Wise vs Airwallex: compare on fees, features & benefits

If you run an online business selling to international customers, you'll need a way to easily collect payments in multiple currencies and transfer funds across borders to pay suppliers, advertising spend or staff. Wise and Airwallex both aim to facilitate seamless global money transfers, but how do they compare on price and key features? Read on to find out.

What is Wise?

Wise offers multi-currency accounts to hold and convert funds at competitive rates. It can accept payments in various currencies with local bank details. Wise also facilitates bank transfers to different countries, with additional payment options for vital markets. 

For businesses, Wise key features include multi-currency accounts, virtual debit card, batch international transfers, accounting software integrations and payment requests (UK/EU only).

What is Airwallex?  

Airwallex enables seamless global business payments and money management. It offers an all-in-one platform for businesses to easily manage finances across borders. Unlike Wise, Airwallex only provides its platform to businesses.  

For businesses, Airwallex key features include multi-currency accounts, collection and payments to various countries, fast, low-cost international transfers, borderless debit cards to spend in multiple currencies, global payment acceptance capabilities and integrated domestic, cross-border expense management and accounts payable.

Compare Wise vs Airwallex

Wise fees, explained

For Wise business account holders, fees consist of:

• Account opening: One-time fee to open an account (£45 in UK). Differs by country.(1)

• International transfers & FX conversions: A fixed fee plus variable fees starting from ~0.35% per transfer. Differs by currency and rails used – e.g. local, SWIFT(2). 

• Card Transactions: One time £3 fee for each additional card for team members(3). If auto-conversion is needed, a small % FX fee charged. Cash withdrawals from ATMs also incur a fee. 

Airwallex fees, explained  

Airwallex helps centralise global financial workflows. Main fees include:  

• Account opening: Plans from £19p/m

• International transfers & FX conversions: No transfer fees for the majority of currencies on local rails in 110+ countries. Flat fees apply for SWIFT transfers to 150+ countries. FX Rate: Interbank rate + 0.5% for USD, HKD, CNY, AUD, EUR, GBP, CAD, SGD, CHF, NZD, JPY, And 1.0% for all other currencies

• Card transactions: Spend directly in 10+ currencies from your multi-currency wallet. For all other currencies, auto-converts from your domestic or designated currency for a small fee. All other currencies supported by Visa. First five employee cards free, pricing applies thereafter. Additional cards £5/mo

Compare additional features between Wise and Airwallex

Beyond international payment capabilities, what else can these two platforms do?  

Online payments

Wise offers limited ability for businesses to accept payments via cards(4). On the other hand, Airwallex is a fully functioning payment gateway which allows businesses to collect customer online payments. This includes card payments, 160+ local payment methods in 180+ countries, and collected via no-code payment links, through integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento, or a customisable checkout via API.

Borderless cards

Wise offers teams (£3 for each additional card) to make online and in-store payments either physically or via a digital wallet, and offers cashback depending on location(3). Airwallexborderless cards can be spent directly in 10 currencies drawing from held balances, or any currency supported by Visa. The first five employee cards are free and additional cards are £5 p/m and, for customers on the Grow plan, come with an in-built expense management tool to help businesses track, control, and approve employee spend.Airwallex borderless cards come with card controls to limit spend, are both physical and virtual, and support digital wallets like ApplePay and GooglePay. Both Wise and Airwallex enable auto-conversion for a small-fee if there is not enough funds in the wallet in the specified transaction currency.  

Team expenses

While Wise has basic card control features, Airwallex provides end-to-end tools for teams to track and control spend globally whether on cards or reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses. Teams can capture receipts, submit expenses, and put expenses through multi-layer approval flows to ensure company funds are spent appropriately. All data is seamlessly synced with accounting platforms like Xero and Netsuite.

Bills and accounts payable

Airwallex centralises accounts payable workflows so finance teams can consolidate domestic and global supplier payments. Staff can upload or email bills and invoices, extract all relevant data, send through multi-layer approvals, and execute domestic and international payments while reconciling data with accounting platforms. Batch payments of up to 1000 can be automated across currencies and countries through Airwallex. With Wise, businesses can import bills from Quickbooks and Xero to pay in Wise.  Batch payments of up to 1000 can be automated and multiple users can access with set permissions.

Developer platform and APIs  

For developers and technical teams, Airwallex opens access to APIs to scale, customise and automate payouts, FX, card issuing, and payment acceptance. Wise provides more limited developer options tailored to basic transfers and FX needs(10).  

Customer support

Both platforms offer 24/7 customer support. As a dedicated business solution, Airwallex also provides account management and onboarding assistance for eligible businesses. 

Final thoughts: Airwallex offers an end-to-end global financial platform

Which global financial platform is right for your business? While Wise offers solid rates for peer-to-peer consumers and micro businesses, Airwallex provides a complete solution for growing, mid-market and enterprise-scale companies managing complexity across borders.  

With extensive capabilities for collections and payouts worldwide, zero hidden fees, top-tier FX rates, and integrated financial management tools, Airwallex is purposely built to be a growth engine for international business in the modern digital economy.

For alternative information, visit this page on Wise alternatives, for other global financial platforms that might be right for your business

Sources: 

For more information on Airwallex, visit Airwallex Business Account and Airwallex pricing.

1. https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business

2. https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business/send-money

3. https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business/card-fees

4. https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business/receive

5. https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business/hold-fees

6. https://wise.com/gb/business/

7. https://wise.com/gb/business/app-marketplace

8. https://wise.com/help/articles/2899986/what-are-my-spending-limits

9. https://wise.com/gb/business/manage-team

10. https://wise.com/gb/business/api

11. https://wise.com/gb/business/interest

Disclaimer: We wrote this article in Q1 2024. The information was based on our own online research and we were not able to manually test each tool or provider. The information is provided for educational purposes only and a reader should consider the specific requirements of their business when evaluating providers. This research is reviewed every six months. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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