Please note: You should always refer to quotes you receive from transfer services themselves directly for exact amounts as they may vary from our estimates.
Xe vs Wise (TransferWise)
Which of these two money specialists offers cheaper, faster, more flexible transfers?
Xe and Wise are two popular international money transfer services that allow you to send funds to dozens of countries around the world. To decide which service offers the best value for money, we’ve compared Xe Money Transfer vs Wise for fees, exchange rates and transfer speeds.
Xe and Wise at a glance
 |  | |
| Overall rating | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Arrange transfers online | ||
| Arrange transfers through app | ||
| Arrange transfers by phone | ||
| Founded | 1993 | 2011 |
| Based | Newmarket, Canada | London, UK |
| FCA reference | 462444 | 900507 |
| Link | Go to site |
Xe vs Wise transfer calculator
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Which has lower fees?
With Xe, you pay £2 on money transfers below £250. The fee is scrapped for transfers above that amount.
With Wise, fees vary depending on where your recipient lives and how much you’re sending. Wise charges a fixed fee plus a percentage of each transfer. These fees vary depending on the currency and country you’re sending to.
Winner: Xe
Which offers better exchange rates?
Xe’s exchange rates are based on the live foreign exchange markets. They’re often better than the rates from banks and competitive with other money transfer specialists.
Wise quotes the mid-market rate for money transfers. Banks and foreign exchange specialists use the mid-market rate when trading with one another, and it’s often higher than prevailing foreign exchange rates.
Winner: Wise
Example: Sending £200 and £2,000 to India
To give you an idea of how they directly compare, we checked fees and exchange rates for two different transfer amounts on 5 May 2021 while paying by card.
| Xe £200 | Wise £200 | Xe £2,000 | Wise £2,000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | £2 | £1.78 | £0 | £9.25 |
| Exchange rate | 1 GBP = 102.086 INR | 1 GBP = 102.643 INR | 1 GBP = 102.086 INR | 1 GBP = 102.643 INR |
| Transfer speed | 1 – 2 days | 1 – 2 days | 1 – 2 days | 1 – 2 days |
| Amount received | INR 20,412 | INR 20,551 | INR 204,129 | INR 204,362 |
Coverage and payout
| | |
| Coverage rating | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Number of available currencies | 77 (including: EUR, USD, INR, PHP, PKR, ZAR) | 52 (including: EUR, USD, CNY, INR, PHP, PKR, ZAR) |
| Number of supported countries | 218 | 222 |
| Cash pick-up facility | ||
| Speed rating | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Fastest transfer speed | Within minutes | Within minutes |
| Link | Go to site |
Which is faster?
Xe estimates that it will take one to four days for the money to reach your recipient. Delivery time typically depends on what country you’re sending the money to.
Wise provides a calculator that can help you estimate how long it will take for your money to get to your recipient. Timing depends on where you live, your recipient’s country and how you pay for the transfer. Credit card payments tend to move faster than bank transfers, for instance.
Wise gets a lot of reviews for the accuracy of its delivery estimates.
Winner: Tie
Payment methods
| | |
| Bank transfer | ||
| Debit card | ||
| Credit card | ||
| Link | Go to site |
Forex features
| | |
| Facilities rating | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Recurring transfer facility | ||
| Forward contracts facility | ||
| Limit orders facility | ||
| Stop loss orders facility | ||
| Customer service | Phone, Email | Phone, Live chat, Email |
| Personal account manager | ||
| Price matching facility | ||
| Link | Go to site |
The verdict: Which is better: Xe or Wise?
Overall winner: Xe… narrowly!
Both Xe and Wise offer fast, straightforward international transfers that beat the banks. The main difference between the two is the way they cover costs (and make a profit) on transfers. Xe adjusts the exchange rate it offers, while Wise offers the mid-market rate but adds fees. And despite the fact that Wise recently increased those fees, the two services work out fairly similar on price across many popular currencies and transfer amounts.
Xe has the edge on versatility – offering a cash-pickup facility and supporting transfers in a wider selection of currencies.
But ultimately these are both great services, with slick apps and actual human reps (!) at the end of the phone.
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