Wise Business vs Revolut Business for UK Freelancers: Which Is Actually Worth It?
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Two Different Pricing Models, One Decision
If you freelance in the UK and invoice clients abroad, Wise Business and Revolut Business will both be on your shortlist. They are hard to compare because they are built on different commercial models. Wise charges a one-off fee and then prices each transaction. Revolut charges a monthly subscription per user and bundles an allowance of currency exchange into it.
Which works out cheaper depends entirely on how much you convert and how often. And since March 2026, there is a second difference that matters more than the fees: only one of them is a bank.
What These Accounts Actually Are
Wise Business is an electronic money institution regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It is not a bank, and your money is safeguarded rather than covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Revolut’s position changed on 11 March 2026, when the Prudential Regulation Authority lifted the restrictions on its banking licence and Revolut Bank UK Ltd launched. Eligible deposits held with the bank entity are FSCS-protected. The complication is that migration from the old e-money entity has been phased, and some customers, including some who signed up after launch, were still onboarded to Revolut Ltd. Check in the app which entity holds your balance rather than assuming.
Either way, both give you a sort code and account number, a debit card, an app and multi-currency balances, and both are used by large numbers of UK freelancers.
Wise Business: How It Works
Registering and holding a Wise Business account is free. There is no monthly fee. The one-off charge of £50 unlocks local account details in 22 currencies, which is what lets a client in the US, the eurozone or Australia pay you as though you were local.
Once that is done:
- You can hold balances in dozens of currencies and convert on your own schedule
- Conversions start from 0.33% above the mid-market rate, rising for less common currencies and smaller amounts
- Receiving into your local account details is free, while payments arriving by SWIFT carry a £2.16 charge
- ATM withdrawals are free up to £250 a month, then 2.69%
- Batch payments handle paying several people at once
- It connects to Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent
The model suits irregular international work. You pay once, and after that each transaction costs what it costs, with the fee shown before you confirm.
What Wise is not. There is no overdraft, no business credit card, no cash deposits, and no rewards or cashback. It is a payments account, not a banking relationship.
Revolut Business: How It Works
Revolut Business is a subscription, priced per user per month, and there is no free tier. The plans are Basic at £10, Grow from £30, Scale from £90, and Enterprise on request.
Per user matters. A sole trader pays for one seat, but adding a bookkeeper or a second director multiplies the monthly cost rather than sharing it.
Each plan includes a monthly allowance of currency exchange at interbank rates. Inside the allowance, conversion is excellent. Outside it, you pay a fee, and Revolut applies a markup outside market hours, so a conversion made on a Saturday costs more than the same conversion on a Tuesday. Higher plans buy bigger allowances rather than removing the mechanic.
What Revolut does well. Expense management, team cards, approval workflows, accounting integrations and a polished app. If you already use Revolut personally, it sits in the same ecosystem.
Which Works Out Cheaper
Work it from your own numbers rather than from a verdict.
Wise costs £50 once, plus a percentage of what you convert. At the 0.33% floor, converting £2,000 a month costs around £6.60, so a first year of that pattern is roughly £129 and every year after is roughly £79. Your real rate will be higher than the floor on some currency pairs, so treat those as best-case figures and check the calculator for the pairs you actually use.
Revolut Basic costs £120 a year for one user before any conversion at all, and conversions are free only inside the plan’s allowance. That is good value if your FX volume genuinely uses the allowance every month, and poor value if you convert twice a quarter.
The rough shape: light and irregular international work favours Wise, because you are not paying a subscription in the months you do nothing. Steady monthly conversion volume, a team that needs cards and approvals, or a workflow that depends on expense tooling favours Revolut, provided you are using the allowance you are paying for.
One thing neither will tell you: if your foreign income is occasional and small, the cheapest option may be neither. A free UK account such as Mettle, which also includes FreeAgent free provided you make at least one transaction a month, plus taking the hit on the occasional conversion, can beat both.
Deposit Protection: The Part Worth Reading Twice
The FSCS limit rose from £85,000 to £120,000 on 1 December 2025, per eligible person per banking licence. Temporary high balances, for example after a property sale, are covered up to £1.4m for six months.
Wise. As an EMI, Wise must hold your money in safeguarded accounts, separate from its own funds. That is meaningful protection, and it is not FSCS cover. In a failure, you would expect to get your money back from the safeguarded pool, but the process is slower and the guarantee is not statutory in the same way.
Revolut. Eligible deposits with Revolut Bank UK Ltd are FSCS-protected to £120,000. Two caveats. First, check which entity holds your account, because balances still under the e-money entity are safeguarded rather than protected. Second, Revolut’s business savings product sits outside the bank with partner banks, so protection there follows the partner bank’s own licence and limit rather than your Revolut account’s.
FSCS eligibility also has exclusions, including financial firms, insurers, funds and public authorities, so check the exclusions list if your business is in one of those categories.
For a working float of a few thousand pounds, this is a secondary consideration. If you are holding a VAT or Self Assessment bill in the account for months, it is not.
Side by Side
| Feature | Wise Business | Revolut Business |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | None | From £10 per user, per month |
| One-off fee | £50 for local account details in 22 currencies | None |
| Regulatory status | Electronic money institution | Bank, for accounts held with Revolut Bank UK Ltd |
| FSCS protection | No, safeguarded instead | Yes for eligible deposits with the bank entity, to £120,000 |
| FX pricing | From 0.33% above mid-market on every conversion | Interbank inside a monthly allowance, fees beyond it |
| Out-of-hours FX markup | No | Yes |
| Receiving foreign payments | Local details in 22 currencies, SWIFT £2.16 | Yes |
| Cash deposits | No | No |
| Overdraft or credit | No | No |
| Accounting integrations | Yes | Yes |
| Priced per user | No | Yes |
Making Tax Digital and Bookkeeping
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax has applied since 6 April 2026 to sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000, meaning gross income from self-employment and property before expenses. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027.
Neither account submits anything to HMRC. Both feed transactions into accounting software, and the software makes the submissions. What matters is that your bank feed is clean and categorised, which both do well, and that your accounting product is recognised for MTD for Income Tax specifically, since recognition for MTD for VAT is a different thing.
Who Should Choose Which
Wise Business suits freelancers who invoice abroad occasionally, want no monthly commitment, hold foreign balances and convert on their own timing, and can live without an overdraft or cash deposits. For most UK sole traders with a handful of international clients, it is the lower-overhead choice.
Revolut Business suits higher transaction volumes, teams that need cards and expense controls, anyone who will genuinely use the FX allowance they are paying for, and businesses that want their working balance inside a licensed bank with FSCS cover.
FAQ
Is Wise or Revolut better for a UK sole trader?
For light and irregular international invoicing, Wise usually costs less, because Revolut’s cheapest plan is £120 a year before you convert anything. For steady monthly conversion or a team that needs cards and approvals, Revolut earns its subscription. Do the arithmetic on your own volume rather than taking either verdict on trust.
Does Revolut Business have a free plan?
No. The entry plan is Basic at £10 per user per month. Any comparison showing Revolut at £0 is out of date.
Is my money protected if either firm fails?
They differ now. Eligible deposits held with Revolut Bank UK Ltd are FSCS-protected up to £120,000. Wise is an electronic money institution, so your funds are safeguarded in segregated accounts rather than FSCS-protected. Check in the Revolut app which entity holds your account, because the migration to the bank was phased.
Can I use either for Making Tax Digital?
Indirectly. Both connect to MTD-compatible accounting software, which is what actually files. Neither connects to HMRC by itself.
What does the Wise £50 actually buy?
Local account details in 22 currencies, as a one-off. Opening and holding the account is free without it, but without local details your clients abroad are sending international payments rather than domestic ones.
Wise Business vs Revolut Business: The Bottom Line
For most UK freelancers with occasional international invoices, Wise Business remains the sensible default. No monthly fee, transparent conversion pricing from 0.33%, and a £50 one-off that pays for itself quickly if you are being paid in other currencies.
Revolut Business makes sense at higher volume, for teams, and now for anyone who wants their balance held in a licensed UK bank with FSCS cover. That is a real change from a year ago, and it is the strongest argument in Revolut’s favour, provided you confirm which entity holds your money.
Whichever you choose, price it against your own conversion volume for a full year rather than a single month, and keep the deposit protection question in proportion to the balance you actually hold.
Pricing and features correct at time of writing. Plans, fees and regulatory status change, so always confirm current details with the provider before opening an account. This article is general information, not financial advice, and it does not take account of your circumstances. Check the FSCS position for your own account and speak to a qualified adviser about anything material.