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OPay vs PalmPay vs Moniepoint (2026): Fees, Features and What the Rules Add
By Samson Ese · Published March 5, 2026 · Updated October 25, 2026 · 14 min read
Information verified and updated as of October 2026.
⏱️ Check This Before You Read Further
Open the transfer screen in the app you use and look for two separate lines before you confirm: a provider fee and a ₦50 stamp duty. Whatever your own screen shows overrides every figure in this guide. For the regulator's side, read the summary of the Central Bank of Nigeria's April 21, 2026 circular on charges (a regulatory-tracking service's copy, because the CBN's own PDF could not be opened). It takes about three minutes.
How this guide was prepared
AI-assisted tools were used for research and drafting. Samson Ese is the author of record and answers for what is published here. Every fee statement comes from a company page, a CBN circular summary or a dated news report named in the text, and no live transactions were made to test any app.
Welcome to Daily Reality NG
This guide is for anyone choosing between three popular Nigerian money apps and tired of fee claims that contradict each other. You will see what a transfer costs once the stamp duty is added, which statements come from the companies themselves, and how to check the rest in ten minutes.
1. The short answer
No source I could open ranks OPay, PalmPay and Moniepoint on transfer cost, because only one of the three companies states a transfer price on the pages I opened. PalmPay's App Store listing says all transfers are free. OPay's listing says its debit cards carry zero charges but names no transfer fee. Moniepoint's pages explain the stamp duty and VAT but show no fee table.
What every user shares is the statutory layer. Since January 1, 2026, a ₦50 stamp duty is charged to the sender on electronic transfers of ₦10,000 and above. In the illustrative pattern modelled in section 2, that duty (₦1,800 a year) is larger than the biggest possible gap in provider fees (₦1,440 a year).
So the sensible way to choose is on limits, reliability, licence category and what happens when something goes wrong, then to confirm the fee line on your own confirmation screen.
Three figures to hold on to
- ₦50: stamp duty on transfers of ₦10,000 and above, paid by the sender from January 1, 2026 (Moniepoint support page; TechCabal, April 27, 2026).
- ₦0, ₦10, ₦50: the transfer-fee caps in the CBN's April 21, 2026 draft guide, for transfers up to ₦5,000, above ₦5,000 to ₦50,000, and above ₦50,000. Status: draft, reported as applied from May 1, 2026.
- 7.5 percent: VAT on the fee itself, according to Moniepoint's support page.
2. What one transfer really costs: the fee stack
A transfer can carry three layers: the provider's fee, VAT on that fee, and the stamp duty. Moniepoint's support page states that VAT is 7.5 percent of the transaction fee and that stamp duty is a separate, government-mandated charge. I did not find equivalent statements on OPay's or PalmPay's pages, so the VAT column below applies only where a provider charges it.
The formula is: total cost = fee + (fee × 7.5 percent, where charged) + ₦50 if the amount is ₦10,000 or more. The table uses two cases: a provider that charges nothing (PalmPay's stated position) and a provider that charges the highest fee the CBN draft allows. The cap is a maximum, not a price any of the three has confirmed charging.
| Transfer amount | Provider fee ₦0, plus stamp duty | Provider fee at the draft cap, plus stamp duty | Cap case with VAT on the fee |
|---|
| ₦3,000 | ₦0 | ₦0 | ₦0 |
| ₦8,000 | ₦0 | ₦10 | ₦10.75 |
| ₦10,000 | ₦50 | ₦60 | ₦60.75 |
| ₦49,000 | ₦50 | ₦60 | ₦60.75 |
| ₦120,000 | ₦50 | ₦100 | ₦103.75 |
The table shows that the stamp duty, not the provider, decides the cost of any transfer of ₦10,000 or more. It also shows why the cheapest-looking app can cost the same as a rival on a single large transfer.
A worked monthly pattern (illustrative)
Take a hypothetical user who makes 20 transfers a month: twelve of ₦3,000, five of ₦8,000, and three larger ones of ₦20,000, ₦35,000 and ₦80,000. These figures are an illustration, not an average of anyone's behaviour.
- Stamp duty: 3 transfers × ₦50 = ₦150 a month, or ₦1,800 a year, on every provider.
- Fees at the draft cap: 5 × ₦10 (the ₦8,000 transfers) + ₦10 + ₦10 + ₦50 = ₦120 a month.
- Monthly total at the cap: ₦270, or ₦3,240 a year. With a zero-fee provider: ₦150 a month, or ₦1,800 a year.
- Largest possible gap: ₦1,440 a year, before any VAT on fees (about ₦9 a month).
Frequency matters more than amount. Someone sending 40 transfers a month between ₦5,001 and ₦50,000 could face up to ₦400 a month (₦4,800 a year) in capped fees, before stamp duty, if the provider charges the cap. For that user, a provider that states "all transfers are free" is worth checking carefully.
3. The CBN 2026 guide: draft, reported as applied, unconfirmed
The CBN's circular dated April 21, 2026 (reference FPR/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/015) is titled an exposure draft of the Guide to Charges by Banks and Other Financial Institutions in Nigeria, 2026. It invited public comments by May 8, 2026, and RegAlert's summary says final regulations were scheduled to take effect on May 1, 2026. On May 4, 2026, Daily Trust, via allAfrica, reported the changes as taking effect from May 1. I did not find a final CBN publication in the sources I could open, so the status is unresolved.
The reported figures below are therefore proposed limits for CBN-regulated institutions, including mobile money operators and microfinance banks. They are caps on what providers may charge, not a statement of what OPay, PalmPay or Moniepoint charge.
| Item | Figure in the draft guide, as reported | Source and label |
|---|
| Transfers up to ₦5,000 | No charge | Daily Trust via allAfrica, May 4, 2026; TechCabal, April 27, 2026 (reported) |
| Transfers above ₦5,000 up to ₦50,000 | Maximum ₦10 | Same sources (reported) |
| Transfers above ₦50,000 | Maximum ₦50 | Same sources (reported) |
| Card payment at a merchant's POS | Free to the customer; merchant service charge of 0.5 percent, capped at ₦10,000, borne by the merchant | Daily Trust via allAfrica (reported) |
| Cash withdrawal through an agent | ₦100 per ₦20,000, plus an agent-set fee where another institution's agent is used | TechCabal (reported) |
| Card issuance or replacement | ₦1,500; no maintenance fee on naira cards | Daily Trust via allAfrica (reported) |
| Alerts | Email alerts free; SMS on a cost-recovery basis | Daily Trust via allAfrica (reported) |
The same report says charges described as negotiable must be disclosed to customers and that new charges need prior written approval from the CBN. If that holds, a provider cannot add a new fee line without clearance, which is a useful question to put to customer support.
4. What each company says about itself
The table uses only the companies' own pages: OPay's and PalmPay's App Store listings and Moniepoint's personal-account page. These are marketing statements. None has been tested, and the listings are undated snapshots, though PalmPay's showed a version released the day before I opened it.
| Item | OPay | PalmPay | Moniepoint |
|---|
| Licence statement | Licensed by the CBN and insured by the NDIC; points to NDIC's list of mobile money operators | Fully licensed and regulated as a Mobile Money Operator by the CBN; insured by the NDIC | Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Limited, authorised and regulated by the CBN; deposits insured by the NDIC |
| Transfer fee stated | None stated in the listing | "All Transfers are free on PalmPay" | None stated on the page; stamp duty and VAT explained on its support page |
| Debit card | Debit cards at zero charges | Free ATM card; zero maintenance and SMS alert fees | Debit card in 48 hours; fee not stated |
| Account fees | Not stated for the wallet | Not stated beyond the card | Free to open; no minimum balance; no monthly maintenance fee |
| Savings headline | OWealth daily interest, no rate stated; powered by OPay Microfinance Bank | Cashbox up to 20 percent a year; SmartEarn 22 percent annualised | Savings up to 17.5 percent a year |
| Loans | "Flexible loans with low interest rates"; no rate stated | ₦2,000 to ₦500,000 over 61 days to 6 months; APR up to 36 percent; powered by Blooms MFB | Salary advance mentioned; terms not stated |
| Offline access | USSD codes listed for blocking an account or card (955*131#, 955*132#) | Not found on the page I opened | USSD *5573# |
| Security features listed | NightGuard and Large Transaction Shield (extra face verification), biometric login, card locking | PCI DSS certification, NITDA recognition and NDPR compliance (all company statements) | "Up-to-date cybersecurity technology" |
| Support contacts listed | 0700 8888328 or 020 18888 328 | 018886888; support@palmpay.com | +234 201 888 9990; Help Centre |
Did you know?
OPay's own listing names two official registers as its proof of licence and insurance: the CBN's page of payment service providers and the NDIC's list of mobile money operators. The same two checks work for any provider, and they cost nothing to run.
Read the table for what is missing as much as what is present. OPay's listing states no transfer price and no savings rate. PalmPay's loan terms are the only loan pricing any of the three published on the pages I opened, which makes them the only loan terms you can compare today. The listing's own example charges ₦90 interest on ₦1,000 over 90 days.
The listings contain claims that sound factual but are not measurements. OPay's wording about a "100% success rate" is one example: it is a promise, not a published performance figure. Treat success-rate and speed claims as advertising until you have tested them yourself.
5. Licence category and deposit insurance: why the labels matter
Moniepoint describes itself as a microfinance bank. PalmPay states it is licensed as a Mobile Money Operator. OPay's listing points to NDIC's list of mobile money operators while saying its savings products are powered by OPay Microfinance Bank. In practice, a single app can sit across more than one licence category.
The category matters because the rules and the deposit-insurance arrangements differ by category. Daily Reality NG's guides on microfinance bank licensing and on NDIC deposit insurance coverage and claims explain how those categories work.
Did you know?
Moniepoint's personal-account page states that funds are insured up to ₦250,000 by the NDIC. Other published coverage figures for microfinance banks are higher, but I could not open NDIC's tables to reconcile them. Check the NDIC's current published coverage before you rely on any number, including this one.
A practical rule follows. Do not keep more in any single app than you could afford to have delayed for several weeks. That is a risk-management habit rather than a claim about any provider's safety.
6. Cash-out and agents: where the real gaps sit
For many users, the largest everyday cost is not a transfer fee but the agent who hands over cash. Under the draft guide as reported, withdrawals through an agent are priced at ₦100 per ₦20,000, with an additional agent-set fee if you use another institution's agent. Agents can also add their own charges, so the same withdrawal can cost different amounts at different counters.
Ask for the total before you hand over your card. A withdrawal of ₦20,000 would cost ₦100 at the reported rate. For ₦40,000 it would be ₦200 if the rate applies per full block, which is our reading, because the reports I opened did not say how partial blocks are treated.
The rules for agents are also changing. Our guide to the CBN one-agent-one-bank POS rule explains the April 2026 agent change. If you run a terminal rather than use one, see our comparison of the best POS machines for OPay, Moniepoint and PalmPay, and our OPay and Moniepoint comparison for market traders. This guide covers personal use and regulation, while those pieces focus on terminals and traders.
7. A decision matrix, not a ranking
This table is Daily Reality NG's analysis of the evidence above. It does not rank the apps, because the evidence does not support a ranking.
| If you mostly... | What decides your cost | What to check first |
|---|
| Send many small transfers of ₦5,000 or less | Under the draft guide these carry no charge, so the three should look similar | That your receipt shows no fee line on a ₦5,000 transfer |
| Send a few mid-size transfers each month | Stamp duty, which is identical everywhere | The two lines on a ₦10,000 transfer |
| Send many transfers between ₦5,001 and ₦50,000 | Whether the provider charges anything up to ₦10 each | The fee line on three such transfers |
| Take cash out through agents | The agent's quoted total, more than the brand | The total, asked for before you hand over your card |
| Save for returns | The rate's wording ("up to"), lock-in and withdrawal rules | The product terms and the date of the rate |
| Need a business account or terminal | Features and support, not the personal transfer fee | Our Moniepoint SME account review |
| Rely on offline banking | USSD availability | OPay and Moniepoint list USSD codes on the pages I opened; PalmPay's was not found there |
8. Risks the fee tables do not show
Fees are visible. The larger risks are not: a blocked account, a payment lost to fraud, or a loan priced in a way you did not read. Three practical points follow.
App-store pages for all three apps carry user complaints about frozen accounts and loan collection. Those complaints are anecdotes, and I did not count them as data. They are a reason to test the support channel before you move your salary.
9. A ten-minute test before you move your salary
- Send ₦5,000 to your own account at another bank. Check the receipt: under the draft guide a transfer of this size should carry no provider fee.
- Send ₦10,000. Look for a separate ₦50 stamp duty line, and note any fee line beside it.
- Ask support one question in the app and note how long a human reply takes.
- Open the CBN and NDIC pages that OPay's own listing names, and confirm the licence and insurance entries for the provider you plan to use.
- Read the savings terms. Note the word "up to", the lock-in period and the withdrawal rules.
- Read the card terms before you request a card. Check issuance and replacement charges.
Your 24-hour action: run steps 1 and 2 on the app you use today. It takes about ten minutes and shows you the real fee lines on your own account.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheapest for transfers: OPay, PalmPay or Moniepoint?
The sources I could open do not allow a ranking. PalmPay's App Store listing says all transfers are free. OPay's listing states no transfer fee, and Moniepoint's pages I opened did not show a fee table. All three face the same ₦50 stamp duty on transfers of ₦10,000 and above, so compare the fee line on your own confirmation screen.
Does the ₦50 stamp duty apply to all three apps?
Moniepoint's support page confirms it for Moniepoint, and TechCabal's April 2026 analysis describes it as a sender-paid charge on electronic transfers of ₦10,000 and above in Nigeria's payments market. I did not find OPay's or PalmPay's own pages on it, so check the receipt for a separate stamp duty line after your first transfer of ₦10,000 or more.
Who pays the ₦50 stamp duty?
The sender. TechCabal reported that from 2026 the levy is no longer deducted from the receiver, and Moniepoint's support page says the charge is taken from the sender's account. It applies to transfers of ₦10,000 and above, with an exemption on Moniepoint for transfers between two accounts of the same person with matching BVNs.
Is the CBN 2026 Guide to Charges already in force?
Unclear. The CBN circular dated April 21, 2026 presents it as an exposure draft with comments due May 8, 2026. Daily Trust reported on May 4, 2026 that the changes take effect from May 1. I could not open a final CBN publication, so treat the figures as proposed limits and confirm with your provider.
Are transfers of ₦5,000 and below free?
Under the CBN draft guide, as reported, electronic transfers of ₦5,000 and below carry no charge, transfers above ₦5,000 up to ₦50,000 are capped at ₦10, and larger transfers at ₦50. These are maximum charges for regulated institutions, not prices any provider has confirmed it charges.
Do I pay to hold a debit card on these apps?
PalmPay says its ATM card has zero maintenance and SMS alert fees, and OPay says its debit cards carry zero charges. Moniepoint's personal page promises a debit card in 48 hours without stating a fee. Daily Trust reported that the CBN guide sets card issuance or replacement at ₦1,500 and bans maintenance fees on naira cards.
How much does cash withdrawal at an agent cost?
TechCabal reported that the CBN draft sets ₦100 per ₦20,000 withdrawn, with a further agent-set fee for withdrawals made with another institution's agent. Agents can add their own charges, so ask for the total before you hand over your card. How partial blocks of ₦20,000 are treated was not stated in the reports I opened.
Is my money insured at OPay, PalmPay and Moniepoint?
Each company states that it is insured by the NDIC. Moniepoint's page says deposits are insured up to ₦250,000. PalmPay states that it is a licensed Mobile Money Operator, and OPay's listing points to NDIC's list of mobile money operators. Coverage depends on licence category, and I could not open NDIC's tables, so check NDIC's published lists before relying on any figure.
Which of the three is a bank?
Moniepoint describes itself as Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Limited, authorised and regulated by the CBN. PalmPay states it is licensed as a Mobile Money Operator, and OPay's listing points to the NDIC list of mobile money operators while saying its savings products are powered by OPay Microfinance Bank. Licence categories carry different rules, so the label matters.
Are the advertised savings rates guaranteed?
No. Company pages use headline wording such as up to. Moniepoint lists savings up to 17.5 percent a year, and PalmPay lists Cashbox up to 20 percent and SmartEarn at 22 percent annualised. OPay states daily interest without a rate in its listing. Read the product terms, withdrawal rules and the date of the rate.
How expensive is a PalmPay loan?
PalmPay's listing states loan amounts from ₦2,000 to ₦500,000 for 61 days to six months, powered by Blooms MFB, with an annual percentage rate of up to 36 percent. Its example charges ₦90 interest on ₦1,000 over 90 days. Compare total repayment, not the headline rate, before borrowing.
What should I do if my account is blocked or I lose money to fraud?
Contact the provider through the support channel it lists, keep screenshots and transaction references, and report fraud promptly. Daily Reality NG's guides on blocked OPay accounts and on reporting bank fraud explain the steps in detail. Do not share your PIN, OTP or BVN with anyone offering to recover funds.
Sources and limits
Sources opened for this guide
What this guide could not confirm
- OPay's transfer-fee schedule. It was not on OPay's listing. Commercial pages seen in search results (not opened) gave three different amounts, so none was adopted.
- Whether the 2026 CBN guide is final and in force. The CBN circular calls it a draft; one newspaper report treats it as applied.
- The full numeric schedule in the CBN document. It rests on news reports, not on the CBN's own PDF.
- Whether OPay and PalmPay charge VAT on fees or show the stamp duty as a separate line. Only Moniepoint's page states this.
- NDIC coverage amounts by licence category. Moniepoint's page states ₦250,000; other figures were not verified.
- Licence upgrades and agent-withdrawal fee tables quoted by commercial sites. They were not adopted.
What you must check yourself
Your own confirmation screen, each provider's current in-app fee page, the CBN and NDIC registers, and an agent's quoted total before any cash withdrawal. All company statements here are as published on the pages named, which may have changed since.
About the author
Samson Ese is the founder and editor-in-chief of Daily Reality NG, an independent Nigerian digital publication launched in October 2025 and based in Warri, Delta State. He writes about money, business and technology for Nigerian readers. Read more on the author profile page.
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Disclaimer
This is general information as of October 2026, not financial, legal or tax advice. Fees, limits and regulations change, and company statements may have changed since the pages were opened. For corrections or copyright matters, write to dailyrealityng@gmail.com.
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