Each month, more than 30 million people in Kenya use Mpesa services, according to its operator Safaricom, making the country M-PESA’s most active market with a collective amount of 51 million people.
“M-PESA’s success has been achieved on the back of consistent focus on the needs of our customers by ensuring that we are constantly delivering innovations that add value to their lives,” Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa was quoted when the telco crossed this 30 million monthly active M-PESA customers milestone in 2022.
But this success comes at a price – to customers. Some fees apply for using Mpesa services, which the mobile operator uses to recoup operating expenses and to make a profit to enable them to pay those who contribute to the growth and sustaining of the service, like runners of Mpesa agent shops and outlets countrywide.
The main tariff charges are withdrawal costs and costs for sending money within its network (to other Safaricom users and Pochi la Biashara, the Mpesa product for small businesses) and to other networks like Airtel Money and Telkom Kenya’s T-Kash.
Check out the latest Mpesa charges for the year 2024:
The charges that a customer incurs depend on the amount of transaction and the transaction type.
It is cheaper to send money from one Safaricom number to another within the Mpesa network than to send it to other registered mobile networks for Airtel and Telkom.
Here are the new transaction costs;
| Transaction amount | Cost of sending money within Safaricom (Mpesa to Mpesa) | Mpesa to Airtel Money and T-Kash charges |
| Ksh1 – Ksh49 | Free | Free |
| Ksh50 – Ksh100 | Free | Free |
| Ksh101 – Ksh500 | Ksh7 | Ksh7 |
| Ksh501 – Ksh1,000 | Ksh13 | Ksh13 |
| Ksh1,001 – Ksh1,500 | Ksh23 | Ksh23 |
| Ksh1,501 – Ksh2,500 | Ksh33 | Ksh33 |
| Ksh2,501 – Ksh3,500 | Ksh53 | Ksh53 |
| Ksh3,501 – Ksh5,000 | Ksh57 | Ksh57 |
| Ksh5,001 – Ksh7,500 | Ksh78 | Ksh78 |
| Ksh7,501 – Ksh10,000 | Ksh90 | Ksh90 |
| Ksh10,001 – Ksh15,000 | Ksh100 | Ksh100 |
| Ksh15,001 – Ksh20,000 | Ksh105 | Ksh105 |
| Ksh20,001 – Ksh35,000 | Ksh108 | Ksh108 |
| Ksh35,001 – Ksh50,000 | Ksh108 | Ksh108 |
| kSH50,001 – kSH250,000 | Ksh108 | Ksh108 |
The maximum amount of money you can send from Mpesa once, in one transaction, was raised from Ksh150,000 and is Ksh250,000 in 2024.
Your Mpesa account can hold a balance of Ksh500,000 at a particular moment. This is also the maximum daily transaction value.
For withdrawals, you can withdraw a minimum of Ksh50 from your Safaricom Mpesa account, and you can get Ksh250,000 if you want to get it in cash from agent outlets if you want it in one withdrawal.
However, the higher the amount of money you want to withdraw, the higher the withdrawal charges. Have a look at Mpesa withdrawal costs;
Mpesa withdrawal cost chart 2024
| Mpesa withdrawal amount | Charges |
| Ksh1 – Ksh49 | N/A |
| Ksh50 – Ksh100 | Ksh11 |
| Ksh101 – Ksh500 | Ksh29 |
| Ksh501 – Ksh1,000 | Ksh29 |
| Ksh1,001 – Ksh1,500 | Ksh29 |
| Ksh1,501 – Ksh2,500 | Ksh29 |
| Ksh2,501 – Ksh3,500 | Ksh52 |
| Ksh3,501 – Ksh5,000 | Ksh69 |
| Ksh5,001 – Ksh7,500 | Ksh87 |
| Ksh7,501 – Ksh10,000 | Ksh115 |
| Ksh10,001 – Ksh15,000 | Ksh167 |
| Ksh15,001 – Ksh20,000 | Ksh185 |
| Ksh20,001 – Ksh35,000 | Ksh197 |
| Ksh35,001 – Ksh50,000 | Ksh278 |
| Ksh50,001 – Ksh150,000 | Ksh309 |
| Ksh151,000 – Ksh250,000 | Ksh309 |
All Mpesa services can be accessed on the Safaricom sim toolkit on your phone, via the Mpesa App, or by dialing USSD *334#.
