Grey vs Raenest: which is cheaper for a Nigerian freelancer?

What are Grey and Raenest each for?

Grey (grey.co), also written Grey Finance and formerly Aboki Africa, and Raenest (raenest.com) do the same job. Both give a Nigerian a US dollar account in their own name, so a client abroad can pay them without a domiciliary account, and both convert to naira in the app and pay out to a Nigerian bank.

Where they separate is how much of the journey each one prices in advance. Grey publishes a figure for all three legs: receiving, converting and paying out. Raenest publishes two of the three. Raenest also absorbed Geegpay, which was its own consumer app rather than a separate company. The two became one brand in October 2025, geegpay.africa now redirects to raenest.com, and the consumer side is called Raenest Personal. If you had a Geegpay account, it's a Raenest account now.

What does it cost to receive dollars with Grey and Raenest?

Grey charges 0.8% to receive a dollar payment, with a minimum of $2 and a maximum of $10. Raenest charges a flat $2 on payments under $500 and a flat $4 from $500 up. Both figures are for an ACH transfer, which is the ordinary US bank transfer that clients and platforms like Upwork and Deel use. A wire is the separate, pricier route, and both charge differently for it.

Grey's percentage has a floor and a ceiling, which is why the two sit level on small payments and separate on larger ones. On $250, Grey's 0.8% comes to less than its $2 floor, so you pay $2, the same as Raenest. On $500 both charge $4. Above $500 Raenest stops moving and Grey keeps climbing until it reaches its $10 ceiling at $1,250. So a $5,000 payment costs $10 at Grey and $4 at Raenest, and the gap between them never gets bigger than $6.

Best USD account apps in Nigeria, compared runs that cap arithmetic across six providers, so this piece won't repeat it.

One thing to check before you rely on the $4. Raenest states its receiving fee two different ways on two of its own help pages. The Nigeria fees article, dated 20 September 2026, gives the flat $2 and $4 tiers. A second article about the USD account, dated 24 September 2026, says receiving attracts 0.8% capped at $12, with no tiers at all. On $1,000 that's $4 against $8, which is the entire gap between Raenest and Grey. Ask Raenest which one applies to your account before you choose on cost.

What does each one charge to turn dollars into naira?

Grey charges 1% to convert dollars to naira, capped at $6, and the conversion carries a $1 minimum and a $10,000 maximum per transaction. Raenest publishes no percentage for it. Its conversion fees article, dated 17 September 2026, says only that fees vary by currency pair and that you see the fee before you confirm. So Grey is the one you can price in advance on this leg.

This is the leg that decides more than the receiving fee does, and it's the one most comparisons skip. On a $1,000 payment Grey's conversion costs $6 against a receiving fee of $8. On a $5,000 payment the receiving fee has stopped at $10 while the conversion still costs $6, because both are capped. A published fee is printed on a page and you can check it before you commit. A rate moves, and every further one per cent of difference between two apps' conversion rates is another $10 on a $1,000 payment, which is more than the whole receiving fee at either of them.

Grey's $10,000 per-transaction conversion maximum matters if your invoices are large. A $12,000 payment has to be converted in at least two goes.

What does it cost to move the money to your Nigerian bank?

Raenest charges nothing. Its Nigeria fees article says that sending money from a Raenest account to a Nigerian bank account is completely free. Grey charges ₦35 per transaction to any naira bank account and says the payout is instant. On one payout a month that's ₦420 a year, so on its own this leg decides very little.

What does the whole journey cost on $1,000?

Add the published legs on a $1,000 payment that arrives from a US bank and goes straight to naira. Grey comes to $8 to receive, $6 to convert and ₦35 to pay out: about $14 plus ₦35, and every part of it is knowable before you start. Raenest comes to $4 to receive, nothing to pay out, and a conversion fee it doesn't publish. Raenest is $10 ahead on the published part, and the part it doesn't publish decides the rest.

There is one way to settle that, and it takes a few minutes. Do it in three steps:

1. Put the same dollar amount into the convert screen in both apps, on the same morning.
2. Write down the naira figure each one offers you, not the percentage.
3. Pick the bigger number, and check it again the next time you convert, because the fee is fixed and the rate is not.

Where does Daya Borders fit?

Daya Borders takes 0% on an incoming dollar payment, with no cap and no monthly condition, against $4 at Raenest and $8 at Grey on $1,000. It gives US account and routing details in your own name and a real euro bank account, it lets you hold the dollars and convert when you choose, and it has no fees today. Daya Borders sends to other Daya Borders users, to Nigerian bank accounts, to international USD accounts and to a stablecoin wallet.

In the live comparison above, Daya Borders won't always sit at the top, because rates move through the day and so does every provider's. The 0% on what lands is a published fee and it doesn't move, which is the difference worth holding on to: you can check a fee before you commit, and you can only check a rate at the moment you convert.

Where Daya Borders isn't the pick: Grey and Raenest both issue a virtual dollar card and Daya Borders has no card yet. If the reason you're opening one of these accounts is to pay for subscriptions in dollars, check the card side first, because it's the one job Daya Borders can't do for you today.

Which currencies can each one give you?

Grey publishes a deposit fee for US dollars, pounds and euros, so it gives account details in all three. Raenest publishes a euro fee of 0.8% with a €1.50 minimum and a €10 maximum, and a pound fee of 0.8% with a £1.50 minimum and a £10 maximum. On euros, Raenest's minimum is €0.50 lower than Grey's, so a €100 payment costs €1.50 at Raenest and €2 at Grey. Above about €250 the two are identical, because both are 0.8% to the same €10 ceiling.

Pounds are where Grey and Raenest have something Daya Borders does not: Daya Borders gives dollar and euro account details and no pound account, so a client who pays in pounds is a reason to look at the other two. On the two currencies Daya Borders does give you, it takes 0% on both, with no cap.

How to get paid in euros as a Nigerian freelancer covers the other euro routes, including the ones that convert your euros to dollars when they land.

Which one should you use?

On the published figures, the answer splits by what your payments look like.

• Raenest, if most of your payments are over $500 and you pay out to a Nigerian bank often. The flat $4 and the free payout are the two cheapest published lines in this comparison.
• Grey, if your invoices are large and you want every leg priced before you start. The 1% conversion capped at $6 is the only conversion figure either company publishes, and on a big payment it's worth more than the $6 you save on the receiving fee.
• Grey or Raenest, if you need a pound account or a virtual dollar card. Daya Borders does neither yet.
• Daya Borders, if the receiving fee is the line you care about, because it takes 0% with no cap and has no fees today.

Whichever you pick, convert on the naira figure the app offers you rather than on the fee line, and check it again next month. Domiciliary account vs fintech USD account is the piece to read if you're still deciding between one of these apps and your bank.