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Personal Finance · head to head

Apple Pay vs Increase

Apple Pay logo

Apple Pay

Personal Finance

The easier way to pay and send money

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Increase logo

Increase

APIs

Direct banking API for ACH, wires, real-time payments, accounts and cards

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Apple Pay has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Apple Pay apple Pay works only in countries and regions that support contactless payments and is not available in all markets; Increase the published per transaction rates exclude a monthly platform fee that Increase states varies by use case, so the transparent price page cannot produce a total cost and the material part of the deal is still negotiated privately.
  • They diverge on capability: Apple Pay covers Digital wallet, Increase covers ACH origination and receipt.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Apple Pay and Increase actually diverge.

Attributes where Apple Pay and Increase differ
AttributeApple PayIncrease
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsIOS, WatchOS, MacOSAPI, Web
CategoryPersonal FinanceAPIs
Founded2014Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Apple Pay

  • Digital wallet
  • Secure payments
  • Contactless transactions
  • P2P money transfers
  • Credit cards
  • Debit cards
  • IOS support
  • WatchOS support

Only in Increase

  • ACH origination and receipt
  • Domestic wires
  • Real-time payments
  • Cards
  • Cheques
  • Sandbox and simulations
  • Audit and reconciliation data

Both cover

  • Bank accounts

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Apple Pay

  • Contactless in store payment from iPhone and Apple Watchnot Increase
  • Paying in apps and on the web without entering card detailsnot Increase
  • Sending money between Apple users with Apple Cash and Tap to Cashnot Increase

Increase

  • A payroll or treasury product that needs to originate same-day ACH and wires under its own control rather than through a payment processornot Apple Pay
  • A marketplace that must hold seller balances in ledgered accounts with real account and routing numbersnot Apple Pay
  • A fintech that wants FedNow and RTP payouts so recipients are paid outside banking hoursnot Apple Pay
  • An engineering team that needs the underlying return codes and settlement timing visible in order to build correct reconciliation and retry logicnot Apple Pay

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Apple Pay

  • Apple Pay works only in countries and regions that support contactless payments and is not available in all markets
  • Apple Cash is available only in the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
  • Apple Cash Family accounts and Tap to Cash transactions are each capped at 2000 USD within a rolling seven day period
  • Mac support requires a Touch ID equipped model
  • A card works only if the issuing bank supports Apple Pay, and banks may charge their own overseas usage fees

Increase

  • The published per transaction rates exclude a monthly platform fee that Increase states varies by use case, so the transparent price page cannot produce a total cost and the material part of the deal is still negotiated privately.
  • Free allowances are deliberately small at ten account numbers and five physical cards, so any programme issuing accounts or cards at volume moves to quoted pricing almost immediately.
  • Banking is provided through partner banks, so programme approval, compliance obligations and the ability to launch at all depend on a bank relationship you do not control, and post-Synapse bank risk appetite has tightened considerably.
  • The API deliberately exposes payment rail mechanics rather than smoothing them, which is correct engineering but means a team without payments expertise will build reconciliation and return handling wrongly and only discover it when funds go astray.
  • Coverage is United States only, so a company with international payout needs runs a second provider and reconciles two ledgers, and the single API argument disappears at the first cross border customer.

Pricing, plan by plan

Apple Pay

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Secure payments
    • P2P transfers
    • Transit passes

Increase

On request
  • Increase Platform$undefined/month
    • Monthly fee quoted by use case and not published
    • Next-day ACH origination listed at 0.50 US dollars per transaction
    • Same-day ACH origination listed at 2.00 per transaction

Which should you pick?

Choose Apple Pay if

  • You need digital wallet.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on IOS, WatchOS, MacOS.
  • You also want secure payments.
Apple Pay review

Choose Increase if

  • You need ach origination and receipt.
  • You work on API, Web.
  • You also want domestic wires.
Increase review

Questions people ask

Is Apple Pay or Increase better?
Neither clearly leads. Apple Pay starts at Free and Increase at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Apple Pay or Increase?
Apple Pay has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Apple Pay and On request for Increase.
Does Apple Pay or Increase run on more platforms?
Apple Pay runs on IOS, WatchOS, MacOS. Increase runs on API, Web.
Can I use Apple Pay for free?
Yes. Apple Pay has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Increase starts at On request.
What is Apple Pay best used for?
Apple Pay is most often used for contactless in store payment from iphone and apple watch, paying in apps and on the web without entering card details, sending money between apple users with apple cash and tap to cash. Of those, contactless in store payment from iphone and apple watch and paying in apps and on the web without entering card details are not what Increase is typically brought in for.
What can Apple Pay do that Increase cannot?
Apple Pay covers Digital wallet, Secure payments, Contactless transactions, P2P money transfers. Increase covers ACH origination and receipt, Domestic wires, Real-time payments, Cards. Both handle Bank accounts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Apple Pay: Does Apple Pay charge fees?

No. Apple does not charge any fees when you pay with Apple Pay in stores, online, or in apps.

Source
Increase: Does Increase publish its pricing?

Partly. Per transaction fees for ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow and cards are listed publicly. The monthly platform fee is not, and it is described only as varying by use case.

Apple Pay: What are the transaction limits for Apple Cash Family?

Apple Cash Family accounts have a maximum transaction limit of $2,000 within any rolling seven-day period for sending or receiving money. The same $2,000 rolling 7-day limit applies to Tap to Cash peer-to-peer transfers.

Source
Increase: Who holds the deposits?

Partner banks, not Increase itself. That relationship determines your programme approval, your compliance obligations and your risk if the bank changes appetite.

Increase: Is it international?

No. Increase covers United States rails only, so cross border payouts require a second provider.

Increase: How is it different from a middleware BaaS platform?

It exposes the rails rather than abstracting them, showing real return codes and settlement timing. That suits teams who understand payments and punishes teams who do not.

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