Top 5 Revolut alternatives: compare fees, features & benefits

If you run a growing business, you’ll need a payment platform that will allow you to open local accounts in several currencies, seamlessly accept payments from international customers, and send money across borders without excessive fees.

Whilst Revolut may be one of your options, you may like to consider its alternatives to see which one suits your needs best.

What is Revolut?

Revolut is a British financial technology company that offers financial services to consumers and businesses through an app-based platform.

Revolut Business is designed to help sole traders, startups and small companies pay suppliers and employees easily, move money across borders and manage their business finances. It’s used by fast-growing brands like Wild and ThePower Business School.

For businesses in the UK, Revolut offers four account ‘plans’, starting at £0 per month and scaling beyond £79 per month to include custom plans.  Each plan has feature limits, including monthly caps on the number of no-fee international and local transfers, and the number of currency exchanges at interbank rate.

The Revolut business account supports 25 currencies and payments can be accepted from 100+ countries.

The top alternatives to Revolut

Here are the top alternatives to Revolut.

Airwallex is a global financial technology company that offers a range of financial services, including international payments, multi-currency accounts, and Borderless Cards. It aims to empower businesses of all sizes to drive their global growth through easy-to-use transaction solutions.

Payoneer is a global fintech company that offers digital payment solutions. It enables businesses and professionals to send and receive funds, manage finances, and operate internationally. With Payoneer, users can handle cross-border payments and access global markets.

PayPal has been a trusted payment gateway for over 20 years, serving the global community. It empowers eCommerce brands to process payments from credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfers.

Stripe is a technology company that creates the economic infrastructure for the internet. It equips businesses with a comprehensive suite of payment processing tools and APIs to facilitate payment acceptance, payouts, and financial management online.

Wise, previously recognised as TransferWise, is a worldwide tech enterprise that excels in international money transfers. We provide multi-currency accounts and affordable, crystal-clear foreign exchange services.

Compare the top 4 alternatives to Revolut

Why choose Airwallex over Revolut?

What questions should I ask when choosing alternative providers to Revolut?

Here are the top 10 most important questions for you to consider when choosing an alternative to Revolut. Use these as a handy guide when doing your research.

1. What is your fee structure?

2. Are there any additional costs for large transactions?

3. What are the charges for international transactions and currency conversions?

4. What level of payment volumes do you support?

5. What is the speed of transaction processing, particularly for large and international transfers?

6. Can you facilitate automated payments?

7. What security measures do you have in place to protect sensitive financial data?

8. What accounting software integrations do you offer?

9. Do you provide dedicated account management support?

10. Do you offer corporate and employee cards? 

Final thoughts on alternatives to Revolut

While both Airwallex and Revolut offer global payment services and multi-currency business accounts at good rates, there’s a clear distinction between the kind of business each platform works best for.

If you’re a scaling company expanding into new markets and targeting worldwide customers, Airwallex’s sophisticated multi-currency business account capabilities are designed to help you grow.

From holding balances globally to moving money instantly with real-time oversight, Airwallex’s features were developed to solve multi-currency transaction challenges. These tend to be faced by fast-scaling global enterprises.

If you’re a large organisation, with Airwallex you’ll benefit from 0 monthly account fees, 0% domestic transaction fees and 0% international transaction fees when sending to 110+ countries where Airwallex has local payment rails. 

The global payout coverage is also much larger than Revolut’s at 150+ countries, Airwallex’s FX rate is lower for most currencies, and we provide a dedicated account manager for eligible businesses. 

Revolut offers a good option for solopreneurs and startups moving some money abroad, as well as those dealing in crypto and stock investments. 

But, if you’re looking at larger transaction volumes or more sophisticated international payment pathways and tech integrations (Xero, Shopify etc), Airwallex has the edge.

Plus, our advanced expense management capabilities can help you streamline your processes and free up your finance team to focus on growth.

Sources & references

1. https://www.payoneer.com/get-paid-by-clients/#:~:text=Payment%20request%20%E2%80%93%20sent%20payment%20requests,bank%20debit%2C%20direct%20bank%20payment

2. https://www.payoneer.com/about/pricing/#pay-your-supplier

3. https://stripe.com/payments/payment-methods

4. https://wise.com/us/blog/stripe-international

5. https://stripe.com/gb/pricing

6. https://wise.com/au/business/receive-money

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

8. https://www.revolut.com/business/business-account-plans/

9. https://help.revolut.com/business/help/receiving-payments/transfers-info/international-iban

10. https://www.revolut.com/business/cards/

11. https://www.revolut.com/business/partner-apps/

12. https://www.revolut.com/business/money-transfers/

13. https://www.revolut.com/business/savings/

14. https://www.revolut.com/business/multi-currency-accounts/

15. https://www.paypal.com/uk/enterprise/payment-methods

16. https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees

Disclaimer:  

We wrote this article in Q2 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. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

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