Wise vs Revolut in 2026: Fees, Rates and Limits Compared

Wise is usually cheaper than Revolut for large or weekend currency conversions and international transfers, while Revolut's free Standard plan is cheaper if you exchange less than £1,000 a month on weekdays. Wise converts at the mid-market rate with a fee that starts at 0.24% (Wise pricing), while Revolut Standard adds a 1% fair usage fee above £1,000 a month and a 1% weekend fee (Revolut Help).

Most Wise vs Revolut pages stop at a feature grid. This guide runs the same three transfers through both apps, £500, £1,500 and £5,000 from pounds to a euro bank account, on a weekday and at the weekend, using Wise's live quote and Revolut's published fee rules. It then works out when a paid Revolut plan pays for itself and how each app protects your money after Revolut's UK bank launch.

If you are comparing these apps because you move money across borders for a business, our guide to stablecoin alternatives to Wise covers a cheaper rail for larger payments, and our stablecoins vs neobanks analysis explains why some users are moving dollar balances out of apps like these.

Our take: the honest answer to Wise vs Revolut is that most people should hold both. Revolut wins as a free everyday spending account inside its allowances; Wise wins the moment a transfer is large, falls on a weekend, or needs to land in someone else's bank account abroad.

Key Takeaways

• Wise charged £3.81 to send £1,000 to a euro bank account on 12 November 2026, at the mid-market rate with no markup (Wise).
• Revolut Standard lets you exchange £1,000 a month without a fair usage fee, then charges 1%; Plus allows £3,000 then 0.5% (Revolut fees).
• Revolut adds a 1% weekend fee on Standard and 0.5% on Plus from 17:00 Friday to 18:00 Sunday Eastern Time (Revolut Help).
• Wise gives £250 of free ATM withdrawals a month, then 2.69%; Revolut Standard gives £200 or 5 withdrawals, then 2% with a £1 minimum (Wise, Revolut).
• Revolut Bank UK can offer FSCS protection up to £120,000 on eligible deposits, while Wise UK safeguards customer money instead of covering it under FSCS (FSCS, Wise).

Wise vs Revolut: which is cheaper in 2026?

Revolut Standard is cheaper for small weekday exchanges inside its £1,000 monthly allowance, and Wise is cheaper for bigger amounts, weekend conversions and most transfers abroad. The table below sets the UK fee rules side by side, read from each company's own pages on 12 November 2026.

How do Wise and Revolut exchange rates differ?

Wise always converts at the mid-market rate and shows a separate fee, while Revolut uses its own variable rate and adds fees when you pass your plan's allowance or exchange at the weekend. Wise says it uses the same mid-market rate you can check on Google and that conversion fees start from 0.24% and vary by currency (Wise pricing).

Revolut's fee page says that within your plan's limit you get the Revolut exchange rate, "We add an exchange fee (if one applies)", and that the rate and total cost are shown in the app where possible (Revolut Standard fees). The allowance is shared across money, crypto and commodities, so £500 of currency plus £300 of crypto plus £200 of commodities uses up the whole £1,000 on Standard (Revolut).

Revolut raised Premium and Metal prices in an update dated 14 October 2026; the new price applies at once to new customers and from 19 December 2026 to existing ones (Revolut Premium fees). The weekend window runs from 17:00 Friday to 18:00 Sunday Eastern Time, which is 22:00 Friday to 23:00 Sunday in London for most of the year (Revolut Help).

What does it cost to send £500, £1,500 and £5,000 to a euro account?

Wise costs about 0.34% to 0.43% on these amounts every day of the week, while Revolut Standard costs nothing at £500 on a weekday but up to £90 on £5,000 at the weekend. Wise figures are its live quotes for GBP to a EUR bank account taken at about 07:05 GMT on 12 November 2026 (Wise). Revolut figures are its published fair usage and weekend fees, assuming no other exchanges that month, plus a free SEPA payment (Revolut).

Two caveats keep this table honest. Revolut's numbers are fee lines only: Revolut prices exchanges at its own rate and may add an exchange fee shown in the app, so its real cost can be higher than the table (Revolut). Wise's quote already includes everything, because it converts at the mid-market rate with zero markup; the same data shows a £3.81 fee on £1,000 (Wise).

Our calculation: on weekday transfers, Revolut Standard and Wise cost the same at roughly £1,570 a month. Below that, Revolut is cheaper; above it, Wise is, because Revolut's 1% fee on every pound past £1,000 grows about three times faster than Wise's roughly 0.33% (Wise, Revolut). At the weekend, Wise beats Revolut Standard on every amount in the table.

Our take: the cheapest habit on Revolut is to convert on weekdays and keep a balance in the currency you will spend, so card payments abroad at the weekend draw on money that was already exchanged. The cheapest habit on Wise is to batch transfers, because its percentage fee falls slightly as the amount grows.

Is a paid Revolut plan worth it for currency exchange?

A paid Revolut plan only pays for itself on exchange fees if you convert more than about £1,400 a month on weekdays. Using Revolut's published fees, Plus at £3.99 beats Standard once you exchange more than £1,399 a month, and Premium at £8.99 beats Plus once you exchange more than £4,000 a month (Revolut plans, Revolut fees).

These break-even points ignore the other benefits in paid plans, such as insurance, savings rates and subscriptions, which Revolut values at £1,750 a year for Premium (Revolut plans). If you would use those benefits anyway, a paid plan can make sense well below the thresholds. If you only want cheap currency exchange, Wise has no plan fee at all (Wise).

Which is better for spending and ATM withdrawals abroad?

For cash, Wise's free allowance is slightly larger, while Revolut's paid plans raise the limit much further. Wise gives £250 of free withdrawals a month and then charges 2.69% of the amount above that (Wise pricing). Revolut gives Standard users £200 or 5 withdrawals, Plus £200, Premium £400, Metal £800 and Ultra £2,000, then 2% with a £1 minimum per withdrawal (Revolut Help).

Card spending works differently on the two apps. With Wise, paying in a currency you already hold is free; otherwise the conversion fee applies (Wise pricing). With Revolut, a card payment that needs a live exchange counts toward your allowance and can trigger the weekend fee, so a Saturday dinner abroad on Standard costs 1% more unless you exchanged beforehand (Revolut Help). ATM operators can add their own fees on either card.

Which is better for receiving money from abroad?

Wise is usually better for freelancers and anyone paid from abroad, because it gives local account details in more currencies and publishes a fixed fee for wire payments. Wise offers account details to receive in 22 currencies, free domestic receipts in nine of them, and fixed fees of US$6.11 for USD wires, £2.16 for GBP Swift and €2.39 for EUR Swift (Wise pricing).

Revolut Standard is free for local payments in your base currency and for euro payments within SEPA, but it charges £8 when money arrives in a US local account by Fedwire, and prices other international payments in the app (Revolut Standard fees). If clients pay you in US dollars by wire, Wise's published US$6.11 fee is easier to plan around.

Is Wise or Revolut safer for your money?

Both are regulated, but they protect money differently: Revolut Bank UK deposits can be covered by the FSCS, while Wise safeguards customer funds instead. Revolut's 2025 annual report says the PRA lifted restrictions on Revolut Bank UK's licence in March 2026 and that FSCS-protected deposit accounts will be introduced to UK customers gradually (Revolut annual report).

The FSCS limit for eligible deposits rose to £120,000 per person per bank from 1 December 2025 (Bank of England, FSCS). Wise is not a bank in the UK. Its UK entity keeps customer money separate from its own funds and holds it in cash, short-term government bonds or comparable guarantees, so in a failure safeguarded funds are returned through an insolvency process rather than a deposit scheme (Wise Help Centre).

Wise's FY26 accounts show the scale of that safeguarding: of US$27.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2026, US$14.8 billion of customer funds sat in segregated safeguarding accounts and term deposits (Wise FY26 results).

Our take: if you keep large balances for months, the protection model matters more than a small fee difference. Check in the Revolut app whether your account has moved to Revolut Bank UK before you rely on FSCS cover, and keep balances within the FSCS limit per bank.

How big are Wise and Revolut?

Revolut is the larger app by customers, while Wise is more specialised in cross-border money movement. Revolut reported 68.3 million retail customers at the end of 2025, up 30%, with £1.3 trillion of transaction volume, £50.2 billion of customer balances, £4.5 billion of revenue and £1.7 billion of profit before tax (Revolut annual report).

Wise reported 18.9 million active customers in the year to 31 March 2026, up 21%, moving US$243.5 billion across borders at an average cross-border take rate of 0.52% (Wise FY26 results). That take rate is useful context for the quotes above: on average, Wise keeps about half a percent of what it moves, which is the fee range our £500 to £5,000 tests landed in.

Which is better for crypto and stablecoins?

Revolut is the only one of the two that supports crypto, because Wise does not let you buy, sell or trade cryptocurrency through a Wise account (Wise Help Centre). Revolut counts crypto exchanges toward the same £1,000 Standard allowance as currency exchange (Revolut), and has added stablecoin features over the past year, including its Polygon partnership for stablecoin transfers.

For businesses that move larger sums, stablecoin settlement is now a real alternative to both apps. Our stablecoin FX vs bank FX comparison shows where the savings come from, and our list of neobanks using stablecoins covers apps that combine a card account with dollar stablecoin balances.

Wise vs Revolut: which should you choose?

Choose Revolut as an everyday spending account if you exchange under about £1,570 a month on weekdays, and choose Wise for larger, weekend or recurring international transfers. Based on the fees above, these profiles fit each app best:

• Occasional traveller converting under £1,000 a month on weekdays: Revolut Standard, which charges no fair usage fee inside the allowance (Revolut).
• Anyone sending money to family or paying bills abroad: Wise, which quoted £5.45 on £1,500 any day of the week (Wise).
• Freelancer paid in US dollars: Wise, with USD account details and a fixed US$6.11 fee on incoming wires (Wise).
• Frequent traveller who converts more than £4,000 a month or spends at weekends: Revolut Premium at £8.99, with no allowance limit and no weekend fee (Revolut).
• Someone keeping a large balance for months: check FSCS cover on Revolut Bank UK up to £120,000, or accept Wise's safeguarding model (FSCS, Wise).

Is the Wise vs Revolut comparison different in the US?

Yes. Revolut's US Standard plan charges 0.5% on exchanges above $1,000 a month rather than 1%, and a 1% fee outside foreign exchange market hours (Revolut US Help). Wise charged US$9.87 to send US$1,000 to a euro account on 12 November 2026 (Wise), so the same pattern holds: Revolut is cheaper inside its allowance on weekdays, and Wise is cheaper for larger or weekend transfers. Always check the fee page for your own country, because Revolut sets allowances by region.

FAQ

Is Wise or Revolut cheaper?

Revolut Standard is cheaper for weekday exchanges under £1,000 a month, where it charges no fair usage fee (Revolut). Wise is cheaper for larger and weekend transfers; it quoted £16.96 to send £5,000 to a euro account on 12 November 2026 against £40 to £90 in published Revolut Standard fees (Wise).

Does Revolut charge a weekend fee?

Yes, on Standard and Plus. Exchanges from 17:00 Friday to 18:00 Sunday Eastern Time cost an extra 1% on Standard and 0.5% on Plus; Premium, Metal and Ultra pay no weekend fee (Revolut Help).

Does Wise use the real exchange rate?

Yes. Wise converts at the mid-market rate and charges a separate, visible fee that starts at 0.24% depending on the currency (Wise pricing).

Is my money protected with Wise?

Wise UK safeguards customer money rather than covering it under the FSCS. Funds are kept separate from Wise's own money and held in cash, short-term government bonds or comparable guarantees (Wise Help Centre).

Is Revolut a bank in the UK?

Yes. Revolut says the PRA lifted restrictions on Revolut Bank UK's licence in March 2026, with FSCS-protected accounts rolled out to UK customers gradually (Revolut annual report). The FSCS limit is £120,000 per person per bank (FSCS).

Can I use Wise and Revolut together?

Yes, and many people do: Revolut for free everyday spending inside its allowances, Wise for larger transfers and receiving foreign currency. Wise provides account details in 22 currencies with free domestic receipts in nine (Wise pricing).

Sources: Wise UK pricing, Wise send-money pricing, Wise safeguarding, Wise crypto policy, Wise FY26 results, Revolut plans, Revolut Standard fees, Revolut Premium fees, Revolut exchange fees, Revolut ATM fees, Revolut 2025 annual report, FSCS and Bank of England, read on 12 November 2026. Cost scenarios and break-even points are we calculations from those published fees and quotes.

This article is for informational and educational purposes only and isn't financial, legal, tax or investment advice. Fees were read from Wise and Revolut UK public pricing and fee pages on 12 November 2026, and Wise transfer quotes were taken from Wise's public pricing data the same morning; both companies change fees, plans and exchange rates, and your costs can differ by country, plan and the day you transact. It isn't advice to buy or sell any currency, stablecoin or other digital asset, and it isn't a recommendation to open, keep or close an account with Wise, Revolut or any provider named. Check the in-app quote before you confirm any exchange or transfer.

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