Why people leave Wise Business
Most people who search for a Wise alternative have one of five problems, and they need different fixes. An alternative that refuses the same thing Wise refused is no alternative.
| Why you are leaving Wise |
Alternatives on published terms |
What it doesn't solve |
| Your industry is on Wise's list |
Payset, Equals Money, PayDo, Dukascopy Bank |
Payset has no cards; PayDo costs from €100 a month |
| Your marketplace or platform is outside the EEA, EU or US |
Payset, Airwallex |
Airwallex refuses regulated financial services and gambling |
| You want a bank, with deposit protection |
Revolut Business, Starling Bank, Dukascopy Bank |
Starling needs every owner living in the UK; Revolut refuses 25 industries |
| You need hedging |
Revolut Business, iBanFirst, Corpay, Moneycorp |
Only Revolut publishes its forward price; it has no account manager |
| You need cards and spending controls for a team |
Revolut Business, Airwallex |
Both refuse gambling, like Wise |
| Wise closed or froze your account |
A second account at a provider in a different group |
Nothing, unless you know why it closed |
Nobody paid to be listed and Finzil doesn't rate providers. Each pick is chosen because its own documents accept what Wise's don't, or offer what Wise lacks.
Wise's list: 31 kinds of business it doesn't support
Wise's acceptable use policy, last updated 25 March 2026, groups its restrictions in three parts.
- Regulated or illegal products: adult content, alcohol businesses, tobacco, cannabis including CBD, certain controlled substances, drug paraphernalia, pharmaceuticals including online pharmacies, commodity chemicals, counterfeit goods, gambling and intellectual property infringement.
- Financial services: binary options, escrow, companies exchanging or trading crypto, marketplaces from outside the EEA, EU or US, money service businesses, FX, CFD and options trading platforms, shell banks, superannuation funds, syndicates, some trust and corporate service providers, and unlicensed financial services.
- Other: IPTV and VoIP services, weapons and military goods, charities and trusts from outside its supported countries, endangered species, multi-level marketing, UAE-based oil, gas and shipping companies, businesses linked to Cuba and surrogacy.
The policy has more detail than the headings. On gambling, Wise refuses lotteries, cash-prize fantasy sports and games of chance, and any gambling business linked to 13 countries including the US, the UAE, Singapore and Türkiye; it treats other gambling-related businesses at its discretion. Charities and trusts are accepted only from Canada, the EEA and EU, Switzerland, the US, Australia and New Zealand, and unregistered charities from nowhere.
Wise isn't unusual. Of 138 providers on Finzil that publish a refused-industries list, 107 mention gambling in some form and 85 crypto (October 2026). Some of those entries refuse only unlicensed or illegal activity, so read the wording in each profile.
Wise doesn't support marketplaces based outside those regions. Payset names marketplaces among the sectors it serves and accepts companies from 50 countries, including the UAE, the BVI and Seychelles. Airwallex also lists marketplaces and accepts companies from 69 countries, with local account details in 20+ currencies.
If you sell on marketplaces rather than run one, the rule doesn't apply to you. WorldFirst collects payouts from 130+ marketplaces into one account, free, though some of its receiving accounts are in WorldFirst's or Alipay's name.
You want a bank
Wise is an e-money institution: your money is safeguarded, in segregated accounts, but not covered by deposit insurance. For large balances some companies want a bank as well.
| Account |
Protection |
Who it takes |
Monthly fee |
| Revolut Business |
FSCS, up to £120,000 |
UK or EEA companies, one director or owner in the UK, EEA or Switzerland |
From £10 |
| Starling Bank |
FSCS, up to £120,000 |
UK companies; every owner and director living in the UK |
Free |
| Dukascopy Bank |
Swiss deposit protection, up to CHF 100,000 |
Non-residents accepted; companies and owners from 15 countries refused |
€1 |
Is my money safe at an EMI? explains what safeguarding covers and what it doesn't.
You need something Wise doesn't sell
Wise doesn't sell forward contracts and has no account manager. Revolut Business sells forwards up to two years ahead at a published 0.8% fee and 5% deposit on EUR, GBP and USD, for UK, Swiss and EEA companies. iBanFirst, Corpay and Moneycorp add an account manager and quote per client; the full comparison is in Ebury alternatives, by payment and treasury need.
Receiving wires is the other gap. Wise charges for each incoming SWIFT payment: £2.16 in GBP, €2.39 in EUR and $6.11 in USD. A company receiving 200 US-dollar wires a year pays $1,222 just to get paid. A US company can avoid this with Mercury, which charges nothing for incoming ACH payments; others should ask customers to pay to local account details where Wise has them.
For team cards, Wise's first card is free and each extra one costs £3. Airwallex includes 10 free Visa company cards on Explore and 50 on Grow, and Revolut Business up to 50 virtual cards per team member. Companies that only need cards should read can a spend management account receive customer payments? before they move.
Price is the reason: Wise is hard to beat
Give Wise its due: no monthly fee and conversion from 0.24%, shown before you pay, is among the lowest published prices on Finzil. Only a few accounts publish lower, and each has a condition.
| Account |
Published exchange fee |
Condition |
| Statrys |
From 0.1% on major currencies |
Companies in Hong Kong, Singapore or the BVI only |
| Amnis |
0.2% on Professional |
€199 a month; more on conversions under CHF 10,000 |
| Revolut Business |
Free up to the plan's allowance |
£60,000 a month on Scale, at £90 a month; 0.6% above |
| Payset |
0.09% |
Only above €6 million converted in 90 days; 0.9% up to €300,000 |
| Wise Business |
From 0.24% |
Varies by currency; volume discount above £20,000 |
At £40,000 converted a month, Revolut Scale costs £1,080 a year and Wise from £1,202, including its £50 set-up fee. Below about £36,000 a month Wise's floor rate is cheaper; above it, Revolut's allowance plans win. Wise's 0.24% is a floor, so on a currency priced higher the crossover comes sooner.
Wise closed or froze your account
If Wise closed your account, find out which rule you broke before you apply anywhere else, because the next provider will ask. Wise's policy covers payments as well as businesses: a company outside the list can still be closed for payments it receives, for example from a platform or a country on the list. Your business account was closed: what to do has the steps, and why business account applications get rejected covers the reasons providers don't publish.
What to do before you leave Wise
- Name the reason. Industry, platform location, deposit protection, missing product, price or a closure. The table at the top gives the shortlist for each.
- Check the alternative's own list. Industry, company country, owners' countries. Read the wording, not only the headings.
- Apply to two providers in different groups at once. One refusal shouldn't stop your payments.
- Keep Wise open while you move, if you still can. Update your account details with customers and platforms, and close Wise only when payments stop arriving there.
- Answer questions about the Wise decision plainly if a new provider asks. An answer that later proves untrue can get the new account closed too.
Finzil runs steps 1 and 2 against the published rules of every provider on the site.
