Citewake

Edition 2

International money transfer: what AI recommends, Citewake Edition 2 (collected 29–30 Oct 2026)

United States. Wise was the brand the four AIs recommended most often: in 53.7% of decision answers (90% interval 41.8–66.5), followed by Remitly (44.4%) and Western Union (33.3%). The AIs disagreed: Claude recommended Wise in 72.2% of its decision answers, ChatGPT in 38.9%, the widest gap among the top 15. The figures come from 120 valid answers of 120 planned, to 30 questions asked once of each AI on 29 October 2026, which named 87 brands in all.

Europe — composite research panel. Wise was the brand the four AIs recommended most often: in 69.4% of decision answers (90% interval 54.5–83.3), followed by Remitly (45.8%) and Western Union (36.5%). The AIs disagreed: Claude recommended Wise in 74.6% of its decision answers, ChatGPT in 64.3%; the widest gap among the top 15 was Revolut, 36.5 points between Claude and ChatGPT. The figures come from 120 valid answers of 120 planned, to 30 questions asked once of each AI on 29 October 2026, which named 97 brands in all.

The panels ask different questions about different markets; they are never pooled, and a difference between them is not a finding about either.

Published
Method
v0.9
Benchmark
v1
Version
1
Category
Every edition
DOI
10.5281/zenodo.23792165

Download the report (PDF)DataCite

1Leaderboard

Each panel is ranked on its own questions. The panels ask different questions about different markets; they are never pooled, and a difference between them is not a finding about either.

United States

Top 15 brands by recommendation rate, International money transfer, United States, collected 29–30 Oct 2026. Percent of decision answers, with 90% interval, overall and per AI.
#BrandRecommendation rate % (90% interval)ChatGPTClaudeGeminiPerplexity
1Wise53.7 (41.8–66.5)38.972.264.838.9
2Remitly44.4 (31.4–56.7)37.053.750.037.0
3Western Union33.3 (19.1–46.3)29.635.240.727.8
4OFX28.2 (17.9–38.9)20.437.037.018.5
5MoneyGram20.8 (12.2–29.6)14.835.229.63.7
6Wise Business13.0 (3.7–24.4)13.013.09.316.7
7Airwallex11.6 (4.6–19.1)0.05.629.611.1
8Xoom11.1 (4.8–18.3)7.418.514.83.7
9Payoneer10.2 (1.8–20.1)11.15.618.55.6
10PayPal8.8 (1.2–19.4)5.614.85.69.3
11WorldRemit8.3 (2.1–15.7)3.713.013.03.7
12Revolut7.9 (3.2–12.7)0.013.018.50.0
13Xe7.4 (1.7–14.6)5.69.39.35.6
14Venmo6.9 (0.0–17.5)5.65.611.15.6
15Zelle6.9 (0.0–17.5)5.65.611.15.6

Percent of decision answers in which each AI recommended the brand, top 15 of 87 in the United States panel. Overall rate with its 90% interval; the bar draws the interval on a 0–100% scale. Shown to one decimal; the data files carry four.

Europe — composite research panel

Top 15 brands by recommendation rate, International money transfer, Europe — composite research panel, collected 29–30 Oct 2026. Percent of decision answers, with 90% interval, overall and per AI.
#BrandRecommendation rate % (90% interval)ChatGPTClaudeGeminiPerplexity
1Wise69.4 (54.5–83.3)64.374.669.869.0
2Remitly45.8 (28.9–61.8)38.148.454.042.9
3Western Union36.5 (20.4–53.1)32.537.343.632.5
4Revolut33.7 (23.2–45.2)16.753.248.416.7
5Wise Business18.6 (5.6–32.9)19.819.819.815.1
6MoneyGram13.7 (5.6–23.6)16.715.916.75.6
7Revolut Business9.7 (4.2–16.4)0.014.315.19.5
8OFX9.1 (3.2–16.3)10.315.910.30.0
9Ria8.1 (1.8–15.6)11.110.311.10.0
10Payoneer7.3 (1.4–14.4)4.84.815.14.8
11Currencies Direct6.9 (2.4–12.3)0.022.25.60.0
12Taptap Send6.6 (1.9–11.9)0.021.44.80.0
13WorldRemit6.6 (2.4–10.9)0.05.620.60.0
14Xe6.6 (2.8–10.7)0.00.021.44.8
15Airwallex6.3 (1.2–13.0)0.00.015.110.3

Percent of decision answers in which each AI recommended the brand, top 15 of 97 in the Europe — composite research panel panel. Overall rate with its 90% interval; the bar draws the interval on a 0–100% scale. Shown to one decimal; the data files carry four.

2Where the AIs disagree

Among the top 15 of each panel, the brands with the largest gap between the AI that recommended them most and the AI that recommended them least.

United States

Brands among the top 15 with the largest gap between AIs.
BrandHighestLowestGap (points)
WiseClaude 72.2%ChatGPT 38.9%33.3
MoneyGramClaude 35.2%Perplexity 3.7%31.5
AirwallexGemini 29.6%ChatGPT 0.0%29.6
OFXClaude 37.0%Perplexity 18.5%18.5
RevolutGemini 18.5%ChatGPT 0.0%18.5

Europe — composite research panel

Brands among the top 15 with the largest gap between AIs.
BrandHighestLowestGap (points)
RevolutClaude 53.2%ChatGPT 16.7%36.5
Currencies DirectClaude 22.2%ChatGPT 0.0%22.2
Taptap SendClaude 21.4%ChatGPT 0.0%21.4
XeGemini 21.4%ChatGPT 0.0%21.4
WorldRemitGemini 20.6%ChatGPT 0.0%20.6

3How each AI answers

United States

How each AI answers: medians per answer, and how many answers searched the web.
Per answer, medianChatGPTClaudeGeminiPerplexity
Searched the web30 of 3030 of 3021 of 3030 of 30
Searches per answer4233
Pages found34181215
Pages cited26124
Brands named25.552
Brands recommended24.552
Words per answer208475.5481236.5

Gemini answered 9 of 30 questions without running any web search. That is the model Citewake asked, gemini-3.1-flash-lite, through its API with search available. Across all four AIs, 358 searches were run; 17.0% of them included a year. Every page Gemini reported was one it cited, so its pages found and cited match.

Europe — composite research panel

How each AI answers: medians per answer, and how many answers searched the web.
Per answer, medianChatGPTClaudeGeminiPerplexity
Searched the web30 of 3030 of 3021 of 3030 of 30
Searches per answer423.53
Pages found35.5181015
Pages cited26104
Brands named2462
Brands recommended23.542
Words per answer202.5431465221.5

Gemini answered 9 of 30 questions without running any web search. That is the model Citewake asked, gemini-3.1-flash-lite, through its API with search available. Across all four AIs, 377 searches were run; 16.7% of them included a year. Every page Gemini reported was one it cited, so its pages found and cited match.

4The sites the AIs cite

United States

The ten domains cited in the most answers.
#DomainAnswers citing itShare
1wise.com5445.0%
2remitly.com2319.2%
3westernunion.com2117.5%
4airwallex.com1613.3%
5consumerfinance.gov1411.7%
6ofx.com1411.7%
7idealremit.com119.2%
8transferfees.io119.2%
9greenbacktaxservices.com97.5%
10irs.gov97.5%

ChatGPT

  1. consumerfinance.gov33.3%
  2. wise.com33.3%
  3. remitly.com20.0%
  4. irs.gov13.3%
  5. ofx.com13.3%

Claude

  1. wise.com43.3%
  2. airwallex.com20.0%
  3. transferfees.io20.0%
  4. idealremit.com16.7%
  5. sendmoneycompare.com16.7%

Gemini

  1. wise.com46.7%
  2. remitly.com30.0%
  3. sendwave.com30.0%
  4. westernunion.com30.0%
  5. airwallex.com26.7%

Perplexity

  1. wise.com56.7%
  2. westernunion.com16.7%
  3. irs.gov13.3%
  4. ofx.com13.3%
  5. remitly.com13.3%

Share of the 120 answers whose cited pages include the domain: top ten overall, then the top five within each AI's own 30 answers.

Europe — composite research panel

The ten domains cited in the most answers.
#DomainAnswers citing itShare
1wise.com6755.8%
2remitly.com2117.5%
3revolut.com2016.7%
4westernunion.com2016.7%
5moneytransfers.com1310.8%
6airwallex.com97.5%
7eur-lex.europa.eu86.7%
8moneygram.com75.8%
9monito.com75.8%
10paysend.com75.8%

ChatGPT

  1. wise.com53.3%
  2. westernunion.com20.0%
  3. remitly.com16.7%
  4. ofx.com10.0%
  5. banque-france.fr6.7%

Claude

  1. wise.com46.7%
  2. moneytransfers.com23.3%
  3. revolut.com13.3%
  4. expatica.com10.0%
  5. finder.com10.0%

Gemini

  1. wise.com63.3%
  2. revolut.com36.7%
  3. westernunion.com26.7%
  4. airwallex.com20.0%
  5. moneytransfers.com20.0%

Perplexity

  1. wise.com60.0%
  2. remitly.com26.7%
  3. eur-lex.europa.eu16.7%
  4. help.revolut.com16.7%
  5. revolut.com13.3%

Share of the 120 answers whose cited pages include the domain: top ten overall, then the top five within each AI's own 30 answers.

5Agreement

United States

On 20 of the 30 questions all four AIs recommended a brand first; they named the same brand first on 5.

Europe — composite research panel

On 20 of the 30 questions all four AIs recommended a brand first; they named the same brand first on 11.

6Method in brief

  • Questions. 60 scored questions in three tiers (head, mid, tail), written as a buyer would ask them and never naming a brand, in two panels of 30 (United States) and 30 (Europe — composite research panel). See the list. A further 15 validation questions are kept private.
  • Asking. Each question was asked once of each AI through its official API, with its own web search on and no location sent. Models: ChatGPT: gpt-6-luna; Claude: claude-haiku-5-5; Gemini: gemini-3.1-flash-lite; Perplexity: perplexity/sonar.
  • Collection. 29 October 2026, 13:38–13:59 UTC. 240 valid answers of 240 planned: 196 named at least one brand, 44 named none.
  • Reading. One grand master model (Claude Opus 5.5) read the four answers to each question side by side and marked each brand as recommended, mentioned or negative. A brand counts only if its name appears word for word in the answer.
  • Measure. Recommendation rate is the share of decision answers in which the AI recommended the brand. The overall rate weights each AI and each tier equally, so it can differ slightly from a raw count. Intervals are 90%, from a cluster bootstrap that resamples whole questions. Each panel is measured on its own questions: United States, 84 decision answers (21 decision questions, 21 answers from each AI); Europe — composite research panel, 76 decision answers (19 decision questions, 19 answers from each AI). 2 popularity questions (which brand is most used, not which to choose) are reported apart and never counted in the recommendation rate.
  • Method. v0.9, benchmark v1, scoring run 20261029T153000654Z. The full method: citewake.com/methodology.

7Limitations

  • One run. Each question was asked once of each AI, in one 21-minute window. AI answers vary from run to run; the intervals cover variation across questions, not repeat runs.
  • Two panels, never pooled. The United States panel's questions name the United States. The Europe — composite research panel panel's questions name Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, or Europe as a whole. Questions were in English and no location was sent, so each panel describes the market its questions name, not where an AI was asked from. The panels ask different questions about different markets; they are never pooled, and a difference between them is not a finding about either.
  • Spellings merged. None in this category.
  • Benchmark figures, not market share. These are benchmark visibility figures across a fixed bank of questions with equal weight per tier, not estimates of market share.
  • Top picks are rare. Most answers do not name a single best choice. Even Wise (United States) was the top pick in only 9.3% and Wise (Europe — composite research panel) was the top pick in only 21.0% of decision answers, so this report ranks by recommendation rate.

8Disclosure

Citewake is operated by the team that also builds aipozi, Biotree and livedot. Biotree and livedot appear in these categories. They were measured by the same method as every other brand, with no adjustment. None of them was named in this category.

9The questions

Each question links to its page, with the four answers in full, the brands read from them and the pages they cited.

All 60 scored questions, with tier and type
IDQuestionPanelTierType
h01What's the cheapest way to send money abroad from the US?USheaddecision
h02Which international money transfer service is best in the US?USheaddecision
h03Is it cheaper to send money abroad through a US bank or a specialist transfer service?USheadinformational
h04What's the best way to send money to family overseas from the US?USheaddecision
h05How much does it cost to send money internationally from the US?USheadinformational
h06What's the best way to send a large amount of money abroad from the US?USheaddecision
h07How do I choose a money transfer service in the US?USheadinformational
h08Which international money transfer services are most widely used in the US?USheaddecision (popularity)
h09What's the fastest way to send money internationally from the US?USheaddecision
h10Which money transfer app is best in the US?USheaddecision
h11What's the cheapest way to send money abroad from Austria?Europeheaddecision
h12Which money transfer service is best for sending money overseas from the UK?Europeheaddecision
h13What are the main ways to send money abroad from Germany, and how do they compare on cost and speed?Europeheaddecision
h14What's the best way to send money home to family from France?Europeheaddecision
h15How do money transfer providers in Europe make money on the exchange rate as well as the fee?Europeheadinformational
h16What's the best way to receive money from abroad in the Netherlands?Europeheaddecision
h17Which money transfer services in Spain are the safest to use?Europeheadinformational
h18Which international money transfer services are most widely used in Germany?Europeheaddecision (popularity)
h19What's the fastest way to send money from Belgium to another continent?Europeheaddecision
h20What should I check before sending money abroad from Poland for the first time?Europeheadinformational
m01Best way for a US startup to pay contractors in several countriesUSmiddecision
m02Money transfer service in the US that can send $300 straight into a mobile wallet in KenyaUSmiddecision
m03Best way to pay university fees abroad from the USUSmiddecision
m04Cheapest way to send $5,000 from a US bank account to a UK bank account, counting the exchange-rate margin as well as the feeUSmiddecision
m05Alternatives to a bank wire for sending money abroad from the USUSmiddecision
m06Are there limits on how much money I can send abroad from the US, and what paperwork is involved?USmidinformational
m07Best way for a US freelancer to receive £3,000 a month from a UK client into a US bank account with the least lost to fees and exchange ratesUSmiddecision
m08Which services let me send $500 from the US for cash pickup by family in Mexico who don't have a bank account?USmiddecision
m09Best way to move savings abroad when relocating from the USUSmiddecision
m10Best way for a US importer to pay a $50,000 invoice to a supplier in China in the supplier's own currencyUSmiddecision
m11Best way for a freelancer in Spain to receive $4,000 a month from US clients into a euro bank account with the least lost to fees and exchange ratesEuropemiddecision
m12Best international payment service for a UK company paying a £40,000 invoice to a supplier in China in the supplier's own currencyEuropemiddecision
m13Money transfer service in Germany for sending €300 to a bank account in Turkey every monthEuropemiddecision
m14What does it really cost to send €5,000 from a French bank account to a US bank account once the exchange-rate margin is included?Europemidinformational
m15Which services let me send €400 from Italy for cash pickup by family in the Philippines who don't have a bank account?Europemiddecision
m16Should a small Dutch company use a specialist business payments service or its bank for payments outside Europe?Europemidinformational
m17Best way to send €250,000 from an Irish bank account for a house purchase in AustraliaEuropemiddecision
m18Best app for sending money abroad from PortugalEuropemiddecision
m19What checks do European banks and transfer services make on large transfers out of Europe?Europemidinformational
m20Is a specialist transfer service cheaper than my bank for sending money out of Sweden?Europemidinformational
t01International payments service with an API for a US platform paying out sellers worldwideUStaildecision
t02US money transfer service that sends recurring payments abroad automatically on a scheduleUStaildecision
t03How do I avoid scams when sending money abroad from the US?UStailinformational
t04Money transfer service in the US that tracks each transfer and tells the recipient when it landsUStaildecision
t05Why might a $10,000 wire from a US bank to a bank in Germany arrive short, and how do I avoid intermediary bank charges?UStailinformational
t06Money transfer service from the US that reaches countries most providers don't serveUStaildecision
t07Do large money transfers from the US have to be reported for tax?UStailinformational
t08US service that lets a company lock in today's rate for a €200,000 payment to a German supplier due in three monthsUStaildecision
t09US service that lets an exporter hold euros received from European customers before converting them to dollarsUStaildecision
t10Is using cryptocurrency to send money abroad from the US a sensible alternative to a transfer service?UStailinformational
t11Money transfer app in Denmark that alerts me when the exchange rate reaches a level I setEuropetaildecision
t12How do I check that a UK money transfer company is properly authorised and keeps customers' money safe?Europetailinformational
t13Service for a German company to pay 300 freelancers in India, the Philippines and Brazil in one batch, each in their local currencyEuropetaildecision
t14What should I do if an international transfer from France hasn't arrived after several days?Europetailinformational
t15Service in the Netherlands that gives me local account details in other countries so foreign clients can pay me like a localEuropetaildecision
t16Service that sends money from Spain to family in Latin America within minutesEuropetaildecision
t17Service for an Italian exporter to receive $100,000 from US customers and convert it to euros at a better rate than the bankEuropetaildecision
t18How do I explain the purpose of a large transfer when my bank in Ireland asks before sending it abroad?Europetailinformational
t19Service for moving money from Belgium into an investment account outside EuropeEuropetaildecision
t20Cheapest way to send small amounts to family in several countries from SwedenEuropetaildecision

The 15 validation questions are never published.

10Data

  • Every answer: all 240 in full, with the searches each AI ran, the sites it found and cited, and the brands readCSVJSON
  • Every brand in each panel (United States: 87; Europe — composite research panel: 97), every measure, ranked within its panelCSVJSON
  • The reportPDF

Licence: CC BY 4.0. Use and share with credit to Citewake.

11How to cite

APA
Citewake. (2026). International money transfer: what AI recommends, Citewake Edition 2 (collected 29–30 Oct 2026) (Edition 2) [Data set]. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23792165
BibTeX
@techreport{citewake-ed2-international-money-transfer,
  author      = {{Citewake}},
  title       = {{International money transfer: what AI recommends, Citewake Edition 2 (collected 29–30 Oct 2026)}},
  institution = {Citewake},
  type        = {Edition 2, data set},
  year        = {2026},
  month       = oct,
  version     = {1},
  doi         = {10.5281/zenodo.23792165},
  url         = {https://citewake.com/editions/2/international-money-transfer},
  note        = {Licensed CC BY 4.0}
}

Version 1, published 30 October 2026. Published editions never change; corrections appear as new, dated versions.