Revolut vs Transferwise

Revolut or Transferwise? Which is better for someone living in Switzerland to use for international transfers, payments and cash withdrawals? Which is cheaper: Revolut or Transferwise?

Hi there,

This study of smartphone banks and bank equivalents provides good insights into cost differences between Revolut and Transferwise.

Best regards from Moneyguru

The main question here is: what is it you need or want to do? I use both Transferwise and Revolut, but for different things.

Transferwise is first and foremost an international money transfer service and it does that very well. For more "exotic" currencies (all but the most widely exchanged currencies), its exchange rates including the transaction fee it adds are very decent. The cost of transfers to foreign bank accounts are fair. This is especially true if the recipient is in a country where transferwise has an account and can transfer the money locally. The costs of using the Transferwise card to pay or withdraw money while traveling are also among the lowest, as the study in the link above proves.

Revolut is more of a multi-service bank. It does the same things that Transferwise does, but arguably at a higher cost (at least in the case of exotic currencies or international transfers). But it also lets you trade stocks, get loans, buy and sell cryptocurrencies, and many other things. Trying to fit all these services into an app arguably results in the app being somewhat cluttered. If I was to name one thing that Revolut does better than Transferwise it is exchanging CHF into other major currencies (EUR, USD, GBP and some others). It uses interbank rates and does not charge a fee when you exchange major currencies on weekdays. If you are in a country in which Revolut has a bank account (it has one in Switzerland), you can transfer money in, exchange it at uneatable rates, and then transfer it out to an account in that currency. I don't know if there is any service that beats Revolut for changing multiple major currencies.

Hope this helps

Has anyone here tried out a Revolut business account? Could this be a good solution for a company which buys and sells products in different countries to receive and exchange currencies?

Revolut has lowered its limit for fee-free currency exchanges to 1250 CHF per month. So the 0.5% foreign transaction fee now applies to any amount over 1250 CHF spent in foreign currencies or exchanged to foreign currencies.

Revolut has also raised the foreign transaction fee it charges on weekends from 0.5% to 1%. Obviously it doen't make sense to exchange on weekends, but you have to keep that in mind if you're a spontaneous border hopper like me.

Also pay attention to the new 1-franc fee for international transactions outside the SEPA. You still get 1 transfer per month free of charge.

I live in Switzerland and need to get a US bank account or some ability to receive money deposits from the USA.  

Does Revolut allow me to setup a USA account. I think I need a a bank account with a ABA routing number?  

US banks do not seem to understand IBAN and SWIFT.

Hi Kris,

TransferWise includes a US bank account which you can use to receive up to USD 250,000 per day and USD1 million per year.

The account uses a collective TransferWise account, so it is not technically an actual personal US bank account in your name. However, it has a routing number, bank code and wire transfer number, and your name is used for money transfers (although the TransferWise US address must be used when an address is required).

You can use it to receive money just as you would a regular US bank account. You can draw on the account using your TransferWise card, and you can make outgoing transfers using TransferWise via web or mobile app. The account has some limitations. For example, it cannot be used for direct debit orders.

Revolut does not provide you with an actual US bank account. The USD account used by Revolut is a UK bank account. While this allows you to send and receive transfers in USD without currency exchanges, it is not a local US bank account and it has an IBAN rather than a routing number.

Best regards from Moneyguru