Last verified 32 days ago·16 sources·Updated automatically
Mercury and Wise Business compared across Company facts, Pricing, Card & limits, Rewards & cash back, Spend management, Security & compliance and Platform & integrations — every fact sourced and re-verified from each vendor's public material.
Mercury
Business banking with the balance-funded IO card — the simplest card add-on if you already bank with Mercury.
charge cardCash-underwritten charge card; balance paid off each pay period
debitMulti-currency debit card funded by the Wise account balance
Card Network
Mastercard
Visa
No Personal Guarantee
No personal guarantee and no personal credit check
Balance-funded debit card; no personal guarantee or credit check
Limit Basis
account balanceCash-underwritten: IO balance cannot exceed cash held with Mercury (linked external balances may add headroom)
account balanceSpend limited to available deposited balance; admins set per-card limits
Virtual Cards
Issue physical or virtual cards to the team; start spending immediately with virtual cards
Create digital cards instantly to separate expense types
No Foreign Transaction Fees
3% currency conversion fee on non-USD IO transactions
No foreign transaction fees on card spend; mid-market rate, no FX markup
Rewards & cash back
Rewards Model
flat cash backUnlimited 1.5% cashback on all spend, auto-deposited
noneNo cash-back or points rewards program
Flat Cash-Back Rate
1.5%
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Spend management
Receipt Capture & Matching
Upload/email receipts and Mercury auto-matches them to the right transaction
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Approval Workflows & Policies
Company-wide spend policies plus multi-layered approval rules for bill pay
Per-card spend limits and freeze controls only; no multi-step approval routing
Employee Reimbursements
Out-of-pocket reimbursements; 5 active users/mo free, more on paid tiers
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Bill Pay / AP
Free unlimited bill pay via ACH, domestic/international wire, or check
Pay vendor bills/invoices; BatchTransfer sends up to 1,000 payments from a spreadsheet
Security & compliance
SOC 2
SOC 2 Type II
SOC 2 Type II (also SOC 1 Type 2, PCI DSS, ISO 27001)
Platform & integrations
Accounting / ERP Sync
Native sync to QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite
Native sync to QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage, FreeAgent, Zoho Books and more
Public API
Public REST API — balances, transactions, ACH transfers; plus Accounts Receivable/invoicing API
Public Wise API: payments automation, conversions, balances; card issuing via Wise Platform
The verdict
Mercury
Best for cashback plus spend controls
Mercury's charge card returns a flat 1.5% cashback on all spend, where Wise pays no rewards. It also adds multi-step approval workflows, receipt capture and matching, and employee reimbursements that Wise lacks. The trade-off: a 3% fee on non-USD transactions, where Wise charges none.
Wise charges no foreign transaction fees and converts at the mid-market rate, versus Mercury's 3% FX fee. Its debit card is multi-currency, BatchTransfer sends up to 1,000 payments from a spreadsheet, and accounting sync spans more tools (Sage, FreeAgent, Zoho Books). It pays no rewards and offers no approval routing.
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