Airwallex
$510/mo est.
- In-person rate
- —
- Online rate
- —
- Monthly fee
- Free (Explore plan)
- Hardware cost
- —
- Contract length
- No lock-in on entry plans
- Settlement time
- —
- Est. monthly cost
- $510/mo
Airwallex
Global payments gateway with a published USD online card rate; no in-person acceptance in the US yet (POS Payments is Coming Soon).
- In-person rate
- —
- Online rate
- —
- Monthly fee
- Free (Explore plan)
- Contract
- No lock-in on entry plans
Best for
US online businesses that want a transparent card rate alongside multi-currency accounts, FX and global payouts, and do not need in-person acceptance today.
Pricing breakdown
All prices in USDLast verified July 24, 2026Every fee we track, grouped by where it applies.
In-person payments
In-person terminal and tap-to-pay transactions.
- Monthly fee
- Free (Explore plan)
The Explore plan is $0/month. Grow is $12 per user/month and Accelerate is custom, but neither is required to accept payments.
Online payments
Online checkout and keyed-in card transactions.
- Monthly fee
- Free (Explore plan)
The Explore plan is $0/month. Grow is $12 per user/month and Accelerate is custom, but neither is required to accept payments.
Contract terms
- Contract length
- No lock-in on entry plans
Accepted payment methods
Cards, wallets, and other methods supported by Airwallex for US merchants.
Cards
- Visa
- Mastercard
- AMEX
- discover
- Diners Club
- JCB
- UnionPay
Digital wallets
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
Buy now, pay later
- Klarna
Strengths and trade-offs
Pros
- Published, transparent online card rate (2.80% + $0.30 domestic)
- Free Explore plan with no monthly fee for online card acceptance
- Multi-currency accounts, FX and global payouts on the same platform
- Native AI fraud detection, dispute automation, and an official MCP server
Cons
- No in-person card acceptance in the US yet; POS Payments is Coming Soon
- Domestic Amex transactions in select categories (travel, lodging, restaurants, bars) carry a surcharge above the standard 2.80% rate
- Grow plan pricing is per Spend user plus a platform fee, not a single flat monthly figure
About Airwallex
Airwallex is a Melbourne-founded global payments and banking platform. In the US it operates as Airwallex US, LLC (NMLS #1928093), licensed to do business as a money transmitter, and partners with Evolve Bank & Trust (Member FDIC) for some payment services. It publishes a transparent blended online card rate of 2.80% + $0.30 for domestic Visa, Mastercard and American Express (higher for select Amex merchant categories), backed by a full checkout stack: a hosted payment page, payment links, invoicing, and native recurring billing.
Airwallex does not yet offer in-person card acceptance in the US: POS Payments (the M90 terminal and SoftPOS) is explicitly listed as Coming Soon, live today only in the UK, EU, Singapore and Hong Kong. Airwallex is built for businesses that also want multi-currency accounts, FX and global payouts alongside online card acceptance.
Airwallex was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.
How Airwallex compares
Side-by-side with the closest alternatives by estimated cost.
Assumes $15,000/mo volume, $50 average transaction, 70% in-person and 30% online.
Stripe
$525/mo est.
- In-person rate
- —
- Online rate
- —
- Monthly fee
- Free
- Hardware cost
- —
- Contract length
- No lock-in, pay as you go
- Settlement time
- —
- Est. monthly cost
- $525/mo
PayPal
$595.50/mo est.
- In-person rate
- —
- Online rate
- —
- Monthly fee
- Free
- Hardware cost
- —
- Contract length
- No lock-in
- Settlement time
- —
- Est. monthly cost
- $595.50/mo
Common questions about Airwallex
The same questions US merchants ask before signing up.
Airwallex publishes 2.8% plus $0.30 for US domestic cards, covering Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay and Google Pay. That is the cheapest published headline rate on this table, marginally below Stripe. Its Explore plan carries no monthly fee, so a platform can start without fixed overhead.
Not necessarily. Airwallex's own pricing page carries a banner stating that Platform API and Embedded Finance use cases should get in touch to discuss custom pricing. So the published card rate is the right reference point for what your sellers pay to accept a card, while your platform's own commercial terms are negotiated. Stripe is the outlier here in publishing its full Connect platform fee schedule.
Cross-border. It pays out to more than 200 countries and settles like-for-like in more than 20 currencies, so a seller who earns in euros can be paid in euros without a forced conversion. For a US platform with international sellers that avoids an FX spread on every payout, which is a real cost that a domestic-first processor hides.
No. The Explore plan is free. Grow is $12 per user per month and Accelerate is custom-priced, but those plans buy spend management, expense and treasury features rather than payment acceptance. You do not need a paid plan to process payments.
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