RTP vs. FedNow: US Instant Payments Compared
The US now has two true instant-payment rails running side by side: RTP (The Clearing House, since 2017) and FedNow (the Federal Reserve, since 2023). For anyone waiting on money, the good news is they behave almost identically: funds are final and available in seconds, 24/7/365, including nights, weekends and Christmas.
Side by side (2026)
| RTP | FedNow | |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | The Clearing House (bank-owned) | Federal Reserve |
| Live since | 2017 | 2023 |
| Speed | seconds, funds final | seconds, funds final |
| Hours | 24/7/365 | 24/7/365 |
| Limit | $10M (raised Feb 2025) | $10M (raised Nov 2025) |
| Reach | 1,100+ banks; ~75% of US accounts reachable | 1,400+ participating institutions |
| Reversible? | No. Instant payments are final. Errors need a voluntary return request. | |
You don't choose the rail, your bank does
When an app says "instant transfer," its bank routes the payment over whichever rail both sides support: RTP, FedNow, or (the quiet fallback) a push-to-card transaction over Visa Direct or Mastercard Send. If neither side supports an instant rail, the payment silently falls back to ACH, which is how an "instant" transfer occasionally becomes a next-day transfer. The fallback, not the rail, is what surprises people.
Why an instant payment can still feel slow
- Fraud screening: real-time risk checks can hold a first-time or large payment for minutes (rarely, hours).
- Receiving bank not connected: roughly a quarter of US accounts still aren't RTP-reachable; smaller credit unions joined FedNow fastest.
- App-level limits: a payment app may cap instant transfers well below the network's $10M and route the rest via ACH.
- Request-for-Payment vs. credit push: an instant request still waits for a human to approve it.
What the $10M limits changed
With both rails matching at $10 million per payment since late 2025, instant rails became viable for real-estate closings, payroll funding, and supplier payments that used to require wires. For consumers the practical takeaway is simpler: if your bank offers RTP or FedNow sending, it has replaced the wire counter for most same-day needs, without the wire fee or the 5 PM cutoff.