Wise vs Airwallex vs Payoneer: the cheapest way to send and receive international business payments

Sooner or later, most US businesses either pay someone abroad or get paid by someone abroad: a developer in Poland, a designer in India, a client in Germany, a customer in Canada. The default route, a wire from your bank, is often the most expensive. Between the bank's fee, intermediary banks taking their cut and an exchange rate with a margin built in, a few percent of the payment can disappear.

Wise, Airwallex and Payoneer exist to fix that. All three let you hold several currencies, receive money through local account details in other countries, and pay out locally instead of by wire. They charge in quite different ways, though, so the cheapest one depends on what you do most.

Fees side by side

Published US business fees on the day we checked. Conversion costs vary by currency, so always compare a live quote for your exact amount.

Wise Business

Wise Business is built around one idea: convert at the mid-market rate and charge a visible fee. A Wise Business account in the US costs a one-time $31, which unlocks account details to receive money in 22 currencies, among other features. There's no monthly fee.

Receiving US dollars by ACH is free, and a USD wire costs $6.11. Conversion and sending fees start from 0.23% and depend on the currency pair. Card purchases are free, and ATM withdrawals are free up to $250 a month, then $1.95 plus 1.95%.

For a small business that pays a handful of contractors abroad each month, or gets paid occasionally by overseas clients, Wise is usually the simplest and one of the cheapest options.

Best for: small businesses paying or receiving in many currencies at modest volumes. Watch for: fees vary by currency, so check the exact quote.

Airwallex

Airwallex is built for businesses that move more money and want more control. Its Explore plan is free. Grow costs $12 per user a month plus a platform fee based on team size, and Accelerate is custom-priced.

Airwallex charges 0.5% above the interbank rate to convert major currencies and 1% for all others. Its big draw is free batch local transfers to more than 120 countries, so paying a team abroad doesn't add per-payment fees beyond the conversion. SWIFT transfers cost $15 to $25. Its cards earn up to 2% cash rebates on local USD spending, and it accepts card payments from customers at 2.8% plus $0.30 domestically.

Best for: growing companies paying teams or suppliers in several countries, and businesses that want cards and spend controls in the same account. Watch for: the 1% markup on less common currencies.

Payoneer

Payoneer is widely used by marketplaces and freelance platforms to pay sellers and freelancers around the world, which is often the reason businesses end up with it.

Receiving money into a Payoneer receiving account in the local currency is free, and so is receiving from another Payoneer balance in the same country. Payments pulled from a US payer by ACH debit, or from an EU or UK bank account, cost 1%. Card payments cost up to 3.99% plus $0.49. Converting between balances costs 0.5%, and withdrawing to a bank costs from $1.50 to around 4% depending on the currency and country. If the account receives less than $6,000 in any 12 consecutive months, there's a $29.95 annual fee.

Best for: marketplace sellers and freelancers paid through platforms that pay out via Payoneer. Watch for: the 1% receiving fees and withdrawal costs, which add up on larger amounts.

Worked through: getting paid €10,000 by a client in Germany

A US agency invoices a German client €10,000 and wants dollars in its US account.

• Through Payoneer, if the client pays from an EU bank account through Payoneer, the 1% receiving fee is €100, and converting to dollars adds 0.5%, about €50 more. Roughly €150 before withdrawal costs.
• Through Airwallex, the client pays into local euro account details, and converting at 0.5% above interbank costs about €50.
• Through Wise, the client pays into local euro details, and the conversion fee for euros to dollars applies, which starts from 0.23% and varies by currency. Check the live quote for your amount.

Compare that with a SWIFT wire to a US bank: an incoming wire fee, possibly intermediary bank fees, and the bank's own exchange rate margin, which together often cost more than any of these services.

Worked through: paying a $2,000 contractor in India every month

A US startup pays a developer in India $2,000 a month in rupees.

• Through Wise or Airwallex, the startup converts dollars to rupees and pays by local transfer. The cost is the conversion fee: Wise's for USD to INR, or Airwallex's markup, which would be 1% if the rupee falls outside its major currencies, so about $20.
• Through Payoneer, sending internationally from a Payoneer balance costs up to 1% plus $4, so up to about $24.
• By an international wire from a US bank, expect the bank's conversion cost and possibly intermediary fees. Mercury, for example, charges a 1% conversion fee for international wires in other currencies, about $20 on $2,000, and intermediary banks may take more along the way.

Over a year, a difference of one percentage point on $24,000 of payments is $240, and more for larger teams, so the route is worth choosing deliberately.

What to compare, beyond the fee page

• The exchange rate you actually get. A "no fee" transfer with a poor exchange rate costs more than a visible fee at the mid-market rate. Compare the amount that arrives, not the fee.
• Local versus SWIFT. Local transfers avoid intermediary fees. Use them wherever the destination country is supported.
• Who pays the fees. On invoices to overseas clients, decide whether you or the client absorbs transfer costs, and say so on the invoice.
• Speed. Local transfers are often same-day or next-day. SWIFT can take several days.
• Paperwork. Some countries require documentation for incoming payments, so check what your contractors or clients need.
• Limits and holds. New accounts can have lower limits, and large or unusual payments can be held for review. Make a small test payment before a big one, and don't leave an urgent payroll run to the last day.

Hold, or convert straight away?

All three let you hold balances in several currencies, which opens a simple way to save. If you're paid in euros and also pay a contractor or supplier in euros, keep the euros and pay from them. You avoid converting twice, and the cost of currency moves between invoice and payment matters less.

If you don't have expenses in that currency, converting promptly is usually the safer default for a small business. Trying to time exchange rates is a gamble most businesses don't need to take, and the time spent watching rates is better spent on the business.

Opening an account

Each service verifies your business before you can use it, much like a bank. Expect to provide your formation documents, your EIN, details of the owners and what the business does, and sometimes evidence of your website or customers. Approval can take from a day to a couple of weeks. Link your US business bank account so you can move money in and out, and set up the currencies and local account details you need before your first invoice goes out.

Keeping the books straight

International payments add two bookkeeping wrinkles. First, each foreign currency transaction is recorded in dollars at the rate on the day, so the same invoice can be worth slightly different amounts when you send it and when it's paid. That difference is a foreign exchange gain or loss. Second, fees can be hidden inside the rate, so record the amount that actually arrived, not the invoice amount less a guess.

Accounting software that handles several currencies, such as Xero's Established plan, does most of this automatically. Our comparison of QuickBooks, Xero and FreshBooks covers which plans support it.

How to choose

1. A small business with occasional international payments? Wise Business.
2. A growing team paying several people abroad every month? Airwallex, or Wise, compared on your main currencies.
3. Paid through a marketplace or platform that uses Payoneer? Keep Payoneer for that income, and consider Wise or Airwallex for everything else.
4. Paying international contractors at scale with compliance help? A contractor platform may suit better. Our guide to paying international contractors covers the options.

Whichever you choose, keep a US business bank account for everyday banking. Our comparison of Mercury, Relay and Bluevine covers those, and many founders pair one with Wise or Airwallex for currency.