Question 1

Is FxLeakage free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes — completely free, no signup, no account. Calculations run in your browser.

Question 2

Which platforms does the engine compare?

Accepted Answer

Ten today: PayPal, Stripe International, Payoneer, Wise Business, Airwallex, Revolut Business, WorldFirst, Mercury, Deel and a raw SWIFT bank wire. The architecture is modular — new platforms plug in via the same fee schema (percent, flat, FX markup, card-rail surcharge).

Question 3

How accurate are the fee numbers?

Accepted Answer

Platform fees match each provider's published cross-border rates as of 2026. FX markups are observed averages — your actual rate can vary by ±0.5% depending on volume, account tier, and the corridor.

Question 4

Where do the live exchange rates come from?

Accepted Answer

Mid-market rates are fetched from open.er-api.com on every page load. If the API is unreachable, we use a static fallback table so the page still works.

Question 5

What is 'hidden FX leakage'?

Accepted Answer

The spread between the interbank mid-market rate and the rate the platform actually converts at. Most platforms hide this inside the exchange rate — it never appears as a line item on your receipt.

Question 6

Why are Mercury, Airwallex and Revolut in the mix?

Accepted Answer

Most legacy calculators only list PayPal/Stripe/Payoneer/Wise. We added Mercury (free wires, ~1% FX spread), Airwallex (~1% + 0.6% FX), Revolut Business (interbank in-plan), WorldFirst (~0% + 0.5% FX) and Deel (~3% + 1.5% FX) plus a raw SWIFT wire so the ranking reflects what freelancers actually use in 2026.

Question 7

What does the payment-rail toggle do?

Accepted Answer

Pick bank, personal card or corporate/AMEX. Each platform's card surcharge (Wise +2.5% personal / +7% corporate, PayPal +1.2% corporate, etc.) is added on top of the base fee. The leaderboard re-shuffles instantly.

Question 8

What is Reverse Invoice mode?

Accepted Answer

Instead of starting from the gross amount the client pays, you start from the exact net you want in your bank — the calculator solves for the invoice amount to bill so that number lands after every fee and markup.

Question 9

Does FxLeakage support GST and TDS for India?

Accepted Answer

Yes — toggle the India tax panel and the engine layers 1% TDS (Sec 194-O) plus 18% GST (with an LUT toggle for export-of-service) on top of any platform's net. Other regions (US 1099-K, UK Class-4 NI, EU VAT-OSS, CA GST/HST, AU GST) have their own estimator notes.

Question 10

Which platform is cheapest for cross-border invoices?

Accepted Answer

On most corridors Wise Business or Revolut Business (in-plan) wins because they use the mid-market rate with ~0% FX markup. WorldFirst is third. PayPal, Stripe and a raw SWIFT wire are typically the most expensive once the hidden FX spread is added in.

Question 11

Can I save my calculations or export them?

Accepted Answer

Yes — your last 10 calculations are kept locally and you can export a PDF invoice or a year-end leakage report per platform from the export panel.

Frequently asked questions

See exactly what you'd lose on your own invoice.