Revolut alternatives including banks, apps and competitors

Launched as a prepaid, multi-currency card back in 2015, Revolut now offers a current account with a wide range of features and the banking challenger has more than 12 million customers worldwide. However, in Singapore there are a bunch of companies offering similar services and competition in the market is heating up – which is obviously great news for consumers.

While you can also read Finder’s individual reviews of YouTrip, Wirex, Wise and BigPay, this guide looks at them all together, to help you figure out which is best for what.

Quick overview

*Information provided in the table is accurate as of 20 July 2021.

Cards like Revolut for finance management

If you’re looking for a challenger to manage your finances, Revolut is probably your best shot since the rest of its competitors are still missing a couple of key features that most users would consider important:

• Spend analytics. Both Revolut and BigPay are equipped with advanced spend analytics and expense categorisation designed to help you stay on top of your finances.
• Saving goals. If you’re looking to achieve different saving goals, you can manually or automatically set aside funds using Revolut’s sub-account feature known as ‘Vaults’.
• Budgeting tools. Revolut is the only provider here that will automatically generate a daily spending limit that you should stick to in order to meet your goals, based on the monthly budget you indicated.
• Bill-splitting. A bill-splitting function spares you the awkwardness of asking someone to pay you back. If you’re looking for this convenient feature, Revolut is clearly the winner since it’s the only one among the list of providers we’ve listed here that’s equipped with this feature.

Finance management: The verdict

If you’re looking to track your expenses and better manage your finances on the go, Revolut certainly offers the broadest set of features. Of all the other providers we’ve listed in this review, the closest alternative to Revolut in this aspect would be BigPay – although it still falls short in comparison.

Cards like Revolut for travelling

While most traditional banks charge a fee for using their debit card abroad, challenger banks pride themselves on being different.

• Card payments. You can go on a holiday spending spree without having to worry about currency conversion fees when you use any of these cards abroad.
• ATM withdrawals. Compared to Revolut Standard, Wirex offers a slightly higher fee-free overseas ATM withdrawal limit of S$400 per month on all tiers. However, Revolut’s paid plans – Premium and Metal don’t charge for overseas ATM withdrawals for amounts up to S$700 or S$1,050 per month respectively. Thereafter, both providers charge a 2% fee on subsequent amounts withdrawn.
• Money transfers. That’s where Revolut gets really competitive – if you need to send money abroad often, you may want to reconsider the idea of looking for an alternative. You can transfer money in 28+ currencies at the interbank rate for no fees, up to S$5,000 a month.
• Multi-currency wallet. All the providers we’ve listed above, with the exception of BigPay, allow you to hold more than 10 different currencies in your account.

Travelling: The verdict

Revolut wins the league with its zero cost money transfers and high fee-free ATM withdrawal limits – if you like avoiding the most touristic areas and are going somewhere where cash is still king, then you’re going to need them. For money transfers, you could check out Wise, a peer-to-peer money transfer service with really competitive rates.

Alternatives to Revolut for rewards

Compared to the regular debit cards issued by banks, prepaid cards from these challenger banks offer a lot more perks and cashback.

Don’t expect a wide choice of accounts or competitive interest rates here – if that’s what you’re in for, you may want to look at our main savings account page. However:

• Revolut Metal offers cashback rewards. Earn 1% international and domestic cashback when you spend on your Revolut Metal card.
• Wirex pays crypto rewards. Wirex’s Cryptoback is the world’s first reward programme that pays out in cryptocurrency. Get up to 2% in WXT (Wirex Token) on all in-store purchases.
• Get reward points when you spend with BigPay. For every S$5 spent with BigPay, you’ll earn 1 BIG point – which can be used to redeem for discounted AirAsia flights and other rewards on AirAsia BIG Rewards programme.

Savings: The verdict

Challengers are still building up their account offers, so watch this space. For now, Revolut wins on the rewards category – with 1% cashback on all purchases.

Overall alternatives to Revolut

As you will have read in this guide, the three main alternatives to Revolut are BigPay, Wirex and YouTrip, so we summarise the free accounts available with each of these three challengers below.

BigPay

BigPay is a useful account with zero monthly subscription fees and a wide suite of features. You can use it here and overseas easily thanks to its low-cost currency transfers, plus manage your account and money easily with tools like spending analytics and card locks. The reward benefits with AirAsia are also a nice bonus.

However, there are a few limitations for this account, such as which countries you can transfer money to and the lack of fee-free overseas ATM withdrawals. Consider these limitations and account fees to see if the account would still be useful to you before signing up.

BigPay

Wirex

Like Revolut’s Standard account, Wirex’s Standard account tier is free, and you can open and manage it all through a mobile app. You can link up to 12 traditional currencies and eight digital currencies, plus exchange currencies in-app and more. You’ll get a physical card to make purchases in-store or online and to withdraw money from overseas ATMs without any fees for up to S$400 per month (which is S$50 more than Revolut Standard’s fee-free withdrawal limit).

One of Wirex’s biggest draws is its reward programme known as Cryptoback, which generates up to 2% back in WXT (Wirex Token) on all in-store and online purchases you make on the card.

However, if you are looking for a digital bank account with spending analytics and savings functions, you may want to consider Revolut or BigPay instead.

Wirex

YouTrip

YouTrip is a multi-currency mobile wallet that comes with a free prepaid Mastercard. This card can be used to make contactless payments on POS (point-of-sale) terminals worldwide at anywhere that accepts Mastercard, offline transactions, as well as on EZ-Link readers on public transport in Singapore.

The app also comes with a host of convenient payment features, such as the conversion and storage of 10 different currencies, 24/7 in-app exchange rate monitor and locking in preferred rates. But compared to Revolut, the YouTrip app certainly falls short with the lack of financial management tools.

If you’re looking for a free, no-frills travel card, then YouTrip is definitely worth considering.

YouTrip

Are digital payment service providers safe?

The short answer is yes – all of the payment service providers we’ve mentioned are registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and are fully authorised to do what they do.

• Segregated accounts. Licensees under MAS’ Payment Services Act are required to safeguard their client funds by holding them in segregated accounts with global banking partners – this means that it can’t be used to pay the company’s debt and is thus safe in case of bankruptcy.
• Payment card network processors. Card payments are protected from fraud, loss and theft under the scheme rules for Visa or MasterCard.

The bottom line

Revolut is one of the leading digital banks worldwide and its mobile app has many useful features, particularly when it comes to foreign currency and money transfers. But if it’s not the right digital wallet for you, then as our guide above and our comparison table below shows, there are several great alternatives out there in the local market.