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6. Earning (10 Best Cash Advance Apps)

• Cash Advance: Up to $100/day
• Speed: 1-3 business days or instant
• Fees: Optional tips
• Our Rating: 5 / 5

The very first payroll advance app was ActiveHours, which is now Earnin.

Its creator, Ram Palaniappan, says its goal is to make the financial system more equal by helping workers break free of the pay cycle that holds back their money.

Earnin works much the same way as Brigit, but it only allows you to cash out up to $100 per day and up to $750 per pay period.

There’s no fee for this service, but you can add a “tip” of up to $14. Some even opt to “pay it forward”, deliberately leaving a bigger tip to cover the cost for those who can’t afford it.

In addition to pay cheque advances, Earnin provides several other features to help workers on a budget.

You can also read: TurboTax vs. H&R Block: Full Comparison 2026

Notable Features

• Balance Shield: Use other features like Balance Shield for overdraft protection
• Earning Express: Earning Express is used for early access to pay up to two days earlier.
• Financial Calendar: The Financial Calendar is to track expenses and schedule cash advances

7. MoneyLion

• Cash Advance: Up to $500
• Speed: The cash advance can be received in up to five business days or instantly for a fee.
• Fees: None, unless you want an instant transfer
• Our Rating: 4.2 / 5

Another online banking app that offers a combination of early cash advances and early pay cheque access is MoneyLion.

Its Instacash feature lets you borrow up to $500 without interest or a credit check. The money appears in your account within minutes for a fee or in up to five business days for free.

In addition, its online RoarMoney account gives you access to your pay cheque up to two days early.

Notable Features

But MoneyLion’s features don’t end there.

• Spending & Money Management Interface: It also offers a comprehensive spending and money management interface with a low-cost investing platform that lets you transfer money from your savings account into a portfolio of exchange-traded funds customised to fit your risk tolerance. You can also adjust your investments to suit specific interests, such as socially responsible investing.
• No Management Fees: Your account is fully managed but has no management fees or minimum balance. However, there is a tiered monthly account fee ranging from $1 to $5, depending on how much you invest. There’s even an automatic investment feature to make investing easy.
• Paid Account Option: For $19.99 per month, you can upgrade to a Credit Builder Plus account. This feature allows you to take out a loan of up to $1,000 and pay it back over 12 months. Annual percentage rates (APRs) range from 5.99% to 29.99%, depending on your credit rating. You can build a solid credit history by making regular, on-time payments. Credit Builder Plus also includes other features to help build your credit. It comes with free credit monitoring, allowing you to track your progress, and it allows you to waive the monthly administrative fee on a RoarMoney bank account, a MoneyLion investment account, or both.

8. Payactiv

• Cash Advance: Up to 50% of your earned pay
• Speed: Transfers can be completed in 1-3 business days for free or instantly for a fee.
• Fee: $3 per instant transfer
• Our Rating: 3.9 / 5

There are two ways to use Payact iv.

First, if your employer offers it to you as a benefit, you can sign up for earned wage access. It allows you to collect your wages as soon as you earn them. This service comes with a $1 fee for each day you use it, capped at $5 for each two-week pay period unless you have direct deposit to your Payactiv Visa debit card; then it’s free.

You can transfer the money to your bank account, load it to a Payactiv Visa prepaid card, or receive it in cash at a Walmart Money Center. There’s a $1.99 fee for cash pickup and instant deposits to cards other than the Payactiv card.

Second, if your employer doesn’t offer Payactiv, you can still sign up for the Payactiv Visa card. That doesn’t qualify you for earned wage access, but you can deposit your paycheque on the card up to two days early. The card is accepted anywhere Visa is and works at 40,000 MoneyPass ATMs.

Notable Features

• Perks for Employees: The Payactiv app also offers one-on-one financial coaching, savings tools, and payment features for employees. You can use it to pay bills, summon an Uber, make payments to friends, or make purchases at businesses like Amazon and Walmart. It even provides discounts on certain purchases.
• Perks for Employers: Payactiv has perks for employers as well. It makes payroll easier and automatically handles tips and mileage reimbursement distribution if you coordinate your team, arrange shifts, and pay bonuses. The service costs employers nothing and takes only two days to set up.

9. Revolut

• Cash Advance: Up to your employer
• Speed: Instantly to a few days
• Fees: Up to employer
• Our rating: 5 / 5

For a limited time, earn a $10 cash bonus when you sign up for a Revolut account.

Revolut is a financial technology company that makes it easy to access your entire pay cheque early — up to 2 days before your scheduled payday with a qualifying direct deposit payer.

Unlike some early direct deposit providers, Revolut doesn’t take any fees from your pay cheque. And you’ll get a notification as soon as the funds hit your account — no more worrying about funds lost in limbo.

Plus, there are no hidden fees or minimum balance requirements.

Notable Features:

• 4.25% APY on savings (vs. 3.25% with Revolut Standard)
• Primary accidental medical insurance, trip delay expense coverage, trip cancellation and interruption coverage, and lost or damaged baggage protection
• Lounge access with SmartDelay for you and a friend, plus discounted airport lounge access

10. Klover

• Cash Advance: Up to $200
• Speed: Instantly to 3 business days
• Fee: Varies depending on speed
• Our Rating: 4.5 / 5

Klover offers cash advances with no interest or late fees. It takes only seconds to set up an account, and once you link your bank, you can apply for a cash advance without a credit check.

Klover doesn’t charge any fees. Instead, they leverage your data, sending you targeted ads that earn Klover commissions when you click the links and make a purchase. But don’t worry; they use military-grade 256-bit encryption to ensure your privacy.

Notable Features

• You can earn points for things like taking surveys or watching ads and use the points to get larger cash advances
• Use the Klover budgeting tools to create goals, track spending, and monitor your credit score
• Enter the daily sweepstakes to earn $100 daily

You can also read: 13 Best Mortgage Lenders – Home Purchase and Refinance Loans

How Cash Advance Apps Work

Technically, the service these apps offer isn’t a loan. It’s a pay cheque or cash advance to help cover you until your next payday. In other words, it’s a way to get paid a little early for the work you’ve already performed, usually without a credit check.

Cash advance apps pay you for some of the work you’ve already done this week, even if your pay cheque is still several days away. For example, the app transfers the $100 you need to borrow to your checking account, and when your next pay cheque arrives, the app takes $100 directly from it to cover the cost.

It’s the same way a payday loan works but with one crucial difference: There’s no interest.

When you receive your paycheque, all that comes out is the $100 you actually received—without an extra $15 or more in interest. The apps earn money in various other ways, including tips and monthly fees.

However, the lack of interest doesn’t mean there’s no downside.

You’re still taking money out of your next pay cheque, leaving yourself with even less to pay all the bills. For many, that leads to taking another advance before the next pay cheque and another pay cheque after that. Eventually, you’re stuck in a cycle. You’re always behind and dependent on the app and the advances it offers to get you through the month.

Taking a pay cheque advance is only a stopgap measure. It doesn’t make your limited paycheck stretch any further this month than it did last month. Use it for immediate cash to deal with an unexpected one-time expense. If you consistently fall behind, it’s necessary to either generate additional income or make some financial adjustments.

You can also read: 10 Best Budgeting Apps in 2026

 

Payday Advance App Won’t Lend Enough? (10 Best Cash Advance Apps)

Sometimes, the $100 or $250 limit on payday advance apps isn’t enough to cover all your expenses. Even in this situation, a payday loan isn’t the best way to get the help you need.

A personal loan has much lower interest and more manageable payments than a payday loan, which is due in a lump sum.

Banks, credit unions, online lenders, and peer-to-peer lenders like Prosper offer personal loans. The lender performs a credit check before approving you for a loan. Some personal loans, called secured loans, also require some form of collateral, such as a car or cash in your bank account. Unsecured loans don’t require collateral, but they usually have higher interest rates.

Banks offer personal loans for amounts ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. You can get a personal loan for as low as 3% AP if you have great credit. That’s significantly less than the rate on most credit cards.

However, if your credit is poor, the interest rate on a personal loan could be as high as 36%. Additionally, these loans often come with origination fees of 1% to 6%. So, before signing off on a loan, check the total cost to ensure using your credit card wouldn’t be cheaper.

Pros and Cons of Cash Advance Apps (10 Best Cash Advance Apps)

Before choosing a cash advance app, understand the pros and cons of using one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions about paycheck advance apps? Here are some answers to relatively common questions about what they are (and aren’t) and how they work.

Is a pay cheque advance a loan?

A paycheck advance is not technically a loan because it doesn’t charge interest. This is an important and positive contrast with payday loans, which infamously charge ridiculously high interest rates that trap borrowers in cycles of debt.

Pay cheque advances often carry one-time fees, and some apps charge subscription fees to cover the cost of additional services. But you shouldn’t pay interest on a paycheck advance (and definitely not on an early direct deposit).

What’s the difference between a pay-check advance and an early direct deposit?

A paycheck advance is a partial advance on your next pay cheque. It’s paid back, with or without a fee, when you receive that paycheck. It can come anytime during your pay period, but typically one to two weeks in advance.

Early direct deposit is an early deposit of your entire pay cheque. It doesn’t need to be repaid and shouldn’t carry a fee. It arrives closer to your pay date than a pay cheque advance can — typically two business days early and no more than four.

How Much Does a Cash Advance Cost?

It depends on the service you’re using. A pay cheque advance can cost anywhere from nothing to $4 or $5. Instant advances typically cost more if the money hits your account as soon as you authorise the transfer.

Final Word (10 Best Cash Advance Apps to Help You Make It to Payday)

If you need money in a hurry to cover an unexpected expense, the best cash advance apps offer a cheap and convenient way to get it.

However, they’re not a long-term solution to your financial woes. If you consistently have trouble making ends meet, you need more than just a one-time cash infusion.

You need to stop relying on living from pay cheque to pay cheque.

Fortunately, many of these apps help you with that too. For starters, they help you break free from payday lenders and the high-interest payments they charge. They also help you stay on top of your bills and avoid the late or overdraft fees weighing down your budget.

Some payday advance apps also offer budgeting tools to help you track and manage your spending or automated savings tools to help you build up your emergency fund. Many also provide ways to help you earn extra money through cashback rewards, extra shifts, or side gigs.

With the help of these tools, you won’t need to rely on cash advances to cover those unplanned expenses; you’ll have money in the bank to take care of them.

Methodology: How We Choose the Best Cash Advance Apps (10 Best Cash Advance Apps)

We use several factors to evaluate the cash advance apps on this list. All relate to the overall cost of their services, ease of use, and general applicability for everyday money management needs.

Transfer Speed (10 Best Cash Advance Apps to Help You Make It to Payday)

When you need money, you need it quickly. The best paycheck advance apps offer next-day or same-day (“instant”) transfers. It’s often the case that you have to pay more for an instant transfer, but that’s an acceptable tradeoff when getting your money in two to three business days simply won’t cut it.

Transfer Cost

The best paycheck advance apps charge nothing for standard transfers, which typically clear within three business days. They should also charge nothing for early direct deposit, which usually arrives two business days early but can come up to four business days early in some cases.

Most apps do charge for instant transfers. This revenue stream is crucial to their business models. But all else being equal, we prefer apps that keep those fees low or even waive them altogether.

Many of the apps on this list charge monthly subscription fees or have premium tiers that carry fees. In return, users typically get much more than paycheck advances and, in some cases, feature suites that rival full-service banks.

Built-In Deposit Accounts (10 Best Cash Advance Apps)

The best paycheck advance apps aren’t really pay cheque advance apps at all. They’re comprehensive financial technology apps that partner with FDIC-insured banks to offer checking accounts, savings accounts, and possibly other account types as well.

We like our paycheck advance apps to be comprehensive. The more account options and other features they offer, the better.

Perks & Rewards (10 Best Cash Advance Apps)

Again, comprehensiveness is better, so the best paycheck advance apps offer some or all of the following:

• Fee waivers for meeting qualifying activities
• Referral bonuses when you get friends to sign up
• Cash back on eligible debit card purchases
• Interest on checking or savings balances

Account opening bonuses are relatively rare in this space, but they’re out there if you know where to look.

Credit Products & Credit-Building Services

Many paycheck advance apps are designed for new-to-credit users and people rebuilding their credit for one reason or another. The best options offer products and services to help, including credit-builder loans, secured credit cards, and free credit scores.