The three-bank ecosystem
For non-resident US LLC owners, Mercury, Relay and Wise Business cover 95% of use cases. Mercury is the venture-friendly pick with the slickest product. Relay is the multi-account operations bank for agencies and small teams. Wise Business is the multi-currency king with the easiest global onboarding.
Features at a glance
Each bank targets a different founder profile. Choose the one that matches your workflow rather than the loudest name.
| Feature | Mercury | Relay | Wise Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Account opening fee | $0 | $0 | $31 one-time |
| Debit cards | Physical + virtual | Physical + virtual | Virtual + physical (paid) |
| Sub-accounts | Up to 12 | Unlimited | Multi-currency 'jars' |
| Local currencies | USD only | USD only | 10+ (USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, ...) |
| FX | Not available | Not available | Best-in-class mid-market |
| ACH & wires | Included | Included | Local rails in 10+ countries |
| Approval odds (non-resident) | Medium-high | Medium | Highest |
Countries supported
Mercury and Relay accept most non-restricted countries but re-verify with LinkedIn and website checks. Wise Business is the widest — 190+ countries — with fewer surprises for founders in Africa and South Asia.
Cards
Mercury and Relay both issue unlimited virtual cards with per-card spending limits, ideal for ad accounts. Wise's card is prepaid-style but works globally with genuinely low FX.
Fees and transfers
All three are effectively free for domestic ACH and internal transfers. International wires are where Wise dominates: 0.4–1% vs Mercury's roughly $5–$15 per outbound wire. If you pay overseas contractors regularly, Wise pays for itself in a week.
Pros and cons
Every bank makes tradeoffs. Founders often end up using two — Mercury or Relay for the US operational account, plus Wise for FX and payouts.
- Mercury pros: best UX, Treasury (yield on idle cash), API, integrations
- Mercury cons: strict onboarding for founders in specific regions
- Relay pros: unlimited sub-accounts, multi-user roles, Profit First friendly
- Relay cons: no yield product, weaker international rails
- Wise pros: local IBANs, cheap FX, easiest approval, 40+ currencies
- Wise cons: no yield, no cheque deposits, weaker card ecosystem
Best for
SaaS and tech: Mercury. Agencies and freelancers: Relay. E-commerce and cross-border payouts: Wise Business. High-volume founders: Mercury + Wise stacked together.
Our recommendation
For the median non-resident LLC founder, we open Mercury first (or Relay if Mercury declines) plus a Wise Business account. This combination unlocks Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, Shopify Payments and cheap global payouts on day one.