Compare OFX vs Wise. Find which is cheaper or better for your individual or business needs. Compare fees, exchange rates, customer reviews and features for individuals and businesses.
OFX
Overall score:
87
87
Wise
Overall score:
75
75
Personal Features
Business Benefits
Fees & Exchange Rates
Ease of Use
Support & Countries
Trust & Transparency
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OFX offers international money transfer solutions for individuals specialising in international bank transfers.
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Wise provides a simple easy to use international money transfer service with digital wallet capabilities. Their digital wallet, or Borderless account also gives the individual local banking details in 6+ currencies including, EUR, SGD, NZD, USD, GBP and AUD. Their Wise Borderless debit card backs on to their Borderless digital wallet allowing you to spend directly out of your multi-currency account balances.
OFX wins compared with Wise for individual service offering. Wise does offer multi-currency receiving accounts and debit cards for the individual. But OFX can offer a more personalized service through their personal account managers.
Wise would be perfect for sending smaller sums of money often. OFX caters to larger transfers of money by working with individuals needs and timing of transfers.
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Where OFX really shines is their business solutions and partnerships. Global businesses small and large can take advantage of their variety of solutions to work with global customers and suppliers. Most importantly they help manage currency risk.
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In addition to the services Wise offers the individual, there are some features only available for a business. Unfortunately, as Wise is online only, a business customer does not have support with currency fluctuations and trends. Wise does however offer easy to use transactional foreign currency receipts and payments.
Scheduled transfers is a recently added feature. This can reduce admin for those standard monthly, weekly payments to suppliers and staff. A sufficient balance in the Business Borderless account is required. Wise will remind the account owner to make sure there is sufficient funds in the multi-current account. What is not supported is standing orders from a business bank account through Wise. This may mean that businesses need to alter their business structure to ensure continuous sufficent Borderless account funding.
OFX specializes in providing a comprehensive business partnership. Companies working in a global environment may need advice on managing multi-market currency fluctuations to manage their global cash flow and maximise revenue in their home currency.
Wise offers the Borderless multi-currency receiving account and business debit card. However, their customers are on their own navigating future currency fluctuations. OFX can help with the currency and leave the business to manage their core competency.
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Exchange rate margin fee - OFX offered exchange rate includes a fee of 0.5% and 0.7%. This is low and competitive.
By calling an OFX Expert and discussing your money transfer needs, it may be possible to arrange better pricing. In particular for larger sums and large yearly volume trades.
Yes. When sending under CA$10,000 or AUD$10,000, there is an additional fee of $15.
OFX offers customers referred by iCompareFX a low exchange rate margin fee of 0.4%. This is an outstanding offer and is sure to lower all your money transfer costs which means more money being transferred.
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Wise offers the real time exchange rate at the time of your transfer. Therefore fees are visible in addition to the transfer amount. The fee structure is complex as it differs depending on the currencies you are sending from and to. Fees also apply to the type of Borderless account transaction. Fees can also apply on the use of the Wise Borderless debit card. Fees are briefly summarised below. Read the detailed TransferWise review for more details on Wise fees.
| Wise Service | Wise fee |
| Simple International Money Transfer | 0.4% - 2% Varies on currency and payment type |
| Adding to Wise Borderless account | 0.4% - 0.5% |
| Converting between Borderless account | 0.3% - 0.6% |
| Sending money out of Borderless account | Less than 0.1% in most cases |
| Borderless Account Debit Card | No fee for card issuance Fee free cash withdrawal limit of US$250, 2% thereafter Zero cost on spend from existing currency balance, 0.24 - 3.69% fee if there is no existing balance |
It is true that Wise offers transparency on their fees on top of real time exchange rates. It is unfortunately very difficult to estimate fees well in advance of transactions as fees are very different across currencies and the fees can be higher if you choose faster payment methods.
OFX offers a low 0.4% margin for iCompareFX customers. As companies have access to a business partnership manager, fees can be negotiated for larger volumes of transfers. OFX wins this category due to its stable, negotiable and predictable fee structure.
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Sign up process - Fast and intuitive.
ID verification - If requested, ID verification is generally your drivers license ID number and a quick phone call to discuss your money transfer requirements.
Transfer speed - 1 - 2 business days upon payment.
Mobile App - To initiate money transfers. Current and historical exchange rates are also available.
Payment options - There are limited payments available other than local bank transfers.
Minimum transfer amount - The minimum transfer amount is US$1,000, AU$250, CA$250, £100, €250.
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83
The Wise app design and user experience of their technology is great with simple, intuitive processes.
Registration - Fast and easy account creation
ID verification - Instant in some countries
Transfer speed - It can be instantaneous in some countries. Fast payments to Wise comes at an additional cost.
Minimum transfer amount - $1
Mobile app - Simple and easy to use. Probably the best designed app of the international money transfer companies.
Payment options - Wise has the broadest range of payment options. Local bank transfer, debit / credit card and country specific solutions such as POLi.
Now this is where Wise truly shines. Wise definitely wins this category as it would across most of its competitors. At its heart, Wise is Fintech. Emphasis on ‘tech’. Wise onboarding, user experience of their web and mobile apps is outstanding. Attracting a higher cost, global transfers can be instantaneous for some currencies. OFX does well in this category but Wise definitely wins.
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Supported destination countries - OFX supports over 55 currencies and many more exotic currencies.
Global presence - OFX has seven global offices in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, United States, Canada and the UK.
Customer support - Customer support is available locally in the global offices, over the phone and via email.
Languages - Customer service and their website is in English only.
Customer sign up countries - Currently OFX supports customer registration from USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
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Wise’s supported countries vary with different services having different supported customer countries and destination countries. These are detailed in the TransferWise Countries and Currencies article and is summarized below.
Send from - 23 countries plus the Europe SEPA countries
Send to - Over 60 currencies
Borderless account and debit card - Over 6 countries can sign up to their Borderless services.
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Exchange rate margin fee transparency - OFX’s offered exchange rates include margin fees. While the exchange rate margin fee is low, it would be beneficial for current and future customers to clearly understand the fees. This would improve customer satisfaction of their money transfer service.
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Wise is fully regulated by the FCA and their customer funds are segregated from their business banking activities.
Wise is rated on TrustPilot as Excellent. Unfortunately there have been some poor reviews on TrustPilot indicating sudden account closures with funds being returned with no explanation.
Wise continues to raise capital through private funding. This could be a concern for the future when the shareholders are looking for aggressive growth and / or a return on their investment.
iCompareFX has some concerns over the number of private rounds of funding. While profitable, this can put pressure on Wise to grow too quickly. This can be seen with Wise recent Saving Account push in their Borderless account. Wise is not a bank. Shareholders could, in the future, pressure Wise to increase revenue by increasing fees. As fees change regularly, it may not be noticeable at first.
Moreover, there are recently an increasing number of customers reporting sudden account closures. This may be due to its fast natured approach of money laundering regulation compliance on account creation.
Meanwhile, OFX being a publicly listed company, needs to ensure the market is confident enough for steady growth and reliability.
WinneriCompareFX’s comparison of OFX and Wise has shown OFX to be overall better. OFX focuses on partnership while Wise focuses on well designed technology and large marketing campaigns.
OFX would be a better choice for large money transfers or regular money transfers. OFX is better for larger businesses who do not specialize in currency risk management. Wise is more suitable for the global traveller and nimble entrepreneurs who have time to study currency markets.
OFX is cheaper than TransferWise for large money transfers. TransferWise can be cheaper than OFX for small money transfers and across some currencies. Be careful which payment option you choose with TransferWise as this could increase the cost of your money transfer.
