Apps Like Payactiv: 12 Alternatives Compared (2026)

The best apps like Payactiv are Branch for workers whose employer offers it, Chime MyPay for workers with no employer program, and Tapcheck for employers who want a $0 employer cost. Your employer picks its provider, so start by asking HR which app it offers. If the answer is none, you’ll need an app you can download today. If you’re new to getting wages before payday, our guide to earned wage access covers the basics.

Eric Rosenberg, who founded Personal Profitability, wrote for Payactiv as a freelancer and later worked there as a marketing manager, until June 2026. Nobody at Payactiv reviewed this page. We held Payactiv to its own published fees and terms, the same standard we used for every other company here.

Personal Profitability may earn a commission from partner links on this page, at no cost to you. Partners don’t decide what we recommend or where it ranks. Fees and terms are each company’s as of 2026-10-24. Confirm them on the company’s site before you sign up.

Apps like Payactiv compared at a glance

Six of these Payactiv alternatives need your employer to sign up, and six work with any job that pays by direct deposit. The table shows the free path, the cost of speed, the most you can get, and the catch for each one.

App	Needs your employer?	Free path	Instant fee or subscription	Max	The catch
Branch	Yes	Instant to Branch Wallet, or ACH in 3–5 business days	$2.99–$4.99 to a debit card (W-2)	50% of projected earned wages, $1,000 per pay period, $500 per request	Free only inside Branch’s wallet
DailyPay	Yes	Next-business-day ACH, or instant to DailyPay Card with direct deposit	$1.99–$3.99 in its Program Terms, $3.49 on its fees page	Up to 100% of your available balance, $1,000 a day	Your whole paycheck routes through DailyPay
OnePay @Work	Yes	Instant, if your employer turned on free instant pay	“Small fee” otherwise, amount not published	“Part of your net earnings”	OnePay doesn’t publish the fee
Rain	Yes	Bank ACH in 1–3 days	“Small fee” to a card, amount not published	50% of current-period earnings	Instant price shows only in the app
Tapcheck	Yes	Gift cards through Prizeout	One flat fee, amount not published	70% of net pay	Free only as gift cards
ZayZoon	Yes	ZayZoon Visa Card or gift cards	Up to $5 per near-instant transfer	$200 per payout in a 2024 help article	Free only on its card
Chime MyPay	No	Scheduled advance within 24 hours	3% instant ($2 minimum, $5 maximum)	Up to $750 advertised, limits $20–$1,000	Chime calls it a line of credit
EarnIn	No	Standard transfer in 1–2 business days	Lightning Speed from $3.99, tips optional	$200 a day, $1,000 per pay period	Debits your bank on payday, state lawsuits
MoneyLion Instacash	No	Standard delivery to a MoneyLion Spend account	Turbo: 7.5% to Spend (capped at $14.99), 9% to another bank	$500, or $1,000 with qualifying direct deposit	No standard delivery to an outside bank
Dave ExtraCash	No	None	Up to $5 a month plus the greater of $5 or 5% per advance	$25–$500	Every advance carries a fee
Brigit	No	Only by emailing Brigit for an advance without a plan	$8.99 or $15.99 a month	$25–$500	You pay the subscription whether you borrow or not
Tilt	No	None after a 14-day trial	$8 a month, instant fee in Tilt’s Terms	$10–$500	Not offered in Connecticut, Maine, or D.C.
Payactiv (for comparison)	Yes	ACH in 1–3 business days, or Payactiv Card with $200+ direct deposit	$2.49 to its card without direct deposit, $3.49 to other cards	“A portion,” up to 50% and $500 a pay period in most cases	Your employer’s settings decide the final cap

Fees and terms verified 2026-10-24.

Is Payactiv worth it, or should you switch?

Payactiv is worth keeping if your employer offers it, and any app similar to Payactiv has to match Payactiv’s free bank transfer, its lack of tips, and its zero cost to employers. Payactiv’s pricing page lists a free ACH transfer in 1 to 3 business days, free real-time transfers to the Payactiv Visa Card when you get at least $200 per pay period by direct deposit, $2.49 to that card without the deposit, and $3.49 to other debit cards, Venmo, PayPal, or Walmart Cash Pickup. Payactiv says employers offer it at no cost, and its EWA page promises “always a free option and never any tips.”

Our Payactiv review covers those terms in detail. Before you hunt for something else, check whether you already have Payactiv under another name. Payactiv’s pricing applies to UKG Wallet and OnShift Wallet, and Paychex, Paylocity, and Paycor all run their on-demand pay through Payactiv.

Payactiv also bundles financial wellness features that most cash advance apps charge for or skip. Employees get the Payactiv Visa prepaid card or a payroll card with no maintenance, inactivity, or minimum balance fees, according to Payactiv’s FAQ, plus free bill pay, goal-based savings tools, a discount marketplace, and financial counseling. Payactiv charges no interest and no subscription, and you manage everything through one app instead of a stack of personal finance tools. Switching makes sense only when you change jobs, your new employer uses a different platform, or you have no employer program at all.

We judged every option below on the same things: a free path, a published fee, how much of your pay you can reach, and what happens if your paycheck comes up short. With an employer app, the provider takes repayment out of your next paycheck. Direct-to-consumer companies pull it from your bank account on payday, and you can end up overdrawn if the timing slips. That difference is why we rank employer apps ahead of download-anywhere apps.

Employer apps like Payactiv you can get through a job

Employer apps like Payactiv cost the least and carry the fewest risks, but you only get one if your employer signs up. These six matter when you’re comparing job offers or when your HR team is shopping for a provider. Each platform connects to payroll, caps your access at wages you’ve earned, and collects through a paycheck deduction.

Branch: best for workers who’ll use its wallet

Branch offers the cleanest free path of any employer app here. Branch charges nothing to move your advance instantly to the Branch Wallet and nothing for a standard ACH transfer to an outside bank, which its help center says takes 3 to 5 business days. If you want the money on another debit card right away, Branch charges W-2 workers $2.99 to $4.99 based on the amount. Contractors on 1099 accounts pay 2%, with a $2.99 minimum.

Branch caps advances at 50% of your projected earned wages in a pay period, up to $1,000, with a $500 limit per request. Employers pay nothing to offer it, according to Branch. Gig workers may already have Branch without knowing it, because Branch runs the Uber Pro Card and Instacart’s Shopper Rewards Card. Drivers and shoppers who use those cards get free payouts after each trip or batch.

The catch sits in the wallet. Branch gives you 8 free in-network Allpoint ATM withdrawals a month, then charges $2.00 each, and it can charge up to $5.00 a month on an account that sits dormant past month 12. Skip Branch if you won’t keep money in its account, since you need that account to use the free path.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: Free instant transfers to the Branch Wallet, where Payactiv’s free instant path needs $200 in direct deposit to its card. Branch publishes a hard cap of $1,000 per pay period.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: Instant transfers to an outside debit card cost $2.99 to $4.99, versus $3.49 at Payactiv. ATM and inactivity fees apply to the wallet.

DailyPay: best for workers who want the highest daily limit

DailyPay lets you reach more of your pay than any other app in this group. Its FAQ says you can transfer up to 100% of what’s available in the app, capped at $1,000 a day, or $1,500 a day to the DailyPay Card. DailyPay sets the share of your earnings that counts as “available” with each employer, and it doesn’t publish that number.

You can pay $0 two ways: the free next-business-day transfer, or an instant transfer to a DailyPay Card that receives your direct deposit. DailyPay’s own documents disagree on the instant price. The Program Terms list $1.99 to $3.99, and the Our Fees page says $3.49. Both say fees vary by employer. If your employer uses Workday, DailyPay is Workday’s strategic on-demand pay partner, and ADP offers a DailyPay version for Wisely cardholders with one free instant transfer a week.

Two catches. After your first transfer, your employer sends your entire paycheck to DailyPay, and DailyPay forwards what’s left on payday. And New York’s attorney general sued DailyPay in April 2025, claiming its most common advance, $20 for seven days with a $2.99 fee, works out to more than 750% APR. DailyPay sued first, asking a court to rule its product isn’t a loan. We found no ruling as of October 2026. Our DailyPay review and our Payactiv vs DailyPay comparison go deeper.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: A higher daily limit than Payactiv publishes, and free instant pay to the DailyPay Card with direct deposit.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: Your whole paycheck flows through DailyPay, the instant fee varies by employer, and the New York case is still open.

OnePay @Work: best for Walmart associates

OnePay @Work, the product formerly known as Even and then ONE@Work, can cost you nothing at all. OnePay calls it “a free employee benefit.” Its product page says you get instant pay for free if your employer has set up that option, and a small fee applies to instant deposits if your employer hasn’t. OnePay says every other Instapay delivery option is free. OnePay doesn’t publish the fee amount or a percent cap, only that you can reach “part of your net earnings.”

Walmart offers associates no-cost OnePay @Work, according to its benefits page, with exclusions for New York, Puerto Rico, truck drivers, and executives. Spark Driver couriers also get free instant trip earnings through OnePay. If you open a OnePay deposit account, OnePay adds extras like early direct deposit and a 3.35% APY savings rate (as of August 1, 2026).

Watch the menu. OnePay also sells OnePay Advance, an overdraft feature with a flat 3% fee. That product doesn’t count as employer EWA, so don’t mix up the two in the app.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: Free instant pay when your employer configures it, and every other delivery option free.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: OnePay doesn’t publish its instant fee or access cap, while Payactiv publishes its fee table.

Rain: best for workers who want a low-balance safety net

Rain gives you a free bank transfer and an optional feature that moves earned wages into your checking account when your balance gets low. Rain’s integrations page says you can transfer up to 50% of current-period earnings to your bank for free, or to any card for a small fee. Rain’s help desk puts the free ACH timing at 1 to 3 days. Rain’s EWA Agreement mentions $3.99 only as an example, so Rain doesn’t publish its actual instant fee.

With Balance Protection turned on, Rain moves earned wages into your checking account when the balance drops below $100. You can use it to head off an overdraft fee, but turn it on only if you’d rather spend next week’s pay today. Rain also bundles free tax filing, financial coaching, automated savings, and low-balance alerts. Rain’s agreement includes a “No Indebtedness” clause: if the payroll deduction falls short, you generally don’t owe Rain the difference. Rain says it funds every transfer and guarantees positive take-home pay on payday.

You see the instant price only in the app. Check it before you confirm, and wait the 1 to 3 days whenever you can.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: A published 50% cap, a free bank transfer, and Balance Protection, which Payactiv doesn’t offer.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: Rain doesn’t publish its instant fee, and Payactiv does.

Tapcheck: best for workers who buy gift cards anyway

Tapcheck lets you reach the largest published share of net pay of any app here, up to 70%. Tapcheck’s employee page says the amount you can reach is typically $100 a day, and you don’t have to change your direct deposit. Tapcheck takes repayment out of your next paycheck and shows it as a line on your pay stub.

Tapcheck charges “one flat ATM-like fee” to transfer cash and offers a lower fee if you wait until the next day. Tapcheck doesn’t publish either amount. Tapcheck waives the fee when you take your pay as a gift card through Prizeout, which adds up to 20% in extra gift card value. That’s a good deal if you were going to spend the money at that store anyway, and a bad one if you need cash for rent.

So the only free path is a gift card. If you need cash, you’ll pay a fee Tapcheck won’t name in public.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: The highest published access cap here, 70% of net pay, with no direct deposit change.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: Cash always costs a fee Tapcheck doesn’t publish, where Payactiv’s bank transfer is free.

ZayZoon: best for small-business employees

ZayZoon is the Payactiv alternative you’re most likely to see at a small employer, because ZayZoon sells through more than 300 payroll partners. ZayZoon’s terms say a near-instant transfer, including to Venmo or Zelle, costs up to $5 and never more. Connecticut workers pay $4, limited to one per pay period. Transfers to the ZayZoon Visa Card and gift cards cost $0.

ZayZoon’s terms rule out subscription, membership, enrollment, maintenance, inactivity, and cancellation fees. ZayZoon issues advances on a nonrecourse basis, so outside of fraud, ZayZoon won’t chase you personally if payroll comes up short. UKG picked ZayZoon as the exclusive EWA provider for UKG Wallet in UKG Ready, with a rollout planned for early 2027.

ZayZoon doesn’t publish how much of your pay you can reach, and the free path means using its card or gift cards.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: A hard $5 ceiling on instant fees and a written ban on subscription and membership fees.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: No published access cap, and the free path runs through ZayZoon’s card or gift cards, much like Payactiv’s card.

Payactiv alternatives you can download without your employer

Direct-to-consumer cash advance apps work with almost any job, but the companies behind them collect from your bank account instead of your paycheck, and most cost more. Each company estimates your income from your bank deposits, advances a small amount, and debits your account on payday. Regulators treat these advance apps differently from employer EWA, which the legal section below covers. None of the six charges interest, but subscriptions, express fees, and tip prompts do the same job.

Chime MyPay: best for workers who already bank with Chime

Chime caps the MyPay instant fee at $5, the lowest published cap among the cash advance apps here, and you can use MyPay free if you wait. Chime’s MyPay page says a scheduled advance that arrives within 24 hours costs nothing. Instant delivery costs 3% of the advance, with a $2 minimum and a $5 maximum. Chime charges no subscription, doesn’t check your credit, and doesn’t report your payment history to the credit bureaus.

Chime advertises “up to $750,” and its footnote says eligible members may get a limit of $20 to $1,000 per pay period. To qualify, you need $200 or more in qualifying direct deposits into Chime, an activated physical Chime card, and an eligible state.

Know what you’re signing. Chime calls MyPay “a line of credit” with limits “based on estimated income and risk-based criteria.” That’s a different product from Payactiv, which caps you at wages your employer’s payroll data shows you’ve earned, and you’ll receive a credit limit instead of a wage balance. And you’ll need to move your direct deposit to a Chime bank account in an eligible state. We found no regulatory action specific to MyPay.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: Works without your employer, with a free 24-hour option and a $5 maximum fee.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: MyPay is a line of credit with risk-based limits, and you need your direct deposit at Chime.

EarnIn: best for workers who won’t switch banks

You can use EarnIn with your existing checking account and take a free standard transfer, which makes EarnIn the pick for workers who want to keep their current bank. EarnIn’s Cash Out page lists up to $200 a day and $1,000 per pay period. New York residents max out at $100 a day and Maryland residents at $150. Standard transfers are free and take 1 to 2 business days. Lightning Speed starts at $3.99, and EarnIn asks for optional tips.

EarnIn needs a consistent direct deposit schedule and a linked checking account, and it verifies work through a work email, your GPS work location, or uploaded timesheets. EarnIn accepts Social Security, SSI, SSDI, and VA payments but not unemployment. EarnIn doesn’t check your credit and doesn’t report Cash Out to the bureaus. On payday, EarnIn debits your bank for the amount you took plus any tips or fees.

The catches: tip prompts, which we’d skip every time, and lawsuits. Colorado’s attorney general sued EarnIn in August 2026, and D.C.’s attorney general sued in November 2024. Our EarnIn review walks through the fees by state.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: No employer needed, no subscription, and a free standard transfer that keeps your current bank.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: EarnIn debits your bank on payday instead of taking a payroll deduction like Payactiv, asks for tips, and faces two attorney general suits.

MoneyLion Instacash: best for MoneyLion account holders

MoneyLion Instacash is free only if you send the money to a MoneyLion Spend account. MoneyLion’s Instacash page lists standard delivery to Spend at $0 and standard delivery to an outside checking account as “Not available.” Turbo delivery costs 7.5% of the advance to Spend, capped at $14.99, or 9% to an outside account. MoneyLion asks for optional tips.

MoneyLion advertises up to $500, or up to $1,000 with qualifying recurring direct deposits into a MoneyLion Spend account, with a $100 maximum per disbursement. You need a checking account open at least two months with regular income deposits. MoneyLion doesn’t pull your credit. If a repayment fails, MoneyLion says it may take a partial repayment and try again.

Speed costs more here. A 9% fee on a $100 advance is $9, the steepest instant price in this list. MoneyLion also settled with the CFPB in 2025 and faces a New York lawsuit, both covered below.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: Free standard delivery into MoneyLion Spend, and up to $1,000 with qualifying direct deposit.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: No standard delivery to an outside bank, a 9% Turbo fee to one, and a CFPB judgment on its record.

Dave ExtraCash: best for members who want a bank account and advance in one

Dave ExtraCash has no free path, because Dave charges a fee on every advance. Dave’s fee page lists a membership of up to $5 a month and an overdraft fee on each ExtraCash advance equal to the greater of $5 or 5%. Dave’s fee schedule for its Coastal Community Bank accounts caps that fee at $15. Moving the money to Dave Checking costs nothing, and an express transfer to an outside debit card adds 1.5%.

ExtraCash runs $25 to $500, and Dave says “few qualify for $500.” You need to open an ExtraCash account and a Dave Checking account. Dave doesn’t run credit checks, and ExtraCash is “repayable on demand,” according to Dave.

Do the math first. A $100 advance costs at least $5 plus the membership, which beats a payday loan and loses to every free path on this page. The FTC and Justice Department also have a case against Dave pending.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: No credit check, and Dave Checking transfers cost nothing.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: Every advance carries at least a $5 fee plus up to $5 a month, where Payactiv’s ACH transfer is free.

Brigit: best for people who’ll use its credit builder

Brigit charges a monthly subscription for its advances, so you pay whether you borrow that month or not. Brigit’s pricing article lists Plus at $8.99 a month, with Instant Cash and a paid Express Delivery option, and Premium at $15.99 a month, which adds a credit builder and free Express Delivery. Brigit doesn’t publish the Plus express fee. You can get an advance without a plan only by emailing [email protected] and asking.

Brigit advances run $25 to $500, or $25 to $250 in Maine, and Brigit says its average advance is $72. Brigit doesn’t look at your credit score for Instant Cash and charges no late fees.

Paying $8.99 a month for a $72 advance is a steep price for a few days of float. Brigit paid $18 million in refunds under a 2023 FTC order, and Minnesota’s attorney general sued Brigit in June 2026.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: No late fees, and Premium adds a credit builder that Payactiv doesn’t offer.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: A monthly subscription that Payactiv doesn’t charge, an unpublished Plus express fee, and a Minnesota lawsuit.

Tilt: best for former Empower users

Tilt, the app formerly called Empower, requires an $8 monthly subscription after a 14-day trial for first-time customers. Returning customers pay right away. Tilt’s cash advance page lists advances of $10 to $500, no credit check, and no interest or late fees, and Tilt collects automatically on your detected payday.

Tilt calls instant delivery optional and points to its Terms for the fee, so Tilt doesn’t post that price on its site. Tilt says its average offer in the third quarter of 2026 was $96 for first-time customers and $178 for everyone else. Connecticut, Maine, and D.C. residents can’t use the cash advance.

Tilt’s subscription works out to $96 a year before you take a dollar. Cancel the trial if you don’t plan to use Tilt every month.

• Pros compared with Payactiv: Advances from $10 to $500 with no credit check, interest, or late fees.
• Cons compared with Payactiv: An $8 monthly subscription and an instant fee Tilt doesn’t post on its site.

Are direct-to-consumer apps like Payactiv legal?

Direct-to-consumer apps like Payactiv’s rivals are legal to use, but several state attorneys general and federal agencies have sued them, arguing they’re loans in disguise. The CFPB drew the line in a December 2025 advisory opinion: employer EWA that caps advances at payroll-verified wages, collects through a paycheck deduction, skips credit checks, and gives up any claim against the worker isn’t credit under federal lending law. The CFPB took no position on apps that debit your bank account. Our explainer on whether earned wage access is a loan covers the full history.

Company	Who acted	What they claim	Status as of October 2026
EarnIn	Colorado AG, Aug. 27, 2026	3.1 million loans to 56,778 Coloradans, $16 million in tips and fees, APRs of several hundred percent	Pending
EarnIn	D.C. AG, Nov. 19, 2024	Cash Out is an unlicensed loan with an average APR over 300%	EarnIn’s lawyers say a court dismissed most claims in May 2025. Reports on the rest conflict.
Dave	FTC and DOJ, Nov. 2024	Misleading “up to $500” claims and an undisclosed express fee. DOJ added CEO Jason Wilk in December 2024.	Pending
Dave	City of Baltimore, Dec. 30, 2025	ExtraCash charges more than 10 times Maryland’s 33% APR cap	Pending
MoneyLion	CFPB	Military Lending Act and cancellation violations	Final judgment Nov. 24, 2025: $1.75 million in redress
MoneyLion	New York AG, April 14, 2025	More than half of advances topped 500% APR	Pending
Brigit	Minnesota AG, June 10, 2026	Unlicensed lending with APRs regularly above 300% against a 50% state cap	Pending
Brigit	FTC, Nov. 2023	Deceptive advance amounts, fees, and cancellation	Resolved, $18 million for refunds

New York’s attorney general sued DailyPay on the same day as MoneyLion, so the employer side isn’t immune. For your own decision, the lawsuits matter less than the mechanics they describe: small fees on short advances add up to triple-digit APRs, and when a company debits your bank on payday, you can end up with the overdraft you were trying to avoid. Rules also differ across states, which our earned wage access laws tracker follows.

What these Payactiv alternatives cost over a year

A Payactiv alternative costs $0 a year if you use the free path and about $86 to $258 a year if you pay for speed or a subscription. The CFPB’s 2024 Data Spotlight found the average employer EWA advance was $106, the average fee when workers paid one was $3.18, and the average worker took 27 advances a year. The CFPB calls the resulting rate on a 10-day advance “an illustrative APR” of 109.5%.

Option	Cost per $106 advance	Cost of 27 advances a year
Any free path (Branch Wallet, DailyPay next-day ACH, Chime MyPay within 24 hours)	$0	$0
CFPB average paid fee	$3.18	$85.86
Chime MyPay instant (3%)	$3.18	$85.86
EarnIn Lightning Speed ($5.99 on $75.01 to $150)	$5.99	$161.73
Tilt subscription	Included in $8 a month	$96
Brigit Plus subscription	Included in $8.99 a month	$107.88
Dave ExtraCash (5% fee plus $5 a month)	$5.30 plus membership	$203.10
MoneyLion Turbo to an outside bank (9%)	$9.54	$257.58

The pattern holds across every row: the free path wins, and a subscription costs you even in the months you don’t borrow. If you use any of these apps every pay period, you’ve stopped fixing a timing gap and started covering a budget gap, and a simple budgeting plan will save you more than any fee comparison. A starter emergency fund of a few hundred dollars ends the need for all of them. Our breakdown of earned wage access fees runs the APR math for other amounts.

Payactiv alternatives for employers

Employers comparing Payactiv alternatives should start with Tapcheck, Branch, and DailyPay, all of which say they cost the business nothing and give employees a free way to get paid early. Tapcheck advertises “$0 Employer Cost” and connects to more than 300 payroll and timekeeping systems. Branch says employers need “no pre-funding, no escrow.” DailyPay connects to more than 180 HCM, payroll, and time systems, including Workday, SAP, ADP, and Oracle. ZayZoon fits small businesses that run payroll through one of its 300-plus partners.

Ask every vendor three questions before you sign: what your workers pay for instant transfers, whether a free option exists for every worker, and what happens if a deduction comes up short. A provider that won’t put the worker fee in writing is a provider your staff will complain about. Our roundup of the best earned wage access providers compares employer costs, integrations, and state licenses side by side.

How we picked these apps like Payactiv

We compared these products and services using each company’s own fee pages, terms, and help centers, read between October 22 and October 24, 2026, plus filings from regulators. We didn’t test any app with our own money, and no company paid for a spot. We ranked each group by five factors:

1. A free path any worker can use, and how easy that path is to reach.
2. A published instant fee. Apps that hide the number lost ground.
3. How repayment works. Payroll deduction beats a bank debit.
4. No tips and no required subscription.
5. Lawsuits, regulator orders, and what they say about the product.

We left out Clair because its advances now come from a bank with underwriting, which makes them a different product from Payactiv. For more choices, see our list of the best earned wage access apps.

When none of these apps fit

If none of these apps fit, the cheapest fix is often a phone call. Ask your employer for a payroll advance or an off-cycle check. Call the company you owe and ask whether it will move your due date before the bill is late. If an overdraft fee already hit, ask your bank to reverse it, which our guide to getting overdraft fees refunded walks through.

Stay away from payday loans. A common payday loan fee is $15 per $100 borrowed, which the CFPB says equals almost 400% APR on a two-week loan. Our comparison of earned wage access vs payday loans runs the numbers on a $200 shortfall.

Alternatives to other pay-early apps

If you use a different pay-early app today, start with our guide for that app, where we compare its fees and catches with cheaper options.

• Apps like DailyPay
• Apps like Branch
• Apps like Rain
• Apps like ZayZoon
• Apps like Tapcheck
• Apps like Clair
• Apps like EarnIn
• Apps like Dave
• Apps like Brigit
• Apps like MoneyLion
• Apps like Cleo
• Apps like Klover

Apps like Payactiv FAQ

Pick the free path, whichever app you use

The best Payactiv alternative is the one with a free path you’ll use. If your employer offers Branch, DailyPay, or another payroll app, take it over any cash advance app, and wait for the free transfer. With no employer program, Chime MyPay and EarnIn’s standard transfer cost nothing if you can wait a day or two. Skip the tips, cancel subscriptions you don’t need, and treat a second cash advance in a row as the signal to rework your spending and build a buffer instead. If your hours swing week to week, our guide to budgeting with irregular income helps.