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Calcimator

Cross-Border Payment Cost Calculator

Compare total costs across SWIFT wire, SEPA, online transfer services, and card payments including fees and FX spread.

About this calculator

Sending money internationally rarely has one advertised price — the real cost is fees plus whatever markup gets baked into the exchange rate, and the second part is usually the bigger and less visible one. This calculator lays that out for four common rails side by side. SWIFT wires stack a send fee, a receive fee, and often an intermediary/correspondent-bank fee on top of an FX spread applied against the true mid-market rate; SEPA (and equivalent domestic-style rails) typically charges a small flat fee with a much thinner FX spread, which is why intra-EU or intra-country transfers are so much cheaper than international wires.

Online transfer services (the calculator's stand-in for providers like Wise) combine a small fixed fee, a modest percentage fee, and a spread that's usually tighter than a bank's; card or PayPal payments look convenient but layer a percentage transaction fee on top of a currency spread that is often the widest of the four. For each method the calculator computes the effective exchange rate (mid-market rate reduced by that method's spread) and total landed cost as both a dollar figure and a percentage of the transfer amount, then flags the cheapest option and the maximum savings versus the most expensive one. The core thing to internalize: a "$0 fee" transfer can still be the most expensive option if its FX spread is wide, so always compare total cost as a percentage of the transfer amount, not just the line-item fee a provider chooses to advertise.

Inputs

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Results

SWIFT Total Cost ($)

$215.00

≈ 14 movie tickets

SWIFT Cost (%)2.15%
SEPA Total Cost ($)$30.50
SEPA Cost (%)0.31%
Online Service Cost ($)$93.50
Online Cost (%)0.94%
Card / PayPal Cost ($)$540.30
Card Cost (%)5.4%
Cheapest Option ($)$30.50
Maximum Savings ($)$509.80
Swift Recipient Receives10,820
Sepa Recipient Receives10,967
Online Recipient Receives10,956
Card Recipient Receives10,725
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter Transfer Amount ($), Mid-Market Exchange Rate, and SWIFT Send Fee ($).
  2. Set SWIFT Receive Fee ($), SWIFT Intermediary Fee ($), and SWIFT FX Spread (%).
  3. Adjust SEPA / Local Rails Fee ($), SEPA FX Spread (%) as needed.
  4. Review the SWIFT Total Cost ($) ($) result.
  5. Use SWIFT Cost (%) (%) and SEPA Total Cost ($) ($) to inform your decision.

How the result changes with Transfer Amount ($)

Transfer Amount ($)SWIFT Total Cost ($)
5,000$140.00
7,500$177.50
15,000$290.00
25,000$440.00

What each input means

Transfer Amount ($)
Amount to send in the source currency.
Mid-Market Exchange Rate
True mid-market rate (source/destination).
SWIFT Send Fee ($)
Fee charged by the sending bank for a SWIFT wire.
SWIFT Receive Fee ($)
Fee charged by the receiving bank.
SWIFT Intermediary Fee ($)
Correspondent bank fee (may be zero for direct routes).
SWIFT FX Spread (%)
Bank's FX markup over mid-market rate.
SEPA / Local Rails Fee ($)
Fee for SEPA or equivalent local clearing.
SEPA FX Spread (%)
FX markup for SEPA payments (often lower within EU).
Online Service Fixed Fee ($)
Fixed transaction fee from online providers like Wise.
Online Variable Fee (%)
Percentage fee on transfer amount.
Online FX Spread (%)
FX markup for online money transfer services.
Card / PayPal Fee (%)
Transaction fee percentage for card or PayPal.
Card Fixed Fee ($)
Per-transaction fixed fee.
Card FX Spread (%)
FX markup charged by card networks.

What each result means

SWIFT Total Cost ($)
Total cost including fees and FX spread for a SWIFT wire.
SWIFT Cost (%)
SWIFT cost as percentage of transfer amount.
SEPA Total Cost ($)
Total cost for a SEPA or local rail transfer.
SEPA Cost (%)
SEPA cost as percentage of transfer amount.
Online Service Cost ($)
Total cost using an online money transfer service.
Online Cost (%)
Online service cost as percentage of transfer amount.
Card / PayPal Cost ($)
Total cost using card or PayPal.
Card Cost (%)
Card cost as percentage of transfer amount.
Cheapest Option ($)
Lowest total cost among all methods.
Maximum Savings ($)
Savings from using the cheapest vs most expensive method.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Transfer Amount ($) = 10000, Mid-Market Exchange Rate = 1.1, SWIFT Send Fee ($) = 35, SWIFT Receive Fee ($) = 15 = 14 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate SWIFT Total Cost
    SWIFT Total Cost = swiftTotalFees + swiftFxCost
    215 = $215
  3. Calculate SWIFT Cost
    SWIFT Cost = (swiftTotalCost / transferAmount) * 100
    2.15 = 2.15%
  4. Calculate SEPA Total Cost
    SEPA Total Cost = sepaFee + sepaFxCost
    30.5 = $30.5

Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the 'effective exchange rate' calculated for each payment method?

For every method, the calculator takes the Mid-Market Exchange Rate you enter and reduces it by that method's own FX spread percentage: effective rate equals mid-market rate times (1 minus spread% / 100). SWIFT and card payments carry the widest spreads in the defaults, which is why their effective rates sit furthest from the true mid-market rate even before fees are added.

What's included in SWIFT's total cost that isn't part of SEPA's?

SWIFT stacks three separate fees — send fee, receive fee, and intermediary/correspondent-bank fee — on top of its FX spread cost, while SEPA in this calculator only charges a single flat fee plus its own, typically much thinner, FX spread. That structural difference is why SWIFT wires usually land far more expensive than SEPA transfers for the same amount.

Why does only the SWIFT method subtract a fee from what the recipient receives?

The calculator subtracts the SWIFT Receive Fee from Swift Recipient Receives because that fee is charged on arrival by the receiving bank, whereas the SEPA, online-service, and card fees modeled here are all deducted upfront on the sending side, so the recipient amount for those methods is simply the transfer amount converted at that method's effective rate.

If a provider advertises 'no fees,' does that mean it's the cheapest option here?

Not necessarily — a method with zero listed fees can still carry a wide FX spread, and the spread cost (transfer amount times spread percentage) is calculated and added into Total Cost right alongside the fees. Compare the Cost (%) figures across methods, since that percentage already combines fees and spread into one comparable number rather than looking at fees alone.

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