Top 5 Wise alternatives in the US: compare fees, features, & benefits
If you run a growing business, you’ll need a global payment platform that lets you open local accounts in several currencies, seamlessly accept payments from international customers, and send money across borders without excessive fees.
While Wise is one option to consider, exploring other alternatives can help you find the solution best suited to your growth goals and financial needs.
What is Wise?
Wise is a UK-based financial technology company focused on simplifying global money transfers. Its platform is designed to help consumers and businesses send funds overseas easily at a low cost.
For businesses, Wise’s products include:
Multi-currency accounts
Virtual debit cards
Batch international transfer capabilities (for an additional fee)
Accounting software integrations
Best known for serving consumers and micro-businesses, Wise offers a simple and affordable service. However, its limited business-focused features – such as a lack of volume discounts, advanced expense management, and robust integrations – make it less ideal for growing businesses seeking scalable, enterprise-level solutions.
The top alternatives to Wise in the US
Are you based in the US and looking for alternatives to Wise? Here are five standout Wise alternatives and their competitive benefits.
Airwallex: A global financial platform founded in 2015 to collect, hold, convert, and send multi-currency payments
Stripe: A point-of-sale (POS) system for brick-and-mortar retailers to accept in-person payments, as well as an online payment gateway for eCommerce businesses to accept credit and debit card payments
Payoneer: A payments platform designed for marketplace sellers and freelancers to collect, hold, and send payments
PayPal: A well-established payment gateway that’s been processing credit, debit, and bank transfer payments for over 20 years
Revolut: A UK-based financial technology company established in 2015, offering digital financial services to consumers and businesses
Compare the top 5 alternatives to Wise in the US
Provider | Type | Payment methods (payment acceptance and transfers) | Payment acceptance fees | Transfer fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Airwallex | Global financial platform designed for businesses | Collect via 160+ payment methods, including cards, transfers to 150+ countries and 60+ currencies | 2.8% + 30¢ for domestic cards 4.3% + 30¢ for international cards | $0 for international and domestic transfers when using local rails in 120+ countries (90% of transactions arrive within hours) Currency conversions at 0.5 – 1% above interbank rates1 |
Stripe2 | Payment platform for online and in-store
| Supports accepting 100+ payment methods and 135+ currencies, including cards, bank debits and transfers, digital wallets, and Klarna (BNPL) | 2.9% + 30¢ for domestic cards +1.50% fee applies to the domestic rate, totaling 4.4% + 30¢ for international cards + 1% if currency conversion is required ACH transfers cost 0.8% up to a cap of $57 5.99% + 30¢ for BNPL | N/A - no equivalent transfers product |
PayPal3 | Global online payment system for sending and receiving money | Accepts credit and debit cards, PayPal, and 10+ local methods from 200+ countries | 3.49% + fixed fee based on the currency received for domestic payments +1.50% fee applies to the domestic rate, totaling 4.99% + a fixed fee for international payments | N/A - no equivalent transfers product (you can only transfer to recipients that have a PayPal account) |
Payoneer4 | A payment platform designed to help businesses and individuals manage funds in multiple currencies | Accepts credit and debit cards, ACH, PayPal, digital wallets, local transfers in 190 countries and 9 currencies, Afterpay, Klarna (BPNL) | 1% for ACH 3.99% for domestic cards 3.99% + 49¢ for PayPal 4.49% for international payments | Free for Payoneer-to-Payoneer transfers 1% transfers to Payoneer users 3% transfers to non-Payoneer users Currency conversions at 3% above interbank rates |
Revolut5 | A business account designed for freelancers and startups | Accepts payments from 100+ countries using Revolut Pay, major credit and debit cards, instant bank transfers and mobile payments | N/A - no equivalent product in the US
| Local: Free transfers up to plan limits Basic: 5/month Grow: 100/month Scale: 1K/month + $0.20/transfer beyond limit International: Free transfers up to plan limits Basic: 0/month Grow: 5/month Scale: 25/month + $5/transfer beyond limit Currency conversion: Varies by plan, 0.6% above plan allowance + 1% outside market hours |
Find out for yourself how Airwallex compares to Wise.
Why choose Airwallex over Wise?
| Airwallex | Wise |
|---|---|---|
Business account setup fee | Free | $31 USD⁶ |
Multi-currency account to receive funds | 23+ currencies | 18 currencies⁷ |
Global payout coverage | 150+ countries | 70 countries⁸ |
Speed of payout | Same-day or instant | Same-day or instant |
0% domestic transaction fees | ✅ | ❌⁹ |
0% international transaction fees | ✅ (When sending to 120+ countries using Airwallex local payment rails) | ❌ (Charges a fixed amount, depending on the currency and payment method)¹⁰ |
FX rate | Interbank rate plus a fixed margin | Mid-market rate plus a variable percentage fee⁶ |
Account management | ✅ | ❌ |
Online payment acceptance | ✅ | ❌ |
Debit cards | ✅ | ❌ |
Expense management | ✅ | ❌ |
Embedded finance capabilities
Airwallex | Wise | |
|---|---|---|
Onboarding | Three options: Embedded KYC API-based UI control Host redirect for referral arrangements | Three options: Embedded sign-up page* Accounts API Host redirect *Only offers KYC reliance for banks |
Full white-labeling across all embedded finance products | ✅ | ✅ |
Ability to add fees for additional monetization | Full custom markup capabilities: Full control over custom markups across currencies Enables nuanced, optimized pricing strategies | Limited markup opportunities: Redirect model charges fixed retail margins, no custom markups Some flexibility in the embedded model, but less control |
Customer support & user experience | API-infrastructure-first The B2B-first player with optimized products and flows for business users and comprehensive enterprise product docs detailing all capabilities and use cases | Web-app-first B2C-focused product with limited documentation support, resulting in high RFI rates for B2B transactions and onboarding friction |
What questions should I ask when choosing alternative providers to Wise?
Here are the top 10 most important questions to consider when choosing an alternative to Wise. Use these as a handy guide when doing your research.
What are the transaction fees?
What is the currency exchange markup?
Are there any account setup or management fees?
How extensive is the geographical coverage?
What currencies can be held in your business account?
What funds management services do you provide?
What security measures do you have in place?
What integration capabilities do you offer?
Do you provide dedicated account management support?
Do you offer corporate and employee cards?
Final thoughts on alternatives to Wise
Airwallex and Wise are both known for offering businesses competitive cross-border payment solutions.
For global reach, Airwallex is hard to beat. With a multi-currency business account, businesses can accept and hold 23 currencies and handle transactions in 150+ countries. With Airwallex, customers enjoy 0% international transaction fees to 120+ countries using our local payment rails. Wise supports holding 22 currencies and global payout coverage to 70 countries with international payment fees.
Airwallex includes account management services, payment links and plugins, and expense management capabilities. For accounts payable solutions, Wise offers a basic offering, integrating with a few software providers.
Our verdict? Wise offers low-cost global money transfers for consumers and smaller businesses, but larger enterprises may struggle.
Airwallex provides a fast, cost-effective international money transfer service. It supports more currencies and software integrations and offers important services like account management, online payments, and expense management.
Consider Airwallex for an end-to-end financial solution built to solve all kinds of cross-border payment challenges.
Find out for yourself how Airwallex compares to Wise.
Sources & references
https://www.airwallex.com/us/pricing
https://stripe.com/pricing
https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees
https://www.payoneer.com/business/
https://www.revolut.com/business/business-account-plans/
https://wise.com/us/business/
https://wise.com/us/business/receive-money
https://wise.com/us/business/invoices
https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business/receive
https://wise.com/us/pricing/business/send-money
Disclaimer:
We wrote this article in Q1 2025. 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 readers should consider their business's specific requirements when evaluating providers. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [email protected].
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Erin is a business finance writer at Airwallex, where she creates content that helps businesses across the Americas navigate the complexities of finance and payments. With nearly a decade of experience in corporate communications and content strategy for B2B enterprises and developer-focused startups, Erin brings a deep understanding of the SaaS landscape. Through her focus on thought leadership and storytelling, she helps businesses address their financial challenges with clear and impactful content.
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