Their Pitch
Send money globally for less.
Our Take
It's international money transfers and multi-currency accounts that don't screw you on exchange rates. Banks charge 4-6% in hidden markups; Wise shows you the real rate upfront and charges 0.4-2%.
Deep Dive & Reality Check
Used For
- +**Bank charging $30 per wire to pay 200 freelancers** → BatchTransfer pays everyone in 30 minutes for $300 total instead of $6,000
- +**Manually tracking exchange rates and losing money on bad timing** → Auto-conversions trigger transfers when rates hit your target
- +**Team expenses scattered across currencies with zero visibility** → Groups give each team their own cards while you see everything
- +Jars automatically split incoming payments into tax/savings buckets - no more manual sorting
- +API handles marketplace payouts in 20 seconds instead of 3-5 day bank transfers
Best For
- >Paying 50+ overseas contractors monthly and watching bank fees eat your profits
- >Your e-commerce business ships globally but PayPal's international fees are killing margins
- >Remote team burning 10 hours/week on manual wire transfers to different countries
Not For
- -Companies doing only domestic payments - your local bank is free and faster
- -Teams under 10 people making occasional transfers - the verification hassle isn't worth it
- -Anyone who needs money moved instantly on weekends - BatchTransfer fails and support takes 48 hours to respond
Pairs With
- *QuickBooks (syncs transactions automatically so you're not manually entering 200 international payments)
- *Xero (real-time bank feeds cut reconciliation from 4 hours to 15 minutes weekly)
- *Slack (where your team complains about frozen accounts and weekend transfer failures)
- *PayPal (still better for small US transactions, but Wise handles the big international stuff)
- *Stripe (for collecting payments while Wise handles paying out to global suppliers)
- *FreshBooks (invoicing integration so international clients can pay you easily)
The Catch
- !Account locks during verification can freeze your payroll for 2-7 days with slow support responses
- !Currency conversion fees (0.35-2%) add up fast - users report $200/month surprises on frequent small transfers
- !Weekend and holiday transfers often fail, leaving you scrambling on Monday morning
Bottom Line
Turns your $500 international wire fees into $50 - if you can survive the account verification process.