Every tool
Every number here is editable because every number here moves. The crypto side ships the expensive end of each published range on purpose, so the comparison is not flattered. Fees are not the whole story either: a bank gives you a receipt and somebody to call, and this route gives you neither.
Three costs, not one
The version of this comparison you normally see puts a bank's full charge next to a blockchain's network fee. That is not a comparison. It is a bank's total against one line of a crypto total, and it makes a real advantage look like an absurd one.
Sending a stablecoin from your money to their spendable money is three costs. Two of them are percentages and one is flat, which is why the answer changes completely with the amount.
You buy the stablecoin
An exchange fee plus a spread. Around one percent through a bank transfer on a major exchange, and several times that on a debit card.You send it
The part crypto advertises. Cents on most chains. On Ethereum mainnet it can be several dollars, which is why the chain matters more than anything else here.They turn it into money
A local exchange, a peer to peer market, or a card. Usually the largest of the three, and where a currency is controlled it can exceed everything a bank would have charged. If you take one number in this tool seriously, take this one.
Not from us
The percentages in the dropdown are the World Bank's, from its quarterly Remittance Prices Worldwide survey. We use them rather than our own because a cost average published by a site that also runs a token is worth nothing, and theirs is worth something.
The headline finding is the spread between providers. The same $200, the same distance: 14.99 percent through a bank against 4.72 percent through a money transfer operator. Before you consider crypto at all, that gap is the cheapest saving available to most people.
| Sent through | Average total cost of sending $200 |
|---|---|
| A bank | 14.99% |
| A money transfer operator | 4.72% |
| A mobile money operator | 5.58% |
| A post office | 5.58% |
| Sent to | Average total cost |
|---|---|
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 8.46% |
| Europe and Central Asia | 6.8% |
| East Asia and Pacific | 5.83% |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 5.64% |
| South Asia | 5.3% |
| Middle East and North Africa | 5.11% |
World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, Issue 54, Q3 2025 data. Global average 6.36%, down from 6.49% in Q1 2025. Source.
Common questions
Is sending money with crypto actually cheaper?
Above a certain amount, usually yes, and by a lot. Below it, no. The World Bank puts the global average at 6.36 percent and a bank at 14.99 percent, against cents for the transfer itself. But buying the stablecoin and cashing it out are percentages too, and the network fee is flat, so small amounts favor the ordinary route. That is what the break even figure in the tool is telling you.
Why is the off ramp cost the default two percent?
Because it is a conservative middle. In a country with deep exchange liquidity you might pay well under one percent. Where the currency is controlled or the local market is thin, the effective cost through a peer to peer market can be five to ten percent or worse. It is the number with the widest real spread, which is exactly why it is an input and not a constant.
Does this include the exchange rate?
The World Bank figures do: their total cost includes the foreign exchange margin, which is where most of a bank's charge actually hides. On the crypto side, the off ramp percentage is where you should account for the local rate you would really get, not the mid market rate on a chart.
Is a cheaper transfer worth the risk?
Sometimes not, and the tool cannot answer that. An irreversible transfer to a mistyped address is a total loss with no recourse, which is a real cost that does not appear as a percentage. If the saving is a few dollars, the ordinary route buys you a receipt, a reversal path and somebody to call.
Do you make anything if I use the crypto route?
No. There are no referral links in this tool and no exchange is recommended by it. The calculator is perfectly happy to tell you crypto is the wrong answer, which is most of why it exists.
Want a hand using these on your own position?
We go through it together on a call. Your holdings, your risk, your setup. You click everything and we never ask for keys.