Google Wallet vs Samsung Pay
This is the only mobile wallet comparison on this site that is a real decision. A Galaxy phone runs both, so its owner has to pick a default — and the two are not equivalent once you step away from the terminal.
Set Google Wallet as the default and keep Samsung Pay for whatever it covers better on your particular handset. Google Wallet has wider Australian bank support, works at more online checkouts, and handles transit ticketing more completely. Samsung Pay matches it at the physical terminal and, on the evidence we can verify, nowhere else. On any phone that is not a Galaxy the question never arises, because Samsung Pay will not install.
Side by side
Neither of these charges the customer a fee of its own, so there is no cost row to compute — what you pay is set by the card or account behind the wallet. The rows above are what actually separates them.
Which one, and when
You are setting up a new Galaxy
Make it the double-press default and add your cards there first. It reaches more banks, more online checkouts and more transit networks. Adding the same card to Samsung Pay afterwards is free and takes a minute, so this is not an exclusive choice — but one of them opens when you press the button, and this is the one that should.
Your bank is missing from one of them
Bank coverage is where these two most often part company in practice. Google Wallet's Australian support is wide and Samsung Pay's is good but narrower, and the overlap is not total in either direction — smaller mutuals and newer entrants tend to appear on one before the other. This is the single check worth doing yourself before deciding, because a general claim cannot answer it.
Much of your spending happens in apps and browsers
Samsung Pay's Australian online checkout coverage is partial where Google Wallet's is broad. If a meaningful share of your card use is in-app or on the web — subscriptions, delivery, marketplaces — that gap settles it on its own. Standing at a shop counter you would never notice a difference.
You are weighing this before buying the phone
Both are free, both tokenise, and neither adds anything to a transaction. The payment layer is not a reason to buy or avoid a Galaxy, and treating it as one would be letting a small difference decide a large purchase. Everything else about the handset matters more than this page does.
Where each one loses
Google Wallet does not run on non-Android hardware. Its Australian payments licence, AFSL 318755, belongs to Google's payments business rather than the wallet, so it confers nothing extra at the terminal.
Samsung Pay is limited to eligible Galaxy devices, its Australian bank support is narrower than Google Wallet's, and its online checkout coverage is only partial. The feature that once set it apart — paying at older magnetic-stripe terminals — is irrelevant in a market that went contactless years ago.
General information about payment methods available in Australia. Not financial advice. Fees, limits and features change — verify current terms with the provider before acting.