M-Pesa Charges in 2026: How the Tariff Bands Work
Safaricom's full 2026 send and withdrawal tariff tables, why one extra shilling can raise the fee 77%, and the band-boundary maths that decides what you pay
M-Pesa charges in 2026 are fixed shilling amounts set per band of transaction value — not percentages. Sending KSh 100 or less to any registered mobile-money user is free. From KSh 101 the sending fee starts at KSh 7 and climbs through eleven priced bands to a flat KSh 108 for anything between KSh 20,001 and the KSh 250,000 per-transaction ceiling. Withdrawing cash at an agent has its own table, from KSh 11 at the bottom to KSh 309 at the top, and paying a till number (buy goods) costs the customer KSh 0 at every amount. In all cases the fee is charged on top: the recipient gets the full figure you keyed in, and your wallet is debited amount plus fee. The tables below were retrieved on 8 August 2026 and cross-checked against independent copies of Safaricom's published schedule.
Because each band carries exactly one fee, the price moves only when the amount crosses a band boundary — and there it steps, sharply. KSh 1,000 sent to a registered user costs KSh 13; KSh 1,001 crosses into the next band and costs KSh 23. One extra shilling adds 23 − 13 = KSh 10 to the charge — a 77% jump (10 ÷ 13 = 0.77). Knowing where those boundaries sit, and which ones bite hardest, is most of what there is to know about M-Pesa pricing; for an instant answer, the M-Pesa fee calculator has the schedule built in and returns fee, total debit and effective rate in one go.
One lookup, two rules
Every customer charge follows one mechanism:
Fee = band(transaction type, amount) · Total debit = amount + Fee
Rule one: the fee is a lookup. Each transaction type — send to a registered M-Pesa, Airtel Money or T-Kash user, agent withdrawal, or buy goods at a till — has an ordered list of bands, and your amount lands in exactly one of them. Nothing is computed from the amount itself.
Rule two: the fee rides on top, never off what the other side receives — so your balance must cover more than the amount you're sending.
Sending money: the 2026 tariff
Fees for transfers to registered users, as published (Safaricom's customer tariffs are tax-inclusive):
| Amount (KSh) | Fee (KSh) |
|---|---|
| 1 – 100 | Free |
| 101 – 500 | 7 |
| 501 – 1,000 | 13 |
| 1,001 – 1,500 | 23 |
| 1,501 – 2,500 | 33 |
| 2,501 – 3,500 | 53 |
| 3,501 – 5,000 | 57 |
| 5,001 – 7,500 | 78 |
| 7,501 – 10,000 | 90 |
| 10,001 – 15,000 | 100 |
| 15,001 – 20,000 | 105 |
| 20,001 – 250,000 | 108 |
A flat fee inside each band means the effective percentage falls as your amount rises towards the boundary. The KSh 33 fee applies from KSh 1,501 to KSh 2,500: at the bottom of the band that is 33 ÷ 1,501 = 2.2%; at the top, 33 ÷ 2,500 = 1.32%. The last shillings before a boundary are the cheapest ones you can send. Taken to the extreme, the table rewards size — the KSh 108 cap on a full KSh 250,000 transfer is 108 ÷ 250,000 = 0.043%.
Not every boundary bites equally
The steps between bands vary widely, and the harsh ones cluster where everyday transfers sit:
- KSh 501 — the steepest relative jump between priced bands: KSh 7 becomes KSh 13, or 86% more (6 ÷ 7 = 0.86).
- KSh 1,001 — the 77% step from the opening.
- KSh 2,501 — the mid-range's harshest: KSh 33 becomes KSh 53, a 61% step (20 ÷ 33 = 0.61).
- KSh 5,001 — the largest absolute step: 78 − 57 = KSh 21 for one extra shilling.
- KSh 20,001 — the gentlest: 108 − 105 = KSh 3, about 2.9% (3 ÷ 105 = 0.029).
The expensive territory is roughly KSh 500 to KSh 5,000, where most person-to-person transfers happen; above KSh 10,000 the boundaries flatten until the schedule barely cares how much you send.
Withdrawal charges: the second table
Cash withdrawals at an agent have their own bands, and the minimum cash-out is KSh 50:
| Amount (KSh) | Fee (KSh) |
|---|---|
| 50 – 100 | 11 |
| 101 – 2,500 | 29 |
| 2,501 – 3,500 | 52 |
| 3,501 – 5,000 | 69 |
| 5,001 – 7,500 | 87 |
| 7,501 – 10,000 | 115 |
| 10,001 – 15,000 | 167 |
| 15,001 – 20,000 | 185 |
| 20,001 – 35,000 | 197 |
| 35,001 – 50,000 | 278 |
| 50,001 – 250,000 | 309 |
Withdrawing costs more than sending at almost every level, because the agent's commission for handling physical cash sits inside the fee. Cashing out KSh 10,000 costs KSh 115 against KSh 90 to send it — 115 − 90 = KSh 25 more — and the gap widens with size: the withdrawal cap of KSh 309 is 309 ÷ 108 = 2.86 times the sending cap. The exception is the KSh 1,501–3,500 stretch, where the withdrawal table's wide bands undercut the sending fees — KSh 29 against KSh 33 up to 2,500, then KSh 52 against KSh 53 above it — the only territory where cash comes out of an agent cheaper than a transfer goes through.
The second band deserves its own warning. One fee, KSh 29, covers everything from KSh 101 to KSh 2,500. Cash out KSh 101 and that fee is 29 ÷ 101 = 28.7% of your money; cash out KSh 2,500 and the identical KSh 29 is 29 ÷ 2,500 = 1.16%. Frequent small cash-outs are the most expensive habit in the schedule. And the boundary just above behaves like the sending table's worst: KSh 2,501 jumps the fee to KSh 52 — KSh 23 more, a 79% step (23 ÷ 29 = 0.79).
The number your balance has to beat
Because the fee is charged on top, the figure that decides whether a transaction succeeds is not the amount — it is the total debit. Sending KSh 2,500 lands in the 1,501–2,500 band, so the fee is KSh 33 and your wallet is debited 2,500 + 33 = KSh 2,533, while the recipient receives the full KSh 2,500. With KSh 2,532 in the wallet, the transaction fails even though the balance covers the amount itself. Withdrawals mirror this: the agent hands you exactly what you keyed in, and the fee comes out of your remaining balance. If the balance is short and Fuliza is enabled, M-Pesa borrows the shortfall instead of rejecting — but Fuliza is an overdraft with its own daily charges, a borrowing cost entirely separate from the transaction fee.
A monthly salary has already been through PAYE, SHIF, NSSF and the housing levy before it reaches your wallet, so budget transfers from your actual take-home — the KRA PAYE calculator turns gross into Kenyan net pay — then price each onward movement against the tables here.
Splitting, combining and the free band
Three features of the schedule combine into legitimate fee arbitrage:
| Goal | One transaction | Split or merged | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move KSh 300 | KSh 7 | 3 × KSh 100 = KSh 0 | KSh 7 |
| Move KSh 3,000 | KSh 53 | KSh 2,500 (33) + KSh 500 (7) = KSh 40 | 53 − 40 = KSh 13 |
| Move KSh 10,000 | KSh 90 | 2 × KSh 5,000 = 57 + 57 = KSh 114 | merging saves 114 − 90 = KSh 24 |
Notice the direction flips: splitting wins low in the table, combining wins higher up. No single rule survives the band structure — it depends on where each piece lands, which is exactly the comparison the fee calculator makes quick to run twice. Two caveats: every transaction counts against the KSh 500,000 daily limit, and the other end sees several credits instead of one.
What the schedule doesn't say
A few boundary conditions before you trust any fee table, including this one. M-Pesa transacts whole shillings only, with a KSh 250,000 per-transaction ceiling. Buy-goods payments are free for the customer because the merchant bears the charge. ATM withdrawals and transfers to unregistered users are deliberately absent from this guide and the calculator behind it: published copies of the ATM table contradict one another, and no complete unregistered-transfer table could be verified — a figure that can't be cross-checked shouldn't be printed. That verified-or-nothing standard applies to every tool on Quanta.
Tariffs are policy, and policy moves — Safaricom revised business collection charges on 7 August 2026, one day before these customer tables were retrieved. Your app's confirmation screen learns of a change before any third-party page can, so treat it as final at transaction time. The next tariff revision will reach this page the way the current one did: a fresh pull of Safaricom's published schedule, a cross-check against independent copies, and an update to the calculator behind the links above — a cycle that starts sooner when word of a change arrives through the contact page.