Start small: five P2P platforms you can try with €10 or less

The most sensible way to try P2P lending is small: open an account, put in an amount you would not miss, and watch how the platform behaves for a few months — how repayments arrive, how the dashboard reads, how a withdrawal works. These five platforms make that easy, with minimums of €10 or less and sign-ups that take minutes.

Twino — from €1

Twino is a licensed investment firm, and its fixed-term securities start at €1. Identity verification runs through Onfido and, Twino says, usually takes just a few minutes. You can fund your account with Pay by Bank from your online banking or by ordinary transfer, and auto-invest needs only an amount, a loan type and a duration. No fees for investing, EEA deposits or EEA withdrawals. Twino review

Bondora Go & Grow — from €1

Go & Grow is about as simple as it gets: there is no portfolio to build, because every euro goes into the same product and earns daily. The help centre says sign-up usually takes a few minutes; verification happens in the app with a selfie and a photo of your ID. Go & Grow review

PeerBerry — from €10

PeerBerry's registration includes two-factor authentication from the start, and its automated ID check takes up to 10 minutes, the platform says. Auto Invest comes with three ready-made presets — short-term, long-term and real estate — and there are no investor fees for depositing, investing, withdrawing or using the secondary market. Apps for iOS and Android. PeerBerry review

Debitum — from €10

Debitum's identity check is mobile-first and takes about five minutes, according to the platform. Funding is free, and once your bank account is linked you can top up through an internet-banking payment that is credited straight away. A detailed auto-invest tool can place your money for you. Debitum review

Lendermarket — from €10

Lendermarket verifies you online through Sumsub and is one of the few platforms that lets you top up by card, credited instantly, as well as by SEPA transfer — with no fee from Lendermarket for either. Each loan starts at €10, so even a small balance can be spread widely. Lendermarket review

A simple test plan

1. 1Open an account and complete verification.
2. 2Deposit a small amount you can afford to lose.
3. 3Switch on auto-invest with conservative settings.
4. 4After a month or two, request a withdrawal — how that goes tells you a lot about a platform.

Worth knowing

A low minimum makes testing cheap, but it does not make the investment less risky. Only Twino on this list is a licensed investment firm with an investor compensation scheme; Lendermarket holds a crowdfunding licence; PeerBerry and Bondora's Go & Grow product are not regulated as investments, and Debitum's portfolio is concentrated on one forestry issuer. None of these are bank deposits. Our risks page explains what to watch.