some type of small to medium business, Venmo for business is best for you, especially since you can’t use your personal account for business transactions.

Luckily, you can have both a personal and business account on Venmo without memorizing multiple login names and passwords. You can store both profiles under the same Venmo login — enabling you to seamlessly switch from one to the other while simultaneously keeping all your personal and business transactions separate, safe, and secure.