# Wise

40 Hacker News commenters recommended Wise and 32 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend Wise for cheap international transfers and cards with fair exchange rates, usable without the app. Common caveat: accounts can be closed unexpectedly and funds are not government guaranteed.

## Why people recommend it

- Low fees and good exchange rates (6 comments): "it will almost always be much lower than what your bank charges for international transfers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48434038)) "I skipped most the fees and got a good exchange rate with a Wise Card/account." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46963929)) "To send $20 to GBP, you get 11.48 GBP with Xoom and 14.57 GBP with Wise." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46885281))
- Works without the phone app (5 comments): "Even Wise, a cutting-edge neobank, does not require you to use its app. And its website accepts standard TOTP authenticator for 2FA." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47180992)) "modern web offering and does not even require that you install a native app" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50220447)) "You can use it completely without a phone app." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49047030))
- Good for travel and card payments (4 comments): "this is why Revolut and WISE cards are a god send when travelling" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46366176)) "Wise has changed travel for the better, and dramatically." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46430872)) "Wise card makes foreign payments much easier." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47161433))
- Fast international transfers (2 comments): "International transfers settle in under a minute to Australian and European bank accounts in my experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644691)) "Or a service like Wise which is cheap and takes a few minutes most of the time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644112))

## What people warn about

- Fees high for small transfers (5 comments): "Where Wise takes a huge cut is if you convert $10 at a time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48647399)) "Transferring money across regions with the best 'normie' tools (eg Transferwise/wise.com) is multiple orders of magnitude more expensive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46876583)) "US to Poland for 1000 USD on Wise is still 0.46% which is multiple orders of magnitude more expensive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46879863))
- Accounts closed or funds locked (4 comments): "It has been half a decade and nada. And I estimate that it has cost me north of $20k+ over that time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48567067)) "this usually comes with some drawbacks such as higher chance of unexplained account closure" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50107483)) "Wise, like any other fintech is fun until it randomly closes your account and bans you." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48647433))
- Money not government guaranteed (2 comments): "The only thing holding me back is the fact that money isn't government guaranteed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50223446)) "got a bit wary of what would happen if they went bust. Government backed guarantee do not exist for Wise." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48255540))
- Account type limits some features (3 comments): "Wise Business works but has limits." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47507017)) "If your Wise account is Brazilian. If you have a foreign account, base currency or whatever the name is for that concept, you cannot." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064652)) "they cannot receive money using WISE, they have to open a business account to receive money" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48648014))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Interac e-Transfer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/interac.md): 11 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://wise.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Wise", https://hackerapproved.com/p/wise/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).