Card cost abroad calculator

Every figure in the calculator starts from the European Central Bank’s euro reference rate (the latest is from 2026-11-13). The ECB publishes it once on each working day, and it is the neutral price of one currency in another, before anyone takes a margin. A rate between two currencies that are not the euro, such as pounds to baht, is worked out through the euro.

On top of that reference amount the calculator adds up to four costs, each one only if the issuer’s fee page states it:

• The FX markup. A percentage your card adds to every payment in another currency. Some cards have none, some charge it only above a monthly allowance.
• The weekend markup. An extra percentage some cards add while currency markets are closed. It only counts in “On a weekend” mode.
• The card’s ATM fee. A percentage, a fixed amount or both, often only after a free monthly amount or number of withdrawals.
• The ATM owner’s fee. What the machine itself charges. It is shown on screen before you confirm, and you enter it yourself.

A worked example

Say you pay 100 euros worth of a foreign currency with a card that has a 2 % FX markup and no allowance. The reference amount is €100.00 and the markup adds €2.00, so you pay €102.00. Withdraw the same amount from an ATM with that card, add a card fee of €1.50 and a machine fee worth €3.50, and the same €100 of cash costs €107.00. The figures here are only an illustration; the calculator above uses the real fees of the card you pick.

How the cards are ranked

The card ranking uses one fixed trip for every card: €1,500 of card payments and 2 cash withdrawals of €200 each, in a currency that is not the card’s own. A card with a fee its issuer does not state is listed after the cards whose fees are complete, because a missing fee is unknown, not zero.

Common mistakes

• Accepting “pay in your home currency” at a terminal or ATM. The machine then converts at its own rate, and that usually costs more than any card markup.
• Looking only at the FX markup. On a cash-heavy trip the ATM fees and the machine’s own fee can cost more than the markup.
• Forgetting the allowance. A card that is free up to a monthly amount gets expensive after it, so one large withdrawal can cost less than several small ones.
• Comparing with the rate on a search engine. That is a mid-market rate too, but it can be from a different minute than the one your card uses.

Every fee links to the issuer’s own fee page with the date we checked it. Fees change, so check the current terms before you rely on a figure, and see the card fee changes log for what moved recently.