Wise Personal vs Business: What’s the difference in the Philippines?

Claire Millard
Minami Ishii
Last updated
July 30, 2025

Wise launched back in 2011 in the UK, and has since expanded globally, offering low cost cross border payments, multi-currency accounts and smart international debit cards for personal and business customers. Overall, Wise is trusted by over 16 million customers, including hundreds of thousands of businesses big and small.

Wise personal customers can use their accounts to hold, send, spend and receive foreign currencies easily and with the mid-market exchange rate. Wise business customers get all the perks a personal customer does - plus some business friendly extras like ways to cut down admin time, and options to order extra expense cards for your team.

If you’re not sure whether you need a Wise personal vs business account, this guide is for you. Join us as we walk through Wise personal accounts, and Wise for business account options, including a look at fees and features for both services. Let’s dive right in.

Go to Wise Business🚀

Wise business vs personal: Key points

Let’s kick off with a few important points about the features you’ll get from a Wise personal vs Wise business account.

Wise Philippines personal accounts:

  • Accounts are free to open online or in app

  • Hold and exchange 40+ currencies, send payments to 40+ countries

  • Get account details for 20+ currencies to receive payments from others

  • Currency exchange uses the mid-market exchange rate

  • Low, one time fee for a Wise card

Wise Philippines business accounts:

  • Accounts cost Free to open and can hold and exchange 40+ currencies

  • Send payments to 140+ countries and get paid by clients, marketplaces and PSPs with account details for 8+ currencies

  • Currency exchange uses the mid-market exchange rate

  • Business debit and expense cards available with no Wise fee

  • Set and manage user permissions to allow team members the access they need to do their jobs

  • Batch payments to up to 1,000 people at once

  • Integrations with your favourite cloud based accounting software, like Xero and QuickBooks

An important note for both Wise personal and business accounts: Wise is regulated in the Philippines, and as a global business is also overseen by a selection of other regulatory bodies globally. This means Wise must adhere to strict security standards to protect customers’ funds.

If you hold a Wise balance, your money is safeguarded by Wise and held in top tier banks, and you’ll be able to access extra security features, such as instant transaction notifications, and ways to freeze your debit card from your phone, too.

Go to Wise Business🚀

What is the difference between a Wise business and personal account?

Wise business and personal accounts in the Philippines have lots of overlapping features, but the exact details of each - including some of the fees that apply - are a little different.

With both Wise personal and business accounts you can hold a balance in 40+ currencies, exchange currencies within your accounts, send payments to 40+ countries, and receive money from others using handy account details in a selection of currencies.

There are no ongoing fees or minimum balance requirements for either account, and both business and personal customers can get a linked debit card to make it easier to spend and make international cash withdrawals.

Wise personal accounts can suit people receiving payments from loved ones overseas, expats, people who love to travel, and anyone who shops online with international retailers, by driving down the costs of currency conversion and cutting out the foreign transaction fees you’ll usually find with banks.

If you open a Wise business account in the Philippines you’ll be able to access all the features available to personal customers, for a one time account opening fee. In addition to the features available for personal customers, you’ll get some extra benefits, including batch payments to cut down admin time, an API to automate workflow, accounting integrations, and optional expense cards for your team to manage international business spending.

Wise personal pros and cons

Wise personal accounts pros

Wise personal accounts cons

✅No fee to open an account and no ongoing costs

✅Hold and exchange 40+ currencies with the mid-market rate

✅Get a Wise debit card to spend and withdraw easily

✅Manage your account and card from your phone easily

✅Send payments to 40+ countries, 

✅Use local account details to get paid by friends and family overseas

❌Some transaction fees apply, including ATM costs once you exhaust your monthly withdrawal allowance

❌No branch network to deposit cash

❌Curency conversion costs apply

Wise business pros and cons

Wise business accounts pros

Wise  business accounts cons

✅No ongoing account fees

✅Hold, send, spend and receive dozens of currencies with the mid-market rate 

✅Pay contractors and suppliers in 40+ countries, using batch payments for convenience

✅Add team members to your account, and order expense cards for them

✅Multi user access

✅Use local account details to get paid by clients, PSPs and marketplace sites

❌One time fee to open your account

❌No branch network for cash transactions

❌Some transaction fees apply, depending on how you use your account

Go to Wise Business🚀

Wise Personal vs Business: Quick comparison

As we’ve seen, the features available from Wise personal vs business are similar in many places - but not exactly the same. Here’s a summary:

Feature

Wise Personal

Wise Business

Hold and exchange 40+ currencies

Y

Y

Mid-market exchange rates and low fees for currency conversion

Y

Y

Send overseas payments to 40+ countries - often instantly

Y

Y

Local bank details to get paid in 20+ currencies

Y

Y

Manage account online or in app

Y

Y

Debit card for account owner

Y

Y

Expense cards for team members

N

Y

Send batch payments to up to 1,000 people

N

Y

Add and manage team member account permissions

N

Y

Cloud accounting integrations

N

Y

API for workflow automation

N

Y

Wise Personal vs Business fees

Service

Wise Personal

Wise Business

Open Wise account

Free

Free 

Hold 40+ currencies

Free

Free

Order a Wise card

Low one time fee

No fee

Send international payments

From 0.57%

From 0.57%

ATM withdrawals

2 withdrawals, to 12,000 PHP/month fee free


30 PHP + 1% after that

2 withdrawals, to 12,000 PHP/month fee free


30 PHP + 1% after that

Receive AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, HUF, NZD, SGD, TRY, USD (non SWIFT and non-wire)

Free

Free

Receive USD wire

6.11 USD

6.11 USD

Receive other currencies as SWIFT payment

Variable fee based on currency 

Variable fee based on currency 

Batch payments

X

Free

Cloud accounting integrations

X

Free

Add team members to Wise

X

Free

 

*Details correct at time of research - 28th July 2025

Do I need a Wise personal or business account?

Whether you need a Wise personal vs business account depends on how you’ll need to transact.

If you’ll only be making personal transactions, a Wise personal account is the perfect fit. There’s no fee to open your account, and no ongoing charges, so you just pay for the services you use.

If you’re a business owner, a Wise business account allows you to transact on behalf of your company, and access plenty of smart time saving features, too. You can have a personal Wise account as well as your business account, so you can transact as an individual with the same great Wise rates and fees.

If you’re a freelancer, you may consider either a Wise personal or Wise business account. Which works best for you may depend on the features you want to access and how often you’re likely to transact.

How to open a Wise business account

You can open your Wise business account entirely remotely, using just your phone or laptop.

During the process you’ll need to complete a verification step, which usually involves uploading your own ID and proof of address documents, and some paperwork for your registered business. The exact documents needed may vary depending on the entity type you have - but you’ll be guided through by on screen prompts to make it easy.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Open the Wise app or desktop site

  2. Select Register and confirm you want to open a business account

  3. Follow the prompts to add details about your business, and yourself as the account holder

  4. Pay the one time Free fee

  5. Upload your personal and business documents to complete the verification step

  6. You’re ready to go once the Wise team has verified your account

Go to Wise Business🚀

How to open a Wise personal account

Wise personal accounts can also be opened online or through the Wise app. You’ll need your ID document to hand, and may be prompted to upload some other details or documents depending on your personal circumstance.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Open the Wise app or desktop site

  2. Select Register and confirm you want to open a personal account

  3. Register with your email, Facebook, Apple or Google ID

  4. Upload your ID document to complete the verification step

  5. Top up your account, order an international debit card or set up your first transfer

Open your Wise personal account🚀

Can I have a business and a personal account on Wise?

Yes. You can open a business account as a freelancer or the owner of a Philippines registered business, and also have a Wise account to transact personally. That means you can route business payments through your business account for ease, and to make it easier to keep on top of business performance, while also accessing the benefits of Wise for your own personal transactions.

Can I open two Wise accounts?

You can open a Wise personal account, and if you need to, one or more Wise business accounts. Wise customers can only have one personal account - but you can open more than one business account if you have multiple registered businesses and need to keep all the relevant finances separate.

Can I change my Wise account from business to personal?

Got a Wise business account and looking for ways to get the benefits of Wise for yourself as well? You won't need to change your Wise business account to a Wise personal account. Instead, you can simply open a personal account alongside your business account, to keep your personal and company finances separate while still getting international transactions which use the mid-market exchange rate.

Conclusion

Philippines residents can open Wise accounts as an individual, as a freelancer, or on behalf of their registered business. Both Wise personal vs business accounts have lots of great features designed to drive down the costs of transacting internationally.

You can hold 40+ currencies, spend with a linked debit card, and receive payments in multiple currencies. If you open a business account there’s a one time account opening fee to pay - and in return you also get some extra perks like batch payment solutions and cloud accounting integrations.

Use this guide to decide whether Wise business vs personal is right for you - and don’t forget, you can also open both a personal and a business account if you find you need to.

Go to Wise Business🚀

FAQ - Wise personal vs business account

Can Wise be used for business?

Wise offers Wise business accounts which have all the perks of the Wise personal account, and extra features designed to save time and cut down admin when transacting internationally.

What is a Wise personal account?

The Wise personal account is a multi-currency account with optional card, which you can open and manage online or in the Wise app. Hold 40+ currencies, send payments to 40+ countries, and get paid conveniently in foreign currencies, with nothing more than your phone.

What is a Wise business account?

If you’re a Philippines freelancer, sole proprietor or business owner you might want to open a Wise account to hold and exchange 40+ currencies, receive payments from clients, ecommerce sites and online marketplaces in foreign currencies, and send payments to 40+ countries around the world. Currency exchange always uses the mid-market rate, with low fees from 0.57%.

Is a Wise business account worth it?

You’ll pay a one time fee of Free to open your Wise business account but there are no ongoing charges to access all the features as and when you want to. Wise can help you cut the costs of holding, sending, spending and receiving foreign currencies for your business, which may well make it worth using if you transact across borders.