- Aspire is generally the better fit for SGD-dominant businesses with small teams: its free Basic plan covers FAST, PayNow, and native CPF payments at SGD 0 per month.
- Airwallex is generally the better fit for cross-border-heavy businesses: local account details in 20+ currencies let global clients pay you without SWIFT fees.
- Both are MAS-regulated under the Payment Services Act, but neither is a deposit-taking bank, so funds are not covered by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Scheme (SDIC).
You’ve incorporated in Singapore, and the traditional banks have either turned you away or asked for a minimum balance you’d rather keep working in the business. The shortlist has come down to two names: Airwallex and Aspire. Both are MAS-regulated, both open accounts fully online, and from the outside they look nearly identical. The real differences only appear when you map each platform against your own payment patterns: how much of your volume is in SGD, how many currencies you invoice in, and how often money crosses borders.
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The short answer For most Singapore SMEs in 2026, Aspire is the better neobank if 80% or more of your payment volume is in SGD and you run a small team: its SGD 0/month Basic plan covers free FAST, PayNow, and CPF payments. Airwallex is the better choice if your business deals heavily in multiple currencies, sends frequent international transfers, or needs to invoice global clients in their local currency, thanks to its local accounts in 20+ currencies and global payment infrastructure. Both are MAS-regulated; neither is a deposit-taking bank, so funds are not SDIC-insured. |
Airwallex vs Aspire: At a glance
Customer sentiment is worth a glance before the final table. On Trustpilot, Aspire held 4.1 out of five stars from 197 reviews as of April 2026, while Airwallex held 3.4 out of five from 2,237 reviews as of January 2026. Read both with perspective: each has complaints about frozen transactions during compliance checks, and each has loyal users who praise the speed. Sample sizes and reviewer profiles differ enough that the scores are context, not a verdict.
Aspire | Airwallex | |
MAS status | Regulated under the Payment Services Act | Major Payment Institution licence plus CMS licence |
SDIC deposit insurance | No | No |
Free plan | Yes (Basic, SGD 0) | Yes (Explore, SGD 0) |
Paid plans | Premium, SGD 15/month | Grow SGD 79/month; Accelerate SGD 399/month |
Local currency accounts | SGD, USD, EUR, GBP | 20+ currencies |
Send/receive currencies | 30+ | 60+ |
FAST / PayNow / GIRO | Free | Free |
CPF payments | Native | Limited / workaround |
Entry-tier FX fee | 0.23% outbound (Basic) | Varies by pair; competitive at scale |
Cashback | 1% on ads/SaaS (Basic) | Available on certain plans |
Yield | Aspire Yield (with Fullerton) | Approx. 1.11% SGD / 3.77% USD indicative |
Approval time | About one business day | About three business days |
Trustpilot | 4.1/5 (197 reviews, Apr 2026) | 3.4/5 (2,237 reviews, Jan 2026) |
Best fit | SGD-dominant SMEs, small teams, early stage | Cross-border-heavy SMEs, multi-currency invoicing |
SGD-heavy operations start on Aspire Basic and upgrade only when international volume demands it. Genuinely global operations start on Airwallex Explore and move up a tier when approval workflows or yield become worth paying for.
Are Airwallex and Aspire regulated in Singapore?
Both providers operate under the supervision of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Airwallex operates locally as Airwallex Pte Ltd, which holds a Major Payment Institution licence under the Payment Services Act, while Airwallex Capital (Singapore) Pte Ltd holds a separate Capital Markets Services licence for its investment products. Aspire is likewise MAS-regulated under the Payment Services Act. You can confirm both entries yourself in the MAS Financial Institutions Directory.
One distinction matters more than founders realise: neither Airwallex nor Aspire is a bank in the deposit-taking sense. Your funds are safeguarded according to MAS rules, typically held with partner banks, but they are not covered by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Scheme (SDIC). Traditional bank deposits carry SDIC protection; neobank balances do not. For most operating accounts, this is an acceptable trade-off, but it’s a fact you should weigh consciously rather than discover later.
How much do Airwallex and Aspire cost in Singapore?
Both providers publish Singapore pricing in SGD, and both offer a genuinely free entry tier. The figures below reflect Airwallex’s published Singapore pricing and Aspire’s published pricing as of June 2026. Both providers revise pricing without much notice, so always check the live pages before committing.
Plan | Monthly fee | What you get |
Aspire Basic | SGD 0 | Five spend users, free FAST and PayNow transfers, native CPF payments, 1% cashback on ads and SaaS spend |
Aspire Premium | SGD 15 | Everything in Basic, plus five free outbound international transfers and 0% FX on the first SGD 13,000 each month |
Airwallex Explore | SGD 0 | Multi-currency business account, local transfers, basic expense tools |
Airwallex Grow | SGD 79 | Approval workflows, automated bill processing, higher card limits |
Airwallex Accelerate | SGD 399 | Advanced controls, yield products, and the highest limits for scaling teams |
Watch the line items beyond the subscription. Aspire charges SGD 4 per month for each spend user beyond the five included free, which adds up for growing teams, per Aspire’s published pricing as of June 2026. On the Airwallex side, third-party analysis by Statrys (May 2026) reports a 0.3% fee on transfers received from non-owner accounts, a charge that does not appear on the public pricing page. If a meaningful share of your inflows comes from customers rather than your own accounts, ask Airwallex to confirm how that fee applies to you before you sign up.
Which handles Singapore’s local payment rails better?
On domestic rails, the two are close to identical. Both support FAST and PayNow, both offer free SGD domestic transfers on their standard plans, and GIRO support is comparable. With MAS having eliminated corporate cheques at the end of 2025, these digital rails now carry effectively all domestic business payments, which is precisely where both platforms are strongest.
The one local rail that separates them is CPF. Aspire supports CPF contributions natively from its platform, so running payroll for local employees works out of the box. Airwallex’s CPF support is more limited and may require a workaround, which is a recurring frustration for founders who discover it after onboarding. If you employ even one local staff member, this single line item can decide the comparison.
E-invoicing sits one layer up from the bank account: InvoiceNow runs through your accounting software rather than through the neobank itself, and both providers feed cleanly into that layer. The InvoiceNow guide for Singapore businesses covers how the mandate works and who it applies to.
Before comparing FX rates or cashback, check CPF support against your hiring plan. A free plan that can't pay your employees' CPF isn't free; it's a second subscription to a payroll workaround.
How do their multi-currency accounts compare?
This is where the two platforms genuinely diverge. Aspire offers local currency accounts in SGD, USD, EUR, and GBP, with support for sending and receiving in more than 30 currencies. For a business whose international exposure is mostly the major Western currencies, that footprint is sufficient.
Airwallex offers local account details in more than 20 currencies and supports transactions in 60+, with a broader country footprint behind them. The practical effect: if you invoice clients across many markets, Airwallex’s local-account structure means a client in Australia or the UK can pay you as a domestic transfer in their own currency, with no SWIFT fees on either side. For businesses billing globally, that structural advantage compounds with every invoice.
What do you actually pay in FX fees?
- Aspire Basic: 0.23% on outbound FX conversions, per Aspire’s published pricing as of June 2026.
- Aspire Premium (SGD 15/month): 0% FX on the first SGD 13,000 converted each month. For businesses converting moderate amounts monthly, the plan often pays for itself within the first transfer or two.
- Airwallex: prices FX by plan tier and currency pair rather than a single flat rate. Rates are competitive against traditional banks and improve meaningfully at higher volumes and on higher tiers.
- Small conversions: on small SGD-to-major-currency conversions, Aspire’s flat 0.23% is generally slightly cheaper.
- The crossover point: below roughly 20 international transfers a month, Aspire’s simplicity usually wins on cost. Above it, Airwallex’s tiered rates start to pull ahead.
How do cards, expense management, and yield compare?
Both platforms issue corporate cards and bundle expense management, but with different centres of gravity:
- Cards and cashback. Aspire’s cashback structure is well known: 1% on advertising and SaaS spend on the Basic plan, with promotional rates periodically running higher. Airwallex issues cards across its global ecosystem with stronger travel and cross-border utility, and cashback on certain plans.
- Expense management. Aspire’s expense tools are more native to the core product, suited to small teams approving each other’s spend. Airwallex bundles expense management from Explore upwards, with the approval workflows on Grow and above built for larger teams.
- Yield. Airwallex Yield offered indicative rates of around 1.11% on SGD and 3.77% on USD balances as of January 2026; these move with monetary policy. Aspire Yield is managed in partnership with Fullerton Fund Management. Treat both as treasury features for idle cash, not deposit products: neither carries SDIC protection.
Do Airwallex and Aspire integrate with Xero and QuickBooks?
Yes, both. Airwallex and Aspire each offer native bank feeds into Xero and QuickBooks, so transactions flow into your ledger automatically and reconciliation stays close to real time. If your books run on Xero-based accounting services in Singapore, either provider connects cleanly, which means integrations are not a deciding factor in this comparison. Pick the account that fits your payment patterns; your accounting stack will follow either way.
How fast can you open an account?
Both are quick by traditional banking standards. The application itself takes under 20 minutes with either provider. Aspire typically approves within one business day; Airwallex typically approves within three business days, per Statrys reporting from April and May 2026. If you apply through a corporate service provider’s referral partnership, expect roughly five to seven business days end to end, including the introduction and account manager handover.
For foreign founders, this speed matters even more. Both providers accept Singapore-incorporated companies regardless of whether the directors are residents, and neither requires a physical visit, which is exactly the gap traditional banks leave open. The walkthrough on opening a local business bank account in Singapore as a foreigner covers the remote process in full, and the broader guide to how to open a bank account in Singapore covers documentation for local founders.
What about traditional banks like DBS and OCBC?
Many founders arrive at this comparison precisely because a traditional bank made things hard: minimum balance requirements running to tens of thousands of dollars, in-person verification that remote founders can’t attend, or KYC processes that stall for weeks.
One reassurance if you’re worried about choosing wrong: switching between Aspire and Airwallex later is straightforward, and both let you close an account cleanly. That said, migrating payment details across invoices, payroll, and integrations is admin you’d rather avoid. Spend the 30 minutes on the decision tree above and start on the right one.
Which should you choose: Airwallex or Aspire?
Three questions settle most cases. Answer them honestly against your last three months of payment activity, not your five-year ambition.
- Is most of your payment volume in SGD? If 80% or more of what you pay and receive is in Singapore dollars, Aspire’s free Basic plan will likely cover everything you need.
- Do you regularly receive payments from overseas customers in five or more currencies? If yes, Airwallex’s broader local-account footprint starts paying for itself quickly.
- How many outbound international transfers do you make each month? Fewer than five points to Aspire. More than 20 points to Airwallex. In between, the detailed comparison below decides it.
If your answers split across both providers, keep reading. The pricing, payment rails, and FX sections below show exactly where each platform earns its keep.
How Sleek helps you set up the right banking stack from day one
Sleek partners with both Airwallex and Aspire as referral neobanks, so there’s no incentive here to steer you to either one; the goal is the account that fits your business. If you’re incorporating, your incorporation package can include an introduction to whichever provider the decision tree points you to, with the neobank’s account manager taking over once your UEN is issued. And if you’d prefer a Sleek-direct option, the Sleek Business Account is available alongside both partners.
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“Excellent support from Sleek. Arpita Suriya handled my SBA account activation very professionally, with clear communication and efficient follow-up throughout the CDD process. Everything was completed smoothly and on time. Highly recommended service.” Pascal Mercier, Google Reviews, January 2026 |
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FAQs on Airwallex vs Aspire in Singapore
Airwallex or Aspire: Which is better for a Singapore business?
It depends on your currency mix. For SGD-dominant businesses with small teams and limited international activity, Aspire is generally the better choice, since its free Basic plan covers most domestic operations including CPF payments. For businesses with frequent cross-border transactions, multiple currencies to hold, or international clients paying in their own currencies, Airwallex is typically the stronger fit thanks to its broader currency footprint and FX infrastructure.
Are Airwallex and Aspire regulated in Singapore?
Yes. Both are regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore under the Payment Services Act. Airwallex Pte Ltd holds a Major Payment Institution licence, and Airwallex Capital (Singapore) Pte Ltd holds a Capital Markets Services licence. Aspire is also MAS-regulated. However, neither is a deposit-taking bank, so funds are safeguarded per MAS rules but are not covered by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Scheme (SDIC).
How much does Airwallex cost in Singapore?
Airwallex offers three plans in Singapore: Explore (free), Grow (SGD 79/month), and Accelerate (SGD 399/month). The free Explore plan covers a multi-currency business account, local transfers, and basic expense tools, while higher tiers add approval workflows, automated bill processing, and higher card limits. Transaction fees for FX and transfers apply on top of the subscription. Pricing changes periodically, so check airwallex.com/sg/pricing for current rates.
How much does Aspire cost in Singapore?
Aspire offers two plans in Singapore: Basic (SGD 0/month) and Premium (SGD 15/month). Basic includes five spend users, free FAST and PayNow transfers, CPF payment support, and 1% cashback on ads and SaaS spend. Premium adds five free outbound international transfers and 0% FX on the first SGD 13,000 per month. Additional spend users beyond the free five cost SGD 4/month each. Check aspireapp.com/sg/pricing for current rates.
Can foreign founders open an Airwallex or Aspire account?
Yes. Both Airwallex and Aspire accept Singapore-incorporated companies regardless of whether the founders are Singapore residents. The application is fully online with no physical visit required, which makes both popular with foreign founders who have been declined by traditional Singapore banks over remote-management or KYC concerns.
