No provider is the cheapest every day. The cheapest transfer is the one that puts the most rupees in Pakistan for the same amount after every fee. On 8 November 2026 the mid market rate was 75.31 rupees per AED, so 500 AED was worth PKR 37,655. Ask each provider what will arrive and pick the quote closest to that number.
How do you compare two quotes?
Ask every provider the same question: if I pay 500 dirhams, how many rupees will arrive, after every fee? Use the same amount and the same way of paying out, a bank account, a mobile wallet or cash, because prices differ for each. Then set each answer against what your money is worth at the mid market rate. The quote with the smallest gap is the cheapest for that transfer, on that day.
| You send | Worth in PKR |
|---|---|
| 100 AED | 7,531 |
| 500 AED | 37,655 |
| 1,000 AED | 75,311 |
| 2,000 AED | 150,621 |
The table is your yardstick. A quote that delivers close to these figures is a good one; the further below, the more the transfer costs you.
Why can a transfer with no fee still cost more?
Because the exchange rate can do the work of a fee. Take 500 dirhams and two made up offers. Offer one has no fee and a rate 2% below mid market, 73.80 rupees per AED: PKR 36,900 arrives. Offer two charges a fee of 5.00 AED and gives a rate 0.5% below mid market, 74.93: PKR 37,090 arrives. The offer with a fee delivers PKR 190 more. At mid market the money is worth PKR 37,655, so offer one costs PKR 755 and offer two costs PKR 565.
The margin in the rate is (mid market rate minus the rate offered) divided by the mid market rate. Many providers do not show it, so work it out yourself from the rate they quote, or put the quote in the quote checker.
Where can you send from in the UAE?
In the UAE you can send through a bank, an exchange house, or an app run by either. Ask each for the rupee amount that will arrive for the same dirhams, paid the way you will actually pay: cash at a counter and a transfer from your bank account can be priced differently. If your salary is paid into a UAE bank account, compare the bank's own transfer with an exchange house or app that takes money from the same account.
This site could not open the official UAE registers on 18 October 2026, so it links none. Ask the provider which authority licenses it, and check its name with that authority before you pay.
Does anything come off at the Pakistan end?
Not in fees, for qualifying transfers of USD 200 or more. Under the State Bank's rules, a home remittance of at least USD 200, or the same in another currency, that passes through a bank in Pakistan and its partner abroad should carry no fee or charge for the sender or the person receiving, at any stage. Until 30 June 2026 the government paid banks for this; since 1 July 2026 the State Bank has told banks to keep these transfers free of cost themselves. Up to five such transfers a month from one sender to the same person through the same overseas partner count.
Two limits. The rules bind banks in Pakistan and their partners; they cannot set the price of every provider abroad, so read your quote. And they are about fees and charges, not the exchange rate, so the margin in the rate is still yours to check. The details are on what the Pakistan Remittance Initiative gives.
Why does this page not name a winner?
Because the answer changes. Providers reprice during the day, a provider that is cheapest for 500 AED may not be for 2,000 AED, first transfer offers often do not repeat, and cash pickup is priced differently from a bank deposit. A list that names one winner is out of date the next morning.
This site shows no provider by provider table yet: the documented feed of provider quotes it plans to use needs an access key it does not hold, and it does not copy provider websites. The UAE to Pakistan page has the mid market rate refreshed every morning and a quote checker.
Sources
- ExchangeRate API, our exchange rate data, checked 18 October 2026
- SBP EPD Circular Letter No. 12 of 2026, 2 July 2026, checked 18 October 2026
- Appendix A to EPD Circular Letter No. 04 of 2025 (PDF), checked 18 October 2026
Last checked 18 October 2026. Rates on this page are from 8 November 2026 and are refreshed daily. If a rule here has changed, the official source wins.