What does an international money transfer really cost?
Fee plus exchange-rate markup. In RateRunner's 15 October 2026 snapshot of 395 quotes across 40 corridors, the cheapest way to send 1,000 cost a median 0.47% of the amount; listed banks averaged 3.23%.
Transfer cost receipt · USD → MXN
Most to the recipient: Xoom transfer service 1d old
- You send
- 1,000.00 USD
- Upfront fee
- 0.00 USD
- Amount converted
- 1,000.00 USD
- Rate given
- 18.5933
- Mid-market when quoted
- 18.4390
- Rate above mid-market inside the rate
- −8.37 USD −0.84%
- True total cost
- −8.37 USD −0.84%
- Recipient gets
- 18,593.32 MXN
Picking the last quote in this ledger (PayPal) instead would leave the recipient 1,191.11 MXN short.
Snapshot indicative quotes retrieved 15 Oct 2026, 14:54 UTC. Quote collected 14 Oct 2026, 14:02 UTC. Source: Wise public comparison data.
Plain link to the provider's official site. No commission.
Every quote for 1,000 USD → MXN
Sorted by what the recipient gets. “True cost” adds the upfront fee to the money lost in the exchange rate versus the mid-market rate at the time each quote was collected.
| Provider | Upfront fee | Rate markup | True cost | Cost % | Recipient gets | vs best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Xoomservice 1d old | 0.00 USD | −0.84% | −8.37 USD | −0.84% | 18,593.32 MXN | best |
| 2. Instaremservice | 0.00 USD | 1.00% | 9.97 USD | 1.00% | 18,255.16 MXN | −338.16 MXN |
| 3. Wiseservice | 12.07 USD | 0.00% | 12.07 USD | 1.21% | 18,212.00 MXN | −381.32 MXN |
| 4. Western Unionservice | 1.99 USD | 1.30% | 15.00 USD | 1.50% | 18,162.43 MXN | −430.89 MXN |
| 5. Remitlyservice | 1.99 USD | 1.43% | 16.28 USD | 1.63% | 18,138.80 MXN | −454.52 MXN |
| 6. WorldRemitservice 2d old | 1.99 USD | 2.31% | 25.00 USD | 2.50% | 17,978.08 MXN | −615.24 MXN |
| 7. Wells Fargobank 2d old | 0.00 USD | 3.00% | 29.99 USD | 3.00% | 17,886.08 MXN | −707.24 MXN |
| 8. OFXservice | 5.00 USD | 2.84% | 33.26 USD | 3.33% | 17,825.64 MXN | −767.68 MXN |
| 9. Chase (US)bank 2d old | 5.00 USD | 2.99% | 34.77 USD | 3.48% | 17,797.85 MXN | −795.47 MXN |
| 10. PayPalservice | 4.99 USD | 5.15% | 56.23 USD | 5.62% | 17,402.21 MXN | −1,191.11 MXN |
Which corridors were cheapest and dearest to send 1,000?
Best available true cost for sending 1,000 units of the source currency, per corridor, from the snapshot retrieved 15 Oct 2026, 14:57 UTC. A low figure means at least one listed provider was close to the mid-market rate with a small fee; it says nothing about the other providers in that corridor.
Why is “no fee” not the same as free?
Because the price can sit inside the exchange rate. In the 15 October 2026 snapshot, 144 of 395 quotes for 1,000 charged no upfront fee, and 112 of those still applied a rate markup above 0.5%. Across all quotes, the median share of the true cost hidden in the rate was 89%.
The receipt above separates the two lines so you can see them. The hidden markup checker does the same for any rate a bank or app offers you.
Guides to the parts of the bill nobody itemises
- What do banks really charge for an international transfer?
- Cash pickup or bank deposit: which is cheaper and safer?
- How do exchange-rate markups work, and how big are they?
- How can freelancers get paid from abroad without losing 5%?
- What is the mid-market rate and where can you check it?
- How long does an international money transfer take?
Questions people ask
- What is the true cost of a money transfer?
- The true cost is the upfront fee plus the exchange-rate markup: the gap between the rate you are given and the mid-market rate, multiplied by the amount converted. RateRunner adds both and ranks providers by what the recipient actually gets.
- Is a transfer with no fee free?
- Not necessarily. In the 15 October 2026 snapshot, 112 of 144 quotes that charged no upfront fee on 1,000 still priced in an exchange-rate markup above 0.5%.
- Where do the quotes come from?
- From Wise public comparison data, which collects indicative quotes from banks and transfer services, including Wise itself. RateRunner does not scrape bank websites. Each quote shows when it was collected; confirm the final quote with the provider before you send.