Sendwave Review 2026: Fees, Exchange Rates and What Your Recipient Gets

The fee and the exchange rate

Sendwave charges in one part, not two, on its main routes, and we checked it. There is no fixed transfer fee to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda or Bangladesh. The cost is the margin in the rate.

A few secondary routes do carry a small fee. Sending to Morocco, for example, costs about £0.99. So check the price on your exact corridor rather than assuming zero everywhere.

The rate margin is the real number to watch. We found it runs roughly 0.4% to 2.7% on the big African routes, narrow on Kenya and Nigeria, and wider, up to around 4.5%, on Ghana.

First-transfer credit and referrals

New UK customers can use a promo code at sign-up for a small credit, frequently around £5, applied to a first transfer. There is also a refer-a-friend scheme paying both sides a similar credit.

These are non-withdrawable transfer credits, one per person, so treat them as a discount on a send rather than free cash.

These are sourced figures dated 27 June 2026. Rates move daily, so check the live quote in the app before you commit.

On Ghana the quoted rate matched the mid-market on the day, so the recipient gets close to the full conversion. On Kenya the margin is about 0.6%. The margin is the cost, so compare the landed amount before you send.

Countries and currencies

We confirmed Sendwave reaches more than 45 payout countries, across Africa, Asia and the Americas. It is a one-way bridge from the UK, so you cannot use it to send to the US, Canada or within Europe.

The busiest routes are in Africa and South Asia. For a major route like sending money to Ghana, you can pay out to an MTN MoMo or Telecel Cash wallet in seconds.

How a transfer reaches your recipient

• Mobile wallet, the flagship method, such as M-Pesa, MTN MoMo, bKash and GCash
• Bank deposit, in countries like Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Philippines
• Cash pickup, in select markets such as Senegal, the Philippines and Mexico
• Your recipient does not need the app; the money lands in their own wallet

Limits

Regular small sends to Africa or Asia

This is the heart of what Sendwave does well. If you send money home to Ghana, Kenya or Bangladesh, the no-fee model and instant wallet payout make it cheap and quick for everyday amounts.

For a weekly or monthly send to a mobile wallet, the cost is just a small rate margin, and your recipient gets the money in seconds.

People who want the simplest app

A strong choice. Sendwave is built like a messaging app, with your card saved and a recipient saved, so a repeat send takes a few taps.

Larger or one-off transfers

Workable, with care. The enhanced tier caps you at £10,000 a month, and a large or unusual transfer can trigger a source-of-funds check or a hold, so allow time.

How your money is protected

We checked the FCA Register. Sendwave's UK service runs through WorldRemit Ltd, an authorised Electronic Money Institution under FRN 900891, regulated by the FCA.

Because it is an e-money firm, not a bank, your money is not covered by the FSCS. Instead it is safeguarded, held in segregated accounts separate from the firm's own money, so it is protected from creditors if the firm fails.

Security and account holds

The app uses SMS two-factor login and strong encryption. To send more, you upload a government ID, and for large or unusual sums you may need to show where the money came from.

Be aware that holds are the main complaint we found. A US regulator fined Sendwave in 2023 to 2024 over how it handled frozen accounts, so keep your details current and allow time on a first send.

The app. Sendwave is mobile only. You set up a recipient, save a debit card, and send in a few taps. You see the rate and the amount your recipient gets before you confirm.

Funding. You fund only by debit card, in your own name. There is no bank transfer, Faster Payments or credit card option, which keeps Sendwave's costs, and yours, down.

Customer support. Help is available 24/7 by in-app chat, plus email and a UK phone line, in several languages. The weak spot is escalation, where users report slow replies on complex holds.

We read the recent reviews rather than just the score, and the picture is strongly positive on the apps, with a large number of ratings behind it.

What people praise: the instant wallet payouts, the zero fixed fee, and the easy, text-message-style app.

What goes wrong: sudden account freezes while a transfer is in flight, and slow support when a complex hold needs a human.

For sending to Africa, Sendwave is cheap and fast, and you can weigh it against the rest in our money transfer comparison.

It shares a parent with WorldRemit, but runs its own pricing, so our WorldRemit review is the closest rival, with a website flow and bank-transfer funding. For the pure mid-market rate with one clear fee, see our Wise review.

Rates move daily, and we refresh the live figures, so run a live comparison of today's rates and fees before you send. Businesses cannot use Sendwave, so for paying suppliers or staff abroad see international business payments.

Sendwave is the one to reach for when you send small, regular amounts to Africa or South Asia and want them there in seconds with no fixed fee.

For that job it is very good, and we rate it 4.2 out of 5. The zero-fee model and instant wallet payouts are a real win for everyday remittances, and the app is as easy as it gets.

Just know the trade before you send. The cost is the rate margin, wider on Ghana than Kenya, you fund only by debit card, and the app is strict on holds, so keep your details current and compare the landed amount first.