Alternatives to Azimo: Find & Compare Top Azimo Alternatives

If you've ever used Azimo before, you probably know that it's an excellent and affordable way to send money internationally. However, sadly, Azimo is no longer available as its service has been permanently suspended. This means that if you want to transfer your money overseas, you'll need to find an Azimo alternative instead:

We recommend Remitly, a fast and easy way to send money online to over 100 countries on bank accounts, mobile wallets, or cash pick-up.

In this short guide, we look at why Azimo is no longer available and delve into the best three Azimo alternatives to help you make the best money transfer choices.

Why Doesn't Azimo Work Anymore?

As of 31 August 2022, Azimo no longer works for person-to-person international money transfers and only remains working for international business transfers.

This follows the company's acquisition by Papaya Global, after which it was decided that it would be more profitable for Azimo to focus only on business transfers.

Azimo partnered with Remitly to offer existing customers an alternative platform to send money only (and, as we'll see in this article, Remitly is indeed one of the best alternatives!).

Azimo Alternatives

In the end, the best Azimo alternative for you will depend on factors such as 1) which country you're sending to, 2) how much you're sending, and 3) how your recipient will receive their funds. According to millions of searches on Monito's real-time comparison engine, here are the three best digital providers for transfers that Azimo normally served:

Remitly

A world leader in low-cost international cash pickup transfers, Remitly often offers the cheapest (although seldom the fastest) money transfers abroad.

Cheapest: On 5% of Monito comparisons where Azimo used to be available.

Cheapest destinations: Latin America, Asia-Pacific.

Transfer time: 2-3 business days.

Recommended for: Low-cost bank transfers where time isn't crucial, especially to Latin American countries. We also recommend Remitly for sending money for cash pick-up and cash home delivery services because of its speed and pricing for cash-related transfers in particular.

More info: See our Remitly review, or visit their website.

Wise

One of the most popular and widely-used money transfer services out there, London-based Wise has built a solid reputation on fast, affordable bank transfers over its user-friendly web and mobile platforms. It is a solid alternative versus Azimo.

Cheapest: On 36% of Monito comparisons where Azimo used to be available.

Cheapest destinations: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific.

Transfer time: 1-2 business days.

Recommended for: Fast, affordable bank transfers, especially to North America and Europe.

More info: See our Wise review, or visit their website.

Instarem

An excellent service with easy and fast transfers, Instarem is another good alternative to Azimo. Instarem's fees are usually one of the cheapest on Monito.

Cheapest: On 9% of Monito comparisons where Azimo used to be available.

Transfer time: 2-3 business days.

More info: See our full Instarem review, or visit their website.

A Word on Banks and PayPal

Another (and generally the far worse) alternative to Azimo for international transfers is to use your bank or PayPal.

Not only is using your bank or PayPal the slower and less convenient to transfer abroad, but going this route also comes with high hidden fees, as both your bank and PayPal will typically give you a poor exchange rate on top of the standard service fees for international transfers.

For example, our research revealed that sending $1,000 from the US to a Eurozone country with Wells Fargo would cost $30 in service fees and $50 in exchange rate margin fees. Together, these fees amount to around 8% of the amount transferred, which is about 10 times more than the cheapest available service compared on Monito's comparison engine for the same transfer. And given PayPal's similarly high exchange rate margins, the story isn't very different with them either.

But it doesn't stop there. When sending money internationally with your bank, your funds will go over SWIFT, meaning third-party banks (called correspondent banks) can potentially charge additional fees (called correspondent bank fees) that can further reduce the amount that arrives in your beneficiary's account.

This makes banks a costly way to send money abroad — and finding a cheap solution is as crucial as ever.

As we explored above, by offering bank-beating exchange rates, very low fees, and a top-notch user experience, digital providers are fortunately doing what Azimo was so good at, but often even cheaper and faster! And depending on where you're sending money to, providers such as Wise, Remitly, and Instarem will probably be your best choice.

Get started now by comparing your options below: —