The Plyna Cost Index

The cost of choosing the wrong provider

A single benchmark, built from our own daily data, for how much a UK sender loses by picking the wrong money-transfer provider — the gap between the best and worst deal, averaged across every remittance corridor we track. The wider it is, the more comparing pays off.

Current index — best vs worst provider

1.67%

across 10 corridors · as of 14 November 2026

↑0.02 pp wider than a month ago

On a £1,000 transfer, that's about £16.71 lost by choosing the worst provider instead of the best — before anyone even mentions a fee. On the widest corridor today it's £37.18 (UK → Nigeria).

Index over time

The average best-to-worst gap across corridors, by day.

Where does comparing matter most?

Best-to-worst gap on the latest real snapshot — widest first.

How is the index calculated?

  • — For every provider we work out the effective rate — fee and FX margin combined — and how far it lands from the real mid-market rate.
  • — Within each corridor's latest daily snapshot we take the gap between the best and worst provider, then average that gap across all corridors. Comparing best-to-worst inside one snapshot removes the timing noise a raw rate figure would carry. Bank Estimate is excluded.
  • — The index covers UK consumer money-transfer corridors only. Every figure traces back to a dated, real quote — never modelled or estimated.
Compare providers for your corridor →

Common questions

About the Cost Index

What is the Plyna Cost Index today?
On 14 November 2026 it stood at 1.67%, across 10 routes. That means choosing the worst provider instead of the best cost about £16.71 on a £1,000 transfer.
What is the Plyna Cost Index?
A daily benchmark of how much a UK sender loses by choosing the worst money-transfer provider instead of the best. It is the average best-to-worst gap across the remittance routes we track, built from real quotes.
How is the Cost Index calculated?
For each route we take the latest real quotes for £1,000, measure each provider's total cost against the mid-market rate, and take the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive. The index is the average of those gaps; the USA and Australia are left out so the figure stays comparable.
What does a higher Cost Index mean?
A wider gap between the best and worst providers, so comparing before you send saves more. A lower index means providers are priced more closely together.
How often is the Cost Index updated?
Every day, when we collect new quotes. Each figure is dated, so you can check exactly when it was measured.
Can I quote the Plyna Cost Index?
Yes. The index is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY 4.0): you can reuse it freely if you credit Plyna and link to this page. Please include the date of the figure you use.