Revolut vs Airwallex: Which is better for Australian businesses?

Key takeaways

• Airwallex is built for all businesses, from startup to enterprise, that operate across borders. You get a unified platform for Global Accounts, international payments, spend management, and payment acceptance. Revolut offers tiered plans that can work for businesses and sole traders with cross-border needs, but can be limiting when plan limits are met and fees kick in.

• Airwallex gives you broader global reach (payouts to 200+ countries), local account details for more countries, , more powerful expense management tools, and the ability to earn a return on idle funds with Yield. Revolut also lets you accept customer payments and also lets you earn interest with a savings account, but is limited with its local account details and does not have as advanced expense management features.

• Airwallex gives you access to the interbank rate with transparent margin that do not change with volume. Revolut offers interbank rates up to a certain limit then charges fees, but also has fees for out-of-hours transfers.

If you run a growing business, you’ll need a platform that is ready for your business when it scales. If you're comparing Airwallex and Revolut Business, consider the products and features you need now as well as what you may need down the track.

Airwallex offers payouts to 200+ countries compared to Revolut's 150+, we will not charge you additional fees for exchanges outside of market hours or if you hit plan limits, and we offer powerful expense management with AI agents helping you close your books faster each month.

In this guide we'll break down Airwallex and Revolut Business features and fees and how they compare in Australia so you can make the right decision for your company.

Compare Revolut Business with Airwallex

What is Revolut?

Revolut launched in 2015 as a fintech company providing digital financial services to consumers, and then expanded to businesses. As of 21 July 2026, Revolut is an Authorised Deposit-Taking Institution (ADI)¹ and able to issue banking products such as deposit accounts, credit cards, and savings accounts.

Revolut offers a tiered pricing plan for business customer starting with its Basic plan for A$15 per month. This includes a multi-currency Business Bank Account, physical and virtual debit cards, payment acceptance, crypto, FX, transfers, and a savings account.

What is Airwallex?

Founded in 2015, Airwallex is an all-in-one financial platform that simplifies global business management and makes international expansion easier.

Here's what you get with Airwallex:

• Multi-currency accounts: Collect, hold, and transact balances from 70+ countries and open local foreign currency accounts in 20+ currencies.

• Fast cross-border payments: Send money internationally at competitive FX rates without long delays. Over 90% of our transactions arrive on the same day.

• Virtual and physical cards. Issue multi-currency cards to your team in 60+ regions for simplified company spending.

• Expense management: Control and track company spending with end-to-end tools for billing, invoices, subscription management and more.

• Business integrations: Connect with platforms you already use like Xero, QuickBooks, and Shopify

• Yield: Earn returns on idle funds with a high-rate business saver

Fee comparison: Revolut vs Airwallex

When you're choosing a financial platform, you need to know what you'll actually pay. Let's break down three key cost areas: FX rates, transfer fees, and monthly account fees.

Foreign exchange (FX) rates

You'll get better rates than traditional banks with both platforms, but their models work differently. With Airwallex, you'll pay a transparent margin of 0.5%–1% above the interbank rate, regardless of which plan you're on. Revolut gives you a monthly allowance for free FX conversions within its paid plans – for example, up to A$2,000 with Basic – but charges a 0.6% fee once the limit is reached. There is also a 1% fee outside of market hours.

Transfer fees

With Airwallex, you can send money to over 120 countries through our local payment network with zero international transfer fees. If you send payments via the SWIFT network, fees apply. Revolut gives you a set number of free local and international transfers depending on your subscription tier (there are no free international transfers included with Basic). Once you exceed your allowance, you'll pay a A$10 fee for international transfers and a A$0.20 fee for domestic. Seperate fees are charges for SWIFT.

Monthly account fees

Revolut uses a subscription model starting at A$15 for its Basic tier. Airwallex also has a tiered subscription model, including a plan with no monthly fees if you deposit A$5,000 per month or hold a balance of A$10,000. If these conditions aren't met, the fee is A$29 per month.

Global Accounts and local details

With Airwallex, you can open Global Accounts with local bank details in over 20 currencies, including GBP, EUR, USD, and AUD. This means your customers in the UK, Europe, or the US can pay you using local bank transfers without high fees or delays.

Revolut also has multi-currency accounts, but with a more limited set of local details, often routing payments through a single IBAN.

International transfers

With Airwallex, you can make payouts to over 200 countries, and over 90% of your transfers will arrive the same day through our local payment network. Revolut's payout network reaches over 150 countries.

Expense management: which is better for online businesses?

There's a difference between simply issuing cards and running a genuinely automated expense process. If you're scaling a team, managing spend from the same platform as your business account cuts hours of manual admin and keeps your books current.

Here is how Revolut and Airwallex compare for expense management:

• AI policy enforcement: Airwallex gives you the Expense Policy Agent, an always-on AI reviewer that checks every expense the moment it's submitted, across every entity, currency, and language, flagging what's out of policy and citing the exact rule. Revolut has no equivalent AI policy agent, and its rules-based custom approvals are only available on its Grow plan and above.

• AI receipt capture and categorisation: With Airwallex, AI matches receipts to transactions, suggests account codes, and reads supplier invoices for Bill Pay, while Kai, our AI assistant, guides your team across the platform. Revolut uses OCR to capture and auto-fill receipts with up to 98% accuracy, but its AI stops there, with no AI-powered accounts payable.

• Spend controls and automation: Airwallex lets you set limits by card, category, and merchant and build approval flows that mirror your org chart, catching out-of-policy spend before it happens. Revolut offers card controls, auto-freeze, and mileage tracking, but relies on manual rules rather than AI.

• Multi-entity reconciliation: With Airwallex, you can manage expenses across multiple entities from one view, reimburse on local rails, and auto-sync to Xero, QuickBooks, and NetSuite. Revolut syncs to Xero, but Expenses is a paid add-on (A$8 per user) on every plan with no native multi-entity policy management.

Compare additional features between Revolut and Airwallex

Local foreign currency details

Both platforms let you open foreign currency details globally. This means you can create local accounts to hold balances in a local account, provide local banking details to local suppliers and customers for faster payments, and settle payments like-for-like. However, Revolut only lets you open accounts in two currencies while Airwallex lets you open local details for 20+ currencies.

Earn returns and interest

All Airwallex users in Australia get access to Yield, a high-rate saver where you can earn returns on idle AUD and USD funds. Yield has no lock-in periods and competitive rates. Revolut now has a Business Savings Account available, with variable interest rates increasing for each account tier.

Customer support

All Airwallex customers get support, and if you're eligible, we can assign you a hands-on account manager for personalised assistance. Revolut has 24/7 online support and business account managers for their highest account tier.

Global expansion features

Revolut offers enterprise accounts and lets you create accounts for multiple businesses. You can also connect to accounting software, HR platforms, and leverage business APIs.

Airwallex's enterprise features are more advanced. We offer multi-entity management from a single dashboard, Billing and subscription management, accounting integrations, HRIS platform integrations, optimised global fund flows, advanced rules-based automations, usage-based Billing, advanced multi-currency reporting, and more.

Why Australian businesses choose Airwallex over Revolut

If you're scaling your company and targeting worldwide customers or clients, Airwallex has a clear edge over Revolut when it comes to sophisticated international capabilities.

Revolut can work for smaller companies, but if you're growing globally, or need configurable, and flexible financial systems, you'll run into limitations.

We built Airwallex specifically to solve complex multi-currency transaction challenges for businesses scaling here are globally. Whether you need to hold multi-currency balances or move money instantly with real-time oversight, Airwallex's financial infrastructure is designed to handle it.

Ready to see how Airwallex can support your international growth? Take a look at our platform to see which features fit your business needs.

Frequently asked questions about Revolut vs Airwallex

Is Airwallex or Revolut the better platform for high-volume international transfers?

Airwallex works well for high-volume international transfers. Its proprietary payment network and access to interbank FX rates mean you'll save significantly at scale, without the monthly allowances or limits in Revolut's tiered plans.

Does Airwallex or Revolut give you wider global reach?

With Airwallex, you can open Global Accounts with local bank details in 20+ currencies and accept payments from 70+ currencies. Revolut lets you collect and hold 30+ currencies, but only gives you local banking details for limited currencies.

Does Airwallex or Revolut have better FX rates?

Airwallex has consistently competitive FX rates with a small, transparent margin above the interbank rate for all customers. Revolut's rates are competitive within your monthly plan allowances, but you'll pay higher fees once you exceed those limits, especially for conversions outside of market hours.

Sources

1. https://www.revolut.com/en-AU/news/revolut_accelerates_global_banking_expansion_with_landmark_apac_licence_launches_revolut_bank_australia/

2. https://www.revolut.com/business/

3. https://www.revolut.com/en-AU/business/multi-currency-accounts/

4. https://www.revolut.com/en-AU/business/business-account-plans/

5. https://help.revolut.com/business/help/receiving-payments/transfers-info/international-iban

6. https://www.revolut.com/en-AU/business/cards/

7. https://www.revolut.com/en-AU/business/partner-apps/