How Much Does It Cost
To Send Money Abroad?
Average cost, cheapest provider, and SDG-target gap for every World Bank remittance corridor — 322 country pairs, refreshed quarterly from RPW.
Ranked global remittance corridors by cost, volume & SDG compliance, with country insights from World Bank data.
Compare transfer fees across 322 international money corridors. Find the cheapest services, track cost trends, and understand where your money goes. Data from the World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide database.
Sending money internationally still costs more than the UN target. Source: World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide (RPW), 2024 Q3.
PlainRemit tracks international money transfer costs across 322 remittance corridors using data from the World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide database. We help migrant workers, families, and businesses find the cheapest ways to send money abroad by comparing fees, exchange rate margins, and delivery speeds across providers.
Remittance costs remain stubbornly high — the global average exceeds 6%, far above the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of 3% by 2030. For the hundreds of millions of families who depend on international transfers, every percentage point matters. Our corridor comparison pages show exactly what each transfer costs and which services offer the best value.
Our research guides explain how remittance fees work, compare digital services against traditional operators, and show how exchange rate margins add hidden costs that most senders never see. Understanding these cost structures can save regular senders hundreds of dollars per year.
All cost data comes from the World Bank's quarterly mystery shopping methodology, ensuring consistent and comparable measurements across all corridors and providers.
Top Corridors by Volume
All rankings →| Corridor | Avg Cost |
|---|---|
| United States → Mexico | 4.1% |
| United States → India | 3.8% |
| United States → Guatemala | 5.2% |
| United States → Philippines | 4.5% |
| United Arab Emirates → India | 3.7% |
| United States → China | 3.5% |
| United States → Vietnam | 4.8% |
| Saudi Arabia → India | 3.8% |
Cheapest Corridors (Global)
Full rankings →Browse by Sending Country
All 43 countries →Remittance FAQs
What is the cheapest way to send money internationally?
Fintech services like Wise, Remitly, and Sendwave typically offer the lowest fees — often under 1% vs bank averages of 10-12%. Costs vary by corridor. Check our corridor pages for specific country pairs.
Why are remittance fees so high for some corridors?
High fees are driven by limited competition, regulatory costs, low digital infrastructure in receiving countries, and exchange rate margins that aren't always transparent. Sub-Saharan Africa corridors often have fees above 8% due to these factors.
What is the UN SDG target for remittance costs?
UN Sustainable Development Goal 10.c targets reducing remittance costs to under 3% by 2030. Current global average is approximately 6.4%, with many corridors still above 8-10%.
Where does this data come from?
PlainRemit uses the World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide (RPW) database, tracking quarterly costs for 322 international corridors. Flow volume data is from World Bank World Development Indicators.
Related Data
Research
Original analysis from our editorial team, every statistic derived from our own database. See all research.
Cheapest Corridors
SSR-driven ranking of remittance corridors by lowest avg cost. Each row queries the World Bank RPW dataset directly via corridors.latest_avg_cost.
RankingsMost Expensive Corridors
SSR-driven ranking of remittance corridors by highest avg cost — useful for spotting where switching providers yields biggest savings.
RankingsLargest Flow Corridors
SSR-driven ranking of remittance corridors by total annual volume from World Bank data — the routes carrying the most money.