François Briod
Guide
Jarrod Suda
Reviewer
Aug 29, 2024
Advertiser disclosure
It's commonly believed that your traditional bank is the most secure and optimal way to transfer funds internationally. This old advice no longer applies today, thanks to the advent of online international money transfer companies. You now have access to more options and lower or no fees.
But how do you know you're getting the best deal? In this guide, we walk through the many international money transfer organizations advertising themselves as "the cheapest", "the most convenient", or "easiest to use".
While each service has its merits, our comparison engine finds the best rates by trusted providers for you in real time. Try it out for yourself now and save money on your next transfer. 👇
Compare international money transfer services in real time:
Key Facts About the Best Money Transfer Companies
🕵️♀️ Companies compared | 37 companies reviewed |
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💰 Monito users | Saved over $75 million in fees |
🔍 Comparison engine | Trusted by over 15 million users |
🌎 Sending from US, EU, or UK? | |
🔒 Best for security | |
💸 Lowest overall fees | |
🏆 Most quality service | |
🌟 Highest customer reviews |
Top 10 Best Money Transfer Organizations
- 02. The best money transfer companies ranked by Service Quality scroll down
- 04. Best money transfer companies ranked by Customer Satisfaction scroll down
- 05. What are the cheapest companies by country and use case? scroll down
- 06. How should I compare the best money transfer companies? scroll down
- 07. 4 factors to consider when choosing money transfer companies scroll down
- 08. How Monito reviews money transfer services scroll down
- 09. FAQ about the best money transfer services scroll down
Best: Wise
Wise is a world-class option for money transfers overseas, one we recommend especially for small- to medium-sized transfers. Wise uses mid-market exchange rates — never charging you an exchange rate mark-up.
Available in the EEA, UK, US, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, we recommend Wise, especially for small- to medium-sized transfers destined for foreign bank accounts. It's pricing is the most competitive for these transfers.
- Best for: small to medium sized bank transfers
9.5
2nd-Best: Revolut Money Transfer
Revolut Money Transfer offers some of the best exchange rates in the world, especially for common currencies like the Euro. Revolut's smartphone app is secure, easy to use, and transparent in terms of fees and exchange rates.
Revolut's money transfer service can send money in 40+ currencies to 100+ countries. If you use the app to send money to another Revolut account holder, then you won't pay transfer fees — plus it'll be instant.
- Best for: converting money to Euros in-app
9.4
3rd-Best: Remitly
Remitly is consistently one of the cheapest overall international money transfer companies in the world. This list is updated to take into consideration all of our data up to 2024, so you will be certain to get a good deal from Remitly. The international money transfer company also has an excellent Monito score, proving its worth in terms of security, customer satisfaction, and speed.
Available in Europe, North America, Singapore, and Australia, we recommend Remitly, particularly for transfers destined for cash pickup, as its pricing is extremely good for these transfers.
- Best for: sending cash pick-ups to the Philippines, India, Turkey, and more
9.3
4th-Best: Currencies Direct
Currencies Direct is an experienced, high-quality currency exchange service known for competitive exchange rates for large volume transfers.
Currencies Direct sets itself apart with its range of tools including forward, limit, and stop-loss orders, helping you to manage foreign exchange fluctuations and exchange rate risk. It's often a good choice for sending money to the USA.
- Best for: sending large transfers to the United States
9.0
5th-Best: Western Union
Western Union is one of the oldest and most trusted international money transfer companies in the world. It offers its services in an impressive 200+ countries.
We recommend using Western Union's online services as they are often cheaper than using their in-person stores. It offers competitive rates when sending from the US, UK, and EU and when sending to Turkey, India, and Mexico.
- Best for: sending from the US, UK, or EU to Turkey, India, or Mexico with westernunion.com
9.0
6th-Best: TransferGo
TransferGo is known for consistently offering the cheapest rates on international money transfers, mainly to European countries. The platform provides a wide range of pay-in and pay-out options.
It is excellent for transfers from the UK to Poland and the United States. It also specializes in transfers from Turkey to Ukraine, Turkey to the EU, and Poland to the UK.
- Best for: sending bank transfers to Europe
8.9
7th-Best: Paysend
Paysend operates an impressive network of around 110 receiving countries. With consistently low and competitive fees and exchange rates, Paysend is highly specialised in sending instant debit card or prepaid card transfers.
Paysend typically offers low fees for transfers from Mexico or Colombia, as well as transfers from the United States to Canada.
- Best for: sending money to debit cards and prepaid cards
8.8
8th-Best: OFX
OFX is widely recognized as one of the most reliable providers in the world. The platform enables customers to effectively manage foreign exchange risks through features like forward contracts, as well as limit and stop loss orders.
OFX offers competitive exchange rates, especially on transfers from Mexico and the United States. Furthermore, the company doesn't charge any fixed fees. Customers have also reviewed OFX highly for its exceptional customer support and high level of professionalism.
- Best for: sending money from the US or Mexico, especially B2B
8.8
9th-Best: XE Money Transfer
XE Money Transfer covers a vast scope, supporting 130 countries and around 100 currencies. Additionally, XE is backed by Euronet Worldwide, which gives customers the peace of mind that their money is in safe hands. Most transfers are completed within one working day. It is a much-loved platform with many glowing customer reviews.
XE is very competitive for international money transfers to India from the United States or the UK. It's also great for the popular UK to Poland corridor.
- Best for: bank transfers to popular countries like India and Poland
8.7
10th-Best: Atlantic Money
Atlantic Money has one of the best designed services with a straightforward interface. It always gives you the true mid-market exchange rate for its transfers. There are no hidden markups, and it charges clear, flat fees per transaction.
Atlantic Money stands out for its competitive rates, especially for transfers from the UK to Poland or the EU to the USA. Overall, Atlantic Money is an up-and-coming and trustworthy option for international money transfers.
- Best for: bank transfers from Europe to Poland or the US
8.7
10 Best Money Transfer Companies at a Glance
Update for 2024, see the international money transfer companies with the best average fee rates in the world. Compare their services, customer reviews, and other capabilities.
Rank | Score | Company | Methods | Trustpilot | Markup | Fees | Website |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9.5/10 | Bank deposit, mobile wallet deposit | 4.3/5 | 0% | 0.5% - 2% | Visit | |
2 | 9.4/10 | Bank deposit, cash pick-up, VISA & MasterCard, ATMs, mobile wallet deposit (depending on country) | 4.2/5 | 0% - 2% | $0.00 | Visit | |
3 | 9.3/10 | Bank deposit, cash pick-up, home delivery, mobile wallet deposit. | 4.1/5 | 0.5% - 2% | $0.00 - $3.99 | Visit | |
4 | 9.0/10 | Bank deposit, debit card payment | 4.9/5 | 0.3% - 1.5% | £0.00 | Visit | |
5 | 9.0/10 | Bank deposit, cash pick-up, debit card, credit card | 4.2/5 | 0.4% - 7% | $0.00 - $61.00 | Visit | |
6 | 8.9/10 | Bank deposit, debit/credit card | 4.7/5 | 0% - 2.2% | €0.99 | Visit | |
7 | 8.8/10 | Bank deposit, debit card, credit card, Paysend Wallet | 4.3/5 | 0.2% - 5% | €2.00 | Visit | |
8 | 8.8/10 | Bank deposit | 4.4/5 | 0.35% | €3.00 | Visit | |
9 | 8.7/10 | Bank deposit, debit/credit card | 4.3/5 | 0.4% - 1.6% | €3.00 | Visit | |
10 | 8.7/10 | Bank deposit | 4.0/5 | 0% | €3.00 | Visit |
Breaking It Down by Trust & Credibility
When it comes to the Trust & Credibility component of The Monito Score, Wise, TransferGo, and Instarem are the strongest services for the following reasons:
- Wise: Moves more than US$70 billion across borders for more than 10 million customers every year;
- TransferGo: Around 2.5 million customers and around £1 billion being handled in transfer principal;
- Instarem: Since its establishment in 2014, Instarem has grown to serve two million customers, employ over 200 people, and transfers over US$4 billion worldwide annually.
Worthy Mentions and Special Considerations
While some providers earn a higher Trust & Credibility score than others, it's well worth keeping in mind that every service you encounter on Monito is completely trustworthy and meets, at minimum, a set of stringent trust and security criteria. These include top-notch security protocols such as segregated user accounts, 128-bit encryption, and HTTPS, as well as due authorisation by the relevant financial regulators.
Other money transfer services that rank well in the Trust & Credibility category, which didn't make the top three include Remitly (8.9/10), CurrencyFair (8.5/10), and Remessa Online (9.0/10).
Worthy mentions also go to Western Union (7.5/10), MoneyGram (7.6/10), and Ria (8.0/10) — which despite seeing their Trust & Credibility scored lowered as a result of non-transparent pricing — remain the largest, second-largest, and third-largest money transfer companies on the globe and are highly credible services as a result.
Breaking It Down by Service Quality
When it comes to the Service Quality score, Wise and TransferGo once again perform well and are joined by Western Union to form the top three services for this scoring category. For each service, the placement came down to the following factors respectively:
- Wise: Registering an account and setting up a money transfer is speedy and seamless;
- TransferGo: Setting up a money transfer is straightforward, and customer support is conveniently reachable;
- Western Union: An almost unmatched scope of pay-in and pay-out methods are available.
Worthy Mentions and Special Considerations
Other services to show their strength in this category include Paysend (8.0/10), Remessa Online (7.7/10), CurrencyFair (7.5/10), and PayPal (7.8/10), the latter of which we don't recommend for international money transfers due to the fees despite its convenient mobile transfer platform.
Breaking It Down by Fees & Exchange Rates
In the Fees & Exchange Rates category, Remitly, Wise, and Global66 show themselves to be the best-priced money transfer services based on data from hundreds of thousands of searches on Monito's comparison engine:
- Remitly: Cheapest and competitive on 15% of available Monito searches for bank transfers and 64% for cash pick-ups for all 12 months of 2022;
- Wise: Cheapest and competitive on 19% of available Monito searches for bank transfers for all 12 months of 2022;
- Global66: Cheapest and competitive on 10% of available Monito searches for bank transfers for all 12 months of 2022.
Worthy Mentions and Special Considerations
The cheapest money transfer service can be very specific from region to region. Therefore extremely well-priced services specialising in individual corridors may not feature on our global results above.
For example, for transfers from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia, SingX is very frequently the best-priced and most competitive service of all, even more so than Wise or Remitly. Similarly, for transfers from Switzerland, specialist services b-sharpe and Wise often offer the best pricing, while for transfers from the UK to Poland, TransferGo frequently comes out on top (although XE Money Transfer is very competitive on this corridor too.)
Also worthy of mention is WorldRemit, which is cheapest for 15% of available Monito searches for cash pick-ups but did not make it into the top three.
To get around this problem and make sure you're finding the best deal for your specific transfer corridor, we recommend running a search on Monito's real-time comparison engine.
Breaking It Down by Customer Satisfaction
By Customer Satisfaction, the best money transfer services on Monito are Revolut Money Transfer, Wise, and XE Money Transfer, which consistently impressed their customers by the following metrics:
- Revolut Money Transfer: From millions of reviews on Google Play and the App Store, Revolut earned a 4.5 and 4.9 score, respectively;
- Wise: Around 85% of 116 thousand customers who gave their feedback on Trustpilot rated Wise five out of five stars;
- XE Money Transfer: Around 95% of 45 thousand customers who gave their feedback on Trustpilot rated XE five out of five stars.
Worthy Mentions and Special Considerations
Many services on Monito rank very highly with their customers, and some only just missed making it into the top three. These include TransferGo (9.6/10), Azimo (9.6/10), and Remitly (9.5/10).
Compare Money Transfer Services
Best Money Transfer Organizations for Various Use Cases
Each money transfer specialist has its strengths and weaknesses, with some being better suited for transfers between certain countries while others shine at particular pay-in methods. Take a look at the breakdown below to discover the top providers for major use cases according to The Monito Score and data from hundreds of thousands of searches on Monito's real-time comparison engine.
Best Money Transfer Company By Service Type
Whether you want to send a traditional cash pick-up or an instant electronic transfer, rates will vary:
- Best overall for bank transfers: Wise
- Best for cash pick-ups: Remitly
- Best for card transfers: Revolut Money Transfer
- Best for mobile money: WorldRemit
- Best for coverage: Western Union
- Best for desktop transfers: Wise
- Best for mobile transfers: Wise
- Best for offline transfers: Western Union
- Best for customer support: Wise
- Best for transparent pricing: TransferGo/Wise
Best Money Transfer Services By Region
Rates vary widely depending on your country of origin and your recipient's country. International money transfer companies often specialize in a geographic area or country. Have a look at our data-backed recommendations for various country corridors.
From the Americas
- Best for sending money from the US to India: Remitly
- Best for sending money from the US to Canada: Currencyfair
- Best for sending money from the US to Mexico: Remitly
- Best for sending money from Canada to the US: Wise
- Best for sending money from N. America to Europe: Currencyfair
- Best for sending money from S. America to N. America: Global66
- Best for sending money from N. America to S. America: Remitly
From Europe
- Best for sending money from the UK to Poland: Remitly
- Best for sending money within Europe: Currencyfair
- Best for sending money from Switzerland: Wise
- Best for sending money from Europe to N. America: Currencyfair
From Asia
- Best for sending money from Asia to Europe: Remitly
- Best for sending money from Asia to N. America: Wise
- Best for sending money within Asia: Wise
- Best for sending money from Singapore: SingX
- Best for sending money from Brazil: Remessa Online
Understand the Fees to Transfer Money Internationally
In the worst case (with banks), your recipient may be charged a receiving fee! Not to worry, we only recommend transparent services that waive this kind of fee. As we go through the list, keep in mind that you will usually be charged these two fees for international money transfers:
- Commission fee: This is an industry-standard sending fee that is charged for the service. It may come at a fixed price or as a percentage of the transaction total.
- Exchange rate margin: Some companies apply an exchange rate that is weaker than the live mid-market rate. They will pocket this markup difference.
Find The Best Money Transfer Organization For Your Needs
Regardless of whether security, price, service quality, or other customers' opinions is the most important factor for you when looking for a money transfer service, there is plenty to compare to find the best deal to suit your individual needs.
On Monito's award-winning comparison engine, you'll not only be able to compare money transfer services by the cost, but you'll also be able to rank and select money transfer services by their Monito Score, aspects of their service (e.g. pay-in and pay-out methods), transfer time, and explore the transfer details, as highlighted below:
To get started, simply run a search on Monito's comparison engine and find the best service to suit your needs:
Compare Money Transfer Organization Fees & Exchange Rates
4 Important Factors To Look For in International Money Transfer Companies
At Monito, our mission is to guide your money across borders by helping you to find the best service to send your money internationally. We’ve spent years independently comparing and reviewing transfer services across the globe. That's why we've launched the Monito Score, the culmination of hours of research by our money transfer experts, multiple tests of each, and leveraging millions of pricing data points from Monito’s comparison engine.
The Monito Score: How Monito Reviews Money Transfer Services
The Monito Score ranks money transfer companies objectively on twelve criteria in the following four categories to help you make informed decisions:
- Trust & Credibility: A confidence ranking based on several factors such as authorisation by financial regulators, use of security protocols, company size, and fee and exchange rate transparency;
- Service Quality: A service score based on a qualitative test of a service's web and mobile apps to determine the ease of opening a new account, making a transfer, contacting customer support, and ordering/managing an associated debit/credit card;
- Fees & Exchange Rates: A price ranking determined by how often a service is cheapest across hundreds of thousands of searches on Monito's comparison engine and how often the total cost of sending 1,000 US dollars overseas is below 1.5%;
- Customer Satisfaction: A customer-centric ranking based on how many five-star reviews customers have given to a service on Trustpilot weighted against the absolute number of four- and five-star reviews the service has received.
Taken together, these four categories combine to form The Monito Score, a score out of 10 awarded to each money transfer service that provides a detailed and nuanced overview of the quality of their service.
How We Rank the Best International Money Transfer Companies and Organizations
All services reviewed by Monito undergo a rigorous evaluation to assess the quality of their service.
When reviewing a money transfer service, our experts start by opening a user account to test out its functionalities, including the ease of registration and speed of transferring money. This provides a well-rounded overview of the platform's strengths and limitations. Next, we weigh this score against several other key criteria, including customer reviews, percentage of fees constituted by exchange rate margins, pay-in options, access to customer service, business and legal metrics such as volume transferred, appropriate authorization, and company size.
Finally, we run an analysis of hundreds of thousands of searches on Monito's comparison engine to determine how often the service in question is the cheapest and how often it was competitive against its rivals, giving a reliable overview of the service's pricing in relation to the market. As a final step, the review process is then repeated by a second reviewer to peer-review and cross-reference.
Reviews are written independently by Monito's editors and recommendations given are our own. Services you sign up with using our links may earn us a commission. Learn more.
FAQ About the Best Money Transfer Services
🤝 Can I trust Monito's reviews?
Yes, you can absolutely trust our reviews. At Monito, we've been using verifiable data to make balanced, actionable user recommendations since 2013. Some of these recommendations come in the form of consumer guides and reports. Still, many of them also come in the form of in-depth consumer reviews powered on The Monito Score, a composite evaluation based on 12 criteria in four categories. As a result, Monito is a world leader in comparing international money transfers, exchange rates, and neobanks.
✍ How did you pick and test the best money transfer services?
When reviewing a money transfer service, our experts start by opening a user account to test out its functionalities, including the ease of registration and speed of transferring money. This provides a well-rounded overview of the platform's strengths and limitations. Next, we weigh this score against several other key criteria, including customer reviews, percentage of fees constituted by exchange rate margins, pay-in options, access to customer service, business and legal metrics such as volume transferred, appropriate authorization, and company size. Finally, we run an analysis of hundreds of thousands of searches on Monito's comparison engine to determine how often the service in question is the cheapest and how often it was competitive against its rivals, giving a reliable overview of the service's pricing concerning the market. As a final step, the review process is then repeated by a second reviewer to peer-review and cross-reference.
💸 Why are money transfer specialists recommended over banks and PayPal?
All in all, sending money internationally is significantly more expensive with the bank or PayPal than with a specialist money transfer service. This is because both the bank and PayPal frequently levy exchange rate margin fees upwards of 5% of the transfer value, where money transfer specialists levy margins below 1.5% for comparable corridors. Take a look at our in-depth guide to find out more.
💻 Which money transfer services were tested for this article?
To come up with a ranking of top money transfer services ranked by Monito Score, our reviewers tested and compared a total of 29 top-notch money transfer services, with many more to come. Among the services we tested were big-name digital players such as Wise (ex-TransferWise) and Remitly, large, traditional money transfer operators such as Western Union, MoneyGram, and Ria, and even mobile transfer platforms such as PayPal and Skrill.
Learn more about how to send money internationally.
Why You Can Trust Monito
Our recommendations are built on rock-solid experience.
- We've reviewed 50+ money transfer providers
- We've made 100+ test transfers
- Our writers have been testing providers since 2013
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Why You Can Trust Us
You’re probably all too familiar with the oftenoutrageous cost of sending money abroad. After facing this frustration themselves back in 2013, Monito co-founders François, Laurent, and Pascal launched a real-time comparison engine to compare the best money transfer services worldwide.
Today, Monito’s award-winning comparisons, reviews, and guides (no longer just about money transfers but also digital accounts, travel cards, eSIMs, and travel insurance) are trusted by millions each year. Our recommendations are backed by our comparison data and dozens of expert tests, allowing you to confidently make the savviest decisions.
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15+ million peopleacross the globe trust Monito.
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Monito's experts spend hours researching and testing services
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