Checked Friday morning, 17 July: 300 pounds from the UK to a Philippines bank account, sent through five apps. Between the best regular price this week and the worst named one, the gap came to 686 pesos. That is about 8 pounds 30.
Here is what each one delivered.
| App | 300 GBP arrives as | Visible fee | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instarem | ₱24,720.24 | £0 | Best regular price this week. No visible fee, and only a small gap to the real market rate. |
| Wise | ₱24,669.20 | £2.41 | The safe default. Real market rate, small visible fee, arrives in seconds. About 51 pesos behind Instarem. |
| Remitly (regular) | ₱24,618.53 | £0 | Free to send, but a bigger gap to the real rate is hidden in the exchange. |
| Western Union | ₱24,441.47 | £1.99 | Sample is Tuesday’s number in the Wise cross-provider feed. Small visible fee, plus about 1 percent more hidden in the rate. |
| Xoom (PayPal) | ₱24,034.19 | £1.99 | The least money arrived. The visible fee looks small. Nearly 3 percent more is hidden in the exchange rate. |
| Remitly (first send only) | ₱25,803.00 | £0 | Beats every regular price, and beats the real market rate too. Only on your first transfer, and only on the first 1,000 pounds you ever send with them. |
Rates checked Friday 17 July 2026, morning UK time. Wise’s number is from Wise’s live rate feed at 06:10 UTC and its own comparison feed. Instarem, Remitly and Xoom are from that same comparison feed, all sampled between 05:26 and 05:56 UTC this morning. Western Union’s was last sampled by that feed on Tuesday 14 July at 13:03 UTC, so treat it as a Tuesday snapshot, not this morning’s. Remitly’s first-transfer number is from the Remitly UK site.
What to actually open
If you are new to Remitly, open Remitly for your first send. Their first-transfer rate is 86.01 pesos to the pound with no fee, on the first 1,000 pounds you ever send with them. On 300 pounds that lands 25,803 pesos, which is more than the real market rate. It is a one-off. Use it once, then check again before your second send.
If you already have Instarem installed, or you do not mind setting up a new app, use Instarem. On 300 pounds this week it delivered the most pesos of any regular price, with no fee and only a small gap to the real market rate. About 62 pence more than Wise gave you.
If you want the safest, best-known option and you do not want to open a new app, use Wise. On 300 pounds this week Wise gave 51 pesos less than Instarem. In pounds, that is about 62 pence. For most senders the difference is not worth switching apps for; Wise is still the plain right answer if you are choosing today and want no surprises.
Do not open Xoom for this send unless there is no other option. The visible 1 pound 99 fee looks small. The real cost is hidden in the exchange rate. On 300 pounds, Xoom quietly took about 10 pounds 07 in total, once you add up the visible fee and the rate gap. That is 8 pounds 30 more than Instarem took, for the same 300 pounds sent, on the same morning.
Western Union sits between the two; the Wise cross-provider feed’s most recent sample for them is 3 days old, so treat the exact figure as a Tuesday snapshot. Even at that older sample they were quietly taking about 5 pounds 16 in total on 300 pounds.
For the whole route in one place, see how to send money to the Philippines.
One thing the table cannot show
Remitly’s first-transfer rate of 86.01 pesos to the pound is above the real market rate. This morning the real rate is about 82.90. There is no black market for the peso the way there is for the naira; the Philippines has an open, floated currency. So how can Remitly offer a rate above the real one?
They pay for it themselves. It is a marketing subsidy. Every peso above 82.90 is a small loss they take on your first send to get you as a customer. That is why the offer is capped at 1,000 pounds lifetime, and why it can end without warning. It is also why every other regular price on the table sits below the real market rate. The rest have to make their money on your send, not lose it. If you are a new customer, take the first-send rate. Just do not expect any regular app to keep offering you a rate that beats the real market rate. Nobody can pay you to send.
Next Friday: another country, another number.