For many small businesses and even just personal exchanges, PayPal is a program that’s used pretty frequently. Despite its popularity, it’s not always the best choice when making personal transactions. There are a few other free money transfer applications that essentially do the same thing as PayPal but with less work involved. The best of these is by far: Square Cash.
What is Square Cash
Square Cash (or Cash App) is a free mobile app for transferring money between users. The transactions are fast and simple, and function off of a user created screenname called a $cashtag.
Like PayPal, Square Cash links directly to your debit (or credit) card in order to access your immediate funds. It essentially works like a mobile app version of your debit card. You can even get a Cash Card to use funds in the app, if you want to limit the amount you spend with it.
Why use Square Cash over PayPal
The main benefit of Square Cash is the speed and simplicity of the transaction. While both apps function similarly and offer similar forms of payment, Square Cash transactions are instant, and feature a much shorter wait time when transfering to your bank account.
This makes the Cash App perfect for personal exchanges. Maybe you’re out to dinner with some friends and you pay with your card, with the intention of your friends paying you back. The Cash App can make this return payment instant. If these types of exchanges happen frequently, then PayPal is not going to be a great option considering the time it takes to use it.
When not to use Square Cash over PayPal
Despite having the benefit of instant transactions, there are some times where Square Cash isn’t the best choice. Primarily when making international exchanges. Unfortunately, Square Cash is only available to U.S. residents. As such, if you’re going to make international payments, then PayPal is one of your better options.
Other alternatives
Venmo is the main competitor of both, as it fits somewhere in the middle ground between the two. It features faster and simpler transactions than PayPal, but still more complex and slower transactions then Square Cash. All three apps are completely free to use, and each has their own benefits. While PayPal is still a great option for some, you may want to look into getting Square Cash if you’re frequently sending money between friends.
