Western Union vs XE: Fees & Reviews Compared (2025)

Below we compare them on their fees and reviews.

Sections

Fees

Top Rated Money Transfer Service

Currencies Direct are the top rated International Money Transfer Service on our list.

	Western Union	XE
Trustpilot Rating	3.9	4.3
Number of Trustpilot Reviews	50,800	61,500
iOS App Rating	4.8	4.3
Number of iOS App Reviews	630,000	5,300
Android App Rating	4.6	3.5
Number of Android App Reviews	28,000	113,000

Data taken from relevant websites at time of publication.

	Western Union	XE
App Transfers	Yes	Yes
Online Transfers	Yes	Yes
Phone Transfers	Yes	No
In-person Transfers	Yes	Yes
Available Countries	200	170
Number of Currencies	130	50
Payment Methods	Bank account Debit card Credit card Cash	Bank account Debit card Credit card Check Direct debit BillPay BPAY PayID Interac
Receiving Methods	Online wallet Bank account Cash pickup Home delivery	Online wallet Bank account Cash pickup
Cash Pickup Option	Yes	Yes
Payments Flexibility	Web platform Mobile app Phone In person	Web platform Mobile app
Supported Languages	English, Spanish, French, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish, German, Italian, Russian, Swedish, Chinese, Dutch, Polish, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Finnish	English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese
Transfer Speed	Within minutes for cash or debit card transfers 1-3 days for transfers between bank accounts	1-4 days
Dedicated Dealer	No	Only for customers transferring above $70,000
Instant Custom Quote	Yes	Yes
Business Features	N/A	Spot contracts Forwards contracts Market orders Digital multi-currency wallet Rate alerts API portal
Debit Card	Western Union® Netspend® Prepaid Mastercard	None
Cancellation Policy	Cancellations are possible as long as the money hasn’t been claimed by the recipient.	Only for cash pick-up transfers when the cash hasn’t been collected by the recipient
Suitability	Small money transfers	Small and large money transfers

Top Rated Money Transfer Service

Currencies Direct are the top rated International Money Transfer Service on our list.

	Western Union	XE
Year Founded	1851	1993
Headquarters	Denver, CO, United States	Newmarket, ‎Ontario‎, ‎Canada
Other Office Locations	Brazil, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, China, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Singapore, Switzerland, South Korea, United Kingdom, etc.	Canada, Australia, the US, the UK, and New Zealand
Annual Trading Volume	$300 billion	£15 billion
Number of Employees	10500	350
Number of Clients	150 million	150000
Regulatory Institutions	State licensing in the USA FINTRAC in Canada FCA in the UK AUSTRAC in Australia	FinCEN in the USA FINTRAC and OSFI in Canada FCA in the UK ASIC in Australia
Awards	Digital Edge 25 Awards (2016) Payments Innovation of the Year (2016) Candidate Experience Award (Talent Board, 2017, 2018) “Way to Go” Champion Award (Denver Regional Council of Governments, 2019) Regional Partner Award (Education for Employment, 2019) Humanitarian Logistics Award (American Logistics Aid Network, 2020) Consumer Payments Innovation Award (FinTech Breakthrough Awards, 2021)	International Money Transfers Outstanding Value Award (Canstar, 2021)

Data taken from company websites and other third-party sites. It was believed to be accurate at the time of publication but may have since changed.

Top Rated Money Transfer Service

Currencies Direct are the top rated International Money Transfer Service on our list.

See More Comparisons:

	Western Union	XE
Homepage
Transfer Fee	Based on the sender’s location, transfer amount, and payment method. Usually, there’s a fee that’s as low as $0-$15, but some can be as high as $100 if sending to an exotic location or paying by credit card.	£2.00 under £250 (UK) €2.00 under €250 (EU) No fee for other sums
Average Exchange Rate Markup	1% – 5%	0.2% to 1.4%
Minimum Transfer Amount	$1	$1
Maximum Transfer Amount	Depending on the sender’s country: $50,000 if identity verified $3,000 if identity isn’t verified	£350,000 (UK and EU) $535,000 (US) CAD $535,000 (Canada) NZD $750,000 (New Zealand)