Revolut and PayPal offer very different services and solve different problems for customers. Both allow international money transfers. This comparison will detail their features and then also compare features and fees for overseas payments and fund transfers.
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Revolut provides digital banking and international money transfer services for personal customers from different countries.
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PayPal provides different services for personal customers from a number of countries. However, the services on offer vary from one region to another. PayPal's consumer product is a digital wallet where the customer's ID can be their email address and phone number. PayPal customers can send money to each other's digital wallets quickly and easily. The PayPal digital wallet can be connected to a bank account and debit or credit cards. This allows customers to withdraw available funds to their bank accounts. Connecting their bank cards allows customers to buy goods and services on e-commerce stores where PayPal is accepted as a payment method.
Revolut wins the category for individual features with a focus on international money transfers. Revolut offers FX optimized debit cards, multi-currency receiving accounts with banking details, and international money transfers to bank accounts.
PayPal offers customers to use their PayPal account balance or linking card or bank account to pay for goods and services online. It means keeping a single location for payment details updates.
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Businesses signing up with Revolut can receive multiple benefits.
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PayPal for business provides a range of specialized services for businesses from different countries. Businesses can use PayPal to create and send invoices and receive payments. PayPal's merchant solution allows online sellers to accept PayPal as a payment method. Customers can use the PayPal payment gateway to buy goods or services using their PayPal account or directly with credit or debit cards. PayPal has more solutions for business accepting micro payments which may be quite useful when selling low cost products.
With regard to business services for global business payments and funds receipts both are matched.
Again showing that we are comparing different businesses entirely, PayPal has a merchant banking solution, for customers to pay for goods and services globally using their PayPal account as described in Individual features category. Online merchants can receive foreign currency payments and then hold them in the PayPal digital wallet for withdrawal to their business bank account.
Revolut offers business banking, FX optimised travel debit cards and accounting integration.
Each company performs a different function for a business.
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When you use your Revolut card to make international transactions, you could benefit by getting existing interbank rates. Revolut fees depend on the type of account you open and where you live. As you will see to get the best out of Revolut for international transactions, you need to choose a monthly subscription plan to match your forecasted monthly international money transactions volume, and most importantly.. don't use Revolut on the weekends for currency conversions! Read on to see why…
| Region | Account type | Monthly subscription fee |
| The US | Standard | $0 |
| Premium | $9.99 | |
| Metal | $16.99 | |
| The UK | Standard | £0 |
| Premium | £6.99 | |
| Metal | £12.99 | |
| Australia | Standard | $0 |
| Premium | $10.99 | |
| Metal | $24.99 |
Fees for ATM withdrawals
| Account type | Fees |
| Standard | No fee up to $300 per month, then a 2% fee applies. |
| Premium | No fee up to $600 per month, then a 2% fee applies. |
| Metal | No fee up to $1,200 per month, then a 2% fee applies. |
| Account type | Fees |
| Standard | No fee up to $6,500 per month, then a 0.5% exchange rate margin applies. |
| Premium | No fee up to $20,000 per month, then a 0.5% exchange rate margin applies. |
| Metal | Unlimited free transfers. |
For example, you have an Australian Revolut account but have a USD balance. You may have converted your AUD balance to USD and are holding it in your Revolut multi-currency account. Since early 2021, a new fee is applied. The fee for same currency international money transfers from your Revolut account to a non-Revolut bank account is 0.3% of the transfer amount. The minimum charge is $0.30 and the maximum charge is $8.
Same currency transfers between Revolut customers internationally still does not cost anything.
Revolut provides interbank exchange rates when processing international money transfers involving major currencies, provided they fall within a customer's monthly allowance limit. Transfers that involve THB (Thailand) and UAH Ukraine) come with markups, as do cryptocurrency exchanges. The markup depends on the type of account you hold.
Fees for foreign exchange outside market hours (weekends)
| High-frequency Standard customers | Premium customers | Metal customers | |
| Major currencies | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| THB and UAH | 1.5% | 2% | 2% |
| Cryptocurrencies | 3% | 1.5% | 1.5% |
Using Revolut on the weekend (GMT), incurs high exchange rate fees of 1%. This is not highlighted very well when signing up and can mean surprise costs for weekend international travellers or travellers on extended trips.
iCompareFX Top Tip: It pays to not use Revolut on the weekends!
You don't have to pay any fees to receive money into your Revolut multi-currency accounts. However, the sender might need to pay intermediary bank fees. For example, a sender transferring EUR from Ireland into your EUR-denominated account in the UK might still need to pay intermediary bank fees. This is because the multi-currency accounts offered by Revolut are physically located in the UK.
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PayPal fees vary based on where you live and the services on offer. Below we show sample fees for the USA. For more detailed information on fees for PayPal merchant solution, iCompareFX has created an interactive payment gateway fees comparison tool and more detailed breakdown of merchant variable and fixed fees by region.
| Payment method | Fees |
| PayPal Cash, PayPal Cash Plus or a linked bank account | $0 |
| Credit card, debit card or PayPal Credit | 2.9% of the transfer amount, plus a fixed fee |
| Payment method | Transaction fees | Funding fees |
| PayPal Cash, PayPal Cash Plus or a linked bank account | 5% of the transfer amount (minimum of $0.99 and maximum of $4.99) | $0 |
| Credit card, debit card or PayPal Credit. | 5% of the transfer amount (minimum of $0.99 and maximum of $4.99) | 2.9% of the transfer amount plus a fixed fee |
| Mode of selling | Fees |
| Selling in the US | 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction |
| Selling internationally | 4.4% plus a fixed fee based on the currency received |
| PayPal Here card reader | 2.7% for card swipes, or 3.5% plus $0.15 for manually entered transactions |
PayPal adds a margin of up to 3% on existing mid-market rates when carrying out currency conversion. Combined with the fees you need to pay, the cost of sending money overseas through PayPal becomes rather prohibitive.
Both Revolut and PayPal are expensive for payments or repatriating revenue internationally. Revolut has a no fee threshold that once you go over, the exchange rate margins increase. You can increase your fee free monthly thresholds by paying higher account fees per month.
PayPal has very poor exchange rates on offer and high payment gateway fees.
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Sign up process - Create a new account with ease by using the Revolut app.
Payment options - Bank account transfers, debit cards and credit cards..
Apple Pay and Google Pay - Link your Revolut account to Apple Pay or Google Pay to make fast and easy payments.
Mobile app - Available for iOS and Android.
Website access - Customers can not use the Revolut website to access their accounts or send money. They need to use the Revolut app.
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Sign up - Signing up takes little time, and you may do so by using the PayPal website or app.
Payment options - You can fund your account and transfers in different ways such as bank transfers, debit cards and credit cards.
PayPal app - The PayPal app is available for iOS and Android.
Phone transfers - PayPal customers can not send money over the phone.
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Supported currencies for transfers - Use Revolut to send money in 28 currencies.
Customer support - Local phone support in different countries and 24/7 chat support.
Supported registration countries - Revolut can improve by increasing the number of registration countries outside of Europe.
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Supported countries - PayPal provides its services in more than 200 countries and territories.
Multilingual website - You can use the PayPal website in different languages.
Local phone support - PayPal could do better by providing local phone support in countries with large customer bases.
PayPal is superior with regards to countries' support. PayPal’s network is vast. Countries not supported by PayPal are supported by another PayPal company called Xoom.
Revolut’s customer countries and currencies supported are less than PayPal’s but their FX optimised debit card can be used anywhere Visa or Mastercard is supported.
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Addressing customer complaints - Some Revolut reviews on Trustpilot mention customers' accounts being locked and their money going missing. Quick resolution of such complaints would work well in increasing trust levels.
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Customer rating - PayPal gets a rating of Bad on Trustpilot. Several PayPal reviews written by customers highlight the company's poor customer service. None of the recent reviews have been answered by PayPal. Regular PayPal complaints are related to business accounts being suspended during disputes with no notice or follow up by PayPal. This has lead to a large number of unanswered complaints on Twitter, TrustPilot and Google reviews.
Exchange rate transparency - The non-transparent exchange rate margin leaves many customers wondering about the true cost of their transfers.
WinnerIn summary, Revolut is better than PayPal for international money transfers and travel money. As long as you keep below the account’s tier fee free threshold, Revolut is a great choice.
PayPal’s merchant solution makes it easy for online merchants to charge for their services. PayPal’s benefits to the individual is to keep payment details hidden and protected from online fraud. Revolut is a digital bank optimized for FX. PayPal is not.
Should your business require a payment gateway, consider comparing payment gateways for fees, features and supported registration countries.
Yes. You can withdraw money from PayPal to Revolut within the UK. Australia is not supported. PayPal verifies your bank account through microdeposits that depend on Direct Debit. Revolut Australia does not give their Australian customers local banking details.
