Revolut in Australia

Two things to know upfront. First, the Australian version of Revolut is not the UK or European version. Some features that exist in those markets are watered down or absent here, and the fee structure is its own. Second, Revolut Australia is not a bank. It's an AFSL holder regulated by ASIC, and your balance is protected through a bank guarantee rather than the Financial Claims Scheme. Different mechanism, different limits.

If you're choosing between Revolut and Wise for moving money, the short answer is that Wise is better for transfers and Revolut is better as a daily spending app. The longer answer is below.

Quick facts

How Revolut works in Australia

You sign up through the app with email and a phone number. Identity verification runs through ASIC-mandated checks: passport or driver licence, a selfie, address confirmation. Most people are through in under ten minutes.

The account is a multi-currency wallet. You can hold AUD, USD, EUR, GBP and around 25 other fiat currencies simultaneously. You can also hold crypto and a small selection of commodities, with caveats covered further down. Adding money is free via PayID (the most common way), bank transfer, or a linked debit card.

When you spend, Revolut pulls funds from your home currency first (AUD for most Australian users) unless you've set a specific currency for the card. If you're spending in a currency you don't hold, Revolut auto-converts at the live mid-market rate plus whatever fees your plan attracts. Same with sending money to someone else's Revolut account, or to a bank in another currency.

The app is the product, in a way that the older wallet providers' apps aren't. It's built like a banking super-app, with budgeting categories, sub-accounts for savings goals ("Vaults"), bill splitting, joint accounts, group spending pots, and a stream of nudges and offers. People either find this useful or actively annoy themselves with it.

The plan structure

Revolut Australia runs four personal plans. The differences are mostly about how much you can convert, withdraw, and transfer before fees kick in, plus what bonus subscriptions and insurances get bundled in.

Standard is free. It covers the basics: hold and convert currencies, get a debit card, do peer-to-peer transfers inside Revolut for free. The main fee triggers are weekend conversion (1% surcharge between 17:00 Friday and 18:00 Sunday New York time), exceeding the monthly fair-usage exchange limit (0.5% over the limit), and ATM withdrawals beyond A$350 or 5 transactions per month, whichever comes first. International outgoing transfers carry a percentage fee that depends on currency and destination.

Plus sits between Standard and Premium at a lower monthly cost (around A$3.99). The weekend conversion fee drops to 0.5%, ATM limits go up, and a few small insurances are added. For most casual users this is the "I use Revolut a bit, but not enough for Premium" tier.

Premium is A$9.99/month, or about A$100/year if paid annually. Weekend conversion fees disappear. ATM limits roughly double. Travel insurance is included while you're abroad. International transfer fees are discounted. You also get a metal-look card and some lifestyle subscription credits.

Metal is A$24.99/month or about A$249/year annually. Significantly higher ATM and exchange limits, no fair-usage cap on currency conversion, fuller travel insurance including for delays and lost baggage, premium card design, and Revolut's reward scheme (RevPoints) at a higher earn rate. Metal's value proposition is bundled subscriptions worth around A$4,000 annually if you'd use all of them.

The honest test for which plan suits you: add up the fees you'd pay on Standard for your real spending pattern over a year, then compare against the annual plan price. For someone who travels once a year and spends mostly in AUD at home, Standard is usually fine. For someone with regular international transactions, Premium pays for itself. Metal is for travellers who'd actually use the bundled subscriptions.

Currency exchange and weekend fees

This is where Revolut's structure differs most from Wise. Revolut uses the live interbank rate during foreign exchange market hours (Monday morning to Friday evening, US time), with no markup. Outside those hours, when the FX markets are closed, Revolut applies a weekend surcharge on currency conversion: 1% for Standard, 0.5% for Plus, zero for Premium and Metal.

This catches people out. Converting on a Sunday afternoon at the displayed "no fee" rate isn't actually free if you're on Standard. The app shows the surcharge before you confirm, but it's not always obvious in the rate-quote phase.

The fair-usage limit applies to currency exchange volume per month. Standard plans get a monthly allowance (which Revolut adjusts from time to time, currently around A$10,000), beyond which a 0.5% fee applies to additional conversions. Metal removes this cap entirely.

You can do up to 200 exchanges in any 24-hour period across fiat currency, crypto and commodities combined. This is high enough that almost no individual user hits it.

International transfers

Revolut's international transfer fees changed structure in December 2025 for new sign-ups (the old fee schedule still applies to legacy accounts until January 2026). Current rules:

For transfers in the local currency of the destination country (sending USD to a US bank, EUR to a European bank, GBP to a UK bank), Revolut charges a percentage of the transfer amount with minimum and maximum fee caps. Standard plan users pay the highest percentage; Premium and Metal get progressive discounts.

For transfers in a non-local currency (sending USD to a UK bank, for example), additional fees apply on top, and intermediary banks may take their own cut along the way that Revolut doesn't see or control.

For local AUD-to-AUD transfers within Australia, there's no Revolut transfer fee. PayID and Osko are supported, so money to other Australian bank accounts moves through the NPP for free.

The pattern in practice: Revolut's transfer fees are reasonable for small to medium amounts on the paid plans, less competitive than Wise on Standard, and rarely the cheapest option for large international transfers. The reason most Australians use Revolut for transfers is convenience (the app is already there, the account is already funded), not because it's the cheapest.

The card and ATM rules

Every Revolut account comes with a Visa or Mastercard debit card, virtual by default with the option to order a physical one. Premium and Metal cards are physical and free; Standard users pay a small delivery fee for a physical card.

The card works in 150+ countries, adds to Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Samsung Pay, and supports contactless. Spending in any currency you hold is free. Spending in a currency you don't hold auto-converts using Revolut's standard FX rules, including the weekend fee on Standard.

ATM withdrawals are where the plan tiers matter most. Standard users get up to A$350 per month or 5 withdrawals, whichever they reach first, with no Revolut fee. Beyond that limit, Revolut charges 2% of the withdrawal amount or A$1.50, whichever is higher. ATM operator fees from the machine itself are separate.

Premium and Metal have significantly higher monthly allowances (typically A$700 and A$1,400 respectively, with adjustments). Beyond those allowances the same 2% / A$1.50 fee applies.

ATMs flagged as "in-network" inside the Revolut app don't add their own surcharge. For overseas travel, the app's ATM finder is genuinely useful for avoiding the operator-side fee that catches people out far more than Revolut's own charges.

Crypto, stocks and other features

This is the section where AU users get confused after reading UK-focused Revolut reviews.

Stock trading is available in Australia. Revolut Australia is licensed by ASIC to provide execution-only dealing in non-complex financial products under AFSL #517589. The product covers US and Australian-listed stocks. It's a basic offering compared to dedicated brokerages, but workable for casual buying.

Crypto has a chequered history in Australia. Revolut's crypto offering here has been adjusted multiple times since 2022 in response to ASIC and AUSTRAC guidance on digital asset regulation. Where things stand mid-2026 depends on when you're reading this, and we'd point you to the Revolut app for current availability. Don't read a UK or European crypto review and assume it applies to AU.

Revolut Pay, Revolut Stays (travel booking), commodities trading (gold, silver), and Junior accounts are available with varying coverage. Cashback through RevPoints rewards on card spending is the most-used non-banking feature for Australian users.

Open Banking and a credit product (personal loans) became available after Revolut secured its Australian Credit Licence in 2022, although the offering remains limited compared to UK and EU markets.

What's notably absent is full banking. Revolut Australia has applied to APRA for an authorised deposit-taking institution licence, but as of mid-2026 the application is still pending. This means Revolut here cannot offer protected savings accounts under the Financial Claims Scheme. The closest substitute is the Bank Guarantee structure covered below.

Regulation and how your money is protected

Revolut Payments Australia Pty Ltd holds AFSL #517589 from ASIC, an Australian Credit Licence, and is registered with AUSTRAC as a reporting entity. The Australian entity has its registered office in Melbourne.

The protection structure for your balance is unusual and worth understanding. Revolut Australia is not an ADI. Your money is not covered by the Financial Claims Scheme. Instead, balances are protected by a Bank Guarantee issued by an Australian ADI in favour of Global Loan Agency Services Australia Nominees Pty Ltd (GLAS), an independent trustee. GLAS holds the benefit of the guarantee on trust for all Revolut account holders.

In practice this means: if Revolut Australia became insolvent, the Bank Guarantee would be called on by GLAS, and customer funds would be paid out from the guarantee rather than tied up in Revolut's winding-up process. The mechanism is well structured and similar in principle to segregated client money rules at brokers. It is not the government-backed protection that ADI deposits get up to A$250,000.

For most users the practical difference is small. For someone holding a large balance who'd otherwise benefit from FCS coverage at a bank, this is a real consideration. Keep balances functional, not large.

History note: Revolut started operating in Australia in February 2019 under a nine-month ASIC exemption. The exemption was followed by months of regulatory scrutiny (including allegations about anti-money-laundering controls in the UK parent), and the Australian AFSL was finally issued in May 2020. About 20,000 customers had been activated under the exemption before new sign-ups were paused. The compliance posture has improved markedly since.

Where Revolut works well

The four jobs Revolut is genuinely strong at for Australian users.

A daily-spend app for travellers. The Visa or Mastercard card, low FX on Premium and above, ATM allowances, in-app spending categories, and travel insurance bundle add up to a real package for people who are abroad more than a few weeks a year.

A second card with multi-currency holding. Keep your AUD spending on your main bank card and use Revolut for foreign currency, online subscriptions, and travel. This is the most common pattern among Australian users.

Splitting expenses with friends. The shared "pots" and bill-splitting features are slicker than anything an Australian bank offers, and the in-app peer-to-peer transfer is instant for both parties as long as they're on Revolut.

Quick small overseas transfers on a paid plan. For under A$1,000 sends in major currencies, Premium and Metal users get fees that are comparable to Wise, with the convenience of an account you already have.

Where it falls short

It's not a bank. No interest on idle balances at the headline level (though Premium and Metal have variable savings rates through specific products), no overdraft, no chequebook, no FCS protection. If you need any of those, Revolut is supplementary to your main bank, not a replacement.

Large transfers are not its strength. For anything above A$5,000 to a major destination, Wise is usually cheaper, sometimes significantly. The bigger the transfer, the wider the gap.

Standard plan limits are easy to hit. Weekend FX fees, the A$350 ATM cap, and the fair-usage cap on exchange volume mean if you actually use Revolut regularly, you'll probably need Premium. Free isn't really free if your usage pattern means you trigger paid features.

Customer support is patchy. Like most fintech apps, Revolut runs chat-based support that's responsive on simple issues and frustrating on complex ones. Account freezes are less common than at PayPal but they happen, and the unfreezing process can be slow.

AU feature gap. Crypto support, lending, and savings features that the UK and EU app offer are partial or absent here. Some of this will close as Revolut's Australian licences expand. Don't pick Revolut because of a feature you read about in a UK review without checking the AU app first.

How Revolut compares to alternatives

Against Wise, Wise is cheaper for international transfers across almost every scenario, and Wise's local AUD account details for receiving overseas income are a better fit if that's your primary use case. Revolut is the better daily-spending app and the better overall consumer experience. Many Australians use both: Wise for transfers and salary receipts, Revolut for travel and card spending.

Against PayPal, Revolut has cheaper FX by a wide margin and a slicker app. PayPal still wins on Buyer Protection for purchases from sellers you don't know, and on universal acceptance at checkouts. Different products for different jobs.

Against a Big Four bank's everyday account with a no-foreign-fee card, Revolut wins on FX and on app experience but loses on integration with the rest of your financial life (mortgage, super, savings, branch access). The hybrid approach of keeping the bank account and using Revolut alongside is usually how this plays out.

For a method-by-method comparison, see our e-wallet fees and speed comparison.