Sending money from the UK to Lithuania should cost you almost nothing. Here is the short answer.
If it is a weekday and you have converted less than 1,000 pounds this month, open Revolut. The total cost is zero. The money lands in seconds.
If you bank with Starling and it is a weekday, Starling is also very cheap. About eighty pence on 200 pounds.
If it is the weekend, or you have already used your Revolut free monthly amount, open Wise. The fee is about one to two pounds on 200 pounds. The money lands in seconds.
What you should not do is open your high-street bank app. HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest. The transfer screen will say “no fee.” That is not the price. The price is hidden in the exchange rate. On 200 pounds it is usually between five and seven pounds, depending on which bank, taken silently. The transfer works and the money arrives; five to seven pounds of your 200 has quietly stayed with the bank instead of going to Lithuania.
The rest of this page explains why, and what to watch for. The answer above is the whole answer if you trust it.
Why this route is so cheap now
UK banks and Lithuanian banks are joined by the same shared euro payment network that covers Europe. Once your pounds are turned into euros and put onto this network, sending them to a Lithuanian bank account costs almost nothing. Most Lithuanian banks do not charge to receive euros that come in this way.
The UK is still part of that network. Brexit did not change it. A pound can be turned into euros and sent to Lithuania the same way it could in 2018.
The catch is on the UK side. The new apps (Revolut, Wise, Starling) use the real exchange rate, the one Google shows you when you search what the pound is worth in euros. They charge a small visible fee, or none at all. The old apps (high-street banks) use a worse exchange rate, and hide the cost there. Both routes arrive. Only one shows you what it took.
The apps that use the real exchange rate
Revolut. Free up to 1,000 pounds (about 1,180 euros) of currency conversion per month, on a weekday. Past that, Revolut adds about 1 percent on the bit over. The money lands in seconds. Two catches. One: the monthly free amount. Two: the weekend surcharge. Revolut adds 1 percent on conversion from late Friday evening UK time until late Sunday night UK time. Send Sunday morning, you pay it. Wait until Monday morning, you do not. For a single 200 pound transfer on a weekday, this is the option to beat.
Wise. The benchmark. Real exchange rate, small visible fee. On a 200 pound send to Lithuania the total is around one to two pounds. No monthly cap. No weekend surcharge. About three-quarters of transfers land in under twenty seconds, by Wise’s own count. If Revolut is not available for any reason, Wise is the answer.
Starling. A UK bank, but a new kind. Open a euro account inside the Starling app at no extra cost. Sending euros from that account to Lithuania is free. The cost is changing pounds into euros inside Starling. On a weekday it is a flat 0.4 percent. On 200 pounds, that is eighty pence. On Saturday and Sunday, Starling adds another 0.5 percent on top. The cheapest mainstream UK option on a weekday, if you already bank with Starling.
TransferGo. Worth knowing because the comparison websites often forget it. Lithuanian-founded, based in Vilnius and London, authorised by the UK regulator. New UK users can get the first two transfers free with a referral link. After that the pricing is competitive on small amounts and the transfer is fast. If you want to use a Lithuanian-run app for a Lithuanian transfer, this is the one.
What to watch for
The weekend markup. Revolut adds 1 percent on conversion from late Friday evening UK time until late Sunday night UK time. Starling adds 0.5 percent on Saturday and Sunday. On a small transfer, that eats most of the saving. If you can, send Monday to Friday, before late evening on Friday.
“Free” that is not free. Any high-street bank app that quotes zero fee on a euro transfer but does not show you the exchange rate it is using. The fee really is zero; the cost is hidden a step further along, in the rate the bank uses to change your pounds into euros. To check: open the bank app and a new app side by side. Same pound amount. Same day. Look at how many euros land at the other end. That is the only number that matters.
Paysera, for the person on the other end. Paysera is a Lithuanian app. It is brilliant for the person in Lithuania who is receiving the money. It gives them a Lithuanian account number and lets them move money inside Lithuania for free. For you in the UK, it is awkward (no UK pound account). Tell your family to open Paysera if they want it. Do not try to use it as the sender if Wise or Revolut is available to you.
What to open, and when
A weekday, and you have not yet converted 1,000 pounds this month: Revolut. Cost zero.
A weekday, and you already bank with Starling: Starling. Eighty pence on 200 pounds.
The weekend, or you have used your monthly free Revolut amount: Wise. About one to two pounds.
About to open your high-street bank app: do not. Five to seven pounds more out of your pocket for nothing.
Corrections
- 2026-07-12: An earlier version of this page said Revolut’s free monthly currency conversion allowance was 1,000 euros (about 850 pounds). The actual cap on Revolut Standard in the UK is 1,000 pounds (about 1,180 euros) per month. The figures on this page have been updated to match Revolut’s current fee page.