M-Pesa Till vs Paybill calculator for Kenya

Safaricom says Buy Goods payments generally have no customer charge, except at fuel stations. The business owner pays the collection charge, which this calculator estimates separately.

Paybill does not have one universal business fee. The customer and business cost can vary according to the merchant tariff arrangement, so this calculator uses your confirmed fee rather than guessing it.

Paybill is usually better when each payment needs a clear account or reference number, such as school fees, rent, subscriptions, invoices, utilities, or member contributions. A Till is usually simpler for ordinary retail and service sales.

This calculator applies the published Business Till collection charge of 0.5% per payment, capped at KSh 200, with collections of KSh 200 and below free. On a KSh 1,000 average payment the fee is KSh 5. The monthly Till cost is that per-payment fee multiplied by your estimated number of payments in a month.

It depends on your merchant tariff. Business Till uses the published 0.5% charge capped at KSh 200, while Paybill charges vary by arrangement, so there is no single answer. Enter the exact Paybill fee from your Safaricom agreement into this calculator and compare the monthly totals side by side before deciding.

Enter the Paybill fee per payment from your merchant tariff agreement, and the calculator multiplies it by the number of payments in a month. Payments per month is worked out by dividing your expected monthly M-Pesa sales by your average customer payment, so you see both a Till and a Paybill monthly total from the same inputs.

It varies by merchant tariff arrangement. Unlike Buy Goods Till payments, which Safaricom generally makes free for customers except at fuel stations, Paybill costs for both customer and business depend on the specific agreement, which is why this calculator asks you to confirm the business fee rather than assume one.

Yes, both accept customer payments into a business M-Pesa account. The practical difference is Paybill usually carries an account or reference number that helps you identify each payment, making it a better fit for invoices, fees, and subscriptions, while a Buy Goods Till suits simple retail checkouts where no reference is needed.

For walk-in and social-commerce sales like WhatsApp orders, a Buy Goods Till is usually the better fit: customers choose Buy Goods, enter the Till number and amount, and pay without a reference, and there is normally no customer charge. The calculator recommends Paybill only when payments need an account number or a recurring billing flow.