The Short Answer
Judge a transfer by what lands, not by the rate you are quoted. The rate and the fee are two halves of one price, and a provider can be generous with one while taking it back with the other. On the same $1,000 to India, the service offering the exact mid-market rate delivered less than a service whose rate was slightly worse.
- The markup is the gap between the mid-market rate and the rate you are offered. It is never itemised.
- Each percentage point costs $10 per $1,000 sent — and on our India board the range ran from 0.22% to 3.81%.
- For most providers the markup changes by route. Western Union ranges from 0.21% to 3.23% depending on the destination.
What the Mid-Market Rate Is
Currencies trade continuously between banks and institutions. At any moment there is a price buyers will pay and a price sellers will accept, and the midpoint between the two is the mid-market rate. It is the number Google, Reuters and XE show you, and it is the only rate with no margin built into it.
Mid-market USD → INR on 4 August 2026
95.3825
$1,000 at this rate, with no fee, would be 95,383 rupees
No consumer service hands you that number for free, and none pretends to for long. Every provider has to be paid somehow, so it either shades the rate and keeps the difference, or gives you the true rate and charges a visible fee. Neither approach is dishonest. The difficulty is that only one of them is easy to see.
What a Markup Costs
A markup is that shading, expressed as a percentage of the mid-market rate. The arithmetic is unforgiving and easy: each percentage point is $10 on every $1,000 you send.
0.5%
$5 per $1,000
$50 per $10,000
2%
$20 per $1,000
$200 per $10,000
4%
$40 per $1,000
$400 per $10,000
Percentages this small are easy to wave away, which is precisely why the charge works. Converted into the currency your recipient actually receives, they stop sounding small — as the next section shows.
Why a Perfect Rate Can Still Lose
Here is the same $1,000 to India across eight services on 4 August 2026, sorted by what actually arrived. Read the rate column next to the last one: the order is not the same.
| Service | Rate offered | Markup | Fee | Recipient gets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pangea | 95.1727 | 0.22% | $0.00 | ₹95,173 |
| Xoom | 94.9647 | 0.44% | $0.00 | ₹94,965 |
| Sendwave | 95.3610 | 0.02% | $5.00 | ₹94,884 |
| Taptap Send | 95.0382 | 0.36% | $1.99 | ₹94,849 |
| MoneyGram | 95.0010 | 0.40% | $1.99 | ₹94,812 |
| Instarem | 94.8007 | 0.61% | $0.00 | ₹94,801 |
| Western Union | 93.9165 | 1.54% | $1.99 | ₹93,730 |
| OFX | 91.7522 | 3.81% | $5.00 | ₹91,293 |
USD→INR, $1,000, bank deposit, measured 4 August 2026. Mid-market was 95.3825.
Two notes on how to read this
Every row costs the sender $1,000 in total. Providers differ on where they put the fee: some convert your full $1,000 and charge the fee on top, so their own calculator will show a higher “recipient gets” against a higher total outlay. We hold what leaves your account constant instead, because that is the only way two quotes are comparable. Sendwave’s site shows ₹95,361 for a $1,000 send plus a $5 fee — the same pricing, quoted on a $1,005 outlay. Per dollar actually spent, the ranking is unchanged.
These are standing prices, not promotions. Several providers run introductory offers — a first transfer with no fee, or a better rate for a limited period — and we deliberately do not price those, because an offer you can use once tells you nothing about the tenth transfer. Check whether a promotion applies to you, and what the price becomes when it ends.
Sendwave quoted 95.361 against a mid-market of 95.3825 — a markup of about 0.02%, effectively nothing, and the best rate on the board. It still finished third. Pangea’s rate was clearly worse at 95.1727, but it charged no fee, and around 290 rupees more arrived. A $5 fee outweighed a 0.2% rate advantage. This is why “we give you the real exchange rate” is a claim about one half of the price.
Worth being precise about that near-zero markup, because it is not a company-wide policy. Sendwave prices at no meaningful markup on 16 of the 143 corridors we hold data for, and its median across all of them is 1.06%. On this route it takes its margin as a fee that scales with the amount — $5 on $1,000, $50 on $10,000 — rather than in the rate. That is a pricing choice for this corridor, not a promise about every transfer. Wise is the only provider in our data that commits to the mid-market rate everywhere.
At the other end, OFX offered 91.7522 against a mid-market of 95.3825. That 3.81% gap plus a $5 fee meant ₹91,293 arrived instead of ₹95,173 — a difference of 3,879 rupees, about $41, on the same $1,000. Nothing on the receipt would call that a charge.
The Markup Is Not Fixed Per Provider
It is tempting to learn that one company has good rates and stop there. For two providers in our data that works, because the rate is a stated policy. For everyone else the markup depends on where you are sending.
| Service | Corridors priced | Lowest markup | Highest markup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wise | 599 | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Instarem | 187 | 0.41% | 0.41% |
| WorldRemit | 10 | 0.52% | 2.30% |
| Western Union | 47 | 0.21% | 3.23% |
| Remitly | 25 | 0.28% | 3.90% |
| OFX | 23 | 1.93% | 5.40% |
Wise holds 0.00% across all 599 corridors we price and takes its margin as a visible fee instead; Instarem holds a flat 0.41% across 187. Those are policies you can rely on. Western Union’s markup varies fifteenfold by destination and Remitly’s fourteenfold, so for those the useful question is not “is this provider good?” but “is it good on my route?” — which is what the corridor-by-corridor comparison answers.
Can You Wait for a Better Rate?
The mid-market rate moves constantly, driven by interest rates, inflation, trade flows and politics. None of that is forecastable by you or by anyone selling you a guide about it. More usefully: it is not the part of your cost you control.
Not in your control
The mid-market rate. It moves on its own, and ordinary day-to-day movement on a major pair is small next to the roughly 4-point gap between providers on the same route.
In your control
The markup you accept. That is a choice between providers, available today, worth more than any plausible rate movement while you wait.
A rate alert makes sense for a large transfer with a genuinely flexible date. For money that has to arrive — rent, school fees, family support — holding it back is a bet, and being wrong costs more than being right pays.
Check Your Own Rate
This prices every service against the live mid-market rate, so the markup is already converted into what actually lands.
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To work a single quote out by hand, our markup calculator turns any offered rate into a percentage against mid-market.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the mid-market rate?
It is the midpoint between what buyers are bidding and sellers are asking for a currency on the global market — the rate you see on Google, Reuters or XE, and the one banks use between themselves. No consumer transfer gives it to you for free: providers either shade the rate slightly and keep the difference, or hand you the true rate and charge a visible fee instead. On 4 August 2026 the mid-market USD to INR rate was 95.3825.
What is an exchange-rate markup?
The gap between the mid-market rate and the rate a provider offers you, expressed as a percentage. If mid-market is 95.38 rupees to the dollar and you are offered 93.92, the markup is about 1.54% — on a $1,000 transfer that is roughly $15 kept by the provider, and it never appears as a fee on your receipt. It is the single largest hidden cost in international transfers.
Does a 0% markup mean the most money arrives?
No, and this catches people out. On the same $1,000 to India, Sendwave offered 95.361 against a mid-market rate of 95.3825 — a markup of roughly 0.02%, effectively none, and the best rate available. It charged a $5 fee, so 94,884 rupees arrived. Pangea offered a clearly worse rate of 95.1727, a 0.22% markup, but charged no fee at all, and 95,173 rupees arrived. The better rate lost by about 290 rupees because the fee outweighed it. Judge a transfer by what lands, not by the rate quoted.
Is one provider always better on the rate?
Only if it commits to the mid-market rate everywhere. Wise holds a 0.00% markup across all 599 corridors we price, and Instarem holds a flat 0.41% across 187 — for those two, the rate is a company policy. For most others it varies by route: Western Union runs from 0.21% to 3.23% depending on where you send, and Remitly from 0.28% to 3.90%. For those, the markup belongs to the provider-and-route pair rather than the provider.
How much does a markup cost in real money?
Each percentage point is $10 on a $1,000 transfer, $100 on $10,000. On our USD to India board the range ran from 0.22% to 3.81%, which is the difference between 95,173 and 91,293 rupees landing — about 3,879 rupees, or roughly $41, on the same transfer. The percentages sound small; converted into the recipient’s currency they rarely do.
Can I wait for a better exchange rate?
You can, but it is a bet on currency markets rather than a saving. Ordinary day-to-day movement on a major pair is usually small next to the gap between providers on the same route, which on our boards runs to about 4 percentage points. Choosing a cheaper provider is a decision you control and can make today; the rate is neither. For a large and genuinely flexible transfer a rate alert is reasonable, but it is not a strategy for a monthly remittance.
See what actually lands
The rate on its own will not tell you. Compare the amount your recipient receives, which is the only figure that settles it.
Compare live rates