Wise vs Equals Money: Multi-currency, fees, and business tools (2026)

Key takeaways

• Wise is a good choice for simple multi-currency management, with affordable transfers and FX in a good – but relatively small – range of currencies and regions. It’s great for straightforward transfers, but lacks the detail for larger businesses to rely on.

• Equals Money offers a greater currency and geographical coverage, as well as its own spend management tools. However, it comes at a higher (and sometimes unclear) cost and lacks some important features.

• Airwallex suits businesses of all sizes. You get fair pricing (for your account and all transfers/FX), a full slate of financial infrastructure services, and wide global coverage for currencies and regions.

If you need to manage multiple currencies and send payments across borders, Wise vs. Equals Money is a strong comparison to make. Both give you the ability to send, receive, and hold many currencies beyond GBP – but, so do many other fintechs. You need to be able to discern which of the two might be better - or, if there are other alternatives you should consider.

In this article, we’re going to give you the information you need to answer that question. You’ll find a feature list comparison, nuanced pros and cons, and a closer look at the specifics of each platform. 

We’ll also introduce Airwallex as an alternative to Wise and Equals Money, giving you the information you need to take your global business to the next level.

Wise vs Equals Money: Fast comparison table

To get you started, we’ve pulled together some key features from both providers and put them side-by-side. This will give you a great starting point for comparing and assessing both providers before we get into more detail.

Pros and cons: Wise vs Equals Money

You’ll have to weigh up the positives and negatives of any and every platform you consider for multi-currency accounts and spend management. Wise and Equals Money are no different – both companies do some things well and others less so. We’ve highlighted three pros and cons from each of them below, to give you a sense of where they stand out and fall down.

Pros of choosing Wise

The one-off payment (£50) to open your account is equivalent to paying just two months for Equals Money’s spend management product. Their multi-currency account pricing is unclear, but it is a separate, additional cost. On price, Wise is a clear winner – and is far more transparent than Equals Money.

With Wise, you can send low-cost transfers in dozens currencies. Their model of charging a small transfer fee with no FX markup gives you an affordable way to move money across borders. Transfer fees start from 0.33%, which is a hard-to-beat price.

Along with its business account, Wise also offers useful features like an invoice generator with in-built payment acceptance (e.g. debit or credit cards or bank transfers). Streamlining your accounts receivable process, using integrated tools and flexible payment acceptance, is a great way to reduce your admin workload and improve cash flow.

Cons of choosing Wise

Wise positions itself as the way to send money abroad, but its currency, location, and payout coverage isn’t as broad as Equals Money – or other providers. 21 currencies on balance and 50 for payouts is good, but leaves some gaps for specific use cases. If your client or supplier is in an unsupported country, then you’ll need another provider.

If you want to send more than £1 million from Wise, you’ll have to fund it directly from your Wise account. That might not be a problem, but it puts another step in the process and could lead to further issues when transferring money to Wise from your external bank or business account. For payments directly from Wise, their transfer limit is £20 million.

Wise mainly deals in spot trades for currency conversion. You can set stop, limit, and stop-limit orders for conversions between your accounts, but not for outbound transfers and no ability to book forward contracts. Without the flexibility to manage your currencies this way, Wise isn’t truly offering a financial platform for international businesses.

Pros of choosing Equals Money

Equals Money has a fully fledged spend management product, especially in comparison to Wise. If you want to understand and manage your company’s spending – especially by employees – then Equals Money has all the tools you need. With options ranging from prepaid expense cards to fuel, debit, and virtual vendor cards, Equals Money can help you segregate and track your spending in detail.

The ability to book forward FX contracts is a real positive feature of Equals Money. Fixing a rate in advance of your currency conversion can help you maximise your margins and minimise your financial risk, especially when dealing with volatile currencies. Equals Money offers forward contracts for as long as 24 months.

Equals Money advertises an account manager for each customer¹², which is good for lots of reasons. It’s a great relief to have a personal relationship within the company, a direct point of contact, and the same level of support for both common and unique problems. You might not always need them, but you’ll be grateful for their existence when you do.

Cons of choosing Equals Money

Your Equals Money multi-currency account is a single IBAN account, rather than individual local accounts. This isn’t strictly a problem, but it could expose you to higher costs. Using local account details, you can send transfers to your international suppliers at the same speed and cost as if they were based in your neighbouring office building. An international IBAN can rely on payments via SWIFT, which can be relatively slow and expensive.

Equals Money doesn’t offer any kind of payment acceptance (other than manual bank transfers). Wise and other providers can process payments from cards, digital wallets, and other methods directly – including via integrations with your invoices. It’s quick, efficient, and automated – three things every business wants more of.

Costs are unclear with Equals Money – they don’t share their FX margins, fees, or transfer costs on their website. Their multi-currency account is only advertised as having ‘custom’ pricing, available only on enquiry. You’ll have to go through at least some of the sales process to have an idea of final costs to your business.

Why Airwallex is the best fit for global finance operations

Despite both offering multi-currency accounts and international payments, Wise and Equals Money both have gaps in their products. If you’re not faced with underwhelming geographical coverage, you’re battling against opaque pricing and a lack of key financial products.

There’s a better option: Airwallex.

With Airwallex, you get local account details in 20+ currencies, free and fast local payouts to 120+ countries, and a total payout network of over 200 countries. Airwallex was built for the businesses that are scaling fast and expanding into new territories. With prices from £0/month, you get:

• Flat fees of 0.5% - 1% for international transfers and FX (including forward contracts of up to 180 days).

• Integrations with accounting, HR, CRM, e-commerce, and ERP software.

• Full-stack financial infrastructure, from spend management and global accounts to billing engines and API customisations.

Airwallex is the only partner you need if you want to grow internationally.

What is Wise Business?

Businesses primarily use Wise to handle international payments and hold multiple currencies at once. Built on Wise’s peer-to-peer payments network, you can send a variety of currencies to countries around the world. Wise isn’t a bank, but an e-money institution. It’s regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Compare Wise with Airwallex in full detail.

What is Equals Money?

Equals Money offers businesses two key products: Spend management and multi-currency accounts. You can choose a plan that includes either or both products. The company pitches itself as a money movement platform, specialising in international transfers.

Compare Equals Money with Airwallex in full detail.

Comparing Wise vs Equals Money by features

Now, let’s look in more detail at some of the key features offered by both providers. The best option for you is going to be affected by lots of unique factors, but the areas we’ve highlighted below are the foundations for a good multi-currency account provider.

Multi-currency accounts and local collection

Multi-currency accounts are essential for growing businesses in 2026. Even relatively small companies are handling multiple currencies – paying suppliers or billing customers in other countries, for example. The ability to hold, settle, and send payments in those key currencies will improve both your margins and relationships.

Equals Money lets you hold a greater number of currencies (38 vs 21) and has a wider payout network (140 vs 50 currencies). There are two caveats, though:

• We don’t know what transfers and currency exchange cost with Equals Money. They charge 1.5% for card spend in unsupported currencies, but that’s not instructive for transfers.

• Equals Money doesn’t give you local account details, but rather a single IBAN account that can receive and hold multiple currencies. You don’t technically have a local currency account, so payments can be more expensive and slower if you did.

This makes it difficult to really compare the two. On paper, Equals Money offers more multi-currency support than Wise. In reality, there are limitations that make Wise a simpler choice.

Best of the two: Wise (based on the information available).

FX fees and cross-border spend costs

This is a slightly difficult area to compare, as Equals Money doesn’t publicly share all of their FX fees. At least, not to the level that Wise does.

We do know that Equals Money cards can spend in 21 currencies with zero fees, rising to 1.5% for all other currencies. Wise users can pay with their cards in 40+ currencies with no fees. You only pay for spending in currencies you don’t have in your account and cash withdrawals above a certain limit.

Wise charges the mid-market FX rate, with no markup, for all international transfers and in-account currency conversions. Instead, they charge a transfer fee – starting from 0.33% for the cheapest currency pairs. They also offer volume discounts if you spend or convert over $25,000 (or equivalent) in a single calendar month.

Both offer spot trades and limit orders, but only Equals Money offers forward contracts.

Best of the two: Wise – with the caveat that we don’t have all the information for Equals Money.

Expense cards and spend control capability

Equals Money edges out Wise here, in what is mainly a reflection of their product priorities. Having developed its own standalone spend management product, Equals Money naturally has a more mature expense and spend solution.

Both providers offer company and employee cards, but Equals Money has a deeper set of controls, limits, and use cases attached to them. With Equals Money, you can control spending by vendor, transaction value, team, location, or even create a dependency with a vehicle.

One thing that sets Wise apart is their 0.5% cashback offer on all eligible spend (including from employee expense cards). This, combined with their greater currency coverage for card spend, makes Wise a better choice if your company does a lot of international or travel-based card spending.

Best of the two: Equals Money.

Automation, integrations and finance workflow

On automation, the depth of Equals Money’s spend management tools puts it ahead of Wise. In-product, features like approval logic and OCR scanning create efficiencies. Beyond spend management, automated features like FX forwards and stop/limit orders make its FX engine more powerful.

On integrations, however, Wise is far ahead of Equals Money – with 12 integrations compared to Equals Money’s two. For both providers, these integrations are exclusively with accounting software. There’s no publicly listed information about HR, ERP, or CRM integrations for either platform. As a result, your systems won’t be seamlessly integrated when using Equals Money or Wise.

Best of the two: Wise.

Final verdict: Which you should you choose in 2026

Wise works well for smaller businesses with a straightforward need for international accounts payable and receivable. Equals Money is a more powerful platform for managing business and employee spend.

Airwallex does all of the above and much more. With a far larger payout network based on local payment rails, Airwallex is a more powerful tool for international payments. It’s the same story when compared with Equals Money: Airwallex’s spend management system – including everything from purchase orders and bulk payments to card issuing and spend controls – does everything that Equals Money’s can.

Then, add into the mix Airwallex’s embedded finance, payment acceptance, and growing AI and machine learning tools. With Airwallex, you get a single platform to unify your financial operations. If you’re scaling your business – especially into new regions – that can be a complete game-changer.

FAQs

Is Wise a bank?

Wise is an e-money institution (EMI), regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It doesn’t have a UK banking license – in fact, it doesn’t have a banking license anywhere in the world. EMIs like Wise or Airwallex can provide you with a business account, but cannot lend your money to other customers nor offer you products like mortgages or overdrafts. 

What happened to Transferwise?

Transferwise rebranded to Wise in 2021, as they believed their customers needed more than just international transfers. The company is the same as it was before the rebrand, they just changed name and have updated their branding.

Can I use Equals Money as my main account?

Yes, if you want to use your Equals Money multi-currency account for your daily business activity, you can. You have normal account details for receiving and sending payments. Equals Money isn’t a licensed bank, but that shouldn’t stop you – your money is kept safe in safeguarding accounts held with licensed banks and Equals Money can’t use it for any of their own operations or lending.

What can I do with Equals Money?

You can use Equals Money to keep multiple currencies on your balance, send domestic and international payments, and manage your company’s spending (including via employee cards). It’s an e-money institution (EMI), providing financial services – but it’s not a licensed bank.

Sources and references

1. https://wise.com/gb/business/

2. https://equalsmoney.com/business-accounts/multi-currency-business-account

3. https://wise.com/gb/business/invoices

4. https://wise.com/help/articles/2571907/what-currencies-can-i-send-to-and-from?origin=topic-5bVKT0uQdBrDp6T62keyfz

5. https://equalsmoney.com/business-payments/international-payments

6. https://wise.com/gb/pricing/business

7. https://equalsmoney.com/pricing

8. https://wise.com/gb/business/manage-team

9. https://equalsmoney.com/spend-management-software

10. https://wise.com/gb/business/card

11. https://equalsmoney.com/expense-cards

12. https://equalsmoney.com/why-equals-money