How we compare transfers

What we compare

We compare what it costs to send an amount of money from 35 Western countries (Europe, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand) to the 16 countries of West Africa, from Benin to Togo.

Each route is compared by how the money is received: on a mobile money wallet, in a bank account, or as cash at a pick-up point.

We also compare the way back, from West Africa to those same 35 countries: 525 routes in all. Few providers send money from West Africa, so we list only the ones we could confirm: Western Union (from 15 of the 16 countries, not from Ghana) and Flutterwave Send (from Nigeria to the United States, the United Kingdom and 19 euro-area countries). Most of these routes therefore show a single offer.

How we rank

We start from the amount you pay and take off the provider’s fee. We convert what is left at the provider’s exchange rate, which is the mid-market rate minus the provider’s margin.

Providers are ranked by what your recipient receives. If you start from the amount your recipient must receive, they are ranked by what you pay.

Each offer also gets a score out of 10: ten minus its total cost (the fee plus the exchange-rate margin) as a percentage of what you pay. The score is a calculation on estimated prices, not a review. The arrival time is the speed the provider publishes for that way of receiving the money.

No provider pays to be ranked higher. Any advertisement is labelled “Advertisement” and never changes the ranking.

Where the numbers come from

Exchange rates are daily mid-market rates from public rate services. The page fetches them when it opens, reuses them on your device for up to six hours, and shows their date. If the services cannot be reached, a built-in rate list is used and the page says so. The rate chart shows the daily mid-market rate over the last 60 days.

Fees and margins are estimates. They come from provider help pages and third-party quotes read on 5 November 2026, and each offer shows how reliable its price data is. The provider shows the final price at checkout: always check it before you send.

The sending countries and the ways of receiving come from each provider’s own country pages, read on 5, 7 and 8 November 2026. Outside France, Canada and the United States we have not read each provider’s own price list yet: we reuse the euro prices used for France (converted to the sender’s currency at the live rate), so those routes are the least certain.

On the routes from West Africa, Western Union publishes no fee table: its prices there are an estimate built from its other routes. Flutterwave Send states a 1% fee on every route; its exchange-rate margin and delivery time are estimates.

What the numbers leave out

New-customer promotions, card payment fees, rates that change at weekends, and wallet withdrawal fees charged on the receiving side are not included.

Limits and rules depend on the sending country, and several West African countries regulate money sent abroad: a provider may refuse or cap a transfer that we show.

How the site earns

The site is free. It is meant to be paid for by advertising, always labelled “Advertisement”. There is no advertising yet, and the links to providers earn nothing.

If advertising or provider referral fees are added, this page will say so first, and the ranking will never change.

Privacy

There are no accounts. The site keeps your language, your last route and your rate alerts on your device only; alerts are checked each time you open the site. The exchange-rate services we call see your IP address, as any website would.