“Huh, I didn’t realise we were spending so much on FX”. That’s a common realisation among growing businesses that have never looked closely at what their bank charges to convert and move money across borders. Once they do, the search for cheaper FX starts. A head-to-head of Wise vs Revolut business, two major UK fintechs, might arise early in research.
An early mover in digitalising FX transfers, Wise Business enables low-cost, cross-border payments and has earned its reputation thanks to transparent pricing; a well-established, streamlined product; and a straightforward interface.
Revolut Business is likely to appear in research too, and is often framed as the more feature-rich option. It offers multi-currency accounts, physical and virtual cards, and, unlike Wise, some Forward contract capability. Forward contracts can help manage exchange rate risk, but they are binding obligations and aren’t suitable for every business.
For anyone weighing up Revolut vs Wise, this guide covers what each platform offers, what kinds of business needs they meet and what to consider if neither quite fits what you need.
Wise vs Revolut: what each platform is built for
| OUR TAKE: Wise wins on simple, transparent spot FX. Revolut adds multi-currency banking and basic forwards. Neither is built for ongoing hedging – that’s where dedicated platforms come in. |
Wise Business is a payments platform. Its core product is spot FX: converting one currency to another at the current market rate, right now. The focus is on making that process cheap, fast and transparent. It holds balances in 40+ currencies, supports batch payments, connects to accounting software and shows you exactly what the conversion costs before you confirm.
In short, Wise Business suits SMEs whose FX activity is straightforward and infrequent, and who prioritise cost transparency over active risk management.
Revolut Business is a broader FX solution. It functions more like a multi-currency business banking platform, with accounts holding 28+ currencies, physical and virtual cards, expense management tools, and a range of plan tiers from a free Standard account to enterprise options. Notably, it offers forward contracts on its paid plans, which puts it in a different category to Wise when it comes to managing currency risk.
In short, Revolut might be suited to SMEs who want a banking partner that offers some FX risk management tools.
Wise vs Revolut: Spot FX head-to-head
| OUR TAKE: For straightforward spot FX, Wise offers greater simplicity. Revolut offers a broader ecosystem such as cards, multi-currency accounts and basic forward contract capability, however its hedging offering is limited in scope and carries restrictions and risks businesses should weigh carefully. |
Wise uses the mid-market rate and charges a transparent percentage fee on top, typically between 0.33% and 0.81% depending on the currency pair, shown clearly before you confirm. Wise has no plan tiers or monthly limits.
Revolut Business structures its Spot FX differently, offering a monthly allowance per plan, with fees applying above it, making it slightly more complicated to evaluate from a cost and usage perspective. Each plan comes with a monthly allowance: £1,000 on Basic, £15,000 on Grow, and £60,000 on Scale. Additional fees include:
- A 0.6% fee on all transactions above allowance
- A 1% surcharge applies, regardless of plan, on exchanges made outside market hours.
- A £5 fee per transfer on international transfers above the included limit
- Account fees
Wise vs Revolut: hedging instruments head-to-head
Note: FX forwards can help to manage exchange rate risk, but they also create binding obligations, may involve margin requirements and remove the chance to benefit if exchange rates move favourably.
| OUR TAKE: Wise does not offer hedging instruments. Revolut Business offers Forward contracts on selected paid plans. |
Forward contracts are a primary tool in FX risk reduction. Forward contracts allow a company to fix a currency exchange rate for a future settlement date. This can provide certainty over costs, but forward contracts are binding obligations. If rates move favourably, the company cannot benefit from that movement, and early cancellation may result in additional costs. Forward contracts carry risks of their own and may not be appropriate for all businesses. Some companies might be happy to accept that risk and only execute Spot transactions; others might prefer to hedge their exposure with Forward contracts.
Options are similar to Forwards, but allow a buyer to back out from the obligation to trade – for a fee. The flexibility offered by an Option comes at a premium.
Wise offers neither Forward contracts nor Options; in fact, it has no hedging instruments of any kind. Fundamentally, Wise is not a platform intended to help clients manage FX risk, but make cross-border transactions as easy and cost-effective as possible.
Revolut Business does offer Forward contracts, available on Grow, Scale and Enterprise plans (restricted to UK-incorporated limited companies and PLCs). Offering hedging products puts Revolut Business in a different category of FX provider – one that helps its clients manage FX risk.
Revolut Business’s Forwards offering in detail
Revolut’s Forwards cover 11 currencies in total: GBP, EUR and USD paired with each other, plus eight others (CHF, CZK, DKK, HUF, NOK, PLN, RON and SEK). For the core three-currency pairs, the fee is 0.8% of contract value. For all others, the fee doubles to 1.5%. Every Forward contract also requires an upfront deposit: 5% for GBP/EUR/USD pairs, 10% for the rest. That deposit is returned at settlement, but it is working capital tied up for the duration of the contract.
If a Forward needs to be cancelled early, the full fee (0.8% or 1.5%) applies again plus any mark-to-market difference at the time of cancellation.
Revolut Business does not offer FX Options – just Forwards. The shape of Revolut Business’s ideal customer is starting to emerge: one that wants a modern banking partner that offers entry-level FX hedging on the side, rather than as an absolute core platform feature.
How they compare
| Feature | Wise Business | Revolut Business |
|---|---|---|
| Spot FX | ✅ Yes (40+ currencies) | ✅ Yes (28+ currencies) |
| Pricing transparency | ✅ Fee shown upfront | ⚠️ Varies by plan; overage applies |
| Forward contracts | ❌ No | ⚠️ Limited (11 currencies, paid plans only) |
| FX options | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Multi-currency accounts | ✅ Yes (40+ currencies) | ✅ Yes (28+ currencies) |
| Cards | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes (physical + virtual) |
| Deposit required for Forwards | N/A | 5% (core) / 10% (other) |
| FCA regulated | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Best suited for | Spot FX, payments, transparent transfers | Multi-currency banking, basic hedging |
Note: features and fees subject to change. Always verify current terms directly with each provider before making a decision. Forward contract fees sourced from Revolut’s published fee schedules (February 2026).
Moving from Wise vs Revolut to strategic hedging
What Revolut Business is suited for is called “transaction hedging”. Transaction hedging is using Forwards (and Options if available) to hedge individual transactions to preserve profit margins on a per-transaction basis. It’s the most common active FX hedging strategy for growing UK businesses, and the most direct way to manage currency exposure on a particular transaction.
If Wise offers ad hoc Spot transactions, then Revolut could be said to offer ad hoc hedging for large bills that carry notable FX risk.
More sophisticated methods of hedging exist, however, in what’s known as strategic hedging. Hedging becomes strategic when it…
- Aligns with risk appetites and payment schedules
- Deploys the full toolkit of hedging instruments
- Uses a rolling and/or layered approach
- Ties into broader business operations
Strategic hedging programmes help a company smooth out its exchange rate risk over a longer period. This can help it price confidently, budget more accurately and reduce the impact of market moves without revisiting commercial decisions it has already made. In contrast, a platform that can only really facilitate transaction hedging is more vulnerable to under- or over-hedging, more prone to unexpected costs and less able to capture favourable market movements. And navigating assorted fees, limits and tiers reduces agility when a growing company needs to move quickly in a new market.
And the thing is…
It isn’t much more operationally demanding than transaction hedging. Or at least, it doesn’t have to be.
Modern FX platforms take a lot of the legwork out of strategic hedging. With integrations with accounting software like Xero, modern platforms to see and hedge exposures as soon as a foreign currency invoice is raised, without switching systems. The finance director sets the parameter, such as hedge ratio, instruments and time horizon, and the platform executes to them consistently, without requiring manual intervention at every step. Limit orders execute automatically when a target rate is reached and rolling forward programmes run on schedule.
The shift from ad hoc to strategic hedging doesn’t require a treasury department, just the right tools and a clear direction. For most UK SMEs reaching the point where FX exposure is a material consideration, that’s more accessible now than it has ever been.
If you haven’t already, check out our deep-dive on transaction and other hedging strategies.
Which is right for your business?
The answer comes down to where your business is on its FX journey.
If your international payments are relatively small and irregular, for instance paying the occasional overseas supplier or receiving a client payment in euros, then Wise Business handles that well. The pricing is transparent, the interface is straightforward and you won’t pay for features you don’t need.
If you need multi-currency accounts, cards and day-to-day international banking alongside some Forward contract capability in common currencies, Revolut Business might be a good fit.
If your business has grown to the point where you have predictable, recurring FX commitments and you want the full toolkit, a platform built specifically for hedging might be what you’re looking for.
For a broader look at what those platforms offer, see our guide to the best Wise Business alternatives for UK companies.
