Revolut vs Wise: Which is better for sending money abroad?
As you probably already know, sending money abroad with traditional banks can be expensive and slow. The fees can be high and transfers can often take at least several days to go through.
Which is why both Revolut and Wise are changing the game. With personal accounts, card spending abroad, and other useful features, they can save you a ton of time and money. They also make it much cheaper and faster to send money abroad.
But which is better for sending money abroad? Let’s find out.
Revolut vs Wise: FX Rates and Fees
Both Revolut and Wise charge great exchange rates when compared to traditional high street banks.
Both Revolut and Wise base their FX rates on real-time data from third parties such as Reuters.
Wise uses the mid-market rate, which is the midpoint between the current buy and sell prices of any two currencies.
Revolut uses the real exchange rate. These are the buy and sell rates they have determined based on the foreign exchange market data feeds they consume from a range of different independent sources.
For Revolut, there may also be some additional fees for exotic currencies (UAH and THB) and currency exchanges over the weekend. The only times you will pay more than this for most international transfers is if you exceed the exchange fair usage limit of £1,000 a month for a Standard or Plus account. Beyond that, a fee of 0.5% applies. You can avoid this completely by upgrading to a Premium or Metal plan, which don’t have any FX fair usage limits.
Revolut vs Wise: Transfer Fees
Not only are they great for FX, but Revolut and Wise are also excellent choices for sending money to people abroad, normally working out cheaper and faster than traditional banks.
When it comes to transfer fees, both providers offer similar rates. But where Revolut wins is euro transfers to Europe — it’s completely free! Let’s take a closer look at how we came to that conclusion.
For euro transfers to Europe, Revolut doesn’t charge any transfer fees at all. For all other local currencies, Revolut charges a single 0.3% transfer fee for international transfers in most local currencies, such as USD, PLN, RON, and many others. This is pegged to a minimum of £0.3 and a maximum of £5 for UK users (read more on our Fees page). You can avoid this fee by upgrading to Premium and Metal to get 1 and 3 free international transfers each month, respectively.
Wise, on the other hand, has a variable fee and additional fixed fee as well. These fees tend to be slightly higher, such as 0.35% for EUR or 0.39% for PLN.
To put theory into practice, we’ve got some examples of what you would be charged if you were a UK user sending £1000 abroad in the local currency. Here are some of the most popular currencies that are sent from the UK.
For both providers, sometimes intermediary banks may charge additional fees on top to receive the transfer. However, this only applies to very few select countries and banks and is out of Revolut or Wise’s control.
| If you convert £1000 to this currency and make a transfer in a local currency |
You’ll pay this much on Revolut | And you’ll pay this much on Wise |
|---|---|---|
| EUR | No fees | £3.69 = £0.20 fixed fee + £3.49 (0.35%) variable fee |
| PLN | £3 = 0.3% variable fee | £4.25 = £0.37 fixed fee + £3.88 (0.39%) variable fee |
| INR | £3 = 0.3% variable fee | £4.77 = £0.29 fixed fee + £4.48 (0.45%) variable fee |
| PHP | £3 = 0.3% variable fee | £5.04 = £0.56 fixed fee + £5.04 (0.45%) variable fee |
| USD | £3 = 0.3% variable fee | £3.84 = £0.35 fixed fee + £3.49 (0.35%) variable fee |
| AUD | £3 = 0.3% variable fee | £3.76 = £0.27 fixed fee + £3.49 (0.35%) variable fee |
This comparison shows the cost of a transfer for a Standard Revolut user. This means someone on one of our entry level free plans. You may receive better rates from us if you are on a paid plan. The pricing in this table was collected on and is accurate as at September 15, 2021.
Verdict: Which is better for sending money abroad?
If you're looking to get the cheaper overall rates for international transfers, Revolut is the clear winner. If you were to send £1000 in some of the most popular currencies, Revolut would cost you less every time. Bonus points if you’re sending euro transfers to Europe because Revolut doesn’t charge transfer fees.
Revolut has no hidden fees and offers great exchange rates, making it cheap and easy to send money abroad. Just choose how much you want to send and where to. We’ll take care of the rest.
Want to learn more? Here’s everything you need to know about making international money transfers with Revolut.
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