XE vs Wise: Fees & Reviews Compared

Both XE and Wise are popular international money transfer services. But which one is better?

Below we compare them on their fees and reviews.

Fees

	XE	Wise
Homepage
Transfer Fee	£2.00 under £250 (UK) €2.00 under €250 (EU) No fee for other sums	Variable fee – 0.4% – 0.6% of total amount (on average) Fixed fee – £0.2 – £0.3 on average.
Average Exchange Rate Markup	0.2% to 1.4%	No markup
Minimum Transfer Amount	$1	$1
Maximum Transfer Amount	£350,000 (UK and EU) $535,000 (US) CAD $535,000 (Canada) NZD $750,000 (New Zealand)	$6,000,000 USD $1.8 million AUD $1.5 million CAD €6,000,000 EUR £5,000,000 GBP

Reviews

	XE	Wise
Trustpilot Rating	4.3	4.3
Number of Trustpilot Reviews	61,500	193,700
iOS App Rating	4.3	4.6
Number of iOS App Reviews	5,300	29,500
Android App Rating	3.5	4.7
Number of Android App Reviews	113,000	503,000

Features

	XE	Wise
App Transfers	Yes	Yes
Online Transfers	Yes	Yes
Phone Transfers	No	No
In-person Transfers	Yes	No
Available Countries	170	170
Number of Currencies	50	50
Payment Methods	Bank account Debit card Credit card Check Direct debit BillPay BPAY PayID Interac	Bank account Debit card Credit card Direct debit Apple Pay Google Pay iDeal Trustly SOFORT POLi PayPal
Receiving Methods	Online wallet Bank account Cash pickup	Online wallet Bank account
Cash Pickup Option	Yes	No
Payments Flexibility	Web platform Mobile app	Web platform Mobile app
Supported Languages	English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese	English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, and Russian
Transfer Speed	1-4 days	0-2 days (within minutes for over 50% of transfers).
Dedicated Dealer	Only for customers transferring above $70,000	No
Instant Custom Quote	Yes	Yes
Business Features	Spot contracts Forwards contracts Market orders Digital multi-currency wallet Rate alerts API portal	Recurring transfers Batch payments Invoicing Multi-user access Digital multi-currency wallet Rate alerts API integration
Debit Card	None	Wise multi-currency debit card
Cancellation Policy	Only for cash pick-up transfers when the cash hasn’t been collected by the recipient	Users can cancel a transfer as long as they’re able to see the “cancel transfer” option on their transfer
Suitability	Small and large money transfers	Small money transfers

Company Comparison

	XE	Wise
Year Founded	1993	2011
Headquarters	Newmarket, ‎Ontario‎, ‎Canada	London, UK
Other Office Locations	Canada, Australia, the US, the UK, and New Zealand	London (UK), Austin, Dallas, Tampa, and New York (USA), Bangkok (Thailand), Dubai (UAE), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Hong Kong (Hong Kong), Shanghai (China), Singapore (Singapore), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Jakarta (Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Manila (the Philippines), Mumbai (India), Brussels (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), Cherkasy (Ukraine), Tallinn and Tartu (Estonia), Zürich (Switzerland), São Paulo (Brazil), Mexico City (Mexico), Cape Town (South Africa), Sydney and Melbourne (Australia)
Annual Trading Volume	£15 billion	£76.4 billion
Number of Employees	350	4500
Number of Clients	150000	16 million
Regulatory Institutions	FinCEN in the USA FINTRAC and OSFI in Canada FCA in the UK ASIC in Australia	FinCEN in the USA FINTRAC in Canada FCA in the UK ASIC in Australia National Bank of Belgium in the EU
Awards	International Money Transfers Outstanding Value Award (Canstar, 2021)	Best European Startup Under 3 Years Old (Europas, 2013) One of The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Finance (Fast Company Magazine, 2014) Boldest Smaller Company (FT’s Boldness in Business Awards, 2014) Ernst and Young UK Entrepreneurs (2015) Top 20 out of 50 on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in the UK (2022) Made it in the FinTech50 list (in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021)

XE Pros & Cons

XE Pros

• Attractive exchange rates
• Broad currency selection
• Local presence in many locations worldwide
• A variety of payment methods
• Stellar customer service
• Extensive global reach
• Loads of experience under their belt
• Top-notch website and mobile app
• Offers instant custom quotes
• Fast money transfers with 50% transfers processed within minutes
• Cash pickup service
• Handy exchange rate alerts feature

XE Cons

• No dedicated account managers for all users
• Small transfer fees are imposed on certain small money transfers
• Sparse coverage of less-common currencies
• No solid cancellation policy in place
• Average Trustpilot rating

Wise Pros & Cons

Wise Pros

• No markups on exchange rates
• Comprehensive global service reach
• Impressive currency support
• Widespread local presence with branches in more than 28 countries
• Custom quotes are available without signup
• Diverse payment methods encompassing bank accounts, debit and credit cards, PayPal, and more
• Highly rated on Trustpilot
• In-depth knowledge repository
• Ideal for small transactions
• Fast money transfers, with half of all transactions completed in minutes and the rest within 0-2 days
• Outstanding web platform and mobile app experience

Wise Cons

• Some Challenges with customer service
• Cash pickup isn’t an option
• Lack of dedicated currency dealers
• Less-frequented countries and currencies might incur high transfer fees
• Inadequate for large monetary transfers
• No support for lesser-traded currencies

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