How we compare
RemitBeat compares the cost and speed of sending money internationally across Wise, Remitly, Sendwave, WorldRemit, Western Union, NALA and Boss Money. This page explains where our data comes from, how we work out each provider's true cost, how we decide which providers to show, and how we make money. The short version: our figures are indicative, so always confirm the final details on the provider's own page before you send.
We collect rate and fee data periodically — not in real time — so the information in our comparison can differ from what a provider shows you when you actually set up a transfer. We can't guarantee to-the-minute accuracy, so we recommend you always confirm the exchange rate, fee and delivery details on the provider's payment page before committing to the transaction.
1. Where our data comes from
A scheduled job refreshes every corridor roughly every 30 minutes. For each run it fetches a live quote from each provider, normalizes it, and stores the result. The site then serves that stored “last-good” data between runs rather than calling providers on every page view — this keeps the comparison fast and avoids hammering providers' systems.
Where a provider publishes its rates and fees, we read them directly. Where a provider doesn't, we collect the figures the way a customer would — going through the transfer flow for a bank-to-bank transfer up to the point of paying, at several different amounts.
Each provider row carries the time it was last refreshed, shown as an “as of” timestamp near the table. If a provider misses several refresh cycles, we hide it rather than show a rate that may have moved — volatile corridors are dropped sooner (within roughly 40 minutes) and more stable ones a little later (around 90 minutes).
2. The mid-market benchmark
Every provider is measured against the real interbank mid-market rate— the midpoint of the global buy/sell rate, with no markup. We source it from Wise's published rate, with an independent exchange-rate API as both a cross-check and a fallback, so the benchmark never depends on a single source.
This matters: the “markup” we show for each provider is the gap between their rate and the mid-market rate, so it's measured against the actual market, never against a competitor.
3. How we rank — the true cost
We rank providers by true cost, which is the sending fee plus the exchange-rate markup plus any receiving fee — equivalently, the provider whose recipient receives the most money ranks first. A headline “$0 fee” is often not the cheapest once the rate markup is included. We explain the formula and a worked example on the true cost page.
Rankings are computed purely from the rate and fee. Whether a provider pays us an affiliate commission has no bearing on where it appears — see how we make money below.
4. Standard vs first-transfer rates
Some providers advertise a boosted “first-transfer” rate for new customers only. Where that happens we model the standard rate and the promotional rate separately, default the comparison to the standard rate, and clearly label any promotional figure as a first-transfer bonus for new customers. That way the everyday comparison isn't skewed by a one-time offer most users won't get.
5. Transfer speed
The speed shown is the provider's own estimate of how long a transfer should take to reach the recipient. Actual delivery can differ because of verification, cut-off times, bank holidays and the payout method. Where a provider doesn't publish an estimate, we mark it as unavailable rather than guess.
6. Which providers and corridors we show
We compare Wise, Remitly, Sendwave, WorldRemit, Western Union, NALA and Boss Money across 29 corridors into Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Cameroon, plus additional providers we surface from comparison data. We only include a provider on a given corridor when reliable rate and fee data is available to us — if we can't get trustworthy data, we leave the provider off rather than show a number we don't trust.
7. How we make money
RemitBeat is free to use. When you click through to a provider we may earn an affiliate commission if you complete a transfer — you pay exactly the same as going to the provider directly, and the commission comes from the provider's marketing budget, not your transfer.
Commission never affects our rankings. Results are ordered solely by true cost — the amount your recipient receives — and a provider that pays us nothing is shown on exactly the same footing as one that does. Full details are in our Affiliate Disclosure.
8. Funding & pay-in fees
Some providers charge a small pay-in (funding) fee on top of their transfer fee, and it depends on how you pay. For example, funding a Wise transfer from the US with a connected bank account (ACH) adds roughly $0.84 on a $500 send, paying by card costs more, and UK/EU local bank transfers have no pay-in fee at all.
Our figures assume the cheapest standard bank funding for each route, so they track what each provider's own calculator shows by default. Because the exact funding fee varies by payment method and can change, always confirm the funding option and final fee on the provider's payment page before sending.