P2P Payment App Development: How To Develop An App Like PayPal And How Much It Will Cost

PayPal, Venmo, Google Pay, Zelle…It’s hard to imagine our everyday payments without apps like these. Without a doubt, P2P payment apps make our world cashless and simplify the way we interact with finances. Do you need to send money to your friends or loved ones? Or do you want to pay rent, restaurant bills, buy a flight ticket, or just collect money for your colleague’s birthday? No matter what type of payment transaction needs to be conducted, you can cover all of them with P2P payment apps. This article is a brief guide on how to build a successful P2P payment application and use your project budget effectively.
So without further ado, let’s dive deep into the topic!

P2P Payment Market Stats

P2P payment platforms are also known as money transfer apps that are used to receive or send money directly from person to person with the help of mobile devices and attached banking accounts or cards.
The global P2P payment market is on the rise. According to Vantage Market Research, it is projected to average a value of $5.2 trillion by 2028 with a CAGR of 19.5%.

What to Expect from p2p Payment Apps in 2024

As we’re venturing towards 2024, there's a remarkable transformation of peer-to-peer payment apps on the horizon. Let’s quickly unpack the top prediction for p2p payment app development for the upcoming year.

Integration with social media

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are set to incorporate payment functionalities into their platforms, enabling users to transfer funds in-app. This is a promising shift due to the extensive user base of these social media platforms and the improved user engagement that the inclusion of payment features can lead to.

Blockchain-based payment systems to gain adoption

Blockchain-based payments are predicted to have a sufficient impact on p2p payment apps. These systems provide various advantages, such as quicker transaction processing, enhanced security, and reduced transaction costs. Ethereum and Bitcoin are examples of blockchain-based payment systems that gained widespread adoption.

More security and fraud prevention measures

The use of p2p payment apps is on the rise, leading to a corresponding rise in fraud. In 2024, we can expect to witness an evergreen focus on security. Developers who build a p2p payment app are expected to implement even more robust fraud prevention measures like geolocation verification, biometric authentication, device recognition and authentication, etc. to protect users' money from inventive fraudsters.

How to Build a P2P App like PayPal?

PayPal is the leading digital payment provider in the world. As of September 2022, PayPal’s market share was 41,87% and continues to grow constantly.

PayPal is also known as one of the most actively used digital payment apps. As of March 2022, the number of active PayPal users was 429 million.

So why is PayPal so popular among users? What features of this app are the most remarkable and can be used as a reference for your app? Let’s take a look!

One Touch

Yes, this feature is one of our favorite ones. It makes digital payments even faster and safer. The thing is, that your financial data is sent to the app once and then you can conduct any transaction without needing to log in to your bank account every time. Moreover, you don’t need to share your credit card details with every merchant you interact with.

Several Account Levels

PayPal offers 3 types of accounts for users: personal, premiere, and business.

• A personal account is ideal for transferring money to your friends and family. There is no fee. It’s also suitable for entrepreneurs that have small e-commerce businesses and not regular sales. However, if you have a full-fledged business, it’s better to choose other options as some types of transactions are unavailable for personal accounts.
• The Premiere account is quite similar to the business one and is suitable for accounts with high transaction volume. The great benefit is its unlimited withdrawal feature. However, there are no mass payment options, so you have to manage all the payments individually. The monthly fee is absent for this type of account (it charges a percentage only in case you sell something).
• Business account is a perfect solution for medium-sized and big businesses. With this account, e-commerce business owners can fully control their checkout web pages, and receive payments via phone, fax, or virtual terminal. It also contains a business loan feature. Moreover, you can get valuable insights related to your customers (how often they make purchases, how much they spent, how they interact with your checkout form, etc) thanks to PayPal Marketing Solutions which are integrated as a perk to your Business account.

Various Payment Options

With PayPal, you can conduct payment easily and instantly using the method which is the most convenient for you: bank account, PayPal balance, PayPal Credit, rewards balance, debit, and credit cards.

Advanced Security

PayPal always puts reliability and security first place. That’s why they are using top-notch data encryption techniques like SSL, two-factor authentication, AI/ML, and so on.

Multilanguage & Multicurrency

As for now, PayPal is available in more than 200 countries and supports 25 currencies. It also provides support in the most commonly used languages, which makes its service extremely convenient and accessible around the globe.

Steps to Build P2P Payment App

As any software development, P2P payment app creation is a comprehensive process that requires a lot of time and resources. However, it’s not a “mission impossible” once you get at least an approximate understanding of what to expect and what steps you should take. Here’s a short checklist of the most important things you should keep in mind during P2P app development:

Pick P2P payment app type

There are several types of P2P payment apps. These are 2 of them that are used the most frequently:

• bank-based apps (in such apps banks conduct the role of payment processor)
• standalone apps (work without intermediaries)
  Both options are good, everything depends on your needs and requirements. That’s why you should think of potential pros and cons, particularly for your project at the beginning of the development process.

Android or iOS? Take both!

You should decide for which operating systems your app should be available - iOS, Android, or both. If your budget is very tight, you can start with the development of only one of them. However, we recommend using a win-win solution - apply cross-platform app development! This way, you can save your time and money as you don’t need to develop two app versions for different platforms from scratch - all the created code components are flexible and interchangeable and can be used both for Android and iOS.

Start with MVP

It’s better to move gradually rather than jump into the development of all features at once. MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the most basic version of your app that contains the key features only. Still, it can be launched to the market and help you get additional profit to continue the development of the full-fledged app. Moreover, MVP is a great tool to help you gather users' feedback and enhance your app.

Take Care of Security

Security and privacy are of paramount importance when developing a P2P payment app. Implement robust security measures to protect sensitive user data and financial transactions. Encryption techniques, secure user authentication, and tokenization can help safeguard the app against unauthorized access and fraud. Compliance with relevant industry regulations, such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is crucial to ensure the app's adherence to legal and privacy requirements. Regular security audits and penetration testing can help identify vulnerabilities and strengthen the app's security posture. By prioritizing security throughout the development process, you can build trust among users and establish your P2P payment app as a reliable and secure platform.

Pay attention to UI/UX

Financial transactions are all about huge data arrays and complicated numbers, so you should pay special attention to making your app as intuitive and easy-to-perceive as possible. Try to use more diagrams, tables, and other visualization to help users better and faster understand the needed info.

Ensure Legal Compliance

You should strictly follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). What should you do to ensure your app compliance?

• use firewall
• apply two-fold protection of cardholder data
• encrypt transmitted data
• use anti-virus
• update your software properly
• restrict data access, etc.

How much does it cost to develop an app like PayPal?

Of course, it’s hard to provide precise numbers here as most of the P2P payment projects like PayPal are under NDA. Moreover, everything depends on the app complexity that you want to implement (feature set, UI/UX design peculiarities, technologies, etc). Also, keep in mind that there are some “hidden” expenses as well (app store charges, fees for payment gateway integration, marketing and management costs, and so on).
According to different resources, the approximate cost of P2P app development varies from $50,000 to $1,70,000.

Bonus Tip

If you want to save your budget but still get high-quality software as the result, you can hire an outsourcing tech team. For example, the average software development rate in the U.S. is $80-$100. At the same time, in Ukraine, you can hire seasoned tech experts for $40/h. You can halve the expenses and accumulate your money for other important business tasks. By the way, our Perfsol team of top-notch Ukrainian p2p developers has profound experience in P2P payment app development. So if you have some project in mind or just want to discuss any tech-related questions, feel free to contact us!