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Source-backed analysis11

Review basis

Research-based review: the AppDuo Editorial Team compiled it from official pages, documentation, app stores, press and user feedback, without hands-on testing. Every claim links to a source with the date it was checked.

11 reference sources

Information updated Nov 11, 2026

How we review
Wise logo

Wise Review

Multi-currency transfers at the mid-market rate with upfront fees

Editorial Team7.7/10Write the first review

By Official AppDuo editorial team · Updated

  • Web
  • iOS
  • Android
Paid · Free
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Decide at a glance

Our verdict

Wise suits people who regularly send or receive money internationally and want fees stated upfront. The trade-offs: it is not a bank, so balances have no FSCS cover, and it was fined by the US CFPB in 2025 and is under a Belgian investigation.

Best for: People who send money abroad often and want to see the fee first

Skip it if: Anyone needing full banking such as loans or deposit-insured savings

Pros

  • Uses the mid-market rate plus an upfront fee, per Wise's pricing page
  • No subscription; free account registration
  • Holds and converts 40 currencies; card usable in 160+ countries (per App Store)

Cons

  • Not a bank: balances carry no FSCS protection, per Wise
  • Fined 2.025M USD by the US CFPB in 2025 over inaccurate fee advertising; Belgian prosecutors are investigating anti-money-laundering compliance (no findings yet)
All pros and cons · Who is it for?

Pros

  • Rated 4.6/5 on the US App Store from 113K+ ratings
  • Automatic discount once monthly sends pass 25,000 USD

Cons

  • Fees vary by currency; the pricing page only gives a starting point of 0.45%

Best for

  • People who hold and convert several currencies and want local account details

Experience & key features

Wise (formerly TransferWise) is a UK fintech founded in 2011 and renamed Wise on 22 February 2021. Its core service is international transfers at the mid-market rate plus an upfront fee, per the company's pricing page.

Beyond transfers, the App Store description says the app holds and converts 40 currencies, provides local account details (UK, European IBAN, Australian and more) and a multi-currency card usable in 160+ countries. Wise Business pays international invoices and connects to Amazon, Stripe and Xero.

Wise sells no subscription. The transfer fee starts from 0.45% and varies by currency; once monthly sends pass 25,000 USD, later transfers that month are discounted. For transfers to Vietnam, Wise caps each transfer at 490 million VND. The pricing page lists no fees in VND.

Wise is an e-money institution, not a bank. Per Wise, customer money is held apart from company funds but has no FSCS cover. Readers should also review the regulatory matters in the controversies section. Alternatives include Revolut, Payoneer and PayPal.

Screenshots

App Store product image 1 for the Wise iPhone app
App Store product image 1 for the Wise iPhone app
App Store product image 2 for the Wise iPhone app
App Store product image 2 for the Wise iPhone app
App Store product image 3 for the Wise iPhone app
App Store product image 3 for the Wise iPhone app

Plans & pricing

Prices last verified Nov 11, 2026

Trả theo giao dịch

Personal

Free

Per Wise's pricing pages: no subscription or plans, free account registration, and you pay only for what you use. The transfer fee is a percentage that varies by currency, from 0.45%. Once you send over 25,000 USD (or equivalent) in a month, later transfers get a discount for the rest of that month. A transfer to VND is capped at 490 million VND.

Free plan limits
Free account; fees are charged per transaction, with no fixed free allowance.
Free trial
No free trial
Cancellation & refunds

The pages read state no general refund policy; see Wise's terms. Per TechCrunch, the US CFPB found Wise had not refunded fees within the legal timeframe when US transfers arrived late.

Privacy

Wise publishes separate privacy notices for personal and business customers. It is an e-money institution authorised by the UK FCA, not a bank: per Wise, customer money is held apart from the company's own funds (safeguarding) without FSCS protection. In 2024, some customers' data may have been exposed through a breach at partner bank Evolve; Wise said its own systems were not affected.

Official pricing page

Wise alternatives

Wise logoVSPayoneer logoWise vs Payoneer
Revolut logo7.5/10

Revolut

UK-born finance super-app: multi-currency cards, transfers, savings and investing

Freemium
Payoneer logo6.9/10

Payoneer

International payouts for freelancers and sellers, with per-transaction fees

Freemium
All alternatives

Controversies & incidents

Issues documented by the press, regulators, courts or the vendor itself. Every item is sourced; unproven claims are labelled as allegations. Last researched: Nov 11, 2026

  • Medium impactAllegedRegulator ·

    Belgian prosecutors investigate possible money laundering via Wise accounts

    Per Finance Magnates, Brussels prosecutors are examining about €500 million in suspicious transactions. Wise has not been charged.

    Read the full account

    Per Finance Magnates (1 June 2026), Brussels prosecutors opened the investigation in 2025 after Wise accounts appeared in hundreds of cross-border judicial assistance requests from more than 30 European countries, and are examining indications of non-compliance with anti-money-laundering rules. Wikipedia, citing the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, puts the suspicious transactions at about £432 million. No findings have been published.

    Vendor response

    Wise said it is working with the Brussels prosecutor, has received no specific findings, and that it would be "speculative" to comment. It said filing suspicious-activity reports and answering law-enforcement requests are a normal part of operations and do not by themselves signal wrongdoing.

    Sources:Finance Magnates (2026-06-01)Wikipedia: Wise (company)

  • Medium impactResolvedRegulator ·

    CFPB penalises Wise over fee advertising and disclosures

    The CFPB said Wise advertised inaccurate fees and did not refund fees on time; Wise must pay a $2.025M penalty plus about $450,000 in redress.

    Read the full account

    Per TechCrunch, the CFPB said Wise advertised inaccurate ATM fees to US customers, failed to disclose exchange rates and fees properly, and did not refund fees within the legal timeframe when transfers arrived late, causing "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in consumer harm. Wise and the CFPB reached an agreement on 30 January 2025. The article says most issues had been resolved by November 2022.

    Vendor response

    Wise said it cooperated fully with the CFPB, proactively compensated affected customers in full ($450,000) and immediately worked to address the issues identified.

    Sources:TechCrunch (2025-01-31)Wikipedia: Wise (company)

  • Medium impactResolvedSecurity ·

    Customer data possibly exposed via partner bank Evolve breach

    Evolve Bank & Trust, which provided Wise's USD account details from 2020 to 2023, suffered a breach; some Wise customers' data may be affected.

    Read the full account

    Per Wise's help page, data shared with Evolve included full name, address, date of birth, contact details and a US SSN or EIN (US customers) or another identity document number (others). Evolve has not confirmed which data was affected. Wise said its own systems, passwords, USD account details, card numbers and PINs were not affected, and USD account details now come from a different bank.

    Vendor response

    Wise said it would email customers believed affected and has moved to a different bank.

    Sources:Wise help: Evolve Bank & Trust data breachWikipedia: Wise (company)

Frequently asked questions

Is Wise a bank?

No. Wise says it has no UK banking licence, so balances carry no FSCS protection; customer money is instead safeguarded separately from company funds.

Does Wise have a monthly subscription?

No. The pricing page says there is no subscription, registration is free and you pay as you go, with transfer fees from 0.45%.

Does Wise support Vietnamese?

Per the App Store, the app has 19 interface languages, but Vietnamese is not one of them. Wise does have a Vietnam site and supports transfers to VND accounts.

What is the maximum VND per transfer?

Per Wise's send-money-to-Vietnam page, up to 490 million VND per transfer; the minimum is 10,000 VND for personal recipients and 50,000 VND for business recipients.

Review evidence & sources11

Scores

Ease of use
8.3
Why this score

Per the App Store, the app has 19 interface languages (English, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian, Spanish, …) and shows the fee and recipient amount before sending. Some widely used languages, such as Korean and Vietnamese, are not in the list.

Features
8.2
Why this score

Per the App Store: transfers to 70+ countries, 40 held currencies, a multi-currency card, local account details and Wise Business. No credit or traditional banking products.

Value for money
8.0
Why this score

Fees from 0.45%, no subscription, automatic volume discounts. Deductions: the CFPB penalised Wise in 2025 over inaccurate fee advertising, and actual fees vary by currency.

Performance
7.8
Why this score

No independent transfer-speed data was found, and Wise's pricing page gives no delivery estimate. The score rests on the app's 4.6/5 rating and its scale.

Support
7.0
Why this score

Help centre and online contact. Trustpilot shows 4.3/5 from 305K+ reviews, though these are user-submitted and not fact-checked by Trustpilot.

Privacy & security
6.8
Why this score

Customer money is segregated but without FSCS; some customer data may have been exposed in the 2024 Evolve breach; a Belgian AML investigation is open (no findings published).

What users say

Sources

Specs & compatibility
Developer
Wise Payments Ltd
Headquarters
United Kingdom
Launched
2011
Category
Finance

Capabilities

  • Mobile app
  • Public API
  • Integrations

Platforms

  • Web
  • iOS
  • Android

Interface languages

  • English
  • Chinese
  • Spanish
  • French
  • German
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Thai
  • Indonesian
  • Japanese

Integrations

  • Amazon
  • Stripe
  • Xero

Support

  • Email
  • Live chat
  • Help center

Change history

  1. Company.Wise begins trading on Nasdaq, keeping a secondary London listing, after announcing the primary-listing move in June 2025.
  2. Update.CFPB announces a $2.025M penalty and about $450,000 redress against Wise.
  3. Company.Direct listing on the London Stock Exchange at an $11 billion valuation.
Full change history (6)
  1. Company.TransferWise rebrands as Wise.
  2. Company.TransferWise said customers were sending over £1 billion a month and that it had become profitable.
  3. Launch.Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann found TransferWise in London.
About the author

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