▲ 0 r/ExpatFinance
I've been tracking CAD to SGD transfer costs daily across 8 providers. Here's what the data actually shows.
Been building a ranking engine for cross-border transfers and have been pulling live fee data daily. Figured I'd share what the numbers look like for one corridor and see if it matches what people here are actually experiencing.
How the data works:
- A crawler runs twice a day hitting provider pricing pages and APIs
- Total cost is split into 3 parts: deposit fee (what you pay to send), FX markup (how much they take above mid-market rate), and receive fee (what lands on the other side)
- Rankings are by what the recipient actually gets, not the number shown at checkout
Why the 3-way split matters:
- Wise's $4.95 flat fee looks steep upfront, but their FX markup is only 11 basis points, one of the tightest on this corridor
- PayPal does the opposite: small-looking flat fee, enormous FX markup hidden inside the rate
- Most people never see this split
CAD to SGD, sending $1,000 CAD via Interac e-Transfer, receiving via PayNow. Mid-market: 1 CAD = 0.9309 SGD. Pulled May 18, 2026.
| Ranking | Provider | Deposit fee | FX markup | Receive fee (PayNow: free) | Recipient gets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Revolut | $0 | $0.40 | $0 | 931 SGD |
| 2 | Remitly | $0 | $5.40 | $0 | 926 SGD |
| 3 | Wise | $4.95 | $1.10 | $0 | 925 SGD |
| 4 | Airwallex | $4.80 | $2.80 | $0 | 924 SGD |
| 5 | Instarem | $0 | $8.40 | $0 | 923 SGD |
| 6 | TD Bank | $0 | $25.70 | $0 | 907 SGD |
| 7 | RBC | $0 | $27.50 | $0 | 905 SGD |
| 8 | PayPal | $4.99 | $47.60 | $0 | 882 SGD |
A few notes:
- PayNow is free to receive in Singapore, so receive fee is zero across the board. On corridors like Philippines or Indonesia, cash pickup fees add a whole extra layer that rarely gets advertised
- Gap between #1 and #8 is 49 SGD on a $1,000 send. On $5k that's 245 SGD
One thing genuinely bugging me:
Revolut at $0.40 total looks almost too good. That's basically the mid-market rate. A few questions:
- Has anyone on Revolut standard plan actually sent CAD to SGD recently? Did that rate hold at checkout?
- Does this 3-way breakdown match what you see when you go to send?
- Has the fee at quote ever differed from what actually arrived?
Genuinely curious if the data holds up in practice.
u/Expensive-Yellow6619 — 5 days ago