See what it really costs a US company to pay an international contractor. Compare a bank wire, Wise, PayPal, and Payoneer side by side, including the FX markup that hides in the exchange rate, then see it against Omnivoo's flat $49 per contractor per month. The cost is bigger than most teams assume: the global average cost to send money across borders was 6.36% in Q3 2025 per the World Bank, more than double the UN target of under 3%. Built for US founders and finance teams.
Last updated: June 2026
Enter the payment, the frequency, and how many contractors you pay to see the monthly total by method.
What you send each contractor per payment.
1 for monthly, 2 for twice a month, 4 for weekly.
How many contractors you pay each month.
Paying 3 contractors $5,000 each, once a month. The FX-markup column is where the hidden cost lives.
| Method | FX markup | Total / month |
|---|---|---|
Bank / international wire A SWIFT wire from your US bank account to the contractor's bank abroad. | $300 | $255 to $600 |
Wise A Wise transfer at the mid-market rate with an upfront percentage fee. | None | $60 to $156 |
PayPal A cross-border PayPal payment with currency conversion to the contractor. | $525 | $676 to $826 |
Payoneer A Payoneer payout from your balance to the contractor in another country. | $300 | $225 to $687 |
Omnivoo $49 per contractor per month, transaction fees passed through at cost, no FX markup. | None | $147 |
At 3 contractors paid $5,000 each, PayPal costs about $751 a month while Omnivoo is $147 flat. That is about $604 a month you keep, most of it the FX markup you stop paying.
Omnivoo sends the contract, collects tax forms, and pays your contractors in 120+ countries for $49 per contractor per month, with transaction fees passed through at cost and no FX markup.
The figures are drawn from each provider's published 2026 fee schedules and cited rate analyses, with the source shown for each method in the result. Actual fees vary by route, funding method, currency, transfer size, and the individual bank in the chain. These are representative ranges, not guarantees, and not a quote. Confirm current pricing with the provider before you decide.
The visible charge for sending money: a flat wire fee of $35 to $50, a small per-payment charge on Wise or Payoneer, or PayPal's $0.49. It is the cost people notice, but it is rarely the largest part of what you pay.
A share of the amount you send, from about 0.4% to 0.9% on Wise, 1.50% on a cross-border PayPal payment, and up to 1% on Payoneer. Because it scales with the payment, it grows every time you pay more or pay more often.
The spread a provider adds on top of the real mid-market exchange rate. It is not shown as a fee, it is baked into a worse rate, so the contractor simply receives less. On a $5,000 payment a 3% spread is $150 gone. This is where the real cost usually lives, and it is the column the calculator flags.
Omnivoo charges $49 per contractor per month. Transaction fees are passed through at cost and no FX markup is added, so the larger and more frequent your payments, the more a percentage-based method costs relative to the flat fee. See how to pay contractors or our Contract Management platform.
Go deeper on what it costs to pay an international contractor.
Omnivoo sends the agreement, collects the tax forms, and pays your contractors in 120+ countries for $49 per contractor per month, with transaction fees passed through at cost and no FX markup. See how to pay contractors or our Contract Management platform.
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