#AppArrives asBehind the top
1Instarem₱24,720.24Most arrivesBest regular price this week. No visible fee, and only a small gap to the real market rate.
2Wise₱24,669.20₱ 51.04Real market rate, small visible fee. About 51 pesos behind Instarem.
3Remitly (regular)₱24,618.53₱ 101.71A bigger gap to the real rate is hidden in the exchange.
4Western Union₱24,441.47₱ 278.77Sample is Tuesday's number in the Wise price comparison. Small visible fee, plus about 0.7 percent more hidden in the rate.
5Xoom (PayPal)₱24,034.19₱ 686.05The least money arrived. The visible fee looks small, but nearly 3 percent more is hidden in the exchange rate.
6Remitly (first send only)Showed ₱25,803What Remitly's page showed on 17 July, above the real market rate. A new customer could get more or less. Only on your first transfer, up to £1,000.
Checked Friday morning, 17 July: £300 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 £8.30.
Each amount in the table has the fee taken out of the £300. Rates checked Friday 17 July 2026, morning UK time. Wise's number is from Wise's live rate feed at 06:10 GMT and its own comparison feed. Instarem, Remitly and Xoom are from that same comparison feed, all sampled between 05:26 and 05:56 GMT this morning. Western Union's was last sampled by that feed on Tuesday 14 July at 13:03 GMT, so treat it as a Tuesday snapshot, not this morning's. Remitly's first-transfer number is from the Remitly UK site.
Wise's and Instarem's prices are for a bank account. The Western Union and Xoom prices do not say which way the money is paid out, but on 5 November 2026 each one's fee matched that app's fee for a bank account. Remitly's regular price does not say either. On 5 November 2026 its no-fee price was for a mobile wallet, and a bank account cost £1.99.
What to actually open
If you are new to RemitlyOpen Remitly for your first send.On the morning of 17 July, Remitly's page showed a first-transfer rate of 86.01 pesos to the pound on the first £1,000 you send, and no fee on your first transfer. On £300 that rate showed 25,803 pesos, which is more than the real market rate. It could be more or less, because two new customers can see different rates. On 5 November 2026, Remitly's terms said the no-fee offer did not cover a credit card. The offer is a one-off. Use it once, then check again before your second send.
If you already have Instarem installed or do not mind setting up a new appUse Instarem.On £300 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 £0.62 more than Wise gave you.
If you do not want to open a new appUse Wise.On £300 this week Wise's visible fee was £2.41, and it gave 51 pesos less than Instarem. In pounds, that is about £0.62. For most senders the difference is not worth switching apps for.
Do not open Xoom for this send unless there is no other option.The visible £1.99 fee looks small. The real cost is hidden in the exchange rate. On £300, Xoom quietly took about £10.07 in total, once you add up the visible fee and the rate gap. That is £8.28 more than Instarem took, for the same £300 sent, on the same morning.
Western Union sits between the two; the Wise price comparison's most recent sample for them is 3 days old, so treat the exact figure as a Tuesday snapshot.At that older sample they took about £4 in total on £300: the visible £1.99 fee, plus about £2 hidden in the rate. That is measured against Tuesday's real rate, about 82.57 pesos to the pound, from the European Central Bank.
For the whole route in one place, see how to send money to the Philippines.
One thing the table cannot show
The first-transfer rate Remitly's page showed, 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, and why it can end without warning. If you are a new customer, take the first-send rate.
Next Friday: another country, another number.
Corrections
- 2026-11-11: An earlier version of this page put the £1,000 limit on the no-fee offer. On 11 November 2026, Remitly's page put it on the first-send rate, so the page now says so.
- 2026-11-11: An earlier version of this page did not say that each amount in the table, Western Union's and Xoom's included, has the fee taken out of the £300. It now does. No figure changed.
- 2026-11-11: An earlier version of this page said Wise's money arrives in seconds. We have no source for this route, so the words are gone.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page gave 86.01 pesos to the pound and ₱25,803 on £300 as what a new customer gets on a first send, and said this beat every regular price. That was one reading and two new customers can see different rates, so these figures now stand only as what Remitly's page showed on 17 July, and the line on regular prices is gone.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page counted each app's gap from Remitly's first-send figure, so Instarem showed ₱1,082.76 behind. The gaps now run from Instarem's row.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page gave Remitly's first send as no fee and named no way of paying. On 5 November 2026 Remitly's terms said the no-fee offer did not cover a credit card.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page called Remitly's regular price free to send, and treated every price as a bank account price. Only Wise's and Instarem's prices say so, and on 5 November 2026 Remitly's no-fee price was for a mobile wallet, while a bank account cost £1.99.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said Xoom took £8.30 more than Instarem. The gap is £8.28.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page measured Western Union's Tuesday rate against Friday's real rate, and gave about £5.16 in total on £300 and about 1 percent hidden in the rate. Against Tuesday's real rate the figures are about £4 and about 0.7 percent.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier summary of this page said the gap of about £8.30 was quietly taken in the exchange rate, and called Instarem the best app. About £2 of the gap was Xoom's visible fee and Remitly's first send showed more, so it now says part fee, part rate, and best regular price.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Remitly's first-send offer was capped at £1,000 lifetime, and applied to the first £1,000 you ever send with them. The page now says your first transfer, up to £1,000.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said every other regular price sat below the real market rate, that no regular app would keep offering a rate above it, and that nobody can pay you to send. Wise's rate that morning was the real rate, and we have no source for the rest, so these lines are gone.
- 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page called Wise the safe default, the safest and best-known option, and the plain right answer with no surprises. We have no source for this, so the words are gone.