Airwallex Fees Explained: Transfers, FX, Cards and Monthly Plans in the UK, Australia and US

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What does Airwallex charge? The fee most businesses pay is the currency conversion: 0.5% above the interbank rate for major currencies and 1% for all other currencies, the same on every plan in the UK, Australia and the US. Local transfers in the domestic currencies are free, SWIFT transfers cost a flat £10-20 in the UK, A$10-30 in Australia and US$15-25 in the US, and the monthly plan starts at £0 or £19 in the UK depending on how much money passes through the account. Every figure on this page was read from Airwallex's own pricing pages on 7 November 2026; the detail by country, two worked examples and the fees the pricing page does not show are below.

Airwallex is a business payments platform, not a bank, and it is priced like one: you pay for moving and converting money rather than for holding it. That makes the bill easy to estimate if you know your monthly volume, and easy to underestimate if you only look at the plan price. If you want the wider picture first — licences, safety and who it suits — read our Airwallex review. This page is only about cost.

The fee table, by country

All three pricing pages were read on 7 November 2026: UK (prices exclude VAT), Australia (prices include GST) and United States.

Two details are easy to miss. The monthly fee is charged per business legal entity, so a group with three companies pays three plan fees. And the major-currency list is Airwallex's own: the UK page names AUD, USD, HKD, CNY, EUR, GBP and SGD "and more", so check whether the currency you actually convert sits on the 0.5% list or the 1% list before you budget.

Currency conversion: the fee that decides the bill

For most businesses that use Airwallex for what it is built for — paying and getting paid across borders — the conversion markup is the largest line, larger than the plan fee and the transfer fees together.

The markup is charged above the interbank rate, which is the rate banks trade at between themselves. That is a more transparent basis than a bank's "competitive rate", where the margin sits inside the quoted rate and is never stated. It is not the same as zero: 0.5% on major currencies and 1% on the rest is a real, percentage-based cost that grows with volume.

There is one question Airwallex's public pages answer only partly: whether larger volumes get a lower markup. The Australian page tells new customers converting more than A$250,000 to contact sales, and the Accelerate plans are custom-priced in all three countries. If you convert six figures a month, ask for the rate in writing before you move your flows.

Transfer fees: local versus SWIFT

Airwallex routes payments over local payment rails where it can and over SWIFT where it cannot, and the two are priced very differently.

• Local and domestic transfers are listed as free: EUR, GBP and CHF from the UK, local transfers from Australia, USD and CAD from the US. The pricing pages also list local transfers to more than 120 countries as a feature, without a separate fee line.

• SWIFT transfers carry the flat fee in the table above, whichever plan you are on. SHA means the fees along the way are shared, so your recipient may receive slightly less than you sent; OUR means you pay them so the recipient gets the full amount. Airwallex quotes one band for both rather than separate prices.

If you pay suppliers abroad, the practical rule is simple: wherever Airwallex can send a payment locally, you pay the conversion markup and nothing more; wherever it has to use SWIFT, add the flat fee.

Card fees

Airwallex's Explore plan advertises multi-currency company and employee cards with "zero international fees" in the UK and Australia, and US Explore describes the same zero international fees. What that means in practice: when a card spends a currency you already hold in the account, there is no conversion; when it spends a currency you do not hold, the conversion is priced at the account's FX rates rather than with a separate foreign-transaction percentage of the kind many bank cards charge.

What the pricing pages do not list: ATM withdrawal fees, or a separate charge for receiving money. If either matters to you — staff who draw cash abroad, or customers who pay you by SWIFT — read the detailed fee schedule linked from your country's pricing page before you rely on the card or account for it.

Two worked examples

These are arithmetic on the published percentages, not quotes. Real conversions also move with the interbank rate on the day.

A UK company paying a €20,000 supplier invoice every month. Suppose the conversion needs about £17,000. At 0.5% above interbank, the conversion costs about £85 on top of the interbank rate. The payment goes out locally in euros, which Airwallex lists as free. If the company keeps less than £10,000 in the account and deposits less than £10,000 a month, Explore costs £19, so the month costs about £104 in total. If the supplier can only be paid by SWIFT, add £10-20.

An Australian business receiving US$50,000 from customers and converting it to AUD. At 0.5%, the conversion costs about US$250 above interbank. Deposits of that size clear the A$5,000-a-month threshold, so Explore costs A$0. A business converting a non-major currency of the same value would pay 1%, or about US$500.

The pattern is the same everywhere: once your volume is meaningful, the plan fee stops mattering and the markup is the number to compare.

How to compare Airwallex with your bank honestly

Do not compare Airwallex's SWIFT fee with your bank's wire fee and stop there; the conversion is usually the bigger cost and banks rarely publish theirs. Instead:

• Take one real payment you make every month, in the real currency pair.

• Note the interbank or mid-market rate at the moment you get each quote.

• Ask your bank and Airwallex for the amount the recipient will receive, after every fee.

• Divide the gap between that and the mid-market amount by the amount sent. That percentage is the true price, whatever each fee schedule calls it.

If you mainly pay out in one or two currencies and do not need cards or company accounts, a transfer specialist can be cheaper for one-off payments — our Wise vs Airwallex comparison runs through where each wins, and Wise's own pricing shows its per-currency fees. For named-bank matchups, see Starling vs Airwallex for UK companies, Commonwealth Bank vs Airwallex for Australia, and Bank of America vs Airwallex for the US.

What you are paying for — and what you are not getting

The fees buy a multi-currency business account with local receiving details: Airwallex's UK business page says it can provision local currency accounts to receive funds in 20+ currencies, and send in 60+ currencies to 200+ countries. It says accounts typically open in 1-3 business days.

They do not buy deposit protection. Airwallex's own help centre states that "Airwallex UK is not a bank and is not covered by the FSCS"; customer money is instead safeguarded — "kept separate from Airwallex UK's own funds", per its safety article. The licences differ by country: Airwallex (UK) Ltd is an electronic money institution (licence number 900876), Airwallex Pty Ltd holds Australian Financial Services Licence 487221, AWX Lithuania, UAB holds e-money licence no. 88 passported across the EEA, and Airwallex US, LLC is a licensed money transmitter, per its licensing article. In the US it names Lead Bank and Evolve Bank & Trust as partner banks on its state licences page.

For a business, that has a practical consequence: keep the balance you cannot afford to have tied up in an insolvency at a licensed bank, and use Airwallex for the money that is moving. Our guide to fintech business accounts versus bank accounts explains the difference in detail.

Is Airwallex worth the fees?

It is good value when three things are true: you convert currencies every month, you can be paid and pay out locally in the currencies you use, and your volume is high enough that the plan fee is waived or irrelevant. It is poor value when you rarely convert, when most of your payments need SWIFT, or when you mainly need a domestic account for one currency — a domestic bank account usually costs less for that.

If the first description fits, open an Airwallex account and run one real payment through it before moving everything; if you are still choosing, the business banking hub compares the alternatives.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Airwallex charge for international transfers?

Transfers sent over local rails in the domestic currencies are listed as free, and SWIFT transfers cost £10-20 in the UK, A$10-30 in Australia and US$15-25 in the US, on every plan. If the transfer involves a currency conversion, add 0.5% above interbank for major currencies or 1% for others.

What are Airwallex's transaction fees?

There is no single transaction fee. The main charges are the currency conversion markup (0.5% or 1%), the flat SWIFT fee where SWIFT is used, the monthly plan fee where it is not waived, and, if you accept card payments, a percentage plus a fixed fee per payment that depends on the card's origin.

Is Airwallex free?

The entry plan can be. In the UK, Explore costs £0 if you deposit at least £10,000 a month or hold a £10,000 balance, and £19 otherwise; in Australia it is A$0 above A$5,000 deposited a month or a A$10,000 balance, otherwise A$29; in the US, Explore is listed at US$0 per user. Conversions and SWIFT transfers are still charged.

Does Airwallex charge fees on cards abroad?

Its Explore plan advertises company and employee cards with zero international fees. Spending a currency you hold involves no conversion; spending one you do not hold is converted at the account's FX rates. The pricing pages do not list ATM fees, so check the detailed fee schedule if you need cash.

Is Airwallex a bank?

No. It holds e-money, payment and money-transmitter licences that differ by country, and says in its own help centre that Airwallex UK is not a bank and is not covered by the FSCS. Customer money is safeguarded rather than deposit-insured.

This is general information, not financial or tax advice. Prices are those published on 7 November 2026 and can change; confirm on Airwallex's pricing page for your country before you open an account.