Scoring sheet
How we scored the best ways to send money internationally
Every score in The best way to send money internationally comes from this sheet: the tools we considered, the scale for each criterion, and the evidence and date behind each score.
This page shows the working behind the best way to send money internationally: the field we considered, the criteria and weights, what each score means, and every score with the evidence behind it.
The cost scores come from our own measurement. On November 4, 2026, between 18:13 and 18:57 UTC, we read each provider's public quote, the one its own website's calculator shows a visitor without an account, for the same 24 transfers: $200, $1,000 and $5,000 from the US to Mexico, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia, the UK, Germany (in euros) and Canada. Wise's price for paying from a connected bank account (ACH) isn't in the quote its calculator loads, so we read it from Wise's public price list at 19:39 UTC the same evening and applied it to the exchange rate of the earlier quote. That gave 408 quotes from nine providers. We did not open accounts or send money, so we saw what each provider promises before you sign up, not what arrived. Payout options come from the same calculators and from each provider's country pages, read the same day.
The question and the reader
The question, in the reader's words: "What's the best way to send money internationally from the US?" People also ask which is cheapest among Wise, Remitly, Western Union and a bank wire, whether Wise or Remitly gives the recipient more, which app is best for India, Mexico or the Philippines, and how to send a large amount such as $10,000. We asked four AI models (GPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, through their APIs with web search on) those five questions on November 4, 2026, which gave 20 answers. Those answers and the pages they cite built the field below.
The reader lives in the US and sends money to family, or pays a bill or a person abroad, a few hundred to a few thousand dollars at a time and often every month. They want the most money to arrive and don't trust "$0 fee" banners. Many send again and again, so the price of the second transfer matters more than the welcome offer on the first.
Must-haves
A provider had to pass all three to be scored. These are filters, not criteria.
- It sends from the US to a bank account in at least five of our eight test countries.
- Anyone in the US can use it as a person, not only businesses or the provider's own bank customers.
- Its website shows the price of a transfer you choose before you sign up, and we could read that price. MoneyGram, Ria and Revolut show prices to a person in a browser, but answered our automated reading with a captcha or a security check, which we don't get around. We'll add them when we can read their prices.
The field
The field is every provider named in the 20 AI answers, plus those the pages they cite rank as a pick. The count is how many of the 20 answers name the provider in their text. Two of the five questions named Wise, Remitly and Western Union themselves, which adds to their counts.
| Provider | Named in the 20 AI answers | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Wise | 19 | Scored |
| Remitly | 15 | Scored |
| A US bank wire | 12 | Not scored: Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo show their exchange rate only after you sign in, so we couldn't read a quote (must-have 3). The page covers banks in their own section, with their published wire fees |
| Western Union | 10 | Scored |
| OFX | 6 | Scored |
| MoneyGram | 5 | Not scored: its quote service answered us with a captcha on November 4, 2026, so we couldn't read a price (must-have 3) |
| WorldRemit | 3 | Scored |
| PayPal | 3 | Not scored: a PayPal payment abroad goes to a PayPal account, not a bank account. PayPal's own service for bank deposits and cash abroad is Xoom, which is scored |
| Xoom (PayPal) | 2 | Scored |
| Instarem | 2 | Scored |
| TapTap Send | 2 | Scored. Prices from the rate and fee tables its website calculator uses (see the cost section) |
| Ria | 2 | Not scored: its website answered with a security check page, so we couldn't read a quote (must-have 3) |
| Currencies Direct | 2 | Not scored this round: named for $10,000 transfers. We'll add it at the next check |
| Xe | 1 | Scored |
| Paysend | 1 | Not scored this round. We'll add it at the next check |
| Skrill | 1 | Not scored this round: named once, for the Philippines. We'll add it at the next check |
| DolarApp and Félix Pago | 1 each | Not scored: both serve one of our eight countries (Mexico), so they fail must-have 1 |
| ZoltMoney | 1 | Not scored: named for India only, and it fails must-have 1 |
| Revolut | 0 (its site was cited once) | Not scored: its website answered with a security check page (must-have 3), and you need a Revolut account to send |
| Sendwave | 0 (in a cited Wise article) | Not scored this round: we found no public quote on its website |
| Wells Fargo ExpressSend | 0 (cited once) | Not scored: for Wells Fargo account holders only (must-have 2) |
| ICICI Bank Money2India | 0 (cited once) | Not scored: sends to India only (must-have 1) |
| TransferGo | 0 (in a cited comparison) | Not scored this round. We'll add it at the next check |
Criteria and weights
These were set before any provider was scored.
| Criterion | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Cost on later transfers | 60 | The median cost, fees plus exchange-rate markup, of the test transfers the provider quoted, at the price a returning customer pays. |
| Ways to receive | 20 | How many of 16 ways to receive money in our eight countries the provider offers from the US. |
| Clear pricing | 20 | What its calculator shows a new visitor before sign-up. |
Cost gets most of the weight because the reader's first question is how much arrives. Ways to receive matters to the many recipients who collect cash or use a mobile wallet, and not at all to someone paying a bank account in Europe, so it gets a fifth. Clear pricing gets a fifth because a price you can't see before signing up, or that changes after the first transfer, is the trap the reader is trying to avoid. It overlaps with cost on purpose: cost is scored at the later price whether or not the calculator shows it, and Clear pricing rewards a calculator that lets you see that price before you commit. Speed is not scored: we didn't send money, so we'd only be repeating the providers' own estimates. The page reports them.
How each criterion is scored
Cost on later transfers
For each provider, test country and amount we took the cheapest quote paid from a US bank account (by ACH) or a debit card into a bank account abroad. We left out credit cards and wires you send from your own bank, which your bank charges for; Wise's "Wire transfer" option is one of those. Where a provider showed a new-customer offer, we used the regular price it shows beside the offer (Western Union's crossed-out rate and fee, WorldRemit's crossed-out rate, Instarem's regular margin), or the price Remitly's calculator gives a returning customer. Xoom shows only its first-transfer rate in three countries (Mexico, India and the Philippines), so its cost score rests on the other five. A transfer above a provider's published limit is left out.
Cost = what you pay in dollars, minus what the recipient gets valued at the mid-market rate, as a share of what you pay. The mid-market rate for each currency is the median of three references read at the start and the end of the run (Yahoo Finance's latest one-minute rate, Wise's published live rate and OFX's interbank rate), interpolated to the moment of each quote. Wise's own rate is one of the three, so Wise matching the reference is partly by construction. In Nigeria the references disagree by about 2% (Yahoo Finance 1,344.80 naira to the dollar, a rate up to 45 minutes old when we read it, against Wise's 1,375.32), so costs in naira carry about one percentage point of uncertainty either way. Colombia has two references (OFX quoted no pesos), which differ by 0.3%.
Score = 10 x (3 - median cost %) / 3, between 0 and 10, one decimal. 10 means the median transfer cost nothing beyond the mid-market rate; 7 means a median of 0.9%; 4 means 1.8%; 0 means 3% or more. The UN's goal is to bring remittance costs below 3% by 2030, measured on $200 transfers (Sustainable Development Goal 10.c). A cost below zero means the provider's rate beat our mid-market reference, which happens with promotional rates and within the reference's error.
| Provider | Transfers quoted | $200 | $1,000 | $5,000 | Median, all | Range | First transfer, median | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TapTap Send | 14 | 0.57% | 0.39% | 0.21% | 0.47% | -0.46% to 2.43% | 0.47% | Mexico (up to $1,000), India, Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia |
| Remitly | 24 | 1.13% | 0.58% | 0.57% | 0.67% | 0.03% to 4.85% | -0.64% | all eight |
| Xe | 24 | 0.90% | 0.60% | 0.50% | 0.68% | -0.36% to 2.83% | 0.68% | all eight |
| Wise | 24 | 1.09% | 0.64% | 0.57% | 0.69% | -0.42% to 2.25% | 0.69% | all eight |
| Instarem | 24 | 0.72% | 0.72% | 0.64% | 0.70% | 0.30% to 2.51% | 0.18% | all eight |
| Western Union | 24 | 2.42% | 1.66% | 1.56% | 1.71% | 0.11% to 4.20% | 0.16% | all eight |
| WorldRemit | 21 | 2.95% | 1.38% | 1.23% | 2.07% | -0.15% to 3.82% | 1.38% | all but Germany (no euro bank deposits) |
| Xoom | 15 | 6.74% | 2.69% | 2.18% | 2.69% | 1.56% to 9.69% | 1.90% | Nigeria, Colombia, UK, Germany, Canada (regular price not shown elsewhere) |
| OFX | 18 | 6.35% | 3.07% | 2.09% | 3.44% | 1.84% to 8.95% | 3.44% | all but Nigeria and Colombia (not offered) |
Scores: TapTap Send 8.4, Remitly 7.8, Xe 7.8 (its median of 0.675% gives exactly 7.75, rounded up), Wise 7.7, Instarem 7.7, Western Union 4.3, WorldRemit 3.1, Xoom 1.0, OFX 0.
Not every provider quoted the same transfers, so the medians cover different sets. Two comparisons on the same transfers show how much that matters:
| Provider | Median on TapTap Send's 14 transfers | Median on Xoom's 15 transfers |
|---|---|---|
| TapTap Send | 0.47% | 0.05% (6 of them) |
| WorldRemit | 0.43% | 2.19% (12) |
| Instarem | 0.70% | 0.70% |
| Wise | 0.74% | 0.58% |
| Remitly | 1.21% | 0.47% |
| Xe | 1.28% | 0.53% |
| Western Union | 1.44% | 1.74% |
| Xoom | 1.87% (6) | 2.69% |
| OFX | 4.33% (8) | 2.96% (9) |
In TapTap Send's five countries, WorldRemit was as cheap as TapTap Send, and Xe and Remitly cost more than their all-country medians suggest. In Xoom's five countries, Xoom was still the second most expensive. The nine transfers Xoom left out are the ones where its first-time rates beat the mid-market rate, so its regular price there is unknown and may be better than its median.
Notes on the quotes behind these numbers:
- TapTap Send is app-only. Its website calculator shows one exchange rate per country, not a quote per amount, and a fee table by payout partner. We applied the fee it lists for a deposit to a bank account number: $0 to Mexico, the Philippines and Nigeria, $1.99 to India and $3.99 to Colombia. (Its India page also says "no transfer fees on sends to India", but lists $1.99 for US senders, which we used.) Paid through Bre-B, Colombia's instant payment system, a transfer to Colombia has no fee (TapTap Send's Colombia page). We priced deposits to a bank account number at every provider, so Bre-B isn't in the score, but it would bring TapTap Send's Colombia cost to about 0.4% at every amount. Its Mexico page limits bank deposits to 20,000 pesos on a first transfer and 50,000 after (TapTap Send's Mexico page), so $5,000 to Mexico is left out. It lists no US fee for the UK or the euro zone, so those six transfers are left out, and it doesn't serve Canada. Its app is paid by debit card and may quote differently from its website; we couldn't check without an account.
- Remitly's calculator chose how you pay: a debit card for Mexico and Nigeria, a bank account everywhere else. Its bank-funded Economy price to Mexico may be lower than the debit price we used. Remitly asked us to try again later on three transfers, so we read those 25 minutes later.
- Xe quotes a payment from your bank account (a direct debit) with no fee from $1,000 up. At $200 the fee was $0 to Nigeria, the UK, Germany and Canada, $0.99 to the Philippines and Colombia, and $1.99 to Mexico and India. Xe says delivery takes "typically 3 business days". Paying by debit card is "typically minutes" and costs $1 more at $200 and $5 more at $1,000; at $5,000 the debit card isn't offered.
- Wise charges a fee and converts at its own published rate. Paying from a connected bank account (ACH) cost $7.67 on $1,000 to Mexico, against $12.07 by wire and $18.20 by debit card. At $5,000 its wire option was a few dollars cheaper than ACH, but a wire from your own bank usually carries your bank's fee as well, so we used ACH.
- Western Union priced our transfers for a sender in Texas; its website picks the state from your location, and its prices can differ by state.
- OFX charged a $5 fee below $5,000 and no fee at $5,000; its minimum is $150.
Every transfer, at the regular price (a dash means not quoted):
| Transfer | Xe | Wise | Remitly | TapTap Send | Instarem | Western Union | WorldRemit | Xoom | OFX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico, $200 | 1.71% | 1.15% | 4.85% | 0.39% | 0.73% | 2.56% | 3.32% | - | 6.34% |
| Mexico, $1,000 | 0.73% | 0.74% | 1.67% | 0.39% | 0.73% | 1.08% | 2.55% | - | 3.19% |
| Mexico, $5,000 | 0.73% | 0.66% | 1.47% | - | 0.67% | 0.93% | 2.39% | - | 2.20% |
| India, $200 | 0.85% | 1.09% | 2.01% | 0.80% | 0.62% | 1.19% | 0.42% | - | 6.34% |
| India, $1,000 | -0.19% | 0.70% | 0.06% | 0.01% | 0.46% | 0.21% | -0.07% | - | 4.00% |
| India, $5,000 | -0.19% | 0.62% | 0.03% | -0.15% | 0.30% | 0.11% | -0.15% | - | 3.04% |
| Philippines, $200 | 2.21% | 1.50% | 1.59% | 0.57% | 1.86% | 3.45% | 2.19% | - | 8.95% |
| Philippines, $1,000 | 1.72% | 0.75% | 1.59% | 0.57% | 0.94% | 2.69% | 0.43% | - | 4.65% |
| Philippines, $5,000 | 1.72% | 0.68% | 0.69% | 0.57% | 0.66% | 2.54% | 0.43% | - | 3.69% |
| Nigeria, $200 | 0.14% | 0.08% | 0.46% | -0.46% | 1.63% | 0.78% | 0.36% | 1.56% | - |
| Nigeria, $1,000 | -0.36% | -0.34% | 0.46% | -0.46% | 1.63% | 0.29% | 0.21% | 1.56% | - |
| Nigeria, $5,000 | -0.36% | -0.42% | 0.46% | -0.46% | 1.63% | 0.29% | 0.21% | 1.56% | - |
| Colombia, $200 | 2.83% | 2.25% | 3.33% | 2.43% | 0.51% | 4.20% | 2.95% | 4.76% | - |
| Colombia, $1,000 | 2.35% | 1.54% | 1.24% | 0.88% | 0.51% | 1.85% | 1.38% | 2.66% | - |
| Colombia, $5,000 | 2.35% | 1.40% | 1.19% | 0.56% | 0.51% | 1.69% | 1.23% | 2.18% | - |
| UK, $200 | 0.02% | 0.96% | 0.51% | - | 0.71% | 2.20% | 3.82% | 6.74% | 6.35% |
| UK, $1,000 | 0.02% | 0.59% | 0.47% | - | 0.71% | 1.54% | 3.06% | 2.69% | 2.81% |
| UK, $5,000 | 0.53% | 0.52% | 0.45% | - | 0.65% | 1.52% | 2.90% | 1.95% | 1.84% |
| Germany, $200 | 0.83% | 0.91% | 0.66% | - | 0.70% | 2.29% | - | 7.86% | 6.34% |
| Germany, $1,000 | 0.58% | 0.55% | 0.69% | - | 0.70% | 1.79% | - | 3.53% | 2.96% |
| Germany, $5,000 | 0.48% | 0.48% | 0.68% | - | 0.64% | 1.74% | - | 2.27% | 1.98% |
| Canada, $200 | 0.96% | 1.08% | 0.44% | - | 2.51% | 2.56% | 3.46% | 9.69% | 6.35% |
| Canada, $1,000 | 0.61% | 0.58% | 0.34% | - | 0.81% | 1.78% | 2.31% | 4.48% | 2.96% |
| Canada, $5,000 | 0.17% | 0.47% | 0.33% | - | 0.34% | 1.60% | 2.07% | 2.87% | 1.97% |
Ways to receive
16 ways to receive money: a bank account in each of the eight countries (8), cash pickup in Mexico, India, the Philippines and Colombia (4), and a mobile wallet in Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia and Nigeria (4). We chose those cash and wallet countries as the ones among our eight where recipients commonly collect cash or use a wallet; it's our choice, not a list of everywhere these methods exist. Some providers also offer cash pickup in the UK, Germany or Canada, or a wallet in Germany, and we don't count those. Nigeria is left out of cash pickup because providers disagree on whether it is still allowed: TapTap Send's Nigeria page says a Central Bank of Nigeria directive ended cash pickup by money transfer operators, while four providers still list it. Score = 10 x ways offered / 16, one decimal, rounded half up.
| Provider | Bank account (of 8) | Cash pickup (of 4) | Mobile wallet (of 4) | Total of 16 | Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remitly | 8 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 10 | Its calculator's payout methods; India, Nigeria and Canada pages for the three countries its calculator answered with a single method |
| Xe | 8 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 10 | The delivery methods its quote lists for each country |
| Western Union | 8 | 4 | 3 (no wallet in Nigeria) | 15 | 9.4 | The services in its price catalog for each country |
| Xoom | 8 | 4 | 3 (no wallet in Nigeria) | 15 | 9.4 | The payout types in its quote for each country |
| WorldRemit | 7 (no euro) | 3 (no cash in India) | 2 (Philippines, Colombia) | 12 | 7.5 | Its calculator's payout methods; Mexico's other option is airtime, not a wallet |
| TapTap Send | 5 (Mexico, India, Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia) | 3 (no cash in India) | 2 (Philippines, Nigeria) | 10 | 6.3 | Its website's fee table of payout partners for US senders, and its Nigeria page for mobile money. Its homepage lists the UK and Germany as destinations, but nothing we found shows bank payouts there for US senders |
| Wise | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | Its recipient account types for each currency (bank accounts, plus UPI in India, which pays into a bank account) |
| Instarem | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | Its US calculator quotes bank deposits. Its help center describes cash pickup and e-wallets in the Philippines, but not for senders in the US, so they don't count |
| OFX | 6 (no Nigeria or Colombia) | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3.8 | Bank transfers only |
Clear pricing
What each provider's calculator showed a new visitor for $1,000 to Mexico on November 4, 2026, before sign-up:
- 4 points if the visitor can see the price later transfers get: either no new-customer offer appeared in any of our quotes, or the offer is shown beside the regular price.
- 3 points if it shows the fee, or a total that includes it, and the amount the recipient gets, for the amount you typed.
- 3 points if it shows the mid-market rate, or states its exchange-rate markup in numbers.
| Provider | Later price shown (4) | Fee and amount received (3) | Mid-market rate or markup (3) | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wise | 4: no offers | 3 | 3: its rate is the mid-market rate it shows, and the fee is separate | 10 |
| Xe | 4: no price offers in our quotes (its US page lists a refer-a-friend gift card) | 3: rate and total to pay | 0 | 7 |
| Western Union | 4: the offer rate 19.1325 is shown beside the regular 18.4045, and the $1.99 fee crossed out | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| Instarem | 4: shows the regular rate crossed out beside the first-transfer rate | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| WorldRemit | 4: its offers (in the Philippines and Nigeria) show the regular rate crossed out | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| OFX | 4: no offers (it says registered customers may get "customised rates") | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| TapTap Send | 4: no offers | 0: shows "Transfer fee: from $0.00", which "may be higher depending on delivery method" | 0 | 4 |
| Remitly | 0: shows a welcome rate (18.83 pesos to the dollar in its quote) and no regular rate | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Xoom | 0: shows a "First Time Rate" (18.8358 in its quote) and no regular rate | 3 | 0 | 3 |
All the scores
| Provider | Cost on later transfers (60) | Ways to receive (20) | Clear pricing (20) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xe | 7.8 | 10 | 7 |
| Wise | 7.7 | 5 | 10 |
| Remitly | 7.8 | 10 | 3 |
| TapTap Send | 8.4 | 6.3 | 4 |
| Instarem | 7.7 | 5 | 7 |
| Western Union | 4.3 | 9.4 | 7 |
| WorldRemit | 3.1 | 7.5 | 7 |
| Xoom | 1.0 | 9.4 | 3 |
| OFX | 0 | 3.8 | 7 |
The ranking page computes the totals and the order.
How close the top is
Close. Xe leads Wise by about half a point (8.1 to 7.6). The two are level on cost (7.8 and 7.7); Xe wins on ways to receive (10 to 5) and Wise on clear pricing (10 to 7). Move 10 points from ways to receive to cost (70, 10, 20) and Wise ranks first, 7.89 to 7.86 before rounding. A reader who only ever sends to bank accounts can fairly read the two as tied. Remitly, TapTap Send and Instarem are within 0.3 points of each other.
These are one day's quotes. Exchange-rate markups and offers change daily, and a re-check repeats the full collection.
Banks, for comparison
Banks are not scored (see the field). Bank of America charges no wire fee when you send in the recipient's currency, and $45 in US dollars, but says "exchange rate markups apply" (Bank of America's wire fee disclosure). Wise publishes the bank prices it collects. Its comparison data, collected on November 3, 2026, puts Wells Fargo's exchange-rate markup at 2.9% to 3.1% on $1,000 in six currencies, and Chase's at 2.9% to 3.2% plus a $5 fee in five; Wise's comparison page shows the same as dollar totals, $29 to $36 on $1,000 to Mexico. That is a competitor's data, not ours, but it matches what the AI answers say about banks: about 3%, or a score of 0 on our cost scale.