The short answer
Pick the method before the job and put it on the post. Zelle and check leave the cleanest record, the payment apps are fastest, and cash leaves nothing behind unless you write it down. Whatever you use, pay the day you said you would and keep a record of every payment.
Decide it before, not after
Your job post names the payment method, and that is part of what a worker agreed to. Changing it at the end of the day, after the work is done, is the fastest way to a bad review even when your reason is good.
It is also worth confirming their handle in the app before the last hour of the job, so a payment does not bounce back because a cashtag was off by one letter.
Zelle
Bank to bank, usually instant, and no fee at most banks. The money lands in the worker's actual account rather than an app balance.
It is also the easiest to prove later, because both banks have a record. If you want one default method, this is a good one to pick.
Cash App and Venmo
Fast, familiar, and most workers already have one. Send from your balance or your bank, and it arrives in seconds.
Two things to watch. Check the handle character by character, because a payment to the wrong person is very hard to reverse. And set your payments to private, since neither of you needs the transaction on a public feed.
PayPal
Works fine, but pay attention to which type of payment you send. Some types take a fee out of the amount, which means the worker gets less than the number you agreed.
If a fee comes out, cover it or send it a different way. Shorting the agreed number by a few dollars reads as sharp practice even when it was the platform's fee.
Check
A check is a real record with a date, an amount, and a signature. For a business paying regularly, it is clean and it matches your books.
The tradeoff is time. It has to clear, which matters more to a day laborer than it does to you. If you pay by check, say so in the post so nobody is expecting money that night.
Cash
Cash is legal and it is common on job sites. It is also invisible, which cuts against you as much as against the worker.
If you pay cash, write a short receipt and have both of you keep a copy. Date, job, hours, amount, and both names. Two minutes of paper is what turns a disputed payment into a settled one.
Cash does not exempt you from anything. It still counts as pay, it still goes in your records, and it still counts toward a 1099 if the year adds up.
Keep the record either way
Whatever method you use, log the date, the worker, the hours, the rate, and the amount. That log is what makes January easy and what settles any argument about what was paid.
Keeping the conversation in the app helps here too. The agreement, the hours, and the confirmation all sit in one thread that neither side can edit.
Pay when you said you would
A one day job here is paid the same day. A multi day job says on the post whether you are paying each day or at the end.
Paying late is the most common complaint workers have, and it is the one that follows an employer around in reviews. If something genuinely delays it, say so before the end of the day rather than going quiet.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Rules differ by state and by situation, so talk to your own professional before you rely on it.