Airwallex is built for moving money across borders, which most US small businesses don't do enough of to need Airwallex in the first place. According to the Federal Reserve's 2026 Small Business Credit Survey, only about one in five sell to international customers at all. For most of those, overseas sales stay under 10% of the total.
Relay is engineered for the other side of that split: US-based operators who run mostly domestic payments and want to organize cash by purpose. Relay users get up to 20 checking accounts on the Starter plan, ACH-native payments, automated transfers that fire on every deposit, and direct sync with QuickBooks and Xero.
Where Airwallex wins: multi-currency and cross-border operations
Airwallex wins decisively the moment foreign currency enters the picture. It holds and converts across 20+ currencies in one account and gives you local bank details in markets like the UK, EU, Australia, and Hong Kong. Conversions run at roughly 0.5%, against the 3–5% markup traditional banks bury in the exchange rate. Funds arrive through local rails instead of the slower SWIFT network, and you can pay out to 150+ countries. Holding the currency instead of converting on every transaction is a real cost advantage. It matters most for an importer paying supplier invoices in euros and yuan, or a SaaS company collecting subscriptions in pounds and Australian dollars.
Relay accounts hold US dollars and don't offer local bank details outside the United States, so you can't park a balance in a foreign currency or collect like a local in another market. If multi-currency operation is core to how you work, Airwallex is the right tool.
Where Relay wins: US operators who run on multiple accounts and ACH
For domestic operators, the thing that actually moves money isn't FX—it's ACH. Business-to-business ACH volume grew almost 10% in 2025, to roughly 8.1 billion payments. Nacha, which governs the ACH network, put it bluntly: "no business should be sending or receiving checks in 2026." US small businesses run on domestic transfers, and that's the lane Relay is built for.
Relay's core advantage is structure. Its multiple checking accounts, each with their own account and routing number, can be used to separate cash by purpose instead of guessing what's spendable in one lumped balance. Percentage-based transfer rules move a cut of every deposit into tax, profit, and reserve accounts the moment it lands—no end-of-month discipline required. You can also issue debit cards³ against specific accounts, so spending pulls from the right bucket instead of the general balance. Owners running the Profit First method use this constantly, but you don't need a named system to benefit from seeing taxes already set aside.
Airwallex is built for treasury and expansion, not this kind of envelope-style cash separation. For a US operator, that's the feature gap that shows up every week.
³The Relay Visa® Debit Card is issued by Thread Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted.
Fees, accounts, and payment rails, compared
The two price around what they're each built to do. Relay charges a flat monthly subscription that starts at $0 on Starter. Airwallex prices around transaction and FX activity, where its sub-1% conversion rate is the headline number.
Relay | Airwallex | |
|---|---|---|
Built for | US domestic operators | International / multi-currency businesses |
Monthly cost | Starter $0/mo, Grow $30/mo, Scale $120/mo | Activity / FX-based |
Checking accounts | Up to 20 (Starter/Grow), up to 50 (Scale) | — |
Hold foreign currency | No (USD only) | Yes, 150+ currencies |
Local bank details abroad | No | Yes (UK, EU, AU, HK, and more) |
Domestic ACH | Standard on all plans; 10 free same-day ACH/mo on Scale | Available, not the focus |
Automated cash allocation | Yes, percentage- or dollar-based auto-transfers, all plans | — |
Accounting integrations | QuickBooks Online and Xero, all plans | Available |
Neither price tag is the point. Relay's pricing rewards a business that wants many accounts and automated domestic cash flow, while Airwallex's pricing rewards a business doing real volume in foreign currency.
Bookkeeping and cash-flow workflows, side by side
Relay syncs directly with QuickBooks Online and Xero on every plan, so transactions flow into your accounting software without manual export. Because each account is already separated by purpose, your bookkeeper isn't untangling payroll, taxes, and owner draws out of one commingled account at month-end.
Airwallex also connects to accounting tools, but its reconciliation challenge is a different one: multi-currency entries, FX gain and loss, and cross-border timing. That's the right complexity to take on if you're operating internationally, and overhead you don't need if you're not.
International operations aside, cash-flow visibility beats one account with a running balance. No founder should have to mentally divide cash every time they want to know what's safe to spend.
How to set up Relay
Setting Relay up takes about ten minutes. Open your core accounts: operating, taxes, payroll, owner's pay, and a reserve. Then set percentage-based auto-transfer rules so every deposit splits itself before you touch it. Connect QuickBooks Online or Xero, and the structure now runs on deposits, not discipline.
If you've been eyeing Airwallex but do little or no business in foreign currency, you've been comparing yourself against a tool built for a different job. Relay gives you business banking services built for the way domestic operators run, with cash flow visibility being front of mind. That's why opening a Relay account helps to avoid the next tax deadline scramble, and set your business up for future success.
Frequently asked questions
Is Airwallex or Relay better for a US-based small business?
For a US business that runs mostly domestic payments, Relay is the better fit. It offers up to 20 checking accounts, ACH-native transfers, and automated cash allocation built around US operations. Airwallex is the stronger choice if a meaningful share of your money moves across borders or sits in foreign currencies. The deciding factor is how much of your revenue and spending is international.
Can Relay hold foreign currencies like Airwallex?
No. Relay accounts hold US dollars and don't provide local bank details outside the United States, so it can't hold a balance in euros, pounds, or other currencies the way Airwallex's multi-currency accounts can. If holding foreign currency is central to your business, Airwallex is built for that.
Does Relay charge monthly fees?
Relay's Starter plan monthly subscription fee is $0/month and includes up to 20 checking accounts, automated transfer rules, and QuickBooks and Xero sync. Paid plans add features: Grow at $30/month and Scale at $120/month, with Scale raising the limit to 50 checking accounts and including 10 free same-day ACH transfers per month.
Why would a US operator want multiple checking accounts?
Separate accounts let you set cash aside by purpose—taxes, payroll, profit, operating expenses—so you can see what's actually safe to spend instead of dividing one balance in your head. Relay's system is the foundation of the Profit First method and similar cash-management approaches. The result is cleaner books and fewer surprises at tax time.
Is Relay a bank?
Relay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. Airwallex is likewise a fintech platform rather than a chartered bank, so neither is a traditional bank in the way a Chase or Wells Fargo business account would be.
