The cards nomads actually use.

Every comparison post online ends with “just get Wise”. That answer is right for some nomads and wrong for others, and the difference is rarely about which card has the best FX rate. It is about where you actually move money, how often, and whether you need real local accounts to get paid. Start from your flow, not the brand.

The four jobs a nomad card has to do

One: spend abroad without bleeding 3 percent on every coffee. Two: pull cash from local ATMs without a $5 fee on top of bad FX. Three: get paid in USD or EUR on local account details, then convert when the rate is decent. Four: hold balances in the currencies you actually use so you stop ping-ponging through your home currency. No single card is the best at all four. Match the job you do most.

FX rate is the floor, ATM and incoming fees decide the rest

The interbank rate is now the table stakes. Wise, Revolut on weekdays, N26, Bunq, Monzo, and Mercury all give close to interbank for the currencies they actually support. Where the spread opens up is on weekends (Revolut adds a markup), on ATM withdrawals beyond the free monthly allowance (often 1.75 to 2 percent), and on incoming wires if you receive client payments. Read those two columns before the headline rate.

Hold one, carry two

The practical setup most full-time nomads land on is one daily card plus one backup on a different network. If your daily Visa freezes for fraud review at 1am in Bangkok, you want a Mastercard on a different brand in your wallet, not a 36-hour support ticket. The two also rarely have identical strengths, so the backup fills the gap (cheap ATM if the daily is bad, or unlimited FX if the daily caps it).

The non-FX questions that decide it

Eligibility is the silent filter. N26 needs an EU address. Monzo is UK-only in practice. Mercury is for US businesses, not personal travel. Wise and Revolut take almost everyone. Once you cut by eligibility, the field is usually two cards, not six, and the actual decision becomes obvious.