The cost of sending $1,000 internationally depends on four variables: which corridor you are using, which method you choose, which specific provider you use, and how you fund the transfer. Across those variables, the spread is enormous — from under $5 to over $70 on the same corridor. Here are three major corridors with verified, sourced fee data.
The fee components you need to add up
Most cost comparisons are incomplete because they list only one or two of these charges. The full cost includes:
- Sender fee — the explicit charge from the provider (flat fee or percentage)
- FX spread — the difference between the mid-market exchange rate and the rate the provider offers you; this is often the largest cost and is almost never called a "fee"
- Intermediary deductions — for SWIFT wires, correspondent banks may deduct $10–$100 from the amount in transit
- Receiving-bank fee — the recipient's bank may charge $10–$30 to accept an incoming wire
For a complete picture, calculate: how many units of the recipient's local currency does $1,000 actually deliver?
Corridor 1: US → Mexico
Mexico received $64.7 billion in remittances in 2024 — the highest ever recorded — making the US–Mexico corridor the largest single remittance corridor in the world by volume. Despite that scale, the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide database put the average cost of sending $200 from the US to Mexico at just under 5% in Q1 2025.
Here is how a $1,000 transfer breaks down across methods:
| Method | Sender fee | FX spread | Other fees | Total cost | Recipient receives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US bank wire | ~$35–$50 | 1–3% | $10–$20 receiving fee | ~6–8% | ~$920–$940 equivalent |
| Western Union (debit card, online) | $5–$10 | 1–2% | None typical | 2–3% | ~$970–$985 equivalent |
| Wise (bank-funded) | ~$7 | Mid-market rate | None | ~0.7% | ~$993 equivalent |
| Remitly (economy, bank transfer) | $0–$4 | 0.5–1% | None | 0.5–1.5% | ~$985–$995 equivalent |
| Stablecoin rail (competitive on/off-ramp) | < 1% on-ramp + < 1% off-ramp | Near mid-market | < $0.001 on-chain | < 1–2% | ~$980–$995 equivalent |
Note on stablecoin costs: The on-chain transfer leg is negligible. The cost is in the on-ramp (converting USD to USDC or USDT) and the off-ramp (converting to Mexican pesos via a local exchange or remittance partner). On mature corridors where multiple providers compete, that total is under 1%. ARQ, a Tempo partner, processes $10B+ annually across Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil; Felix processes remittances across nine Latin American corridors with instant on-chain settlement.
Corridor 2: EU → Philippines
The Philippines received approximately $40 billion in total remittances in 2024, with Europe a major source region. Filipino workers remit from Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK in large volumes; banks in these sending countries are among the most expensive channels.
| Method | Sender fee | FX spread | Other fees | Total cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU bank wire | €30–€50 flat | 2–4% | €10–€25 receiving | 5–8% | Multiple correspondents typical |
| Traditional MTO (cash-funded) | 3–5% | 1–2% | None | 4–7% | Faster than wire |
| Traditional MTO (bank-funded) | 1.5–3% | 0.5–1% | None | 2–4% | Cheaper than cash-funded |
| Wise (GBP/EUR funded) | ~1–1.5% | Mid-market | None | ~1–1.5% | Fast, transparent |
| Stablecoin rail (via GCash or local exchange off-ramp) | < 1% on-ramp + off-ramp | Near mid-market | < $0.001 chain | < 1–2% total | GCash and PDAX provide peso off-ramps |
Sub-Saharan Africa aside, Southeast Asia and the Philippines specifically have seen the fastest expansion of digital remittance infrastructure. Flutterwave's partnership with Tempo enables diaspora transfers from the US, UK, EU, and Canada to Africa; similar corridor infrastructure is building in the Philippines through partners like PDAX (listed in the Tempo ecosystem).
Corridor 3: UK → India
South Asia is the cheapest receiving region globally, averaging 4.80% in Q1 2025 (World Bank) — driven by competition among digital MTOs in the UK–India and US–India corridors. Wise in particular has compressed fees in this corridor dramatically.
| Method | Sender fee | FX spread | Total cost on £1,000 | Recipient receives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK bank wire (GBP→INR) | £25–£40 | 2–4% | £50–£80 | ~₹92,000–₹97,500* |
| Western Union (bank-funded, online) | £1.99–£5 | 1–2% | £12–£25 | ~₹98,000–₹99,500* |
| Wise | ~£5–£6 flat | Mid-market | ~£5–£6 | ~₹99,400–₹99,500* |
| Remitly (economy) | £0–£2 | 0.5–1% | £5–£12 | ~₹99,000–₹99,500* |
| Stablecoin rail | < 1% | Near mid-market | £5–£15 depending on on/off-ramps | ~₹98,500–₹99,500* |
*Illustrative based on approximate GBP/INR rate; actual amounts vary with live rates.
In this corridor, digital MTOs have already achieved near-stablecoin cost parity. The remaining advantage of stablecoin rails is speed (sub-second on-chain vs. same-day to next-day for digital MTOs), programmability (on-chain payment memos for reconciliation), and composability (the recipient can hold USDC and use it directly rather than converting).
The FX spread trap
The single most important thing to check before sending: what exchange rate are you getting?
A $1,000 sender who gets a rate 2% worse than mid-market loses $20 — equivalent to four times the explicit fee of many digital MTOs. Banks routinely mark up FX rates by 1–3% on major pairs and up to 7% on emerging-market currencies.
How to check: Look up the mid-market rate on a neutral source (Google Finance, XE.com), then calculate what your provider's quoted rate delivers. Subtract from $1,000. That gap is the real cost.
Where stablecoin rails stand in 2026
Stablecoin rails do not have a fundamental cost advantage over the best digital MTOs on high-competition corridors — Wise and Remitly have already compressed fees to near mid-market rates on routes like UK–India. The stablecoin advantage is clearest in:
- Corridors where digital MTOs have not yet competed aggressively — parts of Africa and Southeast Asia where traditional MTO margins remain 5–7%
- Speed-sensitive use cases — payroll, emergency funds, B2B settlement where next-day is too slow
- Programmable payments — businesses sending hundreds or thousands of transfers at once, with on-chain reconciliation
- Very small amounts — where a flat MTO fee of $5 represents 5% of a $100 transfer, but a stablecoin chain fee of $0.001 represents essentially nothing
Stripe, which co-incubated Tempo, charges a flat $0.001 per stablecoin transaction for settlement through its platform — the chain cost is the floor, and the service cost sits above it.
The bottom line
Sending $1,000 internationally costs $50–$80 via a US bank wire, $20–$35 via Western Union depending on corridor and method, $5–$15 via a digital MTO, and under $10 via a competitive stablecoin rail on a well-served corridor. The cheapest options are consistently digital — whether MTO or stablecoin. The main variable is whether a competitive off-ramp exists in your recipient's country. For corridors where it does, the era of paying 5–8% to move a thousand dollars is over.