Send Money from the UK to South Africa

Measured on the full cost — the transfer fee plus the exchange-rate margin — Wise is cheapest on this corridor at £1,000, across the 3 providers we hold checked figures for. The cheapest provider also changes with the amount you send, so compare the final sum that arrives in South African rands rather than the headline fee.

At £1,000, Wise is the cheapest of the 3 providers priced at that amount on this corridor: about £7.15 all in, or 0.71% of the amount sent. Remitly is next at about £12.99. That is the fee plus the exchange-rate margin that applied to a transfer of that size — priced at £1,000 specifically, not worked out from a measurement taken at some other amount. It covers a bank transfer; cash pickup and mobile wallet payouts are priced separately. The margins were measured by Wise's comparison service rather than published by the providers themselves, and other providers here may be cheaper and are not priced this way.

Yes. Up to £100, Remitly costs least on this corridor; from £250 upwards, Wise does. The change happens somewhere between those two amounts — they are the amounts actually priced, so naming a precise crossing point would be a guess dressed as a figure. This happens because a transfer costs a flat fee plus a percentage of the amount, and those two scale in opposite directions: on a small transfer the fee dominates, on a large one the exchange-rate margin does. It is why a comparison taken at a single amount can point you at the wrong provider for yours.

Delivery ranges from minutes to a few business days depending on the provider and payout method. Western Union and TransferGo can deliver within minutes when you pay by debit card. Bank-funded and economy transfers typically take one to three business days but usually cost less. Transfers sent outside banking hours or over a weekend may not settle until the next working day.

Across the providers we compare, the available payout methods are cash pickup, bank deposit, provider account balance, mobile wallet and card payout. The most widely used options in South Africa are bank deposit to a well-developed banking network, plus cash pickup. South Africa is comparatively well banked, so bank deposit is a realistic default for most recipients rather than the fallback it can be elsewhere in the region. Not every provider supports every method, so check the table above before you commit.

No. Remitly and Western Union offer cash pickup in South Africa, so your recipient can collect the funds with valid photo ID and the transfer reference number. That said, bank deposit to a well-developed banking network, plus cash pickup generally cost less than cash collection.

Providers rarely give you the mid-market rate — the reference rate you see on Google or Reuters. Instead they add a margin, typically between 0.4% and 4%, and keep the difference. That margin is often larger than the visible transfer fee, which is why a "no fee" service can still be more expensive overall. For GBP to ZAR, compare the quoted rate against the mid-market rate to see the real spread you are paying.

Yes, provided you use a licensed provider. Every service listed on this page is regulated in the UK under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which requires safeguarding of customer funds and identity verification. Send only to people you know personally, keep your transfer reference private, and be sceptical of anyone pressuring you to send money urgently to someone you have not met.

Yes. Each provider sets its own transfer limits, which vary by how much identity verification you have completed and how you pay. Larger transfers may require additional documentation such as proof of source of funds. For transfers above roughly £10,000, a specialist foreign-exchange broker will often beat an app on rate.

Cash pickup is available from Remitly and Western Union only. Remitly reaches it through Mukuru, which is one of the larger cash networks in the country, while Wise pays into a bank account and nothing else. Remitly's promotional rate covers the first 500 GBP only — a lower cap than the 1,000 EUR it applies from several European markets. Above that, and on every transfer after the first, the standing rate applies. No Wise fee figures are published on this page. The provider's UK corridor page quoted its pricing in US dollars rather than pounds when this corridor was checked, so there was no pound figure to read. Use the provider's own calculator with a pound amount entered, and compare the rand that actually arrives.