Send Money from the USA to Israel
Fees and exchange-rate margins from the USA to Israel vary widely. Compare what your recipient actually receives, not the advertised fee.
What does your recipient in Israel actually get?
Best checked payout · on $1,000₪3,058.52
At the mid-market rate · $1,000₪3,103.78
Wise · fee from $8.38 · checked October 2026₪227.78 more than the lowest of the 4 amounts we hold for this corridor.
1 USD = 3.1038 ILS
30-day range3.01 – 3.1 ILS
Every provider pays your recipient less than the benchmark. The gap is the rate margin, and it is usually larger than the transfer fee. How the margin worksUSD→ILS reference rate for Oct 18, 2026, updated automatically · Rates By Exchange Rate API · 30-day series: European Central Bank
Compare 6 ways to send money to Israel
Checked recipient amounts cover 4 of 6 providers here, collected from the Wise Comparison API — which quotes its own operator among them. The rest show each provider's published terms, and are ordered by payout coverage rather than by amount.
Recipient amounts collected and stored, not fetched as this page loads. Exchange rates move daily. Fees below are quoted for bank transfer at 1000 USD.
| Provider | Recipient getsby bank transfer | vs mid-market, exchange-rate markup against the reference rate stated below this table | What it costs | Arrives | Payout | Open provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recipient amount checked (4) | ||||||
![]() | ₪3,058.52₪227.78 more than the lowest of the 4 we checked | benchmark | $12.790.00% rate margin, measured | Varies | Payout methods: Bank deposit | Go to Wise |
![]() Widest bank coverage on this corridor at 24 named institutions | ₪3,053.03 | 1.5% | $0.001.54% rate margin, measured | Express or standard | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup, Card payout | Go to Remitly |
![]() | ₪3,035.82 | 2.0% | $0.002.10% rate margin, measured | Minutes to days | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup, Card payout | Go to Xoom |
![]() | ₪2,830.74 | 7.9% | $7.997.98% rate margin, measured | Minutes | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup, Mobile wallet, Card payout | Go to Western Union |
| Published terms only (2) | ||||||
![]() | Check provider | — | Flat $1.99Rate not published — confirm before sending | Minutes | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Card payout | Go to Paysend |
![]() | Check provider | — | Low feeRate not published — confirm before sending | Minutes to days | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Mobile wallet, Card payout | Go to Revolut |
- Recipient amount checked (4)
Best valueCheapest published cost here when funding by direct debit
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- ₪3,058.52₪227.78 more than the lowest of the 4 we checked
- vs mid-market
- benchmark
- Cost
- $12.790.00% rate margin, measured
- Arrives
- Varies
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit
Widest bank coverage on this corridor at 24 named institutions
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- ₪3,053.03
- vs mid-market
- 1.5%
- Cost
- $0.001.54% rate margin, measured
- Arrives
- Express or standard
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup, Card payout
Best for cash pickupThe only provider here naming its Israeli cash-pickup partners
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- ₪3,035.82
- vs mid-market
- 2.0%
- Cost
- $0.002.10% rate margin, measured
- Arrives
- Minutes to days
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup, Card payout
Most ways to receiveBroadest payout menu, including mobile wallet
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- ₪2,830.74
- vs mid-market
- 7.9%
- Cost
- $7.997.98% rate margin, measured
- Arrives
- Minutes
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup, Mobile wallet, Card payout
- Published terms only (2)
Fastest deliveryLowest published flat fee, straight to a card
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- Check provider
- vs mid-market
- —
- Cost
- Flat $1.99Rate not published — confirm before sending
- Arrives
- Minutes
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Card payout
Best for mobile walletNear-instant delivery to a recipient's card
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- Check provider
- vs mid-market
- —
- Cost
- Low feeRate not published — confirm before sending
- Arrives
- Minutes to days
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Mobile wallet, Card payout
What it costs has two parts: the advertised fee, and the exchange-rate margin kept by paying your recipient less than the mid-market rate. The margin is usually the larger, and is never labelled as a fee. Figures are each provider’s published terms, plus bank-transfer quotes from the Wise Comparison API, a source operated by a company this site also ranks — open a provider for a live quote. Recipient amounts are shown only for the providers we hold a checked figure for, which is some of those listed here rather than all of them.
Ordered by the amount the recipient receives, highest first, across every provider we hold a checked figure for — then by payout coverage, delivery speed and published fees. Affiliate arrangements never affect this order.
- Best value — Highest amount reaching the recipient on our benchmark transfer, among the providers we hold a checked amount for — which is some of those listed, not all of them.
- Most ways to receive — Supports the most payout types on this corridor.
- Fastest delivery — Quotes the fastest delivery tier published on this corridor. Where several providers quote it, the one with the widest payout coverage among them carries the badge, and the others are named alongside it.
- Best for cash pickup — Offers cash pickup, with the widest payout coverage among those that do.
- Best for mobile wallet — Offers mobile wallet payout, with the widest payout coverage among those that do.
Where two providers tie, the one supporting more payout types is listed first, then the faster one, then alphabetically. A label is left unawarded whenever the data we hold cannot support it — we would rather show fewer claims than invented ones. Those amounts cover some of the providers listed, not all of them, and the set is chosen by the source that supplies them rather than by us. Full methodology
What these figures are
- What the recipient gets
- Collected from the Wise Comparison API at a send amount of $1,000, October 2026. These price a bank transfer. Cash pickup and mobile wallets are priced differently and are not covered by these figures. Not a live quote — rates move daily.
- Markup against mid-market
- Measured against the row the Wise Comparison API flagged as being at the mid-market rate — Wise’s, October 2026. That is a provider listed in this table, which is why it is named, and why its own row shows no markup figure.
- Fees
- As each provider publishes them, via the Wise Comparison API, October 2026. A provider that does not publish a fee for this corridor shows none rather than a guess.
- Payout methods, delivery speed, promotions
- Read from each provider’s own pages for this corridor and last reviewed September 2026. Where a provider’s own sources disagree, the disagreement is printed rather than resolved.
Independent — providers cannot pay for placement or ranking · Consistent — every checked amount measured on the same corridor at the same send amount, and any fee quoted on a different basis says so on its own row · Transparent — the advertised fee kept separate from the rate margin
Not available on this corridor
- WorldRemit — Israel does not appear among the destinations WorldRemit lists on its own send-money page. Source
- Sendwave — Sendwave's published destination list from the US does not include this country. Source
- Taptap Send — Taptap Send's published receiving-country list does not include this country. Source
Quick verdict: the best way to send money to Israel
Each line names the provider that leads on one specific need, and why. There is no single winner because there is no single question — the lowest fee and the fastest delivery are rarely the same provider.
- If you want the most money to arriveWiseBest value
Cheapest published cost here when funding by direct debit - If you are not sure how they will collect itWestern UnionMost ways to receive
Pays out 4 ways — bank deposit, cash pickup, mobile wallet, card payout. - If it needs to arrive todayPaysendFastest delivery
Paysend states funds should arrive in a few minutes and are usually transferred the same day - If they will collect it in cashXoomBest for cash pickup
Cash Pickup (Money Change International, Albercom, STB Union) - If it goes to a mobile walletRevolutBest for mobile wallet
Card Transfer to Visa or Mastercard (mobile wallet listed as coming soon) - paid in shekels
Chosen by the same rules that order the table, from each provider’s published terms. A need with no clear leader is left out rather than handed to whoever happens to be first.
How much you send changes which provider is cheapest
A transfer costs two things: a fee you can see, and a cut of the exchange rate you cannot. They scale in opposite directions, so the best provider for $200 to Israel is often not the best provider for $5,000.
Up to $500, Remitly costs least on this corridor. From $1,000 upwards, Wise does.
| You send | Cheapest | All-in cost | Of the transfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | Remitly | $1.54 | 1.54% |
| $250 | Remitly | $3.85 | 1.54% |
| $500 | Remitly | $7.70 | 1.54% |
| $1,000 | Wise | $12.79 | 1.28% |
| $2,500 | Wise | $18.46 | 0.74% |
| $5,000 | Wise | $27.93 | 0.56% |
Every row was priced separately at that amount — the fee and the rate margin in each are the ones that applied to a transfer of that size, not one measurement stretched across the range. Cost is the fee plus the margin, for a bank transfer, across the 4 providers priced here; other providers on this corridor may be cheaper and are not priced this way. The margins were measured by Wise’s comparison service, not stated by the providers themselves, and Wise is a provider this site ranks. Checked October 2026. Cash pickup and mobile wallet payouts are priced differently and are not what this compares.
The flat fee is most of what you pay
On a small transfer a $5 fee is a real percentage of the money. A rate margin of half a percent on $200 is one dollar — small enough to ignore. Sort by the fee and take the lowest one you trust.
The exchange rate is most of what you pay
The fee stops mattering and the rate takes over. Half a percent on $5,000 is $25 — five times a typical fee, and no provider calls it a charge. A zero-fee offer on a large transfer is the one most worth checking.
USD to ILS at common amounts
| You send | Mid-market value | Load into calculator |
|---|---|---|
| $100.00 | ₪310.38 | |
| $250.00 | ₪775.94 | |
| $500.00 | ₪1,552 | |
| $1,000 | ₪3,104 | |
| $2,500 | ₪7,759 | |
| $5,000 | ₪15,519 |
Pick a row to load that amount into the calculator at the top of the page. These are mid-market values, not provider quotes — every service pays your recipient somewhat less, so use them as the figure to measure an offer against.
What is the cheapest way to send money to Israel?
Wise delivers the most money on our benchmark transfer — fee and exchange rate together, which is the comparison that matters. Lowest published fee is a different question, and on most corridors a different answer:
- Xoom$0.00 (bank transfer at 1000 USD)

- PaysendFlat $1.99

- Western Union$7.99 (bank transfer at 1000 USD)

Fees as published by each provider on their own site, checked by hand.
What is the fastest way to send money to Israel?
Paysend quotes the fastest delivery on this corridor at minutes, and so does Western Union. Published speeds describe the fastest route a provider offers, not every route: paying by card and sending to a wallet is usually near-instant, while a bank transfer funded by direct debit takes longer whoever you send with.
Israel at a glance
- Currency
- ILS · Israeli new shekel
- Payout methods
- Bank deposit · Cash pickup · Mobile wallet · Card payout
- Typical delivery
- Minutes to minutes to days
- Cash pickup
- Available from 3 of 6 providers
- 2 of the 6 providers can deliver within minutes, including Western Union and Paysend.
- Cash pickup is available through Remitly, Xoom and Western Union — no bank account needed.
Before you send to Israel
- Bank deposit is the default here and it is not instant: Xoom quotes next business day, Revolut 3 to 5 business days, and Wise's own quote lands the next morning. The fast routes are card payouts.
- Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi are the two institutions every bank-deposit provider names; Remitly extends the list to 24, including Citibank and HSBC.
- Cash pickup runs through Israeli exchange houses - Money Change International, Albercom and STB Union - rather than a retail agent network.
- Paysend and Revolut both pay shekels straight to a Visa or Mastercard, which is the quickest published route on this corridor.
- The shekel has strengthened dramatically in 2026 — the dollar weakened more than 20% against it over the past year, and the Bank of Israel noted an 8.3% shekel gain against the dollar (7.2% against the euro) between two recent rate decisions alone — driven by improving geopolitical sentiment, a strong tech sector, and foreign-capital inflows tied to deals like Google's planned acquisition of Wiz. That strength has let inflation moderate quickly, prompting the Bank of Israel to cut rates three times in 2026 (most recently by 0.25 points) even as GDP growth ran negative in the first quarter. The practical effect for a sender: a fixed dollar amount now converts to noticeably fewer shekels than it would have a year ago.
- A 1% US federal excise tax applies to remittance transfers sent from the United States when the sender provides cash, a money order, a cashier's check, or other similar physical instrument, from January 2026. The sender is liable for it and the provider collects it. Funding the same transfer from a bank account, debit card or credit card is outside that description — which can make a digital transfer cheaper than an identical one paid for in cash at a counter.
More on the 1% tax — who owes it, when it applies, and how the funding method changes it: US remittance tax.
What it costs to send money to Israel
Sending money from the USA to Israel converts US dollars (USD) into Israeli new shekels (ILS). Most of the real cost is not the headline fee — it is the exchange-rate margin, the gap between your quoted rate and the mid-market rate banks use between themselves. Two providers can both advertise "no fees" and still differ by several percent on what actually arrives.
Bank deposit here is not instant — published estimates run from next business day to five business days — so the card payout routes are the fast ones.
That is why the comparison above leads with how your recipient can be paid rather than with a headline price: match the service to how they actually want the money, then check the final quote.
How to choose the right provider
Compare the amount received, not the fee
Enter the same amount with two or three providers and compare what your recipient in Israel actually receives in Israeli new shekels. That one number folds the fee and the rate margin together.
Match the payout method to your recipient
In Israel the common rails are bank deposit, with card payout and cash pickup at exchange houses. A slightly pricier provider paying into the wallet or account they already use beats a cheaper one that means a trip to an agent.
Pay more for speed only when you need it
Western Union and Paysend can deliver within minutes, but express usually costs more in fee or margin. If it is not urgent, the economy option on the same platform is often meaningfully cheaper.
Check cash pickup coverage before you send
Remitly, Xoom and Western Union offer cash pickup in Israel. Check the specific branch is open and stocked before sending, especially outside major cities.
Verify the provider is licensed
Any service moving money out of the USA should be registered with FinCEN and state money-transmitter licences. Everyone we list is — worth checking for any service you find elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Other corridors to the Middle East from the USA
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Ready to compare your transfer?
See rates, fees and delivery options for 6 services side by side.
