Who are Wise's competitors?
Wise's annual report on Form 20-F for the year to March 31, 2026, filed June 25, 2026, sorts its competitors into four groups: global traditional banks that have yet to become Wise Platform partners; newer financial institutions or platforms such as Airwallex, Block, Chime, Flywire, Paymentus, Payoneer, PayPal and Revolut; legacy foreign exchange businesses such as Moneygram and Western Union, or remittance players such as Remitly; and payment infrastructure providers such as MasterCard and Visa. Mapped to Wise's products: in consumer transfers the closest rivals are Remitly, which reported $74.9 billion of send volume in 2025, Western Union and PayPal, which runs the Xoom transfer service; for the Wise Account, which served 18.0 million active personal customers in FY26, Revolut, which Wise compares itself with on its own site; for Wise Business, with 850 thousand active business customers, Payoneer and Airwallex; and for Wise Platform, which sells Wise's network to banks and generates less than 10% of transaction revenue, banks themselves and networks such as Visa, whose Visa Direct processed more than 12.5 billion transactions in fiscal 2025. The rivalry runs both ways: Payoneer's 2025 10-K lists Wise among the global digital payment platforms it competes with, and Western Union's stock-option terms list Wise plc among companies that compete or plan to compete with it. Some rivals are also customers: Wise names Nubank and Monzo as Wise Platform users. Wise's 20-F says the major competitive factors are pricing, product functionality, global customer support, brand and reliability. It does not compare its AI with rivals'; Remitly, Revolut and Airwallex all describe AI support tools or agent products of their own.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Data as of Nov 2, 2026 · Wise profile updated Oct 8, 2026 · 18 sources cited on this page · 56 fintechs profiled on this site · Markdown
How does Wise describe its competition in its annual report?
The business section of the FY2026 Form 20-F (filed June 25, 2026), under "Competition": "We operate in a large, dynamic and fragmented market underpinned by rapidly evolving customer expectations and regulatory standards. The primary competitors for our products fall into the following distinct categories: global traditional banks which have yet to become Wise Platform partners; newer financial institutions or platforms, such as Airwallex, Block, Chime, Flywire, Paymentus, Payoneer, PayPal and Revolut; legacy foreign exchange businesses, such as Moneygram, Western Union or remittance players such as Remitly; and payment infrastructure providers, such as MasterCard and Visa."[1]
The risk factors put banks first: "Our primary competitors are traditional banks, in addition to digital first banks and other financial technology companies. We also compete with payment networks, such as Visa and Mastercard, and legacy foreign exchange businesses. The major competitive factors in our industry are pricing, product offering functionality, quality and breadth, global customer support, employee and development costs, brand recognition and reputation, market reach and reliability."[1]
On why banks matter, the filing says some competitors, "particularly traditional banks with whom we compete", have "greater customer bases, volume, scale or market share, while some have less burdensome licensing, capital, liquidity and other regulatory requirements", and that they "may offer lower prices than us, including by cross-subsidizing across their product offerings."[1]
Neither the competition section nor that risk factor mentions AI. The risk factor says Wise "may not be able to make product or technological improvements as quickly or effectively as our competitors", and the filing's forward-looking statements list "our ability to effectively and responsibly develop, deploy and integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies" among the factors its results depend on.[1]
Who competes with Wise, where, and how do they compare on AI?
Each competitor's scale is its own latest figure, on its own measure and period, so the figures are not one series. Wise's cross-border volume was $243.5 billion in the year to March 31, 2026, split between $173.0 billion personal and $70.5 billion business, with 18.9 million active customers.
| Competitor | Where they compete | Dated scale figure | How they compare on AI | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remitly (NASDAQ: RELY) | Consumer cross-border transfers; Wise's 20-F names Remitly among "remittance players". Remitly's own 10-K groups its rivals by type (incumbents, banks, digital-first providers, neobanks and wallets) and names none | Send volume of $74.9 billion in the year ended December 31, 2025; 9,279 thousand active customers in the quarter ended December 31, 2025 | Its 10-K says it embeds AI across customer-facing experiences and internal workflows, offers an AI-powered virtual assistant for support, and is turning its marketing engine into an artificial intelligence-powered system | Wise 20-F FY2026; Remitly 10-K 2025[1][2] |
| Western Union (NYSE: WU) | Consumer money transfer through agent locations and digital channels; Wise counts it among legacy foreign exchange businesses, and Western Union's stock-option terms list Wise plc among companies that compete or plan to compete with it | 285.9 million Consumer Money Transfer transactions in 2025 (289.9 million in 2024) | Its 10-K says the expanding application of AI, machine learning and large language models to automate and optimize its operations, including AML and KYC screening, introduces additional risks; it names no AI product | Wise 20-F FY2026; Western Union 10-K 2025 and Exhibit 10.37[1][10][7] |
| PayPal, including Xoom (NASDAQ: PYPL) | International transfers through Xoom, which sends money to bank accounts, mobile wallets and cash pick-up, plus P2P and wallets; named in Wise's 20-F, and Payoneer's 10-K lists PayPal and Wise together as global digital payment platforms | 439 million active accounts across approximately 200 markets at December 31, 2025; $1.79 trillion of total payment volume in 2025 | Its 10-K strategy includes capabilities that let consumers shop and pay "online, in-person and through artificial intelligence (“AI”) agents" | Wise 20-F FY2026; PayPal 10-K 2025; Payoneer 10-K 2025[1][3][6] |
| Revolut | Multi-currency accounts, cards and international transfers against the Wise Account; named in Wise's 20-F, and Wise's US site runs a Revolut vs. Wise comparison on fees, exchange rates and currencies | About 69 million retail and business customers and group revenue of $6 billion in 2025 (CNBC, May 2026) | Revolut's US CEO said in May 2026 that customer questions get "an LLM-based answer based on actual account information" and that it has deployed agentic AI for KYC and AML | Wise 20-F FY2026; Wise; CNBC; American Banker[1][4][11][8] |
| Payoneer (NASDAQ: PAYO) | Cross-border receiving and paying for small and medium businesses, against Wise Business; each company's filing names the other | Volume of $87.5 billion in 2025; nearly 2 million active customers in more than 190 countries and territories (10-K for 2025) | Its 10-K says it is investing in AI capabilities both to improve customer experience and to increase the efficiency of its operations | Wise 20-F FY2026; Payoneer 10-K 2025[1][6] |
| Airwallex | Multi-currency accounts and payments for businesses, against Wise Business; named in Wise's 20-F and Payoneer's 10-K, and described by American Banker as a competitor to Stripe and Payoneer | $1.3 billion of annualized revenue and $287 billion of annualized transaction volume in March, reported June 26, 2026; valued at $11 billion after a $320 million Series H | Announced T:0, an AI-native platform to automate corporate finance functions, and Airi, an agentic consumer wallet, with its June 2026 funding round | Wise 20-F FY2026; Payoneer 10-K 2025; CNBC; American Banker[1][6][9][12] |
| Visa, Visa Direct (NYSE: V) | Domestic and cross-border money movement for banks and fintechs in more than 195 countries and territories, the market Wise Platform sells into; Wise's 20-F lists Visa and Mastercard as payment infrastructure providers it competes with | Visa Direct processed more than 12.5 billion transactions for more than 650 partners in fiscal 2025 (year ended September 30, 2025) | Its 10-K describes real-time AI-driven risk scores, including the AI-powered Visa Consumer Authentication Service, and an MCP server that lets AI systems use its Visa Intelligent Commerce APIs | Wise 20-F FY2026; Visa 10-K FY2025[1][5] |
What do competitors' own filings say about Wise?
Checked in each company's latest annual filing on SEC EDGAR. Remitly's and PayPal's 10-Ks name no competitor at all.
| Filing | What it says about Wise | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Payoneer, Form 10-K for 2025 (business section) | Lists "global digital payment platforms like PayPal, Ant Group, Airwallex, or Wise" among the payment providers it competes with, alongside banks, FX companies, card networks, neobanks and merchant processors such as Adyen, Braintree and Stripe | February 26, 2026[6] |
| Payoneer, Form 10-K for 2025 (risk factors) | Repeats the list naming Wise, and says regional and global players are broadening beyond core payments into financial services like yield and non-financial solutions such as financial management software | February 26, 2026[6] |
| Western Union, Exhibit 10.37 to its 2025 10-K | Its stock-option award terms define a "Restricted Company" as one that competes or plans to compete with its business and list Wise plc with Remitly, Revolut Group Holdings, PayPal (including Xoom), MoneyGram, Nu Holdings and others | February 20, 2026[7] |
| Remitly, Form 10-K for 2025 | Does not name Wise or any other competitor; it groups rivals as incumbent providers, traditional banks, digital-first cross-border providers, emerging players including neobanks and stablecoin providers, and informal channels | February 18, 2026[2] |
| PayPal, Form 10-K for 2025 | Does not name Wise or any other competitor; it lists P2P payments and money remittance services, and foreign exchange solutions, among the products it faces competition from | February 3, 2026[3] |
| Nu Holdings, Form 20-F for 2025 | Names Wise as a partner, not a rival: NuTravel includes a "Zero-Spread Multi-currency account, in partnership with Wise, supporting deposits and spending in over 40 currencies"; Wise's 20-F lists Nubank as a Wise Platform user | April 8, 2026[13][1] |
What companies are similar to Wise?
Providers whose product is closest to one of Wise's, as described in their own filings or in the press.
| Company | Why it is similar | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Revolut | An app-based account for holding and sending many currencies; Wise's own comparison says Revolut supports 25+ currencies against Wise's 40+, and charges exchange-rate markups where Wise uses the mid-market rate. CNBC reported that Revolut received a full UK banking license in March 2026. | Wise; CNBC[4][11] |
| Remitly | A digital-first sender of money across borders, with customers and recipients in over 175 countries and territories; its largest receive countries by send volume include India, Mexico and the Philippines. | Remitly 10-K 2025[2] |
| Payoneer | A cross-border account for businesses that serves SMBs in more than 190 countries and territories; Payoneer Inc. is a licensed money transmitter in all U.S. states where a license is necessary, and in Europe Payoneer is licensed by the Central Bank of Ireland to provide electronic money and payment services. | Payoneer 10-K 2025[6] |
| Airwallex | A multi-currency payments company for global businesses, including McLaren, Qantas, Canva and Shein, which CNBC says holds more than 85 licenses across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. | CNBC[9] |
| Xoom (PayPal) | PayPal's international money transfer service, which its 10-K says lets customers send money to bank accounts, mobile wallets and cash pick-up destinations around the world. | PayPal 10-K 2025[3] |
What does the Wise profile record on this topic?
The rows below are the entries of the Wise AI strategy profile that bear on this page, as of Oct 8, 2026; the profile holds the full record of 10 dated moves, 7 use cases and 12 sources.
| Use case | What the record shows | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recommended by AI shopping/banking assistants | Independent research found large language models (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity) recommend Wise, alongside Mercury and Bluevine, to small-business owners more often than traditional banks when asked for a specific account recommendation. | In production | [14] |
| Date | Move | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 24, 2026 | Study: AI chatbots recommend Wise over traditional banks | American Banker reported on a study by research firm AIVO in which researchers posing as small-business owners had 2,160 conversations with ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity; across the three models, fintechs (including Wise, Mercury and Bluevine) drew 1,345 recommendations versus 452 for traditional banks when the AI was asked for a specific product recommendation. | [14] |
| Jul 16, 2026 | Q1 FY27 results | Cross-border volume grew 26% to $69.3 billion, active customers rose 21% to 11.9 million for the quarter, and 77% of transfers were instant. | [15] |
| Jun 25, 2026 | FY26 results and first Form 20-F detail AI use | Wise reported net revenue of $2,502.8 million (up 19%) and 18.9 million active customers; its 20-F disclosed LLM copilots for Financial Crime and Customer Support teams and ML-driven compliance checks, and listed AI model risk among its risk factors. | [16][1] |
| May 11, 2026 | Wise lists on Nasdaq | Wise began trading on Nasdaq under WSE with a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange, reporting FY26 cross-border volume of $243 billion, up 31%. | [17] |
| Jun 5, 2025 | Wise plans to move its primary listing to the US | Wise said in its full-year results that it would move to a dual listing with its main listing in the US and a secondary listing in London. | [18] |
Who are Wise's biggest competitors?
Wise's FY2026 Form 20-F names traditional banks as its primary competitors, then newer platforms (Airwallex, Block, Chime, Flywire, Paymentus, Payoneer, PayPal and Revolut), legacy foreign exchange and remittance firms (Moneygram, Western Union and Remitly) and payment networks (MasterCard and Visa). In consumer transfers, Remitly sent $74.9 billion in 2025.
What companies are similar to Wise?
Revolut is closest to the Wise Account, with multi-currency accounts and international transfers. Remitly and PayPal's Xoom are digital money transfer services, and Payoneer and Airwallex offer multi-currency accounts to businesses, like Wise Business. Payoneer's 2025 10-K groups Wise with PayPal, Ant Group and Airwallex as global digital payment platforms.
Is Revolut a competitor of Wise?
Yes. Wise's FY2026 Form 20-F lists Revolut among the newer financial institutions or platforms it competes with, and Wise's US site publishes a Revolut vs. Wise comparison of fees, exchange rates and currencies. Western Union's stock-option terms list both Revolut and Wise among companies that compete with it.
Is Remitly bigger than Wise?
Not by volume. Remitly reported send volume of $74.9 billion for calendar 2025. Wise reported cross-border volume of $243.5 billion for its year to March 31, 2026, of which $173.0 billion was personal. Remitly had 9,279 thousand active customers in its fourth quarter of 2025. The periods and definitions differ.
Do banks compete with Wise?
Yes, and Wise lists them first. Its 20-F calls traditional banks its primary competitors and says some have greater customer bases and may cross-subsidize prices. Banks are also Wise Platform customers: Wise names Itaú, Mandiri, Nubank and Monzo, and Wise Platform generates less than 10% of its transaction revenue.
How do Wise's competitors use AI?
On the record: Remitly's 10-K describes an AI-powered virtual assistant; Revolut's US CEO said in May 2026 that customer questions get LLM-based answers; Airwallex announced an agentic wallet in June 2026; PayPal aims to let consumers pay through AI agents. Wise says LLMs handle almost half its support chats.
- Wise Group plc Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026
- Remitly Global, Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- PayPal Holdings, Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- Revolut vs. Wise: Which is best for you? 2026 US Guide (undated page, retrieved 2026-11-02)
- Visa Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025
- Payoneer Global Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- The Western Union Company 2024 Long-Term Incentive Plan, Nonqualified Stock Option Award Agreement (Exhibit 10.37 to the 2025 Form 10-K)
- AI beats humans at transaction monitoring, Revolut US CEO says
- Airwallex hits $11 billion valuation with $320 million raise as fintech pushes into finance run by AI agents
- The Western Union Company, Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- 29. Revolut (2026 CNBC Disruptor 50)
- Airwallex announces $320 million fundraise and CFO hire
- Nu Holdings Ltd., Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- Why AI models favor fintechs over traditional banks
- Wise Group plc reports Q1 FY27 Results (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 6-K)
- Wise Group plc reports Full Year 2026 Financial Results (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 6-K)
- Wise debuts US listing on Nasdaq
- British fintech Wise to move primary listing to the U.S. in blow to London stock exchange
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