The Product
Fees
Protocol fees, route costs, and transparent pricing breakdown.
Updated Feb 23, 2026
Protocol Fee Structure
Papillae charges a protocol fee of 0.3% on the transfer amount. This is the only fee Papillae charges directly.
On a $500 transfer the Papillae protocol fee is $1.50. On a $200 transfer it is $0.60. The fee is deducted from the transfer amount before routing begins and sent to the Papillae fee wallet at execution time. The pre-flight simulation always shows the fee explicitly so there are no surprises at confirmation.
The 0.3% fee is fixed regardless of corridor, protocol, or transfer size. There are no minimum fees, no monthly subscription fees, no per-API-call charges for developers, and no spread built into the exchange rate. What you see in the simulation is what you pay.
Bridge and Swap Fees
Beyond the Papillae protocol fee, transfers may incur costs from the underlying protocols used in the route. These are passed through at cost. Papillae does not mark them up.
Circle CCTP: No bridge fee. The only cost is the gas for the burn transaction on the source chain and the mint transaction on the destination chain. For a USDC transfer from Ethereum to Polygon this is typically $1 to $3 in gas depending on network congestion.
Across Protocol: A relayer fee of approximately 0.06% to 0.1% of transfer amount, variable based on liquidity and time of day. This is separate from gas.
Stargate Finance: A protocol fee of approximately 0.06% plus gas on source and destination chains.
Wormhole: Gas on both chains. No percentage fee for native USDC transfers via CCTP on Wormhole.
1inch / Uniswap V3 / Jupiter: No aggregator fee. The cost is the liquidity provider fee embedded in the swap - typically 0.05% to 0.3% depending on the pool tier. The simulation shows the exact expected slippage and effective rate before execution.
Off-ramp partner fees: Off-ramp partners charge for fiat conversion. This is embedded in the exchange rate offered by the partner. Yellow Card, Coins.ph, and Bitso each have their own spread - typically 0.5% to 1.5% above mid-market rate depending on corridor and liquidity conditions. The simulation shows the expected fiat output based on the partner's current rate, so the recipient amount shown in simulation is what actually arrives.
How We Compare
Total cost of a $300 transfer from the US to the Philippines, fiat to fiat, February 2026:
| Provider | Fee | Exchange Rate Spread | Total Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Union | $8.00 flat | 1.5% to 2.5% | $12 to $15 | 0 to 2 days |
| Wise | $4.50 flat | Mid-market | $4.50 | 1 to 2 days |
| Remitly | $3.99 flat | 1% to 2% | $7 to $10 | Minutes to 3 days |
| Coinbase | 1.49% fee | 0.5% spread | $5.97 | Minutes |
| Papillae | 0.3% protocol | 0.5% to 1% partner | $2.40 to $3.90 | Under 5 min |
The comparison matters less than it appears because the category Papillae competes most directly in is not consumer remittance apps - it is developer infrastructure and AI agent payments. No existing infrastructure provider offers a single API endpoint that handles routing, compliance, and fiat delivery with this level of transparency and programmability.
For consumer users the fee comparison is relevant and favourable. For developers and agents the relevant comparison is build versus buy - how much does it cost to assemble and maintain this stack yourself versus calling one endpoint.
The answer to that question is not a fee percentage. It is months of engineering time and ongoing infrastructure cost that never goes away.