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Wise: Fees, Eligibility, and Restrictions

Wise moves money across currencies at the mid-market exchange rate and charges a stated fee on top, rather than building a margin into the rate. This page records what Wise documents about its pricing, coverage, and eligibility, with the date each fact was checked.

Last verified September 1, 2026

What Wise is

Wise is a money transfer service and multi-currency account. You can hold a balance in many currencies at once, convert between them, receive money using local account details in a number of countries, and spend with a debit card.

The distinguishing feature is the pricing model. Wise converts at the mid-market rate — the rate you would see on Google — and charges a separate, visible fee, instead of quoting a worse exchange rate and calling the difference free.

It serves both individuals and businesses. Wise Business is the same account with multi-user access, batch payments, and accounting integrations layered on.

Best for

  • Individuals sending money abroad

    The mid-market rate plus a visible fee is easy to compare against a bank quote, and the fee is shown before you commit.

  • Freelancers invoicing clients in other countries

    Local account details let a client pay you as a domestic transfer in their own country, which is usually cheaper and faster for them than an international wire.

  • People holding several currencies

    Balances in 40+ currencies with conversion at the mid-market rate, rather than converting through a home-currency account each time.

  • Small businesses paying contractors

    Wise Business adds batch payments and accounting integrations on top of the same transfer pricing.

Personal use

A personal Wise account covers international transfers, holding and converting balances, receiving with local account details in supported currencies, and a debit card for spending. It is the straightforward case, and most of the published pricing on this page is written for it.

Business use

Wise Business is aimed at startups, small businesses, and freelancers. Wise describes multi-currency cards with per-team-member spending permissions, batch payments to up to 1,000 contractors at once, API access, and accounting software integrations. Transfer and conversion pricing follows the same mid-market-plus-fee model.

Fees and the exchange-rate model

  • Exchange rate used

    The mid-market rate — the rate Wise describes as "the one you can check on Google". No markup is added to the rate; the fee is charged separately and shown upfront.Source: Wise — Pricing (US)

  • Conversion and sending fee

    From 0.23%. Wise states the fee varies by currency and by the route the money takes.Source: Wise — Pricing (US)

  • Opening and holding an account

    Free to register. Free to hold money. Wise states there is no subscription and no mandatory plan.Source: Wise — Pricing (US)

  • Debit card

    A one-time $9 USD charge to issue the multi-currency card, with no subscription fee. Ordinary card purchases are free.Source: Wise — Pricing (US)

  • ATM withdrawals

    The first $250 USD per calendar month is free. Above that, Wise charges $1.95 USD plus 1.95% on each withdrawal. ATM operators may add their own charge on top.Source: Wise — Pricing (US)

  • Receiving money

    Receiving domestically is free in nine currencies. Receiving by wire or SWIFT carries a fixed fee — Wise lists $6.11 for a USD wire — and fees for other currencies vary.Source: Wise — Pricing (US)

  • Topping up an external e-wallet

    Charged at 2%.Source: Wise — Pricing (US)

Currencies and countries

  • Currencies you can hold

    Wise states you can keep 40+ currencies in the account and convert between any of them at the mid-market rate.Source: Wise Help Centre — Which currencies can I add, keep and receive?

  • Currencies you can add money in

    Wise lists 23: AUD, BRL, CAD, CNY, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HUF, IDR, ILS, JPY, MYR, NOK, NZD, PHP, PLN, RON, SEK, SGD, TRY and USD. Which of these are available to you depends on your location and tax residency.Source: Wise Help Centre — Which currencies can I add, keep and receive?

  • Currencies you can receive with account details

    Wise’s pricing page states account details for receiving in 22 currencies. The help centre breaks the same set down further by whether local transfers, SWIFT, or both are supported.Source: Wise — Pricing (US)

Coverage changes by jurisdiction and is updated by the provider without notice. Confirm availability for your own country and residency before acting on anything above.

Eligibility

  • What decides availability

    Wise gates features by country. Which currencies you can add, whether you can get a card, and which account details you can open all depend on where you live and your tax residency. Wise publishes a feature availability checker for this.Source: Wise — Feature availability checker

  • Personal accounts

    Available to individuals, subject to the country restrictions above.Source: Wise Help Centre — Which currencies can I add, keep and receive?

  • Business accounts

    Wise Business is aimed at startups, scale-ups, small businesses, and freelancers. The Wise Business page does not publish a country-by-country eligibility list or the accepted business types.Source: Wise Business

Restrictions worth knowing before you apply

Promotional offers

No current Wise promotional offer was confirmed against Wise’s own terms during this review, so none is listed. BonusBench does not publish promo codes or coupons it cannot verify.

How BonusBench is paid on this page

Applied — declined · Partnerize

BonusBench applied to Wise’s official affiliate program through Partnerize, and Wise declined the application. BonusBench is not an approved Wise affiliate or partner, no Wise affiliate tracking link is used anywhere on this site, and every link to Wise is an ordinary, untracked link that earns BonusBench nothing. Being turned down changed nothing here: none of this research was written in expectation of a commission, and none of it was revised after the decision.

Wise runs a separate personal Invite program for referring friends and family. Its terms state that referring people for commercial purposes — including through a website, social media, or advertising — may result in being moved to the affiliate program instead. A personal invite link therefore does not belong on a public site like this one, and BonusBench does not use one.

Go to Wise

Wise official site

This is an ordinary link to Wise. It carries no referral code and no affiliate tracking, and BonusBench earns nothing if you use it.

Alternatives

  • Airwallex

    Business-only. A closer comparison if you are a registered company rather than an individual — Airwallex does not offer personal accounts at all.

  • Mercury

    A different category: a US business bank account rather than a cross-currency transfer service. Relevant if what you actually need is a US-domiciled account for a US entity.

  • Payoneer

    Another cross-border receiving option, strongest for marketplace sellers and freelancers. BonusBench has not researched it yet.

Bottom line

Wise’s pricing model is its argument: the mid-market rate with a visible fee, instead of a marked-up rate. That makes it straightforward to compare against a bank quote, which is most of the reason it is recommended so often.

The thing that catches people out is not the pricing — it is availability. Which currencies you can add, hold, and receive depends on where you live and your tax residency, and several currencies carry residency or nationality conditions that are easy to miss until the account is open.

Check the feature availability checker for your own country before assuming any figure on this page applies to you.

Sources

Every fact on this page was read off one of these pages on September 1, 2026. Where Wise does not document something, this page does not claim it.