Curve Pay vs Google Pay: which one should you use?
Information checked on 12 October 2026 against the providers' official websites. Fees and availability change — always confirm on the provider's site before signing up.
Choose Curve Pay if…
- you live in the UK or the EEA and carry several Visa or Mastercard cards you want to merge into one;
- you spend in foreign currencies and your bank charges for it — the free plan gives £/€250 a month of fee-free currency conversion;
- you want to change which card paid after the fact (“Go Back in Time”) or use Curve’s cashback offers.
Choose Google Pay if…
- you just want to tap your Android phone or watch to pay with the cards you already have, at no cost from Google;
- your bank card already has fair exchange rates and supports Google Wallet;
- you live outside the UK/EEA — for example in Ukraine — where Curve is not available but Google Wallet tap to pay is.
In short: Google Pay is a free wallet for your existing cards. Curve is an extra layer between your cards and the shop that adds control and a currency-conversion allowance, but has its own fees once you go past that allowance.
Curve Pay and Google Pay both let you pay by tapping an Android phone, but they do different jobs. Google Pay is the payment part of the Google Wallet app: it stores the debit and credit cards your bank issued and passes them to the shop terminal, online checkout or app. Google says Google Wallet is free for all users.
Curve is a card aggregator. You link your existing cards to one Curve card (a Mastercard) and to Curve’s own contactless wallet, Curve Pay. When you pay, Curve charges the linked card you selected. Curve does not hold your money, but it can convert currency at its own rates, offer cashback deals and let you move a recent payment to a different card. Below we compare the two on fees, cards, countries, speed, limits and verification.
Curve Pay vs Google Pay — Side-by-side comparison
Fees, currencies, countries, cards, speed, limits and verification at a glance.
| Feature | Curve Pay | Google Pay |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | App plus a Mastercard-network card that forwards each payment to a card you link. Does not hold balances. | Free wallet in the Google Wallet app that stores your existing bank cards for contactless, online and in-app payments. |
| Price | Curve Pay plan is free. Paid plans: Curve Pay X £/€5.99, Pro £/€9.99, Pro+ £/€17.99 per month. | Free of charge from Google. |
| Foreign-currency fees | Free plan: first £/€250 per month fee-free, then 2.99% on top of the Mastercard wholesale rate, plus 1.5% at weekends. Paid plans: £/€3,333–100,000 fee-free, then 1%, no weekend fee. | None from Google. The rate and any fee come from the bank card you pay with. |
| Currencies | Pays in any currency where Mastercard is accepted; no multi-currency balances. | No balances; your card’s currency rules apply. |
| Countries | Residents aged 18+ of the UK and EEA countries only. | Tap to pay works in many countries, including Ukraine and Poland. Check Google’s country list for yours. |
| Cards you can use | Mastercard, Visa, Diners and Discover debit or credit cards in your name. American Express is not on Curve’s list. | Cards from banks that support Google Wallet — depends on your issuer. |
| Phones and devices | Curve Pay contactless on Android. On iPhone only for EEA residents with an EEA Apple ID and iOS 17.4+. Physical Curve card included free on paid plans. | Android phones with NFC, plus supported Wear OS watches and Fitbit devices. |
| Transfer speed | Card payments authorised in real time on the linked card. Curve is not designed for sending money to people. | Card payments in real time. Sending money to friends with Google Pay is offered only in India and Singapore. |
| Limits | Fee-free FX and ATM allowances per plan. Free plan has no fee-free ATM allowance (greater of 2% or £/€2 per withdrawal). | Spending limits are set by your card issuer. |
| Verification | Identity check with an ID document and a liveness check (per Curve’s privacy policy). | No separate Google ID check; your bank verifies the card. A screen lock is required. |
Fees on real amounts
Worked examples using the providers' published fee schedules. Exchange-rate differences are not included unless stated.
- €400 spent abroad in one month, on weekdays, Curve Pay free plan: the first €250 is fee-free; the remaining €150 × 2.99% = €4.49, on top of the Mastercard wholesale rate.
- A €100 foreign-currency payment on a Saturday, free plan: Curve’s weekend surcharge is 1.5% on top of the rate and other fees — €1.50. Weekend fees apply from Friday 23:59 to Sunday 23:59 UTC; paid plans have none.
- €100 cash from an ATM with Curve, free plan: the fee is the greater of 2% or €2, so €2. A €300 withdrawal costs €6. Curve Pay X includes €300 a month of fee-free withdrawals.
- When does Curve Pay X (€5.99 a month) pay for itself? On the free plan, 2.99% on spending above €250 reaches about €5.98 at €450 of monthly foreign-currency spending (2.99% × €200). Above that, X is cheaper — and it removes the weekend fee.
- Google Pay, any amount: Google adds €0. If your bank card had, say, a 2% foreign-transaction fee (an illustrative figure — check your own bank’s tariff), a €400 purchase abroad would cost €8 extra whether you tap the plastic card or your phone.
- Funding Curve with a card issued outside the UK/EEA: on the free plan Curve charges 2.9% on every such transaction — €2.90 per €100.
Which to choose for…
Freelancers
Neither app is an account for getting paid. Curve does not hold money, and Google Pay’s person-to-person transfers work only in India and Singapore. Freelancers usually need a multi-currency account with local account details — compare Wise vs Revolut and ZEN vs Wise — and can then spend that balance through Google Pay or link the account’s card to Curve.
Travel
Curve’s strength is control: one card in your phone, a choice of which underlying card pays, and a fee-free monthly conversion allowance. On the free plan, watch the weekend surcharge and the fact that every ATM withdrawal is charged. If your own bank card already converts currency without a fee, Google Pay with that card is simpler and may be just as cheap.
Business
According to Curve’s help centre, personal plans charge 1.5% on commercial (company) cards, while Curve Pay Pro+ includes a monthly fee-free allowance for commercial card spending (£1,500 a month in the help centre’s table) and Curve business accounts have no commercial card fees. Google Pay is free for paying with a company card your bank supports in Google Wallet; shops accept Google Pay through their payment provider.
Receiving payments from abroad
Neither is built for this. To receive money from abroad you need an account with IBAN or local account details — for example, Wise offers free account details in 22 currencies. You can then spend that money with Google Pay or via Curve. See international payment apps for more options.
Frequently asked questions
No. Google Pay is Google’s wallet for storing your bank cards on an Android device. Curve Pay is Curve’s own wallet: it pays with your Curve card and then charges whichever linked card you choose.
Curve says it is available to people over 18 who live in the UK or an EEA country, so residents of Ukraine cannot open an account. Ukrainians living in an EEA country can apply as residents there. Google Wallet tap to pay is supported in Ukraine.
Google states that Google Wallet is free of charge. Any currency-conversion or cash-withdrawal fees come from the card you pay with.
On the free Curve Pay plan the first £/€250 per month is fee-free, then 2.99% on top of the Mastercard wholesale rate, plus 1.5% at weekends. Paid plans raise the allowance (£/€3,333 on Curve Pay X) and charge 1% above it, with no weekend fee.
Curve accepts Mastercard, Visa, Diners and Discover debit or credit cards issued in your name. American Express is not on its list.
Only if you live in the EEA, your Apple ID is based in the EEA and your iPhone runs iOS 17.4 or later. UK iPhone users cannot enrol in Curve Pay contactless; see Curve Pay vs Apple Pay.
Google says your real card number is not shared with the merchant; payments use a Device Account Number instead, and you unlock payments with your phone’s screen lock.