You earned it, and now you want to cash it out—But most gig apps only deposit your earnings once each week!
If you need your money sooner than payday, many apps allow you to instantly withdraw your earnings—for a fee.
But what are your options if you want quick access to your earnings without paying any fees?
➔ Skip to the Table: Instant Pay Options on the Top Apps
Most of the rideshare & delivery apps now offer free debit cards that let you get your money as soon as you earn it.
Read on to learn how to get paid instantly on the top apps and how you can save on withdrawal fees by signing up for debit cards.
Article contents
- Table: Paydays and instant pay features of the top apps
- Amazon Flex
- DoorDash: Fast Pay and DasherDirect
- Instacart: Instant Cashout
- Lyft: Express Pay and Lyft Direct
- Uber & Uber Eats: Instant Pay and the Uber Pro Card
- Can you avoid ACH transfer delays?
- Are gig app debit cards worth it?
Payday, instant pay, and debit card features of the top apps
Direct deposit is the default option on all apps, but some offer instant pay and no-fee debit cards to hold your earnings.
| Direct deposit day | Instant pay option | Debit card | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Flex | Tuesday and Friday | No | Amazon Flex Debit Card. No instant pay features | |
| DoorDash | Wednesday | Fast Pay: $1.99 per withdrawal | DasherDirect Visa. Free cashout to the card after every dash | |
| Instacart | Between Wednesday and Friday | Instant Cashout: $0.50 per withdrawal up to 5x per day | No debit card | |
| Lyft | Tuesday | Express Pay: $0.85 per withdrawal | Lyft Direct. Earnings automatically transfer to the card | |
| Uber & Uber Eats | Thursday | Instant Pay. $0.85 per withdrawal up to 5x per day | Uber Pro Card, Uber Debit Card. Both offer free instant cashout to the card |
Amazon Flex
By default, Amazon Flex earnings are direct deposited on Tuesday and Friday of each week.
Unlike many other gig apps, Amazon Flex does not offer an instant pay feature. You can’t cash out your earnings whenever you want!
But some markets allow you to choose your payout days, and you can get paid every day that you drive if you select every day of the week as your payout day.
Head to Settings > Personal information > Payment to select your payout days, and choose every day if you want daily pay.
Some markets let you pick your payment day. Select every day for daily pay!
Amazon offers the Amazon Flex Debit card, but it doesn’t have instant pay or a daily pay feature. Instead, the main benefit of the Amazon Flex Debit card is cash-back rewards.
Depending on your rewards tier, you can get up to 6% cash back on gas.
And once your earnings are on the debit card, you can transfer them to another account for free. Typically ACH transfers take 1–3 days to clear.
More about Flex
- No offers on Flex? Here’s why
- How to become a Flex driver
- Amazon Flex order types and warehouse codes
DoorDash: Fast Pay for $0.50 or use the DasherDirect debit card
By default, DoorDash earnings are direct deposited on Wednesday each week to your bank account.
You can use Fast Pay to instantly cash out your money to a debit card.
Fast Pay costs $1.99 per withdrawal. Fast Pay transfers usually appear in your debit account within minutes but can take up to a few business days.
The DasherDirect Business Prepaid Visa is another way to get paid daily—subject to approval.
With the DasherDirect card, your earnings are automatically transferred to the card at the end of every Dash
Automatically get your earnings after every dash
And you can transfer money out of the DasherDirect card without paying any fees—ACH transfers out of the account are free.
An ACH transfer can take up to 2 days, but for many Dashers a transfer only takes a few hours.
The DasherDirect card also has other benefits, like 2% cash back on gas and free ATM withdrawals at participating ATMs.
To set up Fast Pay or sign up for DasherDirect in the Dasher app: Select Earnings then tap on the bank icon in the upper corner.
Wait for direct deposit, pay for Fast Pay, or sign up for DasherDirect
More for Dashers
- DoorDash requirements and a gig overview
- See how high (and low) DoorDash pay can go
- How to schedule more hours on DoorDash
Instacart: Instant Cashout for $0.50
Instacart pays shoppers via direct deposit once per week, between Wednesday and Friday.
You can use Instant Cashout to withdraw your earnings any time for a $0.50 fee up to 5 times per day.
Earnings will usually arrive in your account within a few hours, but Instacart warns that it can take up to 1–3 business days.
Instacart does not offer a debit card for shoppers, so Instant Cashout is the only way to get your earnings faster.
Many shoppers use Instant Cashout on Sunday to access earnings from the previous week. You won’t have to wait until Wed–Fri for the direct deposit, and you’ll only pay one fee each week.
More for Instacart shoppers
Lyft: Express Pay for $0.85 or use the Lyft Direct debit card
By default, Lyft earnings are direct deposited to your bank account on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week.
You can cash out your earnings on demand with Express Pay for a fee of $0.85 per withdrawal.
If renting a car with Express Drive, you can only use Express Pay after your earnings cover your weekly rental charges.
85 cents to cash out with Express Pay. It can add up.
The Lyft Direct debit card is another way to instantly access your earnings.
With Lyft Direct, your earnings are automatically added to the debit card after each ride.
It’s free to transfer funds out of Lyft Direct to other accounts, so it’s easy to move your money if you prefer to store it in other places.
Lyft Direct also offers cash back on gas, restaurants, groceries, and other rotating categories.
One drawback with Lyft Direct is the ATM fees: There is a $2.50 fee and surcharges. Other debit cards offer better ATM perks.
Up to 7% cash back on gas is the best feature of Lyft Direct
More for Lyft drivers
Uber & Uber Eats: Instant pay for $0.85, or use the Uber Pro Card
By default, Uber and Uber Eats earnings are direct deposited to your bank account on Thursday of each week.
Uber offers several ways to withdraw your earnings on demand
With Instant Pay, you can withdraw your earnings for an $0.85 fee up to 5 times per day.
The Uber Pro Card with Branch Bank is a debit card that offers free instant cash-outs.
Your earnings are automatically transferred to the Pro card after every ride or delivery.
To move your money out of the Pro card to another account, you can do an ACH transfer, an Instant Transfer, or withdraw cash at an ATM.
ACH transfers are free, but they can take 3–5 business days. That’s a lot slower than other instant pay options on competing apps!
If you want to move your money right away, you can do an instant ACH transfer for a fee of around 2%.
Instant washouts are one of many features of the Uber Pro card
3 ways to get your money out of the Uber Pro card. Watch out for the instant ACH fees
The third option is the Uber Debit Card with GoBank, which is being replaced by the Uber Pro card but still may be available in some markets.
You can instantly withdraw your earnings to the Uber Debit card for free. ACH transfers are also free and take around 1–3 business days.
ACH transfer delays: Can you move your money without waiting?
Need to transfer funds out of your gig app debit card but can’t wait a few business days for an ACH transfer?
Try Cash App or Venmo for instant transfers: Connect a Cash App or Venmo account to the debit card, request funds from the debit card, then transfer from Cash App or Venmo to your final account.
It’s a trick to do an instant transfer that may work for some—but not all—debit cards and bank accounts.
Withdraw at a free ATM, deposit to another account: Many gig app debit cards offer free ATM service at participating ATMs.
Search for a partnered ATM in the debit card app, then withdraw your funds and deposit them to your desired account. But watch out for cash deposit fees at some banks!
It may not be as convenient as electronic transfers, but it can be a fast and free way to move money from one account to another.
Are the gig app debit cards worth getting?
Instantly accessing your earnings without paying any fees is a tempting perk, but there are some restrictions and extra hassles to remember before you sign up for a gig app debit card.
Benefits of the debit cards
- No fees to instantly access your earnings
- You can use the card for everyday purchases
- No minimum balance, no overdraft fees, no monthly fee (on most cards)
- Other perks like cash back
Drawbacks
- Delays transferring funds out of the account
- ATM fees or a limited ATM network on some cards
- Prepaid cards (DasherDirect, Amazon Flex) can’t do everything that a normal card can
- Potential for unexpected fees: Either from the card, or your bank
- Administrative hassle: It’s an extra account to keep track of
- Poorer customer service from online-only banks
If you pay instant fees more than a few times each week, it may be worth signing up for a debit card to save on fees. They can add up to hundreds of dollars every year!
But the extra complications from a new card might not be worth it if you can wait for the weekly direct deposit, or if you only occasionally pay fees.
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