Personal Features

Wise

50

50

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.

What Wise offers individuals

  • International money transfers
  • Borderless multi-currency receiving accounts
  • Borderless Debit Card - FX optimised debit card
  • Android and Apple apps
  • Send money to email address
  • Scheduled and recurring transfers - sufficiently funded Borderless account required for this to work.

What Wise does not offer individuals

  • Personal account management
  • Full support for regular transfers. Currently regular transfers or ‘scheduled transfers’ need to have a Borderless multi-currency account balance. Find out which countries support TransferWise Borderless account.
  • Cash pick up or international bill payments

Payoneer

0

0

Payoneer only offers money transfer solutions for freelancers and businesses. Therefore Payoneer receives a zero score for the Individual services category. If you need international money transfer services or solutions and you are not a freelancer or a business. You should click Compare Now in the top menu. Find the best companies for individuals that support your home and destination country.


Wise wins!

Wise wins by default in the personal scoring category. Payoneer does not provide services to individuals. Payoneer only offers business to business (B2B) solutions. Wise’s offering to individuals include, but is not limited to, international money transfers to foreign bank accounts; unique multi-currency local banking details (Borderless) and a the Borderless debit card attached to the Borderless account.

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Winner

Business Benefits

Wise

56

56

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.

What Wise offers businesses

  • Batch payments
  • Xero and Quickbook integration
  • FX optimised business debit card
  • Multi-user account access
  • Regular and scheduled transfers

What Wise for business doesn’t offer

  • Business account management
  • Risk management tools

Payoneer

89

89

Payoneer specializes in providing international money transfer services for businesses, online sellers and freelancers. Payoneer offers international payment solutions for large and small businesses alike. AirBNB has partnered with Payoneer to service payments to their hosts. Small business and entrepreneurs leverage Payoneers Online Sellers integration to easily receive payments from Amazon, Wish and Shopee and many more. See a high level list of the services Payoneer offer below.

What Payoneer for business offers

  • Solutions for online sellers
  • Unique local multi-currency bank accounts
  • Mass payments
  • Prepaid Mastercard
  • Payment requests
  • Payoneer to Payoneer transfers
  • Accounting integration

What Payoneer for business doesn’t do

  • Currency hedging tools
  • Dedicated account managers for small transfers

Payoneer wins!

Payoneer wins the Business Benefits category. Payoneer has been in business longer than Wise and has a larger range of mature services. This includes the Payoneer Mastercard. 

Consider Payoneer Global account vs Wise Borderless account. Both offer multi-currency banking details. However, Payoneer Global Account offers more currencies than the Wise Borderless account. Payoneer offers local banking details in USD, CAD, MEX, GBP, EUR, JPY.  Wise Borderless account offers local banking details in GBP, EUR, USD, AUD, and NZD.

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Fees & Exchange Rates

Wise

54

54

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 ServiceWise fee
Simple International Money Transfer

0.4% - 2% 

Varies on currency and payment type

Adding to Wise Borderless account0.4% - 0.5%
Converting between Borderless account0.3% - 0.6%
Sending money out of Borderless accountLess 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


Payoneer

42

42

Payoneer fees include transferring money out of Payoneer to local bank accounts, using their Mastercard to spend in foreign countries, and some additional fees. There are no fees for receiving money in to your Payoneer account.

Payoneer Fees

There are different fees for Payoneer services. Read the review of Payoneer to see a detailed breakdown of all the fees that can apply. Below is a short summary of the Payoneer fees.

Exchange rate margin fee - An exchange rate margin of up to 3% can apply in different circumstances such as withdrawing money and transferring balances between different currencies. You may negotiate better rates when carrying out large value transfers.

Payoneer Mastercard - Spending funds in the Payoneer account using the Payoneer Mastercard can have up to a 3.5% currency conversion fee.

Are there additional Payoneer fees?

Yes. You might need to pay fees when receiving and making payments. The Payoneer Prepaid Mastercard comes with an annual fee. 


Wise wins!

Wise is the clear winner with fees and exchange rates. Wise is cheaper than Payoneer fees. Both Wise and Payoneer have complex and varying across their products and services. Just check out their detailed reviews on iCompareFX to see! 

Wise’s fees are not hidden though. They offer no hidden exchange rate margins and their fees can be clearly seen before committing to the money transfer.

Payoneer also slugs you with a yearly account fee of US$29.95 if your account is inactive, where Wise charges no such fee.

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Ease of Use

Wise

83

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.


Payoneer

64

64

What Payoneer does well

Sign up process - Fairly straightforward although completing the US tax form can be time consuming.

Payment options -  Bank account transfers, debit card, credit cards and Payoneer balances.

Mobile app - Available for iOS and Android. 
 

Where Payoneer could improve

Transfer speed - Up to 3 business days upon payment.

Phone transfers - Transfers can not be completed over the phone.

USA tax compliance form assistance - Completing the form as a non-US resident can be confusing. It would be of great help to provide more assistance for non-nationals to complete these forms.


Wise wins!

Wise is at its heart a financial technology company. From the ground up, their technology, process and design has been the customer experience first. 

Wise pushes for faster transfers, easy customer onboarding and very easy to use, intuitive applications. 

Payoneer’s money transfer speed is perfectly acceptable albeit slower than Wise. Signing up to a Payoneer account is easily done through their registration process. You are guided through the type of customer you are and the type of information they need. As a non-US resident for tax purposes, the US tax form requirement can be quite cumbersome.

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Support & Countries

Wise

88

88

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.


Payoneer

88

88

What Payoneer does well

Supported destination countries and currencies - Payoneer supports transfers to more than 200 countries and territories, in over 150 currencies.

Customer support - Customer support is available via chat, email and over the phone.

Languages - Access to the Payoneer website comes in multiple languages.
 

Where Payoneer could improve

Send from countries - As of now, customers can use the Global Payment Service to send money from the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada and Mexico.

Customer Service - There is a growing number of negative customer reviews for Payoneer. These need to be addressed and communicated through review channels such as Trustpilot.


It's a draw!

Neither Wise nor Payoneer win this section. Both offer almost full global coverage. This includes a large number of local settlement accounts. 

Payoneer offers some more telephone support than Wise. But both offer multiple alternative support channels. 

Wise and Payoneer however, also experiencing some customer complaints through review platforms which have lost them some points.

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Trust & Transparency

Wise

63

63

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.


Payoneer

63

63

What Payoneer does well

  • Payoneer is fully regulated in different countries.
  • Two-factor authentication adds another layer of security to your Payoneer account.
  • High volume of repeat transfers implies high levels of trust.

Where Payoneer could improve

Exchange rate margin fee transparency - Payoneer’s exchange rates include margins of up to 3% in some cases.


It's a draw!

Both companies are fully regulated with client funds segregated from company bank accounts for clients safety. Unfortunately, both are dependent on private equity funding to fund growth which can lead to future challenges as discussed in their detailed reviews. 

Their TrustPilot reviews are both rated as Excellent. However some points have been lost due to some customer reviews that are not been replied to nor addressed.

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Draw

The Result

Winner ribbon iconWinner

 Wise

Wise wins the overall comparison. To answer which is better is a little more detailed. Larger companies should consider Payoneer due to its impressive business service offerings. Although their fees are high, these can be negotiated for larger businesses with larger volumes. This is not available with Wise. 

For simply supplier payments or receiving funds, Wise would be a more appropriate option.

If you are an online seller across multiple platforms, Payoneer can reduce your admin overhead by combining in a single dashboard. This may come at a cost. 

It is important to note that Payoneer forms partnerships with business while Wise is a financial technology service. 

FAQs

Can I transfer money from Payoneer to TransferWise?

No. You cannot withdraw from Payoneer to Wise Borderless account. Withdrawal bank accounts added to Payoneer require verification. After adding the Borderless account details for your local currency account, you are prompted to upload banking documents to prove the account is yours. This is manually verified. As an alternative, the WorldFirst World Account provides certificates for proof of bank account ownership. This may pass Payoneer’s manual checks.