#AppArrives asBehind the top
1InstaremLKR 132,573.51Most arrivesIt was the best on the table. It charged no fee, and its rate was close to Google's.
2RemitlyLKR 132,340.59LKR 232.92It came within a pound of Instarem, with a small visible fee.
3WiseLKR 132,096.47LKR 477.04Its rate was right at Google's.
4Western UnionLKR 130,038.74LKR 2,534.77It came about £5.69 behind Instarem. The fee looks cheap, but the rate is wide.
5Xoom (PayPal)LKR 129,333.76LKR 3,239.75It came about £7.28 behind Instarem. Skip it on a send this size.
6OFXLKR 127,339.48LKR 5,234.03OFX delivered the least, about £11.75 behind Instarem.
Wise's and Instarem's prices are for a bank account. The other rows do not say how the money is paid out.
The comparison does not say how the sender paid, and the price on some rows depends on it. Remitly's page says the rates it shows apply when you pay by Easy bank transfer. On 5 November 2026 that was the way of paying on its £300 quote. If you pay another way, that rate may not apply.
Wise's rate does not change with how you pay, but its fee does. On 5 November 2026, on £300, the fee was £3.35 by bank transfer, £4.28 by debit card and £9.91 by Visa credit card. The £3.35 is the fee in its row.
Western Union's rate also changes with how you pay. For a bank deposit sent online on 5 November 2026, one way of paying gave about 2.2 percent more than a card, and its row in the comparison sat near the card rate.
What to actually open
If you already have Instarem installedUse Instarem.On £300 on 28 August it edged out Remitly by about £0.52 and Wise by about £1.07. Small money either way, but it is the best regular price on the table and there is no fee to add on top.
If you already have Remitly installedUse Remitly if the amount on its last screen beats Wise's for the same total paid.In the comparison it came in about £0.55 ahead of Wise for the same £300.
If you do not have Instarem or Remitly and do not want to set up a new appUse Wise.Wise came in about £1.07 behind Instarem on 28 August. The fee is on the screen and the rate matches the real rate (the one you see on Google). For a saving that small, opening a new app is not worth the trouble.
Do not open Xoom for a send this size.Its visible £2.99 fee is small, but its rate sits 2.21 percent below the real rate. Between the two you were £7.28 behind Instarem on 28 August.
Do not open OFX at all on £300.Between the £7 fee and a rate 2.40 percent below the real rate, OFX kept about £14.03 of your money. Instarem kept £2.28.
For the whole route in one place, see how to send money to Sri Lanka.
Catches
The Remitly first-transfer offer. If you have never used Remitly before, check the app for a first-transfer offer. On 28 August, Remitly's UK page advertised a better rate with the fee waived, capped at the first £500. A £300 send falls inside that cap. On 5 November 2026, its terms said the fee waiver does not cover a credit card. Compare the amount on Remitly's last screen with Wise's for the same total paid. The offer works once, and only if the app shows it to you.
Others absent. Nine other named providers (MoneyGram, LemFi, Taptap Send, Sendwave, WorldRemit, Skrill, PayPal, Nationwide and UK banks with branches) did not return a fresh price on this route that morning.
How we checked
We checked on Friday 28 August 2026, morning UK time. Prices come from Wise's price comparison for £300 to Sri Lanka in rupees. Each amount in the table has the fee taken out of the £300. Wise's own row was pulled at 05:05 UK time, alongside its live rate. The other rows were collected at these UK times: Instarem 04:29, Remitly 04:40, Western Union 04:21, Xoom 04:55, OFX 04:20. We keep the raw data on file.
Next Friday: another country, another number.
Corrections
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said two rows depend on how the sender paid. Wise's fee depends on it too, though its rate does not, so the page no longer says two rows and now gives Wise's fee for three ways of paying.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page did not say that each amount in the table has the fee taken out of the £300, that Remitly's fee waiver does not cover a credit card, or that Western Union's 2.2 percent was for sending online. It now does, and it says to compare Remitly's last screen with Wise's for the same total paid. No figure changed.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said "this morning" and "this week" in lines about 28 August. The page also carries lines dated 5 November, so these now say 28 August or are cut.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said Remitly's first-transfer rate was about 455 rupees to the pound and would deliver about 136,536 rupees, about £8.90 ahead of Instarem. We do not have that morning's page on file, so the figures are gone and the page tells you to compare the amount on Remitly's last screen.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page told you to use Remitly, and put it within about a pound of the top, without saying that its rate changes with how you pay. That line now says it is the comparison's, the page says how Remitly's and Western Union's rates depend on how you pay, and the advice is to use Remitly if the amount on its last screen beats Wise's.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page gave the prices as ones for a bank transfer. The comparison does not say that, so the page now says only Wise's and Instarem's are shown to be for a bank account.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said a bank deposit to Sri Lanka usually arrives the same working day on the named apps, that Wise's money arrives the same working day, that Wise is the steady one and a fast, familiar route, and that OFX is built for much larger sends. We have no source for these, so the lines are gone.
- 2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said "this Friday morning" with no date in its summary and first line, and said Remitly's page "has been advertising" its first-transfer offer. These now say 28 August.