Wisevs
Remitly
Remitly: Money transfer service for international payments with lower fees, similar target market for immigrants sending money home.
Wise
Multi-currency account and international transfers priced at the mid-market rate plus an upfront fee
As of 1 September 2026, Wise is free to use. The company formerly called TransferWise, now an e-money institution rather than a bank. Softwr lists it under Personal Finance. Wise is launched in 2011, available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What Wise does
Wise is a multi-currency account plus an international payment service. You hold balances in dozens of currencies, get local account details in a set of major currencies so people can pay you domestically, convert between balances, and spend on a Wise debit card. Conversion always uses the mid-market rate, the rate quoted on Google and Reuters, and Wise adds a separate stated fee rather than marking the rate up. That pricing structure is the commercially interesting part. A bank that says a transfer is free usually earns two to four percent by quoting you a worse rate than the market one, and you cannot see it. Wise makes the cost a line item: on the UK page the send and convert fee starts from 0.24 percent, on the US page from 0.23 percent, and the exact figure varies by currency pair and funding method. Bank-transfer funding is the cheapest way in, card funding costs meaningfully more, and the UK pricing page applies an automatic discount once you send the equivalent of 20,000 GBP in a calendar month. Buyers are people paid in one currency and spending in another: expatriates, remote contractors, frequent travellers, and small businesses invoicing abroad. The trade-off is that Wise is not a bank. Balances are safeguarded rather than covered by deposit insurance, and the product is deliberately narrow: it moves and holds money well, and it does not do overdrafts, lending or a full domestic banking relationship.
What people use it for
- Budget Management
- Expense Tracking
- Investment Tracking
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Wise.
- Wise is an electronic money institution, not a bank, so balances are safeguarded rather than covered by deposit insurance schemes, and a customer who treats it as a current account is taking a different risk from a bank deposit.
- The headline percentage is a floor, not an average: it starts from 0.23 to 0.24 percent depending on region, and thin or exotic corridors cost several times that, so the advertised number tells you almost nothing about the corridor you actually use.
- Funding a transfer by debit or credit card adds a materially higher fee than funding by bank transfer, and the cheap headline rate assumes you use the slower funding route.
- Compliance holds are common and opaque: transfers can be frozen for verification with limited explanation and no branch to visit, which is painful when the money is a rent payment with a deadline.
- Fees, card issue costs, ATM allowances and available features differ by country of residence, so a price checked on one country site does not apply to an account opened elsewhere.
- It is a payments product only, with no overdraft, no lending and no domestic banking relationship, so most users still need a bank account alongside it.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Wise
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- WisevsWorldRemit
WorldRemit: International remittance platform offering transfers to 140+ countries with mobile-first approach.
Pricing
What Wise costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Personal account
Free
- Free to register, no monthly or subscription fee
- Hold balances in dozens of currencies at no charge
- Local account details for receiving payments
- Wise to Wise transfers in the same currency are free
- Fees apply only when you send or convert
Send or convert money
On request
- From 0.23 percent on the US pricing page and from 0.24 percent on the UK page
- The exact percentage varies by currency pair
- Funding by card or e-wallet costs more than funding by bank transfer
- Mid-market exchange rate with no margin added
- UK page applies an automatic discount past 20,000 GBP equivalent per month
Wise debit card
$9 /one-time
- 9 USD one-off issue fee in the US, 7 GBP in the UK
- No subscription fee
- Spending a currency you already hold is free
- ATM withdrawals free up to 250 USD or 250 GBP per calendar month
- After that, 1.95 USD plus 1.95 percent per withdrawal in the US, 2.69 percent over 250 GBP in the UK
Capabilities
Features
International transfers
Real exchange rates
Multi-currency accounts
Bill payments
Bank accounts
Integration with Bank accounts
Cryptocurrency
Integration with Cryptocurrency
Web support
Available on Web
IOS support
Available on iOS
Android support
Available on Android
Mid-market conversion
Currency converted at the live interbank rate with the fee stated separately
Multi-currency balances
Hold and switch between balances in dozens of currencies in one account
Local account details
Receive domestic payments in currencies including GBP, EUR, USD, AUD and others
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
What does Wise actually charge to send money?
A percentage of the amount, stated before you confirm, starting from 0.23 percent on the US pricing page and 0.24 percent on the UK one. The rate varies by currency pair, and paying by card costs more than paying by bank transfer.
Does Wise really use the mid-market rate?
Yes. Conversion is done at the live mid-market rate with no margin added, and the cost is charged as a visible fee instead. That is the opposite of a bank that quotes a worse rate and calls the transfer free.
How much is the Wise card?
A one-off issue fee of 9 USD in the United States or 7 GBP in the United Kingdom, with no subscription. ATM withdrawals are free up to 250 per calendar month in the account currency, then 1.95 USD plus 1.95 percent per withdrawal in the US and 2.69 percent of the excess in the UK.
Is a Wise account free to open?
Yes. Registering is free and there is no monthly fee. You pay only when you send or convert money, or when you order a card.
Is Wise a bank?
No. It is an authorised electronic money institution, so your money is safeguarded at partner institutions rather than protected by deposit insurance.
Behind it
Who makes Wise
- Company
- Wise
- Based in
- London, United Kingdom
Keep looking
Where to go from Wise
- Wise alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Wise pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Wise badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Personal Finance softwareThe full category
- Best Personal Finance softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Personal Finance software for
Compare Wise with
- Remitly
- WorldRemit
- Revolut
- Robinhood
- Rocket Money
- Fidelity
- Charles Schwab
- Credit Karma
- E*TRADE
- Investopedia Stock Simulator
- Personal Capital
- Wealthfront
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- Wallet
- Wally
- Zelle
- Afterpay
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Wise, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Wise
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