WeChat Pay or Alipay? Set up both, but start with Alipay
Photo: Markus Winkler / Unsplash
I use both every day, for different things. Alipay is my wallet and my transport app. WeChat is my phone book. For a visitor, the order matters: set up Alipay first, then add WeChat once that works.
The short comparison
| Alipay | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Paying, plus services | Messaging, plus paying |
| Setting up as a visitor | Straightforward, good English | Fine for paying; a new account occasionally asks an existing user to verify you |
| Paying in shops | Almost everywhere | Almost everywhere |
| Taxis, metro codes, bikes | Built in, mostly in English | Some, often only in Chinese |
| Sending money to friends | Not with a foreign card | Not with a foreign card |
| Fee on a foreign card | Small payments are free; larger single payments can carry a fee (WeChat: 3% above 200 yuan), shown before you confirm | |
Why Alipay first
Alipay does more for a short-term visitor without asking you to read Chinese. The interface switches to English, and the things you'll use most are inside it: the city transit codes for the metro, DiDi rides, bike rentals, and a currency converter. China's government payment guide for overseas visitors notes that Alipay supports 16 languages and covers taxi hailing, hotels, attraction tickets and public transport.
Setup is a phone number, a passport for verification when asked, and your card. The full walk-through is in setting up Alipay with a foreign card. Do it at home, on wifi, before you fly, so that if your bank blocks the first attempt you can sort it out during your working hours, not theirs.
Why you'll still want WeChat
WeChat is less about paying and more about people. Your hotel front desk, a tour guide, a landlord, the friend you made at dinner: all of them will ask for your WeChat, much as people in Korea ask for your KakaoTalk or in Vietnam your Zalo. Restaurants and shops use it for bookings and customer service. A lot of small-business life here happens in WeChat chats, not email.
WeChat Pay also takes foreign cards. Its help center says you can register with any international number that receives text messages, add a card under Me, then Wallet, and verify with your passport. It also says plainly that red packets and transfers to other people aren't supported on international cards. That matters more than it sounds.
Where it goes wrong for visitors
In February 2024, the South China Morning Post described a Singapore investor travelling through Fujian, Guangdong and Sichuan who kept getting stuck at small restaurants. Their QR codes were registered to individuals rather than businesses, and WeChat Pay wouldn't let his international card pay them, because to the system that looked like a personal transfer. Local friends paid, and he paid them back later by bank transfer.
Both apps have improved a lot since then. In March 2024 they raised the limits for foreign visitors to US$5,000 per transaction and US$50,000 a year, and WeChat dropped an extra identity check for foreign card users that April. But the basic pattern holds: the stall with a printed personal code is where a foreign card is most likely to fail.
The other common snag is the phone number. A German visitor told Chinese business outlet Jiemian in early 2025 that registering Alipay with his foreign phone card had caused him trouble. Make sure roaming is on, or that your eSIM can receive texts, before you start.
My take: neither failure is a reason to skip the apps. It's a reason to set up both, and to carry a little cash for the one stall in ten where neither works.
What to do at the counter
- The shop scans you. Open the Pay code in either app and hold it up. This works almost everywhere with a foreign card, because the merchant is a registered business.
- You scan the shop. Use Scan in the app that matches the code. Blue codes usually mean Alipay, green usually means WeChat, and many stalls now show one code that works with both.
- Only one code, and it's not yours. Ask: 支付宝可以吗？ (Can I use Alipay?) Often the owner has the other app too and will pull up a second code.
- Still failing. Ask if they can scan your code instead, or pay cash. See cash and tipping for how much to carry.
Fees, in plain terms
WeChat Pay's help page says payments under 200 yuan on an international card are fee-free, and single payments above 200 yuan carry a 3% fee. Beijing's tourism measures page, updated in 2026, adds that new users who link a foreign card get a temporary waiver on larger daily spending. Alipay sets its own terms for larger foreign-card payments, and they have changed more than once. Both apps show any fee on the payment screen before you confirm, so check there rather than trusting any blog's number, including mine.
For a big purchase, like a hotel bill or a long train ride, compare the in-app fee with paying the merchant directly by card, if they take one. Your own bank may also add a foreign transaction fee on top.
Quick answers
Can I use only one?
Yes. If it's one, make it Alipay. You'll pay for nearly everything and get around fine.
Will my friends be able to send me money?
Not to a foreign card wallet. If you're splitting a bill, the simplest fix is for one person to pay and the others to pay you back in cash or back home.
Should I link a debit or credit card?
Use whichever your bank is least likely to block abroad, and tell the bank you're travelling. Many travellers link both kinds, one in each app, so one block doesn't stop everything.
Do I need a Chinese bank account?
Not as a visitor. If you're moving here, a local account makes life easier; see opening a bank account.
Sources: SCMP: cashless shift hits foreign tourists (Feb 2024) · SCMP: Alipay and WeChat Pay raise visitor limits (Mar 2024) · KrASIA: WeChat Pay updates for foreign visitors (Apr 2024) · WeChat Help Center: international cards · Beijing government: WeChat Pay fee waiver (2026) · gov.cn: payment guide for overseas visitors · Jiemian: inbound visitors at Chinese New Year 2025
If something here has changed, email me. I re-check every guide and update the date at the top.
Written by David, who lives in China. About me