If you provide services to clients outside Nigeria, you must have considered Afriex vs. Geegpay. Both are payment apps businesses and creators in Nigeria use to send and receive money from international clients.

Despite providing similar services, Afriex and Geegpay aren’t the same. Therefore, you need to understand their unique offerings before using any (or both) of them. 

This piece clarifies your burning questions about both cross-border payment platforms.

Afriex vs Geegpay: Service comparisons at a glance

Geegpay by Raenest: The creators’ cross-border payments platform

Geegpay, whose parent company is Raenest, makes it easy for freelancers and creators to receive payments. Launched in 2022, Geegpay provides foreign virtual accounts to send and receive money from international clients. 

The fintech startup provides a virtual dollar card for cash withdrawals and access to spending activities like online shopping and subscription payment services. You can only use the virtual dollar card to receive payments from US banks or within the US.

Geegpay, as of the time of writing, doesn’t charge card maintenance fees. However, the virtual dollar card service isn’t entirely free. The associated fees for the Geegpay card service are listed in the table below:

The virtual card comes with funding and spending limits: 

You don’t need to convert your cash to USD to fund the virtual dollar card on Geegpay. You can add money to your virtual dollar card with any currency (e.g., Naira, EUR, GBP, USD, or local currencies). 

Geegpay provides smart invoicing services to auto-bill clients, helping freelancers and businesses collect payments as and when due without doing too much.   

How fees work on Geegpay

Geegpay uses a percentage-based system for deposit and transfer charges. The percentage fee depends on the minimum charge, which depends on the currency. 

For instance, if you received $1,000 on Geegpay, you’d pay 1% of the transaction ($10) + the minimum charge for USD transactions ($1.50). Therefore, the total fee you’d pay to receive $1,000 on Geegpay is $11.50. 

The table below shows deposit fees for supported currencies and countries on Geegpay:

Similarly, here’s a list of the transfer fees for supported currencies and countries on Geegpay:

Afriex: The low-cost cross-border payments platform

Afriex is a money transfer app for immigrants, digital nomads, and creators. The platform provides virtual foreign accounts to send and receive money from international clients in Africa and Asia. 

The conditions to open a foreign account on Afriex are listed below: 

As of the time of documentation, receiving money on Afriex is free. You’ll not pay any fees if you send $150 or more. However, if you transfer less than $150 or its equivalent in GBP or EUR, you’ll pay 1 (USD, GBP, EUR) on Afriex.  

Summarily, the transfer fees on Afriex are listed below:

Afriex issues a virtual and physical card known as the Afriex Card for businesses. The physical Afriex Card is automatically issued to users who sign up for the Afriex Deposit Account. You can also request virtual cards for your employees and other people affiliated with your business. Afriex cards can only be used for business purchases, not personal and household expenses. 

Additionally, Afriex only supports debit cards for funding and payment withdrawals. It doesn’t accept credit cards, prepaid cards, or PayPal. 

Afriex vs Geegpay: which is the best for cross-border payments?

A one-size-fits-all cross-border payment service probably doesn’t exist. Some mobile transfer apps, however, will serve you better than others. 

Generally, transaction fees and speed, security, withdrawal options, integration with third-party apps (e.g., Deel, Upwork, Fiverr, and Payoneer), and virtual card spending limits are factors businesses, creators, and freelancers consider before choosing a payment service. 

Afriex is for you if: 

1. You want a low-cost option to send and receive money 

Both cross-border payment services don’t charge you for transactions involving local transfers in Nigeria. Afriex, however, takes the cake here because receiving money in foreign virtual accounts is free too. 

Besides, transfer fees are capped at 1 USD (or its equivalent in GBP and EUR) for transactions worth $150 or more. Afriex also offers a no-charge on wire transfers worth $25,000 and above, making it possible for SMEs to pay their vendors abroad.

In contrast, Geegpay charges deposit and transfer fees, depending on the foreign currency. 

This distinction is especially for freelancers or creators who just want a platform to receive and send money without spending an arm and a leg on fees. 

2. You value security (and you should!) 

It’s rare to see a payment service that doesn’t claim to be security compliant. But the devil is in the details. Afriex is PCI DSS compliant, as proclaimed on their website. PCI DSS means Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which outlines the guidelines financial institutions processing payment cards must implement for secure transactions. 

Additionally, Afriex says they’re ISO 27001 certified, which loosely means the mobile transfer app implements the best security practices to safeguard user privacy and respond actively to anomalies swiftly if (or when) they occur. 

The jargon about PCI DSS and ISO 27001 may not interest you. But one thing should excite you about this seemingly unnecessary technical information: your personal data and card activities are safe with them because they adhere to these security standards. 

3. Your clientele is based in Africa

Afriex provides foreign virtual accounts in three dominant currencies (USD, EUR, and GBP). The currencies are available in multiple countries across four broad regions—Africa, the US, and Europe, including the UK. From the list, Africa has the highest representation with eight countries. This suggests that Afriex is heavily focused on the African market, and that’s good news for you if your business partner (s) reside there. 

4. You want a high daily spending limit

Afriex’s daily spending limit is $3,000, which is significantly higher than Geegpay’s $500. 

On the flip side, consider using Geegpay if: 

1. You want smart invoicing

Invoicing matters to creators, freelancers, and businesses. It helps them simplify bill payment collection from clients. Geegpay provides a smart invoicing system that automates the process. 

2. Multiple withdrawal channels

Geegpay lets you send money to banks and mobile money in 100+ countries. Besides, you can withdraw and send money to payment platforms like PayPal, Payoneer, Wise, and Revolut. 

It also lets you collect payment directly from selected third-party apps, including freelance platforms (e.g., Upwork and Fiverr), people management systems (e.g., Deel), and payment platforms (e.g., Stripe, Payoneer, PayPal, and Brex). 

3. You want a versatile virtual card

This is your cup of tea if you fancy online shopping. Geegpay claims their virtual dollar cards are accepted globally, including the Apple Store, Google Play Store, Amazon, Meta, X, iTunes, etc. In contrast, Afriex cards are restricted to business spending only. 

Besides, you can add the card to Apple Pay and Google Pay for contactless payments for in-person shops that support it. 

Crane: An alternative cross-border payment platform to Afriex and Geegpay

One thing is immediately obvious with Geegpay and Afriex: using their platform costs a few quid. That’s on-brand for traditional financial institutions. But if you want a swift payment processing platform without paying neck-breaking fees, Crane is for you. 

Crane is built on blockchain technology, the secure public ledger system that records digital transactions in blocks. No single entity owns the block; therefore, account opening is less prolonged.  Besides, the communal principles of blockchain technology make it easy to send and receive money from anyone, anywhere, in a flash. 

Because blockchain technology powers Crane, you can use it to receive payments in cryptocurrency and convert them to your local currency. 

Benefits of using Crane for cross-border remittance 

1. Near-instant automatic crypto-to-naira conversion with Bank Direct

No crypto experience? Not a problem. You can receive crypto money in your local bank with Bank Direct. It automatically converts crypto to naira and sends the converted amounts to your preferred bank account.

2. Affordable transaction fees: Receiving crypto is free

Pay only 2% of the transaction volume to convert from crypto to naira. 

3. Access to global business partners, vendors, and clients

Crane removes payment restrictions. This helps you expand your business to clients outside your location and get paid in a heartbeat. 

4. Adherence to security and regulatory standards 

Crane complies with Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) laws for transparency and accountability. We also provide in-app security like two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorised entries to your account. 

5. Easy bill collection with payroll request

We make payment collection as simple as eating pie with the payroll request, which allows you to request bills from your clients. 

Crane vs Afriex vs Geegpay: How their services compare

To understand how Crane’s services compare with Afriex and Geegpay, check the table below: