The Best Travel Card for China? Wise vs Revolut for Alipay & WeChat Pay

In China, your phone is your money, and everything is paid for with a QR code through Alipay or WeChat Pay. This guide directly compares Wise vs Revolut, the two best travel cards for tourists to link to these apps, helping you avoid hidden fees and find the cheapest way to pay in China.

If you need help with the initial setup, our guide to cashless payments in China will get you ready in minutes. This article tackles the next critical question: which card should you actually add to Alipay and WeChat Pay for lower fees and save money?

On our latest trip to China, we put the two best digital travel cards, Wise and Revolut, to the test. We used both for everything: grabbing street food, paying for Didi, and booking our high-speed train tickets online.

We compare Wise, Revolut (Standard) and credit cards so you can decide which is the best travel card for your China adventure and avoid that post-trip bill shock.

How Much Does Using Your Credit Card in China Really Cost?

Even though Chinese merchants are required to accept cash, you cannot avoid cashless payments in China. And link your credit or debit card and using it comes with a myriad of fees.

First, the platform fee. For any single transaction over 200 CNY (about US$28), Alipay and WeChat Pay will charge a 3% processing fee. This applies to most of your significant expenses, from a nice dinner to attraction tickets. The good news is there are some ways to avoid paying the platform fees.

But the real budget killer is the second charge: your bank’s own foreign currency transaction fee. Most banks add a foreign currency transaction fee, typically between 3-3.5%, on every single international purchase.

Third, the card network has a Foreign Exchange (FX) spread. This is typically 1-2% and is unavoidable for all card related transactions. So for the purpose of comparisons, we the FX rate is included.

All these fees stack up fast. Imagine paying for a ¥500 meal - You pay a 3% fee to Alipay, your bank adds its own 3.5% fee. That is an instant 6.5% surcharge 😳. On a two-week trip, these hidden costs can easily add up to hundreds of dollars. This is the classic recipe for post-trip bill shock, and it is completely avoidable.

Why Wise & Revolut Are the Smart Solution for Alipay & WeChat Pay

This is where digital money platforms like Wise and Revolut become essential. Using them solves the fee problem two ways.

First, they cut your home bank out of the equation completely. That means zero foreign currency transaction fees. Second, they give you the mid-market exchange rate (or one incredibly close to it), which is far superior to the inflated rates your bank uses.

Both Wise and Revolut function as prepaid debit cards. You simply top them up from your home account and can even convert your money to a Chinese Yuan (CNY or ¥) balance directly in the app. This gives you amazing control, letting you lock in a good rate before you even fly.

Both platforms work 24/7 via app, but they approach conversion costs differently. Wise charges a small, upfront fee for every conversion. Revolut’s Standard plan offers fee-free exchanges on weekdays, but their exchange rates are less attractive than Wise's.

Crucially, you must know about Revolut's weekend markup. Revolut (Standard Free Plan) adds a 1% markup to all currency exchanges made between 5 PM Friday and 6 PM Sunday Eastern Time. For travellers in China, this means you will pay extra on any conversion made from 5 AM Saturday to 6 AM Monday, China Time.

Getting started with Wise (sign up here) or checking out Revolut's features (sign up here) is free, so we highly recommend setting yourself up well before your trip.

Wise vs Revolut: The China Travel Card Comparison

For your day-to-day spending on Alipay and WeChat Pay, the choice comes down to two key factors: the real cost of your money and how well the cards work within the apps.

To see the real-world difference, our comparison table shows exactly how much a charge of ¥1,000 will cost you. Figures are taken on 09 Oct 2025.

Wise consistently offers a better exchange, delivering more Yuan for your money. While both are excellent, Wise is the winner on pure cost savings. The clear loser here is bank fees. Using a credit card with high banks fees feels like daylight robbery. A few things we realised during our research:

1. Wise (Visa) and Revolut (Mastercard) use live rates. So the exchange rates can be different within the same day. We have found that throughout the day, Revolut’s overall rates can be better than Wise and vice versa.

2. Wise fees are not a simple % of the amount. The larger the sum, the smaller the fees as a proportion to the amount you are exchanging.

3. Revolut’s weekend fee of 1% makes Wise more attractive. If you are using Alipay and WeChat Pay during weekends, definitely use Wise.

From the respective apps, you can see immediately how much you pay in your preferred currency when you exchange for CNY. Make sure to choose conversion from your preferred currency → CNY, and not the other way round. As mentioned, there is a FX spread by the network, so the rate used for USD → CNY differs from CNY → USD.

Getting Cash in China: Your Wise vs Revolut ATM Guide

While China is almost entirely cashless, we still advise carrying a small amount of CNY (around ¥500) as a backup. You will probably get a better rate by exchanging this small sum in your home country before you fly.

If you need to withdraw cash in China, be aware of two rules. First, the local Chinese bank's ATM will charge its own access fee (¥20-¥30). When an ATM asks if you like to convert money to your home currency (using their exorbitant exchange rates), always choose “No”. Withdraw in CNY, and let Wise and Revolut will do the conversion with lower fees.

Second, make sure the ATM has a logo of your card’s network (eg. Visa or Mastercard) for compatibility. China generally limits foreign cards to a daily maximum withdrawal of ¥3,000. This limit was last updated in 2011, and we have not tested this in our recent trips to China because we never needed to withdraw cash from ATMs.

Just in case you need to withdraw cash, here is how Wise and Revolut compare for their fee-free ATM monthly withdrawal allowances before a fee is imposed.

We withdrew cash from ATMs when in Europe and Canada, and the exchange rates were much worse than charging to our Wise debit card or using our money changer in Singapore. In essence, never withdraw cash from the ATM and only use it is a last resort.

How To Use Wise & Revolut Like a Pro in China

Beyond the basic setup, a few smart habits can make your experience even smoother and more secure. Here are the strategies we used on our trip.

• Fund Your Account Smartly. Always use the free method, usually bank transfer, to top up your account, as credit cards will trigger fees. Only add what you need as transferring money back may attract fees.

• Exchange Strategically, Not Speculatively. Take advantage of the multi-currency wallets by exchanging money to CNY when the rates are good. However, do not try to play the market! We learned this the hard way when we converted a large sum to Japanese Yen, thinking it was at its lowest, only to see it drop another 15% 😭

• Create Trip-Specific Virtual Cards. Before you fly, create a new virtual cards in both your Wise and Revolut apps just for your China trip. We use separate virtual cards for family members that all draw from the same account. This keeps your main card details secure and makes it easy to track your holiday spending.

• Set Spending Limits. These are debit cards, so your money is deducted at every transaction, including fraudulent ones. Unlike with credit cards, the reversal takes a longer time, during which the money remains out of your account.

• Freeze Your Card Post-Trip. Just before your flight back home, freeze your virtual cards in the app to prevent further charges. Wait a few weeks before deleting it to allow for any pending refunds or charges to clear.

• Link Both Cards to Both Apps. For maximum reliability, link your cards to both Alipay and WeChat Pay. Set Wise as the default payment method in Alipay and Revolut as the default in WeChat Pay. This way, if one card or app ever has a hiccup, you have an instant backup ready to go.

• Make Sure Your Phone is Connected. Alipay and WeChat Pay require mobile data to work. We use these eSIMs reliably whenever we travel to China, and they also allow us to access blocked apps like Youtube, Google, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc.

Can You (or Should You) Earn Miles on Payments in China?

Yes, you can earn miles but it is almost never worth it.

Let's do the math. When you link a high-yield miles card (eg. 4mpd) to Alipay, you face a potential 6.5% in total fees on larger transactions (3% from Alipay + 3.5% from your bank). This means you are effectively paying 1.625 cents for each mile you earn, not attractive in our view.

For smaller purchases under ¥200 that avoid the 3% platform fee, using a miles card can seem tempting. However, you run into the second major problem - unpredictable Merchant Category Codes (MCCs).

All payments through Alipay and WeChat Pay are considered "online," but the merchat MCC is inconsistent. This makes it impossible to rely on credit cards that reward specific bonus categories. If you insist on trying, a card with a broad "blacklist" (rewarding everything except a few categories) is your only hope, but even then, it is a gamble.

To show how messy it is, here are some real-world data points reported by users who used credit cards linked to Alipay and WeChat Pay:

• A meal on WeChat Pay could be MCC 5812 (Eating Places) or 5399 (Miscellaneous).

• Booking a Didi ride via WeChat Pay is 7299.

• Booking a Didi ride direct on Didi App is 4121.

• Paying for a train ticket on 12306 via Alipay is 7372 (Computer Programming Services).

• Payments in Disneyland Shanghai using Alipay is often 4722, but when Merchants scan your WeChat Pay QR code for payment, the MCC is 5999.

• In Beijing, Arabica MCC is 5815, and Starbucks is 5812.

I think you get the idea of how chaotic MCCs are in China. For spending inside China via Alipay and WeChat Pay, forget about miles. The combination of high fees and the MCC lottery makes it a losing game. Focus on saving real money by using Wise or Revolut.

However, we use our best miles credit cards for all of our pre-trip, online bookings for flights, hotels, and tours made with Trip.com. That is where we will earn miles effectively.

A Quick Note for Our Singapore-based Readers

For our Singapore-based readers, users have reported some success with WWMC and CRMC for miles when spending inside China.

We find that options like YouTrip and Amaze are less ideal for this specific comparison due to their limited number of supported currencies, and lack of access to our international readers.

The other compelling local alternative is Trust Bank, which charges zero foreign transaction fees. While this is a fantastic perk, it's only half the story. Trust uses Visa's exchange rate, which in our research, is less favourable than the rates we got with Revolut. Furthermore, Trust's 1% cashback is unreliable in China due to the chaotic MCC lottery we discussed earlier.

The Final Verdict: Should You Get Wise, Revolut, or Both for China?

So, what is the best travel card for China after the Wise vs Revolut showdown? Our definitive answer, based on our extensive travel and testing, is to get BOTH.

We personally use Wise as our primary card for all Alipay and WeChat Pay spending to guarantee we get the best exchange rates and save money on fees. We keep Revolut as our essential backup.

This two-card strategy is the ultimate solution for seamless, low-cost payments across China, giving you total peace of mind. Both are free to sign up for, and getting started through our affiliate links below is the best way to prepare for your trip while supporting our work at no extra cost to you.

Hope you find this post useful and share it with your friends! You can also support us by making your travel bookings via our affiliate links. Thank you 🤩

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