Genome vs Mountain Wolf
Both Genome and Mountain Wolf clear the checkouts our readers ask about most. Here is where the two part ways on fees and verification.
Genome issues on Visa and Mountain Wolf on Visa + Mastercard; both ask for ID + proof; only Mountain Wolf takes crypto top-ups.
Mountain Wolf is the more cost-effective option for everyday spending and travel thanks to its free virtual cards, no monthly fee, 0% foreign transaction fees, no top-up fee. Genome is the better fit for power users who need ad spend.
The head to head
| Field | Genome | Mountain Wolf |
|---|---|---|
| Card network | Visa | Visa + Mastercard |
| Card type | Digital Bank / Neobank | Crypto Card |
| KYC | ID + proof | ID + proof |
| Card issuance fee | Virtual card 1 EUR (first 10); 10 EUR from 11th | Virtual card free |
| Monthly fee | Free EUR (card monthly fee); non-EEA personal account 20 EUR/mo or 200 EUR/yr | Free |
| Top-up fee | Non-Genome card top-up 3% (externally initiated 1%) | 0% |
| FX fee | Non-card currency transactions 2%; EUR/USD/GBP conversion 1% | 0% |
| Crypto funding | No | Yes (ETH/BTC/USDT/USDC) |
| AI tool support | ChatGPT | ChatGPT / Claude / Midjourney |
| Risk level | Medium | Medium |
| Our rating | 9.3 | 9.4 |
| User reviews | 159 | 473 |
| Best for | Ad spend · AI subscriptions | All-rounder · AI subscriptions |
A green left edge marks the side that holds the advantage on that row, where the data gives one.
What sets them apart
- Budget-led users will lean to Mountain Wolf: the running cost is the lower of the two.
- If you wear several hats, Mountain Wolf is the more flexible of the pair.
- Mountain Wolf can sit on a crypto balance; Genome cannot, so the call depends on how you fund it.
Where they split
Run the numbers against your own usage. Mountain Wolf runs free to create plus no top-up fee per top-up; Genome runs about $1.09 plus a 3% top-up. For one or two subscriptions the first column wins; for ad-platform billing, the second does.
Questions people ask
That depends on what you spend on. Genome scores 9.3/10 against Mountain Wolf's 9.4/10 in our tests, but the two split on fees, KYC and crypto funding. Read the table above, then match it to the checkouts you actually run.
Mountain Wolf works out cheaper: no virtual card issuance fee, free account maintenance, 0% foreign transaction fee, no top-up fee. Genome adds about $1.09 per virtual card, a 2% FX fee, a 3% top-up fee.
Genome asks for ID + proof at signup; Mountain Wolf asks for ID + proof. If a light sign-up is the priority, the one with the lower KYC label is the faster route.
Both show up in 36 of the same test scenarios, including ChatGPT Plus, OpenAI API, RunwayML. They overlap on a good share of checkouts, so the choice between them matters most on those pages. Where one is accepted and the other is not usually comes down to the billing country and 3-D Secure handling.
Where both show up
Genome and Mountain Wolf both landed in our top picks for 36 checkouts. Grouped by category so you can jump straight to the one you actually pay for:
📺 Streaming & Entertainment 10
🤖 AI Tools & Developer Tools 8
🧳 Travel & Productivity 4
🎮 Gaming 3
Their BIN ranges
Cards issued in 🇦🇺 Australia · 🇨🇦 Canada — the country guides group every range we track from there.
What our charge log shows
Every count here is a real charge attempt we placed on that range, renewals included, with the gateway response recorded. Weeks tracked is how long the range has been in the programme: