What Kadogo makes free
| Transaction | Free up to | Who would otherwise pay |
|---|---|---|
| Send money to another person | KES 100 | The sender |
| Pay a Lipa na M-PESA till (Buy Goods) | KES 200 | The merchant |
Customers never pay a fee to pay a till, at any amount. The Kadogo benefit on till payments goes to the shop, which pays nothing on payments of KES 200 and below. That matters to kiosks and mama mbogas, whose sales are mostly small.
What Kadogo does not cover
- Sending KES 101 or more: the normal send-money bands apply. See M-PESA charges 2026.
- Withdrawing cash at an agent or ATM: charged by band at every amount.
- Paybill payments: charges depend on the business's paybill tariff. See how to pay a paybill.
Some transactions are free outside Kadogo too, such as depositing cash at an agent and buying airtime from M-PESA. The full list is in our charges guide. Safaricom also runs time-limited offers in some regions, so check the official consumer tariff for the bands in force today.
How big Kadogo has become
Safaricom's 2026 Sustainable Business Report puts Kadogo at 17.1 billion free transactions in FY26, 36.8% of all M-PESA transaction volumes, with use up 34.4% on the year. Counting every free transaction type, not just Kadogo, non-chargeable transactions made up 57.8% of M-PESA volumes, according to Safaricom's FY26 Annual Report. Our Kenya mobile money statistics page has the wider picture.
Sources
- Safaricom PLC, 2026 Sustainable Business Report (published 27 October 2026), page 44: Kadogo thresholds and FY26 volumes.
- Safaricom PLC, Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2026: 57.8% non-chargeable share.
- Safaricom, M-PESA consumer tariffs and limits