Wise
Money for here, there and everywhere — low-cost international transfers and multi-currency accounts, with batch payments to pay up to 1,000 contractors at once.
- Countries160+
- PriceFrom 0.57% (fee varies by currency)
- Founded2011
- HQLondon, United Kingdom
Best for
- companies that just need to pay contractors and freelancers across many countries cheaply
- teams running high-volume batch payouts (up to 1,000 recipients at once)
- buyers who want transparent, mid-market-rate fees with no subscription
Not ideal for
- companies needing contractor contracts, onboarding or compliance management
- buyers needing an Employer of Record or a Contractor of Record
- teams needing global employee payroll
- buyers requiring published SOC 2 / ISO 27001 certification up front
Reviewed: 2026-06-29
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Perplexity 
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Google AI Mode Our verdict
A mature, transparent-fee cross-border payments leader: pay up to 1,000 contractors at once via BatchTransfer, send to 160 countries and hold 40 currencies at the mid-market rate with upfront, usage-based fees. Excellent as a contractor-payout rail — but it is not a contractor-management or compliance tool (no contracts, no EOR/COR, no payroll).
- Standout feature
- Genuinely transparent, low usage-based pricing ('From 0.57%', mid-market rate, 'no hidden fees') combined with high-volume batch payouts (up to 1,000 contractors at once) and fast settlement ('96% of payments take less than 24 hours').
- Biggest limitation
- Pure payments rail — Wise does not generate or manage contracts, does not act as Employer or Contractor of Record, runs no payroll, and publishes no formal security certifications (e.g. SOC 2 / ISO 27001), so compliance and contractor classification stay with you.
Key facts
| Countries covered | 160+ Wise states the account lets you 'send to 160 countries and territories'; the Wise Account page and the Latvia homepage both cite '160 countries and territories', and Wise Platform cites '160+ countries'. The Wise Business (US) page separately cites '231 countries and territories' but that figure is for card spending, and the international transfer page says '180+ destination countries' without a total. We record the consistently repeated 160 figure for sending/serving. · source |
|---|---|
| Entity model | — Not applicable / not disclosed: Wise does not employ workers or contract with contractors, so there is no owned-vs-partner employment entity model to report. Wise Platform cites '80 licences worldwide' as a financial provider, not an employment-entity count. Left empty. · source |
| Onboarding time | Not publicly stated Wise does not publish a specific onboarding / time-to-set-up figure for paying contractors. It cites payment-speed claims ('96% of payments take less than 24 hours', '74% of transfers arrive in under 20 seconds') but not an account/contractor onboarding time. Left as not stated. · source |
| Payroll markets | — |
| Currencies | 40+ Wise Account page states '40 currencies' you can hold/manage; the Latvia homepage and Wise Platform also cite '40 currencies' / '40+ currencies'. The Wise Business (US) page cites '22 currencies' specifically for receiving payments. We record 40 (hold/convert) as the account-level currency count. · source |
| Integrations | — Wise markets 'Connect accounting software' and Wise Platform offers API integration ('Connect seamlessly via API'), but no specific named integrations or a single integration count are published on the fetched pages. Left empty. · source |
| Security & compliance | — Wise cites 'Up to $250K FDIC coverage' on certain interest-earning balances (US) and Wise Platform cites '80 licences worldwide', but no formal information-security certification list (e.g. SOC 2, ISO 27001) was found on the fetched official pages. Certifications left empty rather than assumed. · source |
| Support | email, phone, chat |
Payouts and documents
- Payout methods
- bank transfer, local wallet schemes (e.g. GCash in the Philippines, M-Pesa in Kenya)
- Payout speed
- 96% of payments in under 24h
- Batch payouts
- yes
- Payout API
- yes
- FX model
- mid-market rate, no markup
- Documents issued
- Invoices & payment links; no contracts
Coverage, as documented
Wise publishes pages for 165 countries, listed below.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland
more32
France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey
Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia
more19
Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay
Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos
more17
Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam
Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt
more38
Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Israel, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Zambia
Read fromwise.com/ae/send-money/send-money-to-africa · checked
Pricing
| Plan | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Send money / international transfer | Pay contractors and send international transfers; mid-market exchange rate with an upfront, usage-based fee. Wise: 'You only pay for what you use — no subscriptions or plans.' | From 0.57% (fee varies by currency) |
| Business account + BatchTransfer | Pay up to 1,000 contractors at once via BatchTransfer; one-time business account set-up fee, then per-transfer fees. Receive money in 22 currencies; accept payments via invoices, payment links or card. | One-time 31 USD set-up fee; transfers from 0.57% |
All figures verbatim from wise.com (checked 2026-06-29). Wise is usage-based with no subscription: sending/conversion 'From 0.57%' (US pricing page) — the GB/Latvia marketing copy cites 'fees as low as 0.1%'. Wise states 'Always know what you're paying upfront' and 'We only use the mid-market rate'. US Business set-up fee '31 USD' (one-time); card issuance '9 USD'. Receiving USD wire/SWIFT '6.11 USD'. Exact fee varies by currency and amount.
What it costs at your volume
One basket for all of them: 10 contractors at $3,000 a month, so $30,000 of payouts a month. A percentage of volume and a per-seat fee cannot be compared any other way.
Wise: $171 a month, $2,052 a year. Nothing comparable came out cheaper.
| Platform | How it charges | Per month | Per year | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Wise | % of volume | $171 | $2,052 | From 0.57% (fee varies by currency) |
 Payoneer | per contractor | $190 | $2,280 | $19 per contractor/month |
 Papaya Global | flat monthly | $300 | $3,600 | From $300/mo + $2.5 per transaction |
 4dev.com | % of volume | $900 | $10,800 | Service fee: 3% or less per payout |
Pros
- pay up to 1,000 contractors at once via BatchTransfer
- send to 160 countries and territories; hold 40 currencies
- transparent usage-based pricing 'From 0.57%' at the mid-market rate with no subscription
- fast settlement ('96% of payments take less than 24 hours')
- local payout schemes in some markets (e.g. GCash, M-Pesa)
- 24/7 support via email, phone or chat
Cons
- not a contractor-management platform — no contracts, onboarding or compliance tooling
- not an Employer of Record or Contractor of Record
- no global employee payroll
- no formal security certifications published on the official product pages
- no published onboarding / time-to-set-up figure
How it compares
The closest platforms in the same categories, on the facts each one publishes.
| Wise | 4dev.com | Papaya Global | Payoneer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Editorial score | 7.6/10 | 8.5/10 | 8.2/10 | 8/10 |
| User rating | 4.3/5 | 4.1/5 | 4.35/5 | 4.01/5 |
| Countries covered | 160+ | 150+ | 160+ | 190+ |
| Employer of Record | No | Yes | No | |
| Contractor of Record | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Contractor management | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Global payroll | No | Yes | No | |
| Onboarding time | Not publicly stated | Vendor claim: 'Kick off work in minutes, not hours' — no guaranteed SLA | Vendor claim: bulk onboarding of up to 1,000 EOR workers at one time; no per-worker time SLA stated | Not publicly stated |
| Lead plan | From 0.57% (fee varies by currency) | Service fee: 3% or less per payout | From $599/mo per employee | Custom quote |
What AI assistants say
We’ll publish AI-assistant assessments here soon. Editorial scores are independent of AI snapshots.
In-depth review
Wise (formerly TransferWise) is a cross-border payments and multi-currency account provider, not a contractor-management or compliance platform. For paying contractors it is a strong rail: send to 160 countries and territories, hold 40 currencies at the mid-market rate, and pay up to 1,000 contractors at once via BatchTransfer, with transparent usage-based fees (‘From 0.57%’) and no subscription. It suits teams that simply need to pay freelancers and contractors worldwide cheaply — but it does not generate or manage contracts, act as Employer or Contractor of Record, run payroll, or publish formal security certifications.
Frequently asked questions
How many countries and currencies does Wise cover?
Wise states you can send to '160 countries and territories' and hold/manage '40 currencies' in the Wise account (wise.com, checked 2026-06-29). Wise Platform cites '160+ countries' and '40+ currencies'; the US Business page cites '231 countries and territories' for card spending and '22 currencies' for receiving payments.
Can Wise pay contractors in bulk?
Yes. The Wise Business page states you can 'Pay up to 1,000 contractors at once — Make payments in a single click with BatchTransfer' (wise.com/us/business, checked 2026-06-29).
How much does Wise charge?
Wise is usage-based with no subscription. Its US pricing page states sending/conversion fees 'From 0.57%' (fee varies by currency), a one-time '31 USD' business set-up fee, and that you 'only pay for what you use'; GB/Latvia marketing copy cites 'fees as low as 0.1%'. Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate and states 'Always know what you're paying upfront' (wise.com, checked 2026-06-29).
Does Wise offer Employer of Record or Contractor of Record?
No. Wise is an international money-transfer and multi-currency account provider; it facilitates contractor payments but does not market EOR, COR, contractor management, compliance tooling, or global employee payroll (wise.com, checked 2026-06-29). We list it under contractor payouts only.
Does Wise pay contractors in crypto?
Wise does not state any cryptocurrency payout option on its official product pages; payouts are via bank transfer and local wallet schemes such as GCash and M-Pesa (wise.com/us/business, checked 2026-06-29).
Sources
Every fact above comes from Wise's own pages. These are the ones we read, and when.
- wise.com/us/business checked 20 August 2026
- wise.com/us/multi-currency-account checked 29 June 2026
- wise.com/platform checked 20 August 2026