Sending $200 home to Uganda: from Kenya the cheapest service costs $5.56, the average $23.80

Every time someone in Nairobi sends $200 home to Kampala, part of it is lost to the fee and the exchange rate. How much depends almost entirely on which service they use.

The World Bank priced 27 services sending $200 from Kenya to Uganda in its survey of January to March 2025. The cheapest, Dahabshiil, cost $5.56, or 2.78% of the money. The average service cost $23.80, or 11.90%.

The same $200, three sending countries

The cost is the World Bank's measure: the fee plus the margin hidden in the exchange rate, as a share of $200.

What it means

For a family sending monthly from Kenya (Analysis): the cheapest service against the average saves $18.24 on each $200. Over a year of monthly transfers that is $218.88: money that reaches home instead of staying with the provider. From the United Kingdom the gap is $7.04 a transfer, or $84.48 a year.

For the spread of prices (Facts): from Kenya the dearest service surveyed cost $70.70 on $200, against the average of $23.80. From Tanzania, where only 10 services were surveyed, the average was $127.24, or 63.62% of the money, against $15.00 for the cheapest.

For the person receiving (Analysis): the exchange rate matters as much as the fee. A service that advertises "no fee" can still cost more if it gives fewer Uganda shillings per dollar.

What to check before you send (Facts): the total cost on the provider's own quote screen, meaning the amount that arrives in shillings, not just the fee. Then compare it with the next cheapest.

Our cheapest way to send money to Uganda lists every service the World Bank surveyed, ranked by cost, for each sending country. Afronomics may earn a referral fee from some providers listed on that page, which may include services named in this story. It never changes the order, which is by cost alone.

Information, not advice.