LemFi vs Grey: which should a Nigerian use?

Grey (grey.co, formerly Aboki Africa and often written Grey Finance) is built for receiving dollars in Nigeria and states a figure for every movement: 0.8% to receive, capped at $10. LemFi (lemfi.com) is built for sending money home and gives no receiving or conversion figure at all. For receiving, compare Grey, Daya Borders and LemFi on the naira that lands.

Both apps now do a version of the same thing, which is why people compare them. LemFi added a Global Account for people living in Nigeria in December 2025, with dollar and pound details. Grey has been a receiving account from the start. They still aren't the same product, and which one suits you depends on which direction your money moves.

The live comparison above shows what each provider is paying for dollars right now, and it moves through the day. The fees below don't.

What are Grey and LemFi each actually for?

Grey is a receiving account. You get local account details in dollars, pounds and euros, your client pays into them, and you convert to naira when you choose. LemFi started as a way for Nigerians abroad to send money home, and its Global Account, opened to Nigerian residents in December 2025, is the newer half of the app.

That history shows up in what each one states. Grey's fee page lists a figure for every movement: receiving, converting, paying out to a Nigerian bank, and its virtual card. LemFi's own fee article says deposits are free and that transfers to Nigeria carry no fee, and gives no percentage anywhere.

So the two apps answer two different questions:

• If somebody abroad is sending money to you, LemFi's zero transfer fee to Nigeria is a real advantage and that route is its whole business.
• If a client is paying you and you want the dollars to sit somewhere until you pick a rate, that's a receiving account, and Grey and Daya Borders are built for it.

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

Grey charges 0.8% on an incoming dollar payment by ACH or FedNow, with a minimum of $2 and a maximum of $10, and $20 flat on a Fedwire. LemFi states that there are no deposit fees and gives no percentage, so what a LemFi deposit costs you isn't something you can check before it arrives.

The cap is what decides the Grey number in practice. On a $500 payment Grey's 0.8% is $4. On $1,250 it reaches the $10 ceiling and stops moving, so a $5,000 payment costs the same $10 as a $1,250 one. Best USD account apps in Nigeria, compared runs that arithmetic across six providers.

With LemFi the cost doesn't disappear, it moves. LemFi's own Global Account terms say its rates include a spread and may differ from interbank or mid-market rates, and the app shows you the rate before you confirm. A published fee is printed on a page and you can check it before you commit. A rate moves.

Which currencies can each one give you?

Grey gives local account details in three currencies: dollars, pounds and euros. LemFi's Global Account for a Nigerian resident gives two, dollars and pounds, according to LemFi's own help centre. If a client in Germany or France pays you in euros, LemFi's Nigerian account can't take it and Grey's can.

The euro gap is worth checking against your actual clients rather than in the abstract. Grey charges 0.8% on an incoming SEPA euro payment, with a minimum of €2 and a maximum of €10, which is the same shape as its dollar fee. How to get paid in euros as a Nigerian freelancer covers the rest of the euro routes.

Pounds work on both. Grey charges 0.8% on a Faster Payments transfer with a £10 cap, £15 on BACS and £25 on CHAPS. LemFi's help centre says a Nigerian resident gets a sort code and account number for pounds, and a routing number and account number for dollars, and states no fee for either.

What are you actually holding in each account?

LemFi says plainly what its account is, and Grey doesn't address the question either way. LemFi's Global Account terms describe it as a multi-currency electronic money account, state that your wallet isn't covered by the FSCS or any equivalent government deposit guarantee scheme, and say your funds are protected by safeguarding only.

LemFi's Nigerian page puts it in one line as well: the dollar wallet is an e-money account, not a bank deposit account.

Safeguarding isn't nothing. It means the money is held apart from the company's own funds, so it isn't available to the company's creditors if the company fails. It's a different thing from deposit insurance, and LemFi is the one telling you so, which is more than most apps in this market do.

What it means for you: this isn't a reason to pick one app over the other on its own, because Grey makes no statement in either direction. It is a reason to know what you're holding and to ask the same question of any app you move money into. A Nigerian bank domiciliary account works differently again.

Where does Daya Borders fit?

Daya Borders takes 0% on an incoming dollar payment with no cap, against 0.8% capped at $10 at Grey. It gives US dollar and euro account details in your own name, the euro account is a real euro bank account, and daya.co/borders states there are no fees at all today.

On the job a receiving account is for, Daya Borders does the same thing Grey does:

• Dollar and euro account details in your own name.
• Hold the dollars and convert when you choose, rather than on arrival.
• Send out to a Nigerian bank account, to another Daya Borders user, to an international dollar account, or to a USDC or USDT wallet.
• Upwork, Deel and Payoneer are named on the Borders page as platforms that pay into it.

Where Daya Borders isn't the pick:

• Virtual cards aren't live yet. If a card for Netflix or AWS is the thing you want, Grey charges $5 to create one, $1 per load, nothing monthly, and 2% plus $0.50 when the merchant charges in another currency.
• If what you need is somebody abroad sending money into your Nigerian bank account, that's LemFi's route, and LemFi charges no transfer fee on it.

One thing applies to all three apps. The fee is the small number and the rate is the large one. A one per cent difference in the rate on a $1,000 payment is $10, which is more than Grey's receiving fee ever gets to. Quote the same payment in each app and compare the naira you'd be left with.

Who can open each account?

LemFi restricts the Global Account to individuals. Its terms say you must be an individual applying for personal use, at least 18, and registered or resident in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada or Nigeria, and that you may not use the account to hold or transact funds on behalf of third parties.

That last line matters if you invoice through a company or collect money on behalf of clients. A LemFi Global Account isn't built for it, and LemFi says so in its own terms.

Grey states no equivalent restriction on its personal account and runs a separate business product. Grey's fee page states no account opening fee, no KYC fee and no monthly maintenance fee. Daya Business is the Daya product for a CAC-registered company, with account details in the business's own name in dollars, pounds and euros.

Which one should you use?

Pick by the direction your money moves and the answer is usually clear. The two apps overlap on one job, receiving dollars, and diverge on everything else, so the question isn't really which app is better. It's which of the five situations below is yours.

1. Somebody abroad is sending money to your Nigerian bank account. LemFi, which charges no transfer fee on that route.
2. A client pays you in dollars and you want to hold them. Grey or Daya Borders, where Grey charges 0.8% capped at $10 to receive and Daya Borders charges 0%.
3. A client pays you in euros. Grey or Daya Borders. LemFi's Nigerian Global Account has no euro wallet.
4. You want a virtual dollar card. Grey, at $5 to create and $1 a load. Daya Borders has no card yet.
5. You're collecting for a company rather than for yourself. Neither personal account fits. Grey runs a business product, and Daya Business is built for a CAC-registered company.

Whichever you pick, check the naira figure the app quotes you before you convert. That's the number you actually keep, and it's the one neither fee table can show you.