XE vs Wise
XE vs Wise: Which Is the Better Money Transfer Service?
François Briod
Guide
Byron Mühlberg
Reviewer
Wise and XE Money Transfer are two excellent ways to send money internationally, which considerably outmatch the bank in terms of pricing and effectiveness. However, zooming in on the two, their services differ in crucial ways.
Wise: A Specialist in Transfers with Fixed Fees and No FX Markups
Wise focuses on sending money across currencies with highly competitive fees and stands out by charging no markup on exchange rates.
XE Money Transfer: A Veteran Service with Wide Global Reach
XE is a well-established foreign exchange provider serving mostly North America but offers transfers between nearly any two countries worldwide. It usually adds a small FX markup, but eliminates fixed fees for some corridors.
Choosing Between Wise and XE Money Transfer
Both are strong options, but purely in terms of costs, here's what we recommend on average for these popular corridors:
| Choose XE when: |
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|---|---|
| Choose Wise when: |
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Since pricing is subject to change, use our comparison engine to find the best provider for your exact transfer. Some providers offer better fees than Wise or XE!
XE Money Transfer vs Wise: Overview
When choosing between XE and Wise for international money transfers, it boils down to your priorities: XE excels in extensive currency coverage, tailored business solutions, and personalized support, while Wise shines with low-cost transfers, flexible funding methods, and transparent, high-limit transactions.
| XE is best for: | ✔ Managing multiple currencies, especially exotic ones (98 vs 57 currencies) ✔ Businesses — it serves around 6,000 corporate customers ✔ Routes where it waives fixed fees ✔ 24/7 expert human support Go to XE ❯ |
|---|---|
| Wise is best for: | ✔ Small to medium-sized bank transfers (up to $10,000) ✔ Multiple deposit options, including mobile wallet deposits ✔ No exchange rate markups ✔ Higher maximum transfer limits up to $1,000,000 (vs $500,000 with XE) |
Trust & Credibility
Background check
Owned by Euronet Worldwide Inc, XE Money Transfer is regulated by the FCA in the UK and is duly authorized in every region in which it does operates.
Licensed and authorised in the UK, US, Europe, and other countries.
Security & reliability
XE's platforms are fully secured and use top-notch security protocols, including segregated user accounts and HTTPS.
HTTPS, segregated client accounts, secure data storage and network.
Company size
Founded in 1993, Xe.com is a fast-growing money transfer company handling around US$10 billion in transactions each year for some 500 thousand personal customers and 6 thousand businesses.
16 million customers, 4,500 employees, and $133 billion in annual volumes.
Transparent pricing
Xe.com is not transparent in its pricing, failing to disclose that all (100%) of its fees are hidden in the exchange rate margin.
No exchange rate margin, only a low transparent fee.
XE vs Wise: Trust & Credibility
XE and Wise are trustworthy, fully licensed, and proven money transfer platforms that you can trust to deliver your money from A to B.
Licensing & Regulation
Wise is a large company regulated in the UK and all countries in which it operates. XE is also licensed and regulated in the UK (although based in Canada) and is run by Euronet Worldwide Inc, a major global financial services company. Both companies earned the full score for their licensing and authorisation, and we don't see a fundamental difference between XE and Wise in terms of security.
Transparency in Pricing
However, we scored XE slightly lower than Wise overall because, unlike Wise, XE does not display its exchange rate margin openly on its sending page, which is something we think can be somewhat misleading to some users who might now know that.
Service & Quality
Opening an account
Opening an account with Xe.com is easy enough to do, but it can take some time to complete.
No exchange rate margin, only a low transparent fee.
Making a transfer
With an Xe account open and ready to go, making a new money transfer is a fast and simple process.
Very easy, can be done in just a few clicks.
Contacting support
Getting help when needed is a breeze with Xe, with live chat features and around-the-clock support available.
Very easy, responsive live chat and phone support available 24/7.
XE vs Wise: Service Quality
When it comes to the ease of sending money, Wise has the edge over XE Money Transfer.
User Experience
For example, we tested both platforms against the same user experience criteria and found Wise's platform provided a better all-around experience. Wise's website and mobile app — which was fast, user-friendly, and simple to use — particularly impressed us with its clean user experience and helpful prompts and tips. ID verification is straightforward with the app, but it can take some time if the software is unable to read your photos and selfies well.
On the other hand, we found XE's web and mobile interface slightly less easy to understand, particularly for registering. We also weren't impressed with the fact that nearly all of XE's fees are in the exchange rate — something that's not communicated clearly on the sending page.
Country Availability
| XE Money Transfer | Switzerland |
| Wise | Switzerland |
| 📥 Pay-In |
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|---|---|---|
| 📤 Pay-Out |
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| ⬇ Min. Transfer | 1 | 1 |
| ⬆ Max. Transfer | 500000 | $1,000,000¹ |
| 💱 Currencies | 98 | 57 |
| 💬 Languages | English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Arabic | English, French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish |
| Try XE | Try Wise |
Fees & Exchange Rates
Transfers to a bank account
On standard pricing, before any promotional offers, Xe.com is the cheapest on Monito in around 5% of bank-transfer searches — and competitive across many of the others.
Competitively priced on standard transfers, and fully transparent — though no longer always the cheapest, especially against providers running promotions.
Transfers to a bank account — promo
Xe.com runs no promotional or new-customer pricing, so once rivals' first-transfer offers are included it is the cheapest in around 2% of bank-transfer searches.
Wise applies no new-customer promotions, so it competes on its standard rate against rivals' first-transfer discounts — still solid, but this is where it slips furthest behind.
Transfers to cash pickup
For cash pickup and mobile-wallet payouts on standard pricing, Xe.com is the cheapest in around 13% of searches — and competitive on many others.
Wise does not have a score in this category.
scores.criteria.pricing_cash_promo
With rivals' promotional pricing included, Xe.com leads in around 4% of cash and mobile-wallet searches.
Wise does not have a score in this category.
XE vs Wise: Fees & Exchange Rates
Both Wise and XE are cheap ways to transfer money overseas and far better than the banks. Wise is generally the more affordable and transparent of the two — it scores 9.0 overall on Monito versus XE's 8.4, largely because XE builds its cost into the exchange-rate margin (pricing 5.9) while Wise passes on the mid-market rate. XE's strengths are its very broad currency coverage and personalised support.
This is because, unlike XE, Wise charges no exchange rate margin (exchanging money at the mid-market rate) and makes its money by adding a small variable or fixed fee onto every transfer. These fees are transparent and can be seen on the sending page or Wise's dedicated fees calculator.
How Their Fees Work
Take a look at the table below to get a better picture of how this works:
Pricing is subject to change.
¹ How often the provider was the cheapest on Monito.
² How often the provider's fees were below 1.5% for a $1,000 transfer on Monito.
However, it's well worth keeping in mind that neither Wise nor XE transfer money to cash pick-up locations, so if you'd like to send cash abroad, you'll need to compare money transfer providers instead:
Compare Wise & XE To Top Alternatives
Customer Satisfaction
Trustpilot reviews
4.3/5 from 67,000 reviews.
4.2/5 from 209,860 reviews.
App Store reviews
4.8/5 from 97,000 reviews.
4.8/5 from 24,160 reviews.
Google Play reviews
4.8/5 from 186,000 reviews.
4.7/5 from 788,000 reviews.
XE vs Wise: Customer Satisfaction
Based on how customers review Wise and XE, it's pretty clear that both platforms impress their users.
Trustpilot Ratings
XE is very popular with users, earning a strong Trustpilot rating from a large review base. Wise is also very well reviewed. Both score highly for customer satisfaction on Monito (XE 9.5, Wise 9.5).
While we think Wise slightly outdoes XE in this area, it's fair to say that both platforms deliver on their promises and satisfy their users.
Wise vs XE: Which Is Better For You?
In most cases, we recommend Wise over XE, particularly for small- to medium-sized bank transfers (up to $10,000) destined for international bank accounts because Wise is exceptionally well-priced for these transfers. As we've seen, Wise is the more accessible and cheaper way to send money in general. (If you'd like to learn more, we recommend checking out our in-depth Wise review and XE review.)
We only recommend using XE over Wise when it's the cheaper option, which can happen from time to time. Therefore, we recommend comparing money transfer providers on Monito's real-time comparison engine to find the best deal for your transfer in real-time.
Why You Can Trust Us
You’re probably all too familiar with the often outrageous cost of sending money abroad. After facing this frustration themselves back in 2013, Monito co-founders François, Laurent, and Pascal launched a real-time comparison engine to compare the best money transfer services worldwide.
Today, Monito’s award-winning comparisons, reviews, and guides (no longer just about money transfers but also digital accounts, travel cards, eSIMs, and travel insurance) are trusted by millions each year. Our recommendations are backed by our comparison data and dozens of expert tests, allowing you to confidently make the savviest decisions.
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