In this guide, I give you a complete breakdown of MPesa charges for sending and withdrawing money using Safaricom’s Mpesa.

Mpesa is the most widely used means of payments in Kenya. We use it daily to pay for services and products making it an indispensable tool for the common mwananchi.

Due to the dominance of MPesa, the government has revised its taxes on the platform in the past to earn more revenue. Most significant was the revision of MPesa tariffs which transferred the cost to MPesa charges and thus to the customers.

In 2020 also, Safaricom revised their charges courtesy of the financial recession coursed by the Coronavirus pandemic. These changes were aimed at reducing the cost of transactions on the platform while increasing the capacity of transactions. However the Telecom giant announced the expiry of the free M-Pesa transactions period effective as from 1st January 2021.

Thus, we have new MPesa charges applicable form January 2021 onwards. Let’s find out these rates depending on each type of transaction

Min (Kshs.)	Max (Kshs.)	Withdraw from MPesa agent	Send to unregistered users	Send to MPesa users
1	49	N/A	N/A	Free
50	100	10	N/A	Free
101	500	27	45	Free
501	1,000	28	49	Free
1,001	1,500	28	59	26
1.501	2,500	28	74	41
2,501	3,500	50	112	56
3,501	5,000	67	135	61
5,001	7,500	84	166	77
7,501	10,000	112	205	87
10,001	15,000	162	265	97
15,001	20,000	180	288	102
20,001	35,000	191	309	105
35,001	50,000	270	N/A	105
50,001	150,000	300	N/A	105

MPesa Withdrawal charges from ATM

Did you know you can also withdraw money from any Bank ATM of some of the most popular banks in Kenya?

This comes in handy when you are in the middle of town and you have no money nor do you have your ID card. Nowadays, most MPesa agents will not allow you to withdraw money without an original ID Card.

These banks include Equity Bank, Diamond Trust Bank, KCB, Family Bank and NIC Bank.

Amount	Withdrawal charges
Ksh 200 – Ksh 2,500	34
Ksh 2,501 – Ksh 5,000	67
Ksh 5,001 – Ksh 10,000	112
Ksh 10,001 – Ksh 20,000	197

As you can notice from the revised charges list above, Safaricom has tried to incentivize the use of MPesa for daily transactions. For instance, it’s now free to send money between Ksh 50 and Ksh 1,000. Originally, it would cost you at least Ksh 20 to do the same.

Sending money between Safaricom numbers and withdrawing money aren’t the only transactions you can do with MPesa. You can also send and receive money from Paypal, Skrill, Airtel, Equity Bank and also pay for services such as NHIF, KPLC.

Lipa na MPesa Charges

MPesa also has two channels through which MPesa users can buy products or services. The channels are based on the two types of commodities: products and services but can be used interchangeably. The channels which are under Lipa na MPesa service include

• Pay Bill: mainly for services
• Buy Goods and Services: mainly for products

Take note that there are no customer’s charges for payments made using Lipa na M-PESA or Buy Goods except for payments made at fuel stations. To check Lipa na MPesa charges

1. Dial *234*2#
2. Select MPesa Information
3. Choose Tariff Query
4. Select Lipa na MPesa
5. Enter Paybill number or Till Number
6. Enter amount
7. Submit

You will receive a notification on the Lipa na MPesa tariff applicable for your particular transaction. I have done this several times and it always informs me of zero charges.

Other services that have no transaction costs include:

• Checking MPesa balance
• Purchasing Safaricom Airtime
• Checking Mshwari and KCB MPesa loan limit and balance
• Sending and Withdrawing from MShwari or KCB MPesa

However, when sending money to other telecommunications companies such as Airtel, or banks, there is usually a fee charged depending on the amount being transacted.

Things to note

• Maximum Account Balance in an MPesa number is Ksh 300,000
• The maximum total amount of money you can transact in a day is Ksh 300,000.
• Maximum amount per transaction is Ksh 150,000
• At an agent outlet, you cannot deposit money directly into another M-PESA customer’s account
• You earn Bonga points when you transact on M-PESA.
• To transact at any M-PESA Agent outlet, you will be required to produce your original identification document, i.e., National ID or Kenyan Passport.
• Dial *234# to view applicable charges or use M-PESA cost calculator on mySafaricom App

MPesa charges are bound to change as times go by and new technologies such as bitcoin become more preferred due to their low cost of transactions and lack of boundaries. Also, when the current recession is over, Safaricom is likely to revise its MPesa charges again.

Besides understanding the charges for all MPesa transactions, learn how to get your MPesa statement to review your financial transactions over the last year and make better financial decisions for the future.