Stripe vs Airwallex: Compare on fees, features and benefits

If you run an eCommerce business, you'll need an online payment gateway to accept credit and debit card payments from customers. Both Stripe and Airwallex offer payment gateways that plug into your eCommerce store, but which solution is right for your business? Read on to find out how Airwallex compares against Stripe on price, features, and benefits.

What is Stripe?

Stripe is a payments technology company that provides businesses with a platform to accept payments from customers. Stripe offers a point-of-sale (POS) system for bricks-and-mortar retailers to accept in-person payments, and an online payment gateway for eCommerce businesses to accept credit and debit card payments. Mobile wallet payments and Buy Now, Pay Later services are also accepted through Stripe.

What is Airwallex? 

Airwallex is a one-stop solution for business financial operations. The Airwallex online payment gateway integrates seamlessly with eCommerce platforms, offering hyper-competitive processing fees, and the ability to eliminate unnecessary FX conversion fees.

Airwallex empowers users to accept payments from customers in 130+ countries and regions through a variety of payment methods, including popular local options like WeChat Pay and AliPay. eCommerce businesses can also connect with existing eCommerce platforms through smart integrations, and configure intelligent Payment Links.

Compare Stripe with Airwallex 

Compare key features between Stripe and Airwallex

When it comes to business, Stripe and Airwallex both provide online payment gateways that accept various payment methods. Airwallex offers low and no-code options for eCommerce and customisable Payment Links to allow businesses to create an elevated customer experience. 

Stripe, on the other hand, focuses on catering to all business sizes with their POS terminals that allow for in-person payments options.

Airwallex offers seamless integrations with various accounting software that allow their users to easily track and manage spending. With Airwallex multi-currency accounts, users can hold global funds in 180+ countries, making international payment acceptance easy. Stripe does not offer this feature.

Stripe fees, explained

• Transaction Fees: Stripe charges a per-transaction fee for each successful credit or debit card payment your customers make. Stripe fees vary based on whether the card used is domestic or international. Domestic card fees are 1.7% plus 30c per transaction.³

• International Fees: Stripe charges 3.5% plus an additional AUD 0.30 for each successful international transaction. Stripe's international fees also increase by 2% if currency conversion is involved.¹

💰 Money-saving tip: Reduce unnecessary conversions and fees on transactions with the option to collect and settle in the same currency using Airwallex. Our like-for-like settlement lets you collect and settle funds in 14 major currencies, avoiding FX conversion fees.

• GST: A final fee to be aware of is the Goods and Services Tax (GST). GST is included in Stripe’s payment, foreign exchange, and dispute fees for users in Australia (as well as any other country that collects GST). The current GST rate is 10%.

• Additional fees: Stripe charges additional fees for features that Airwallex includes for free. Stripe charges for Radar’s machine learning, which manages their security, whilst Airwallex has built-in security and 3D secure authentication. 

Airwallex fees, explained 

Airwallex charges a per-transaction fee for successful credit and debit card payments which varies depending on domestic or international payments.

International fees: Airwallex international transaction fees are slightly lower than Stripe’s at 1.65% plus 30c.

Global Accounts: Airwallex multi-currency business accounts allow you to settle in multiple currencies without converting funds to AUD. You can transfer funds from your account to 200+ countries, or pay out using Corporate Cards.

Cost-efficient global payment acceptance: The Airwallex online payment gateway makes accepting domestic and international payments easier and more affordable whilst seamlessly integrating with popular eCommerce platforms. Airwallex multi-currency settlement lets you accept foreign currency payments without auto-converting to AUD, saving you unnecessary conversion fees. This lets you use those same funds to pay overseas suppliers, saving on future FX charges.

Compare additional features between Stripe and Airwallex

International payments: Airwallex accepts payments from 130+ currencies via 160+ payment methods, whereas Stripe accepts in 135+ currencies and dozens of payment methods. Airwallex lets you avoid double conversions through settling in multiple currencies directly. This means that you can avoid currency conversion fees through like-for-like settlements in 14 currencies, which Stripe doesn’t offer. 

Security: Both have a robust security system to protect against fraud using extensive data. Airwallex's checkout has a built-in AI optimisation engine (at no extra cost) that helps reduce payment fraud and improves conversion rates. Stripe also offers security and fraud features as an add-on feature, incurring an additional fee. 

Full product suite: Stripe’s full stack of products and services includes online payments, billing, invoicing, point of sale and embedded finance. While Airwallex has these capabilities, it also boasts flexible integration options, ranging from a simple plug-and-play solution to a fully customisable checkout. Airwallex’s full product suite includes Global Accounts, virtual cards, end-to-end Expense Management, faster global transfers, Yield and embedded finance. This makes Airwallex ideal for ‌scaling globally. 

Real Local Support: Stripe offers ticketing support to its customers. Airwallex on the other hand, provides hands-on onboarding and local account managers included at no extra costs for eligible customers, which Stripe charges thousands annually. With Airwallex, businesses do not need to be enterprise-scale to get tailored help from someone within Australia, which can make a world of difference, especially when managing your finances.  

Final thoughts: Stripe vs Airwallex

Both Stripe and Airwallex offer online payment gateways for businesses to make ‌local and international card payments. Despite being more well-known, Stripe’s fees are slightly higher and their product suite doesn't offer an all-in-one solution for your business' financial needs.

While Stripe offers a POS system, Airwallex instead focuses on its digital platform. Airwallex has the edge on more competitive fees, borderless cards and built-in expense management tools, which Stripe does not. Uniquely, Airwallex offers like-for-like settlement so businesses can save on their bottom line and optimise efficiency, built-in fraud prevention, multi-currency accounts and local Australian support. 

Australian eCommerce companies can save money while growing their businesses at home and abroad by signing up for an Airwallex business account. Get faster, more cost-effective financial operations with Airwallex.

Sources

1. https://stripe.com/au/pricing

2. https://docs.stripe.com/currencies/conversions

3. https://stripe.com/au/pricing/local-payment-methods

Disclaimer: We wrote this article in Q2 2025. The information was based on our own online research and we were not able to manually test each tool or provider. The information is provided for educational purposes only and a reader should consider the specific requirements of their business when evaluating providers. This research is reviewed every six months. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

This information doesn’t take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. If you are a customer of Airwallex Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 487221) it is important for you to read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for the Direct Services, which is available here.