Wise vs Revolut: Which Is Best in 2024?
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Wise and Revolut offer similar services. They are both offering cheap money transfers in many different currencies. How can you decide between both services?
I currently use neither of these cards, but I have used both. And many readers are asking me which they should use. Today, I answer the question: Which is better between Wise and Revolut?
Both companies will help you save money on foreign currency exchanges. However, they are still different in their fees and their offers. They both have some pros and cons. And that is what we go over in this article.
For this comparison, I only review personal accounts, not business ones. Both Wise and Revolut offer businesses accounts. But this is out of the scope of this article. So, we will compare Wise vs Revolut. Which should you use?
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My pick
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4.5
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3.0
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Wise (formerly TransferWise)
Wise is a private company based in the United Kingdom. It was launched in 2011 under the name TransferWise. It is a money transfer service. From your Wise account, you can transfer money to any other user in almost any currency. You can also transfer money to a bank account. You can use money from your account with the Borderless MasterCard.
Wise’s main focus is on people working abroad. These people can receive a salary in a currency different from the country they live in, and Wise can help them save a lot of money on fees.
Wise has been profitable since 2017 and has more than four million users. It has about one thousand employees all over the world. Their services are available in Europe and the United States.
For more information, I have a full review of Wise.
Revolut
Revolut is a private company based in the United Kingdom. It was launched in 2015. They offer money transfer services. You can transfer money from your account to other users or bank accounts. You can do transfers in almost any currency. You can use your money in your account with the Revolut MasterCard.
They also offer virtual cards that can be used on the Internet and have started providing access to cryptocurrencies.
The original focus of Revolut was for people traveling abroad. By using their cards in another country, these travelers must pay hefty fees. Revolut can save them a lot of money.
Revolut announced that it had about four million users in 2019. It has about 600 employees worldwide. In the beginning, Revolut was only available in Europe. But since 2020, it has also been available in the United States. And it will probably increase its coverage in the years to come.
I have been using Revolut for a while now. You can learn more about it in my full review of Revolut.
Availability
Both services are very well supported in Europe.
However, Revolut is available mainly in Europe. Overall, Revolut is available in 32 European countries. They are already available in Australia. And since 2020, they are available in the United States as well.
On the other hand, Wise is available in more than 50 countries, including the United States. It makes Wise generally more popular since they have more coverage from the U.S. Also, you can use Wise in many Asian countries (Indonesia, for instance). At the same time, Revolut is absent from these countries.
Revolut supports 140 currencies, while Wise only supports 96 currencies. But, Revolut only lets you hold money in 24 currencies in your account. On the other hand, Wise allows you to hold money in 50 currencies!
So, Wise can hold more currencies. If you are traveling to a lot of countries, this could make a difference. But this is not a significant difference for me.
Money Transfer Service
Both companies focus on money transfer as their primary service. They both offer a debit card that you can use everywhere. You can charge your debit card from your bank account. You can then use it as a physical card or online. In both cases, you can also withdraw money from your debit card.
Both Wise and Revolut offer a way to transfer money from one account to another or from another bank account. Generally, people believe that Wise is a bit faster in executing payments. However, my transfers with Revolut have always been swift. Revolut has always been faster than my bank account.
With both accounts, you can also receive money in many currencies.
Both services have both a mobile application and a web portal. The web portals are quite similar in usability. However, I think that Revolut’s mobile application is better than Wise’s.
As for the cards themselves, Revolut offers a Mastercard and a Maestro, while Wise only offers a Mastercard. The offer of a Maestro is a good point in favor of Revolut. It can be convenient to get a Maestro card in Switzerland. But it is not critical anymore.
So, for money transfer services, Revolut and Wise are a tie!
Other services
Wise is very focused on the single service of transferring money at a low cost between bank accounts or between Wise accounts.
On the other hand, Revolut has many features. For instance, they started offering cryptocurrencies in 2018. That means you can hold cryptocurrencies in your account. On the other hand, this is not a free service.
Indeed, you will pay a 1.5% fee for each buy or sell of cryptocurrencies. You cannot get your cryptocurrencies out of your Revolut account, for instance, or move them into your cryptocurrency wallet. So, this is not a replacement for other cryptocurrency exchanges.
Revolut also started offering insurance for several things. They also have Vaults, a system with which you can round purchases and save spare cash. The mobile application has many budgeting capabilities. Moreover, Revolut has a banking license, which means it could become a bank in the future.
Being able to pay from a smartphone is good news for many people! Recently, Revolut started working with Google Pay and Apple Pay. So you can use your smartphone directly to pay with your Revolut card. But this only matters if you want to use this feature.
Finally, Revolut offers three different accounts:
- Standard. It is the free account I am focusing on in this article.
- Premium. This account costs 6.99 EUR per month. It adds to the Standard account with priority support, higher withdrawal, no more monthly limits, and several forms of insurance.
- Metal. This account costs 12.99 EUR per month. This account adds to the Premium account a concierge service and 0.1% cashback on European purchases and 1% cashback abroad.
I do not see an advantage in having Premium or Metal accounts. It seems like most people will have enough with the Standard account.
So, when comparing Wise vs Revolut, Revolut has many more features than Wise. However, I am not sure these features will appeal to everybody. I think it is good that Wise focuses on doing one single thing very well rather than trying to do everything at once. Having more features does not mean it is better if you do not use them.
Limits – Wise vs Revolut
Both services have different limits. For my usage, I never hit any of the limits. But if you plan to rely heavily on either Wise or Revolut, you need to be aware of these limits.
Wise has a small default limit on each operation. But you can change the default from the mobile application. So I talk about the maximum limits you can set. Also, Wise has different limits for European and U.S. customers.
We will start with European customers. European customers can withdraw 1000 GBP per withdrawal, 1500 GBP per day, and 4000 GBP per month. They can purchase for a maximum of 10’000 GBP per day or 30’000 GBP per month for online purchases. U.S. customers have smaller limits. They can withdraw 1000 USD per day and 4000 USD per month. And they can pay online for 2000 USD per day and 10’000 USD per month.
Revolut has a more straightforward system for limits. Indeed, you can withdraw a maximum of 3000 GBP per day. And you can transfer a lot of money with Revolut. The daily limit on Revolut is 100’000 GBP. And the weekly limit is 250’000 GBP.
Revolut has much higher limits than Wise. Moreover, their system is much simpler. However, for most users, the limits of Wise should be more than sufficient.
Money transfer prices
What is most impressive with these two services is their prices.
Standard credit cards make you pay a substantial fee for foreign currency exchanges. It is typically between 1.5% and 2.5% on each amount. Both Wise and Revolut are significantly cheaper than that! Saving money is their primary purpose. Price is the thing I am looking the most into to compare these two services.
Wise is not free for transfers. You will need to pay between 0.3% and 0.7% fee on each transfer, depending on the currency pair you are converting money from. They are using a very complicated pricing system.
Revolut is not free, either. They used to offer the interbank exchange rate, but are now offering the all but transparent Revolut Exchange Rate. It has been evaluated that this exchange rate is about 0.40% worse than the interbank exchange rate on average.
On top of that, there is a limit of 1000£ (GBP) per month. Once you reach this limit, you will have to pay a 1.0% fee on each transfer. Moreover, you will have to pay an extra 1.0% fee for each transfer on the weekend.
As a side note, you can use one of the premium accounts of Revolut to increase the monthly limit for cheaper transfers. This could be worth it if you plan to convert a large amount of money.
With that, both services have about the same prices, with an advantage in transparency for Wise.
Wise is better than Revolut for guaranteeing the amount the recipient will receive from a bank transfer. Wise has local accounts for all their currencies. And they will use that to guarantee the amount received by the recipient.
For instance, if you send Mexican Pesos from the U.K., you will know exactly how much they will receive. Your money will go from one TW account to another first. And then, it will make a local payment to the recipient’s bank account. Revolut does not have such a guarantee. It means you could lose some money because of the fees.
Now, there are some complicated examples of transfers that are not free. For instance, with Revolut, you are only allowed one SWIFT transfer outside the SEPA region. After this, they will cost you 4 USD. Unfortunately, this is very poorly documented. In practice, you should be fine, but it is useful to know that these situations can happen.
Example of fees
We can run a few examples of exchanges to compare Wise and Revolut. I take Wise Borderless Card as an example. The prices differ if you send money from the app or use the card. If you want all the details, you can use the Wise pricing system.
| Amount | From | To | Wise | Revolut | Revolut Weekend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 | CHF | EUR | 4.84 CHF | 4 CHF | 14 CHF |
| 5000 | CHF | EUR | 21.97 CHF | 70 CHF | 120 CHF |
| 10000 | CHF | EUR | 43.37 CHF | 140 CHF | 240 CHF |
| 1000 | EUR | USD | 5.14 EUR | 4 EUR | 14 EUR |
| 5000 | EUR | USD | 21.47 EUR | 70 EUR | 120 EUR |
Since Revolut increased its fees in June 2020 and then dropped the interbank exchange rate, the results favor Wise more than Revolut!
- Revolut is marginally cheaper for small amounts (less than 1100 CHF per month).
- Wise is always better during the weekend
- Wise is much better for large amounts
- Wise is much better for special currencies
So, in general, Wise is better.
If you want the best fees in every case, you will have to use both cards:
- Revolut for small transfers in standard currencies
- Wise for exotic currency transfers
- Wise for big transfers
- Wise during the weekends
If you enter several of these categories, you will need both a Revolut and a Wise. It will be the most optimal combination to reduce the fees.
So, both solutions have their advantages and disadvantages. You need to know the fees to minimize them.
Reputation – Revolut vs Wise
We can also compare the reputation of these two services.
There has been some recent controversy about Revolut. If you follow financial news, you probably have heard some of them.
Since its creation, Revolut has had many issues with its employees. Or rather, employees had many problems with Revolut! Indeed, they have a significant turnover. And several prior employees have reported a lot of unpaid work and extreme work conditions.
Of course, these are only rumors. Revolut never confirmed them. I do not know the truth behind these allegations. But this does not help Revolut’s reputation. Indeed, there is generally some truth behind such claims.
In early 2019, the news reported that thousands of suspicious transactions were allowed through the Revolut system. They showed that Revolut switched off their screening system. We do not know why Revolut did not activate the system. After the news, Revolut reactivated the system. But this is worrisome.
Shortly after this event, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Revolut stepped down, increasing the controversy and conjectures around Revolut. He said he stepped down because Revolut was becoming too big too fast and could not handle all these changes.
There are also rumors of another kind about Revolut. Many people believe that they have strong ties to the Kremlin. But I have never read any facts about this. It is generally only based on the fact that the founder is Russian. I would not worry too much about that.
Also, I have heard about many people having issues with their accounts and losing some money, even in Switzerland. Now, I do not know if these people did everything right. But this is still worrying.
On the other hand, there has not been much controversy about Wise. Overall, Wise has a much better reputation than Revolut.
I am not worried enough about all this information to stop using Revolut. Many companies go through something like this when they grow up. Moreover, some of the news have debatable sources. However, this is still something I would worry about if I were to transfer a lot of money through Revolut.
I currently would not trust Revolut with more than a few thousand dollars.
User Reviews – Wise vs Revolut
Finally, we can also look at actual user reviews for both companies. I use Trustpilot as a reference (in January 2020). Trustpilot is generally the place that has the most high-quality reviews for such services.
Wise gets a score of 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot. It is an excellent score! 86% of people are reviewing Wise as Excellent and 8% as Great. On the other hand, 2% think it is average, 1% think it is poor, and 3% think it is bad!
If we look at the bad reviews for Wise, we can see recurring themes:
- Bad experience with customer support
- Transfers took longer than expected
- Accounts were disabled for apparently no reason
Then, Revolut also gets a score of 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot. Once again, this is an excellent score. 79% of people say it is excellent, and 12% say it is great. On the contrary, 2% say it is average, 1% say it is poor, while 6% say it is bad.
Looking at the negative reviews for Revolut, we can also see some recurring themes:
- Bad experience with customer service
- Accounts have been disabled for apparently no reason
- Extra fee on some transfers
Given that they have the same score, Revolut and Wise have the same good ratings by users! We can see the same recurring themes in negative reviews for both companies. But they have many great views, and their scores are excellent. Reviews are much better than I thought. It is because negative feedback is often louder than positive ones.
Wise vs Revolut Summary
To finish this comparison, here is a summary of the primary comparison points between the two services.
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4.5
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3.0
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Free
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Free
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- Good reputation
- Support many currencies
- Good fees
- Excellent transfer speed
- No free transfers
- Poor mobile application
- Few withdrawals
- Great fees
- Great to pay abroad
- High limits
- Expensive during the weekend
- Bad reputation
- Few withdrawals
- Poor customer service
- Not transparent with their exchange rates
Overall, we can see that both services have excellent things to offer.
Wise has more advantages than Revolut. From a pure money point of view, Revolut is superior. But, since their increase in fees, they are only advantageous when transferring low amounts of money.
Here are the main differences between Revolut and Wise :
- Both have similar fees in the best case
- Revolut is only cheap for the first 1000 GBP per month
- Revolut is more expensive during the weekend
- Wise supports more currencies
- Wise is available in more countries than Revolut
- Wise is profitable. Revolut is not
- Revolut has more features on mobile
- Wise has a much better reputation
Alternatives
Revolut is not the only digital banking services available. In fact, there has been many new digital bank accounts these last few years.
Revolut and Wise vs Neon
All the services you need to pay, save and invest, in a neat package, with extremely good prices!
Use the poorswiss code to receive 10CHF!
- Pay abroad for free
- Invest with great fees
For instance, Neon is a Swiss digital bank account with many advantages like Revolut and Wise. For instance, you can pay abroad for free without limits (other than your balance). You can also send money in foreign currencies at a fair rate. However, international transfers are more expensive with Neon than with Revolut and Wise.
On the other hand, you will not be able to store multiple currencies in your Neon account, only CHF.
With Neon, your money will be insured for up to 100’00 CHF. And you also have the advantage of storing your money in a reputable Swiss bank.
So, if you only need to pay abroad and in foreign currencies for free, Neon is probably a better fit than Revolut and Wise. But if you need multiple currencies and international transfers, Wise or Revolut are probably good for you.
You can read more in my Neon Review.
FAQ
Is Revolut cheaper than Wise?
Often, yes!
Wise is never free since you pay a fee of at least 0.3% of your transaction. Revolut has a 0.40% surcharge on average on the interbank exchange rate. Revolut is more expensive than Wise during the weekend and for some currency pairs. So, you need to compare each currency pair.
Is Revolut better than Wise?
It depends on the situation. Overall, Wise has a much better reputation and lower fees for larger transfers. And on small transfers, Wise is only marginally more expensive than Revolut.
Conclusion
When comparing Wise vs Revolut, I much prefer Wise over Revolut. The main reason is more about reputation and the company itself. The fact that it is profitable could mean that it will last longer than Revolut. But Revolut could come around!
Moreover, since Revolut increased its fees in June 2020, you can only convert small monthly amounts (maximum of 1000 GBP) per month. And transactions during the weekend have become expensive. On top of that, they have dropped the interbank exchange rate in 2023, in favor of the not-transparent Revolut Exchange Rate. For me, this is a big disadvantage.
Whether you use Wise or Revolut, such a travel card could be an essential part of your credit card strategy. Indeed, saving on currency exchange fees is the single thing that will save you the most money on your card fees!
If you are in Switzerland, a great alternative is to use the Swiss bank Neon. They have fewer features, but they also offer free purchases abroad with their Mastercard. And most people would prefer to have a local bank for the extra security of regulations.
However, nothing prevents you from using two different cards. As I pointed out earlier, you will need both cards to minimize the fees to a maximum. For instance, you could use Revolut for most currencies and Wise for exotic currencies.
I would advise being careful before depositing too much money in any of these two services in both cases. I believe you should primarily use them for currency exchanges.
And do not forget: do not use either Wise or Revolut for your default currency! Indeed, you need to use your local payment card for that. That way, you will accumulate some cashback. These two services are only good for money transfers involving two different currencies.
What about you? Do you prefer Wise or Revolut?
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Hi I have been a transferwise user for some time with no issues. Then in the last few months I started to have delays with money in and out and questions plus additional security such as my drivers license etc. The customer service is actually quite good,response time excellent but closed over the weekend!!
I now also use Revolut and so far the transactions in and out are lightning fast. I will see how it goes. Am a bit concerned about rumours etc but I don’t keep mich in there and only when away
Thanks for your article
Hi David,
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.
Did the support give you any explanations as to why the delays are getting longer and longer?
I understand the security part though.
I am also a bit concerned about the rumours about Revolut. But as you do, I try not to keep much cash on it.
Thanks for stopping by!
i get paid in USD over 5k per month. It goes into my UK bank dollar account which i set up. I lose a lot of money in exchange rate fees going from that to my GBP account. Which is the best one to use. I have read a fair bit but not sure.
Hi Mark,
To transfer the USD from your USD account to your GBP, you could use Revolut. It would be for free, as long as you do not do it during the week-ends.
Now, you should still be careful about transferring large amounts of money in Revolut. There have been cases when accounts have been suspended. But in general, this should be fine. You can try it with lower amounts.
I hope that helps.
I’m thinking of opening up a transfer wise account may be a wise option.
And forgot to say yes, it should have read CHF, not Swiss dollars.
I have 50 k Swiss dollars and want to transfer them to sterling. Would I be better transferring them from my UBS CHF account to my UBS sterling account and then transferring to the Uk account or putting 50k on my Revolut CHF card and transferring from there?
Or using a different method altogether?
Starting to be wary of Revolut!
Hi Keen to learn,
I am guessing that Swiss dollars mean CHF.
50K is over the limit of Revolut for free transfers. So you will pay a 0.5% fee on the transfer. On 50K, this is not negligible.
As for USB, I have no idea what kind of fees you are going to pay for transferring between the two accounts. But that is probably going to be more than 0.5% when taking into account the spread in the exchange rate.
Now, I would not be very comfortable with 50K on Revolut.
You should ask UBS what would be the fees for a transfer between your two accounts (also ask them what will be the exchange rate). If it’s not too bad, I would use this. If it’s really too high, I would consider Revolut maybe.
I hope that helps a bit.
That does help -thank you:)
UBS doesn’t charge for up to 100k a month. However, their rate of exchange always seems higher.
You are welcome.
If their rate of exchange is not too bad (and it probably is not for CHF/USD), you should go with.
But then, Transferwise is also a good idea. But they are not free either.
hi there,
Thanks for the interesting article. I got a question – if you choose premium (or metal) package of Revolut account, it says there are no monthly limit for exchange. Does that mean you could, technically, transfer any amount you want, with interbank exchange? I would never put 50 k in their account in one go, but thats another story. I am however looking for cheap way to transfer bigger amounts from Switzerland to my home country (northern Europe, UE), without paying sick fees.
Hi Herb,
I think this is what it means, yes. You could, in theory, convert 50K per month for free using their services. If you want to convert a lot of money, this would be a great way to do that (provided you trust them).
You could try to transfer the money little by little using Revolut. But you could be flagged for some dumb reasons.
I think it remains a good service, especially around here.
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks mate, appreciate your input. I promise myself to read more of your blog, esp. about investing :) I moved to Switzerland 3 years ago and find this place great, but I sit mostly on cash, if I save anything. Will read for sure, you are doing great job.
Good luck with your investing journey!
Most people in Switzerland hoard cash, so don’t hit yourself over that! You are already one step ahead of them by learning!
I’m new to this valuable source of info. Thanks!
One question you said about Revolut doesn’t allow USD deposits, on the other hand, you also said RV allows you to keep 24 currencies etc. I’m confused.
Can it be that I wire in CHF then split the sum into EUR CHF, and USD in my account, can I wire out USD ? I plan to have premium because of larger sums transfer. JIM
Hi Jim,
I was not really clear, sorry.
Revolut allows USD transfer. You will transfer USD on their account, with your reference number. However, they do not have a US account. Therefore, you will pay fees for transferring your money.
You can transfer money to Revolut with each of their handled currencies. Or as you said, you can also wire CHF and then convert it in the application and hold it in another currency.
If you plan to do many transfers of USD, you many have large fees. If you are doing a few large transfers, then you are probably fine. I would recommend you test the fees with a first transfer before you start using them.
I hope that makes it more clear
Thanks for stopping by!
I did 5 tests with Revolut, transferring money (EUR) to a bank account in Colombia (COP). There were no fixed costs, but the money I lost for conversion was substantial: between 3% to 7% (for a 25 euro test-transfer). Worldremit proved cheapest with 1,5% in currency exchange losses and a fixed fee of 4 euro. There were slow though (17 days).
Hi Richard,
Wow, 3% to 7% is really bad :(
Are you sure there are not some fixed fees that would destroy the percentages on such a small amount?
I didn’t even know about Worldremit. It’s interesting.
Good for you to try first with small amounts instead of going nuts with a big amount!
Thanks for stopping by!
My experience of Revolut is my son said I should try it (we were face timing at the weekend, he lives in Australia) I downloaded the app (which is extremely good, very impressed) there was one question (5 choices)… What is your primary reason for opening a resolut account. I picked to transfer money, I tried to put £1000 in (and do a transfer later for £750) thats where I wasn’t able to progress. I was in a hurry so used transferwise
Hi Tim,
Sorry to hear about your experience with Revolut.
What did not go well with the transfer of money? There was an issue with the bank transfer?
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi – Am new to this both Revolut & TW. But the complete review is quite useful for a beginner. However, if I have a CHF balance and want to use the Revolut card on EUR purchase, does this also attract the Revolut weekend charges. Couldn’t find any reference to this as this is a currency conversion
Hi NR,
I am glad you find this useful :)
Yes, this counts as currency conversion and will incur the Revolut weekend charges if you do it during the week-end.
What you can do when you know you are going to spend EUR in the week-end is to convert some currencies during the week. That way, you will have a local balance in EUR that you can spend without fees even during the weekend.
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for this great review. It’s the most useful I’ve found in a while.
I can vouch that as of 2019 the Revolut customer service I experienced was extremely bad and when they finally fixed an issue they caused and refused to admit, there was no explanation and no apology. I also needed to contact Transferwise re my borderless account and their customer service was prompt and efficient.
I also found Revolut not to be transparent in the account set-up stage as they force you to pay a deposit to open the account before telling you what proof of ID documents you need. I didn’t have the documents and it took them weeks to return the money. Transferwise were much more flexible in their proof of ID documentation requirements, allowing an international passport for example.
Hi Ana,
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience!
This confirms a lot of stories I have heard about Revolut. When it goes well, it’s really great, but when something goes wrong and you need their help, it’s pretty bad. That’s why I never hold a lot of money on the account, only enough for currency exchanges and holidays.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi There,
thank you for this comparison article.
Perhaps it would be good to mention, that TransferWise, in comparison to Revolut, guarantees the amount beneficiary will receive on any transfer. The reason is that TransferWise has local bank accounts in all countries for which currency they offer their services.
For some users, this is very important. And I am one of them. I have family in Mexico (using MXN) while I live in the Czech Republic (earning CZK). With TransferWise, I know exactly how much Mexican pesos my family will receive because TransferWise will remit the MXN transfer as local payment from a Mexican bank account.
While on the contrary, Revolut does not guarantee the amount your beneficiary will receive. If you want to send MXN through Revolut, they will remit the payment from their MXN account in the UK. So the beneficiary will receive the amount lowered by any crossborder fees.
Cheers.
Skinny C
Hi Skinny C,
Actually, I didn’t know about this guarantee. It’s really a good thing!
I knew that Revolut did not guarantee it, but I was thinking it would the same for TW!
I will try to make a not of that in the article.
Thanks a lot for sharing this!