Best international money transfer
High fees, slow processing times and a lack of transparency make traditional services like major banks and money transfer agents inefficient for frequent international payments.
Traditional IMT services often include hidden costs through unfavorable exchange rate markups, making it difficult for users to know the true cost of a transfer.
Modern payment platforms like Kraken Pay offer faster, cheaper, and more flexible transfers, including support for both fiat and crypto assets.
A guide to the best international money transfer service 🗺️
Sending money across borders has become an essential part of life for many. In 2024, global remittance payments totalled $905 billion, a 4.6% increase compared to the previous year.
With countless money transfer providers offering varying fees, maximum limits, exchange rates and transfer speeds, choosing the right service can feel overwhelming.
This guide explores the top international money transfer services, breaking down their features, benefits and potential drawbacks to help you make an informed decision and ensure your hard-earned money reaches its destination efficiently and securely.
What makes a great international money transfer service? 👀
IMT services come in various forms, each with their own unique advantages and drawbacks depending on the size and frequency of payments. Broadly speaking, traditional platforms fall into three main categories:
- International Bank Transfers (Wire Transfers): These involve sending funds from a local to an overseas bank using an IBAN and SWIFT code. Financial institutions often require in-person ID verification, involve transfer limits and can take 3-5 business days to reach their destination country.
Most high street banks provide international wire transfer services through partnerships with global financial networks. These transfers typically come with higher fees and additional hidden costs in the form of exchange rate markups.
- Money transfer apps: These apps connect to your bank account to send fiat money to various destinations—often instantly—making them a convenient option for many. Fees differ widely depending on the platform.
Wise is a financial technology company that specializes in low-cost, transparent online money transfers. Wise charges a small percentage-based fee on each transfer, and the cost is disclosed upfront. Most transfers are completed within several hours, though some can take 1-2 business days.
- Money transfer agents: A traditional method requiring in-person visits to initiate and collect funds at branch locations. This is considered a fast but expensive option, and generally involves high fees and travel for both sender and recipient to reach a physical location.
Western Union is one of the oldest and most recognized names in international transfer services. Speed and fees vary depending on a number of variables. For example, credit card and debit card payments and instant cash pickups are fast but typically attract higher fees.
Modern alternatives 💻
Leveraging new innovative technologies, a growing number of cryptocurrency-based services have emerged offering users faster, cheaper ways to complete cross-border online transfers.
Cryptocurrency payment gateways: These services allow users to send crypto payments or pay for goods and services. With over 30,000 merchants globally accepting Bitcoin (BTC), including Subway, Starbucks, BMW, and Microsoft, crypto is becoming a mainstream payment method.
Blockchain-based payment solutions: Some platforms focus on converting local fiat currencies into dollar-pegged stablecoins for global transfers or payments. Blockchain technology is increasingly favored for its speed, low cost and efficiency in cross-border remittances. A survey revealed that many people actually prefer stablecoins over USD bank accounts for efficiency, trust and accessibility.
Unlike traditional electronic transfers, blockchain payments do not incur additional international transfer fees. Instead, the network simply charges a fee based on the computational cost to process the transaction, which varies depending on network congestion, as opposed to distance.
Choosing the right international money transfer (IMT) service can be challenging, but understanding what consumers value most can help identify the best options. Studies exploring user preferences highlight the following key factors:
- Trust/security (18%)
- Transfer speed (17%)
- Already had an account setup (14%)
- Cheapest rate (14%)
- Payment tracking (11%)
- Good reviews (6%)
- Customer support (6%)
- Ease of access for recipient (5%)
In short, people don’t just look for the cheapest option in international money transfer services; they also prioritize speed, affordability, security, user-friendliness, fee transparency, and strong customer support.
But where can people find an IMT service that ticks all these boxes?
Enter Kraken Pay 📍
Kraken Pay is a cutting-edge international payment product, accessible through the Kraken mobile app.
Here, users can effortlessly send over 300+ fiat and crypto assets to anyone, almost anywhere in the world at competitively lower transfer costs than most traditional financial services. In some cases, fee-free transfers are available when sending select assets.
Kraken Pay includes two key innovations designed to make global payments easier and more accessible than ever:
- ‘Paylinks’ are a simple and secure way for anyone to send money using the Kraken app. Send anyone a paylink via a messaging service, and the recipient can use the link to accept payment. No additional details are needed.
- ‘Kraktags’ are Kraken native digital handles that act as a unique identifier for receiving payments, similar to an email address. For example, Alice, with the Kraktak ‘@Alice123’ will be able to safely send payments to her friend Bob, who she knows has the ‘@Bob123’ handle.
Leveraging Kraken’s deep liquidity and robust security infrastructure, Kraken Pay users can send and receive funds in whichever supported asset they like—even if the two are completely different.
Need to pay your crypto-phobic Uncle $200 but only have Ethereum (ETH) in your digital wallet? Done. Kraken handles all conversions automatically, giving senders and recipients unprecedented flexibility.
The Kraken Pay feature is not available to clients in the United Kingdom (UK).
Kraken Pay vs traditional money transfer platforms ✅
Traditional money transfer platforms face several common limitations. Payments can take days to process, and fees vary so widely between services that frequent transactions often become impractical.
For consumers, studies show that fee structures are notoriously difficult to calculate, creating confusion and dissatisfaction.
Most money transfer companies are also limited to fiat-to-fiat payment options and offer no support for cryptocurrency, while others require intermediaries at both ends of a transaction. These systems are often gated within their own infrastructures, making integration with social networks nearly impossible.
Tracking payments is another pain point, with limited transparency adding to the complexity.
Taking the above factors into consideration, Kraken Pay has integrated the best features from various international money transfer apps to deliver a unique, flexible and easy-to-use solution.
- Vast conversion options with low fees: Leveraging Kraken’s trading infrastructure and liquidity, users can convert a wide range of cryptocurrencies into major FX pairs without worrying about slippage. The fee structure is simple and transparent - you don’t need to factor in a number of variables. You’ll know ahead of time that if you send X, the recipient will receive Y.
- Seamless social integration: Kraken Pay integrates with your social networks, enabling payments via links that can be shared across messaging apps. You can securely transact with others in the crypto ecosystem.
- Effortless payment process: Features like Paylinks and Kraktags make sending and receiving payments intuitive. Kraken’s streamlined sign-up process ensures new users can onboard quickly and easily.
- Simplified and secure transactions: By using Kraktags, Kraken removes the complexities of crypto and banking. This reduces the risk of human error when inputting key information, giving users peace of mind when sending immutable crypto payments.
- Use crypto like cash: Kraken Pay empowers users to treat cryptocurrency more like cash, enabling everyday, cheaper transfers while retaining direct exposure to their crypto investments.
- Expertise and trust: With over a decade of crypto expertise, robust security protocols and a reputation for excellent client service, Kraken offers unmatched reliability in the cryptocurrency payment space.
- Available in 190+ countries, 24/7/365: Kraken Pay delivers the same extensive global coverage as leading international money transfer services, but with the added advantage of 24/7/365 availability—something rarely offered by traditional payment platforms.
- Lightning-fast payments: Transfer times can be near-instant when sending certain cryptocurrencies thanks to the peer-to-peer power of blockchain technology.
Get started with Kraken
Kraken Pay is available for Kraken clients to start using now. Simply download the Kraken mobile app and start sending and accepting payments in no time.
Geographic restrictions apply. Instant buy/sell fees apply when you convert one asset or currency to another when making a transfer. Please see our fee schedule for more information. Applicable fees will be shown before you make a transfer.
Although the term "stablecoin" is commonly used, there is no guarantee that the asset will maintain a stable value in relation to the value of the reference asset when traded on secondary markets or that the reserve of assets, if there is one, will be adequate to satisfy all redemptions