Wise vs PayPal

PayPal and Wise are two world-class fintech services that offer a range of useful features and services. In this side-by-side comparison, we compare and contrast PayPal and Wise regarding their money transfer services only, evaluating the two to see which one might best suit your needs and preferences the next time you send money overseas.

On the one hand, London-based fintech Wise frequently ranks as the cheapest way to transfer money internationally on Monito. According to the Monito Score, Wise is also ranked as the best money transfer service of all, and its mobile app is ranked the best money transfer app. On the other hand is PayPal, which Monito's experts generally recommend against for foreign currency payments because they charge a highly variable, nontransparent exchange rate margin fee of anywhere between 2.50% and 4.50% of the entire transfer amount.

As such, in almost all circumstances, we recommend Wise over PayPal for international money transfers and currency exchange. Take a look at the side-by-side comparison below to find out why.

Wise — The Better Choice

Wise is an online service that specializes in helping you send money between two different currencies. They charge very competitive fees, and what is truly unique about is Wise does not take any margin on the exchange rate. We recommend Wise over PayPal for all kinds of international payments, particularly for small- to medium-sized bank transfers (up to US$10,000.00) destined for international bank accounts, as the platform is particularly well-priced for these transfers.

What Monito Likes About Wise

• You get the true mid-market rate;
• Low and transparent transfer fees;
• Fantastic user experience;
• Exceptional customer reviews on Trustpilot.

What Monito Dislikes About Wise

• You can only send to a bank account.

PayPal — A Poor Choice for Global Payments

PayPal is fine for domestic transfers within one country and remains a great solution for many use cases, making online payments or sending money to friends, as long as you send in the same currency. But if you're sending money across borders and currencies, it's generally not a good idea to use PayPal for international money transfers because it gets costly. As soon as currency conversion is involved, a large portion of your transfer cost is hidden in the hefty margin PayPal takes.

What Monito Likes About PayPal

• Convenient;
• Widely available;
• Many people already have PayPal accounts and are already familiar and comfortable with using PayPal's services.

What Monito Dislikes About PayPal

• Costly exchange rates;
• Only competitively priced 0.26% of the time;
• Low customer satisfaction.