Compare money transfers: fees, rates, taxes, and what your recipient actually keeps
Today's rate, the cost per service, taxes on both sides, and what your recipient actually keeps after cash-out.
For every route: today's real rate, a comparison of services on fees, speed and delivery, and what your recipient actually keeps after cash-out and taxes.
What is the cheapest way to send money internationally?
It depends on the route — no single service is cheapest everywhere. The real cost is the fee plus the exchange-rate margin plus any tax, minus the cash-out on arrival. Our calculator does it live: for example, $500 from the US to Kenya arrives as about KSh 64,625 at the mid-market rate, and the recipient keeps ~KSh 64,316 after the M-Pesa cash-out. Compare any route above.
Which money transfer app is best?
There's no universal best — it's per route. Wise leads on rate transparency, Sendwave and LemFi on instant wallet delivery, Western Union and MoneyGram on cash pickup. Our calculator only lists the providers that actually serve your route; open each one's live in-app quote for the exact fee before you send.
Do I pay tax when sending money abroad?
From the US, only if you fund with cash, a money order or a cashier's check: a 1% federal excise applies to transfers after 31 December 2025. From a US bank account or card, it's exempt. On the receive side it varies: Ghana repealed its e-levy in 2025, Uganda charges 0.5% at cash-out, most WAEMU countries none. The calculator shows both.
The US remittance-tax guide →How much will my recipient actually receive?
The gross is your amount times the rate — but what they KEEP is less, because cashing out costs money. On $500 to Kenya, KSh 64,625 arrives and ~KSh 64,316 is kept after the M-Pesa withdrawal fee. Receiving into a wallet is free; the cost appears at cash-out. Our calculator subtracts it from real operator tariffs, for 40+ markets.
"What the recipient keeps" is our difference: the cash-out cost the senders' pages ignore.
What is the best money transfer app to Africa?
It depends on the destination and wallet. To Africa specifically, we hold the deepest receive-side data — 40+ markets — so we show not just who's cheapest to send, but what your family keeps after cash-out. Sendwave and LemFi specialise in instant wallet delivery; WorldRemit and Remitly reach the widest wallet and cash networks. Pick your route below.
Bank transfer, mobile wallet, or cash pickup: which is best?
Mobile wallet to spend right away (M-Pesa, MTN MoMo) and it's free to receive; bank account for large sums; cash pickup if the recipient has no wallet. Not every service offers all three, and each mode has its own cash-out cost. The calculator shows which providers reach each mode and what each cash-out costs.
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How does this money transfer calculator work?
We don't sell transfer services. Some provider links are referral links, marked sponsored — they never change the figures or the order shown. Our interest is not to steer you to a provider, but to give you a complete, honest picture — exactly what the providers' own pages cannot do.
The rate: we show today's real mid-market rate from our own live rate feed, the same one that powers our rate pages. It is the starting point; each service adds a fee and/or a margin on top.
The services: we describe their MODEL — fee structure, rate approach, speed, delivery options — from public information, never a live quote. Exact numbers change constantly; you confirm them in the app at send time.
The receive side: this is our real difference. Using our verified mobile money fee data, we show what your recipient actually pays at cash-out — a cost the senders' pages ignore. The calculator works for any route in the world (rate + taxes), but our receive-side depth is unmatched: 40+ African markets detailed, and growing. Where we have not yet verified the receive chain, the page flags it rather than showing a guessed figure.
Rates live, provider details verified June 2026. Rates auto-refresh; provider details are re-verified quarterly.
How do I compare money transfer fees?
No service is 'the best' in the abstract — the right choice comes down to four factors, weighted by your situation.
1. Total cost, not the visible fee. Real cost = visible fee + the margin added to the exchange rate. A 'zero-fee' service may widen its rate margin; always compare the FINAL AMOUNT received, not the '0 fees' hook. On small sends the flat fee weighs most; on large sends the rate margin dominates.
2. Speed. Mobile-money-focused apps often deliver in minutes; economy options take 1-3 days for a lower cost. Choose by urgency.
3. Delivery method. Mobile wallet to spend right away, bank account for large sums, cash pickup if the recipient has no app or wallet. Not every service offers all three.
4. Local wallet support. Check that the service reaches your recipient's specific wallet (MTN MoMo in Ghana, M-Pesa in Kenya, OPay/PalmPay in Nigeria). This is exactly the logic our per-route verdicts apply.
What it costs to receive money across Africa
The sending services' pages stop at the moment the money leaves. But what your family actually keeps also depends on the RECEIVE cost — the cash-out fee on the destination side. That is the angle we add, from our own mobile money fee data.
Receiving into a wallet is free everywhere. The cost only appears at cash-out: in Ghana it is capped at a flat GH₵20 above GH₵2,000; in Kenya it is the M-Pesa withdrawal grid; in Nigeria receiving is free but a bank deposit of ₦10,000+ carries a ₦50 EMTL stamp duty.
Send to a mobile wallet
Mobile money has become the dominant receive channel in Africa: the recipient gets money on their phone and spends it directly, with no bank account. Most major services — Sendwave, LemFi, WorldRemit, Remitly, Taptap Send, Wise — deliver to a wallet, and Sendwave and LemFi have made it their specialty (instant wallet deposit).
Each route page shows, in a dedicated table, which services reach that country's wallets, plus the use-case verdict. Pick your route above to see the detail.