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How freelancers get paid across borders

Getting paid across borders is two problems that look like one. The first is where the money lands and what the conversion costs you. The second is what the client needs before they will send it at all, which is usually an invoice from a registered business. A multi-currency account solves the first and nothing of the second. Filter the twelve below by which half you are stuck on.

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12 tools compared, no affiliate links

  • Wise (opens in a new tab)

    Takes a commission

    Local account details in several currencies, with the real exchange rate and a visible fee.

    Best for: Getting paid as a local in your client's country

  • Payoneer (opens in a new tab)

    Takes a commission

    Receiving accounts built around marketplace payouts, widely accepted where banks are not.

    Best for: Marketplace earnings and countries banks are wary of

  • Revolut (opens in a new tab)

    Free plan

    A multi-currency account with a card, and a business tier for invoicing.

    Best for: Holding several currencies and spending from them

  • Airwallex (opens in a new tab)

    Takes a commission

    Business accounts with local details in many markets, aimed at companies rather than individuals.

    Best for: A registered business billing across several countries

  • Grey (opens in a new tab)

    Free plan

    USD, GBP and EUR receiving accounts for freelancers in Africa and Asia.

    Best for: Countries where Wise and Payoneer are restricted

  • Mercury (opens in a new tab)

    Free plan

    US business banking for companies, including foreign-owned ones.

    Best for: Freelancers who have already set up a US entity

  • Stripe (opens in a new tab)

    Takes a commission

    Card payments you embed in an invoice, a link or your own site.

    Best for: Letting a client pay by card without asking for a transfer

  • PayPal (opens in a new tab)

    Takes a commission

    The one every client already has, and the one that costs the most to use.

    Best for: A client who will not use anything else

  • Paddle (opens in a new tab)

    Takes a commission

    A merchant of record that sells your digital product and handles the sales tax itself.

    Best for: Selling a template, course or tool internationally

  • Deel (opens in a new tab)

    Paid

    Contracts and compliant payouts for contractors, usually set up by the client.

    Best for: A client who wants the paperwork handled for them

  • Remote (opens in a new tab)

    Paid

    Contractor and employer-of-record services, again bought by the client.

    Best for: Longer engagements a client wants on a formal footing

  • Bitwage (opens in a new tab)

    Takes a commission

    Takes an invoice or payroll payment and delivers part of it in crypto.

    Best for: Countries where holding local currency is the bigger risk

No company needed
You can open it as an individual, without a registered business. Note this covers holding and receiving money, not issuing the invoice a client asks for.
Local account details
Gives you account numbers in USD, EUR, GBP and others, so your client sends a domestic payment instead of an international wire. Usually the single biggest saving.
Client pays by card
The client enters a card instead of making a transfer. Faster to collect and more expensive per payment, and the fee rises on foreign cards.
Free to open and hold
No monthly fee for having the account. The cost moves to conversion and withdrawal, which is where it is easier to miss.
Crypto payout
Delivers some or all of the payment in crypto. Relevant where local currency is the risk rather than the fees, and where the tax treatment is worth checking first.

Outbound links are not affiliate links and no tool paid to be listed. Plans change often, so check the current pricing page before you commit.

Picking by what you need

Wise alternatives

What Wise actually gives you is local account details plus a visible fee, so the useful comparison is against tools that do the same. Revolut is closest for an individual and adds a card that spends from whichever currency you hold, at the cost of a monthly conversion limit on the free tier. Airwallex covers more markets but is business only. Grey exists for the specific case Wise does not serve: countries where it will not open an account for you. Payoneer is the swap people make for marketplace payouts rather than for cost.

Payoneer alternatives

Most people leave Payoneer over conversion cost, and for that Wise is the direct answer: same idea, cheaper conversion, fee shown separately from the rate. The reason to stay is the one Wise cannot match, which is that Upwork, Fiverr and Amazon pay into Payoneer directly and it opens in countries where others will not. If that is your situation, compare against Grey rather than Wise, because Grey is built for the same problem.

Getting paid without a registered company

Eight of these open for an individual, which is worth stating plainly because it is the first thing people check. What none of them solve is the other half: a client who will not pay until they have an invoice from a registered business. A Wise account holds the money perfectly well and does not make that invoice exist. That is the gap Ruul fills by letting you invoice without a company and acting as the legal counterparty, then paying out within one business day of the client paying, into an account like the ones on this list. The two layers stack; they are not a choice.

Letting a client pay by card

Three of these take card payments instead of transfers, which removes an objection and costs more per payment. Stripe is the cheapest and needs a registered business in most countries. PayPal is the one every client already has, and the conversion margin rather than the headline percentage is what makes it expensive. Paddle is a different animal: it becomes the seller of record, so international sales tax is its problem rather than yours, which is why it costs more.

When the client picks the tool

Deel and Remote are on this list for completeness, not because you will choose them. The hiring side buys them and you are enrolled: the contract, the compliance and the payout come as a package, and you cannot bring either to a client who does not already use one. Worth knowing what they are when a client proposes one, and worth knowing that the fee is theirs rather than yours.

Before you commit

How to choose

  1. Work out which half you are stuck on

    Losing money on conversion and waiting five days for a wire is one problem. A client who will not pay without an invoice from a business is a different one, and no account fixes it. Solve the one you actually have, because the tools for each are different.

  2. Compare the conversion, not the transfer fee

    Nearly everyone quotes a small transfer fee and takes the real money in the exchange rate. The honest test is the same one every time: send a real amount through the calculator and see what lands in your currency. The number that matters is what arrives, not what was charged.

  3. Check it opens where you live

    Availability is the thing that quietly decides this for most people. Several of these will not open an account in the country you are in, and finding that out after you have sent a client the details is the expensive version of the discovery.

  4. Ask what the client will actually do

    A payment method only works if the client uses it. Local account details work because the client makes a normal domestic payment and does nothing unusual. A card link works because there is nothing to set up. A method that requires the client to open an account is a method that delays your payment.

  5. Keep the records as the money moves

    Cross-border payments produce a trail in several currencies and several places, and reconstructing it in March is worse than keeping it as you go. Export statements regularly and keep them with the matching invoices, so the year-end is a download rather than a reconstruction.

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Tracked hours still have to turn into money

Ruul lets you invoice clients without a registered company, in 190 countries, with payouts in 140+ currencies. You send the invoice, Ruul acts as the legal counterparty and collects the payment, and you get paid within one business day of the client paying. No setup cost and no monthly fee, just a 5% transaction commission.