Payoneer and Wise do something similar: they give you bank details in other currencies so clients can pay you like a local supplier. But they charge in very different ways, and which one suits you depends mostly on who is paying you.
How each one charges
- Payoneer charges 1% to receive a payment from a client, then from 1.2% (up to 4%) to convert on withdrawal. If you receive less than $6,000.00 a year, there is an annual fee of $29.95.
- Wise does not charge to receive most currencies by local transfer, and converts at the mid-market rate with an explicit fee (0.29% from dollars to euros). The receiving details cost €60 once.
One direct client payment
- Card fee
- Cross-border
- Conversion
- Payout
| Fee layer | Payoneer | Wise Business |
|---|---|---|
| Receiving fee | −$15.00 | — |
| Currency conversion | −$17.82 | −$4.35 |
| Total cost | $32.82 (2.19%) | $4.35 (0.29%) |
What it costs over a year
If a US client pays you the same amount every month into a euro account:
| US client pays you | Payoneer, a year | Wise, a year |
|---|---|---|
| $400.00 a month | $134.97 | $13.92 + €60 |
| $1,500.00 a month | $393.84 | $52.20 + €60 |
| $5,000.00 a month | $1,312.80 | $174.00 + €60 |
On direct payments, Wise is cheaper at every volume, even with the set-up cost. Payoneer's annual fee only matters at the lowest volume, but its receiving fee always does.
Where Payoneer does make sense
Many marketplaces pay straight into Payoneer, and that changes the sum: the fee for receiving from a client does not apply the same way to platform payouts, and it is sometimes the most convenient withdrawal route, or the only one. Upwork, for example, charges a flat fee to withdraw by ACH to a Wise account if your tax address is outside the US, and lists no fee for Payoneer; I compare it route by route on the Upwork fees page and the Fiverr one.
What I would do
- Direct clients: Wise, or any account that gives you local details with no receiving fee.
- Marketplaces: whichever route the platform charges least for, which is often Payoneer. Then withdraw in the same currency and convert wherever it is cheapest.
- Both at once is not a bad idea if you work through platforms and directly: each for what it does best.
The full rates are on the Payoneer fee card and the Wise one.
Every figure in this guide is calculated from the providers' public pricing pages, with the same function as the calculator. See the methodology for what the model includes and leaves out.