Start with the charge for changing currency
The charge a card adds when it converts your money into the local currency is the cost that decides a trip, and the listings set it out plainly. ACB Grenada Bank charges 1%, 1st National Bank Saint Lucia charges 2%, Al Rajhi Bank charges 2% and Alpha Bank Cyprus charges 2.7%. Airwallex sits well below those, at 0.5%, and Advcash (Advanced Cash) Card takes free for conversion.
Every card you tap abroad pushes you through that same charge, so a higher number there matters more than a small saving on an account fee. Work out what you expect to spend in the currency of the place you are visiting, then compare conversion charges against that figure rather than against a headline rate.
Two listings are worth a close look before you decide. The ACB Grenada Bank review pairs a mid-range conversion charge with an ATM allowance, and the Advcash (Advanced Cash) Card review covers a card that charges free to convert. Read both against the spending you actually have in mind.
Check which network the card runs on
The network decides where the card is accepted, so it is the quickest way to sort a list. AikBank lists local for its network, and Al Rajhi Bank lists local, which points to a card built for a single market. That is a poor fit for a traveller, whatever the fees say.
The broad networks are the practical default for travel. AffinityPlus Credit Union runs on visa, Ajman Bank Neo runs on mastercard and Altyn-i runs on mastercard. Acceptance is not identical at every merchant on any of them, so a card on a widely accepted scheme is the safer of the two choices.
American Express CH sits apart, on amex, and acceptance of that scheme is patchier in some destinations. If your route is fixed, check which schemes the merchants you plan to use actually take before you pick the card.
What the free cash allowance really gives you
Cash costs twice: at the machine, and again once the allowance is gone. Each allowance is quoted in the account's own currency, so the raw numbers compare only after you put them on a common footing. Absa allows ZAR 2,000, Aion Bank allows €300, ALAT by Wema allows NGN 150,000 and Altyn-i allows KZT 1,000,000.
Other listings leave no free withdrawals at all: ACB Grenada Bank is at XCD 0, Alif at TJS 0, Alpha Bank Cyprus at €0 and 1st National Bank Saint Lucia at XCD 0. On those cards the operator's own charge lands on you from the moment you need cash.
The Absa review and the AffinityPlus Credit Union review are useful next stops, because an allowance is worth only what you withdraw against it. A generous allowance on a trip where you pay by card tells you nothing.
Prepaid, virtual and multi-currency cards
The listings mix current account cards with prepaid cards, and the two behave differently in a shop abroad. A prepaid card is loaded with money rather than drawn from a current account, so the balance you hold is the balance you can spend. Absa Kenya Multi-Currency Prepaid Card runs on visa, and Al Salam Bank Visa Prepaid Card runs on visa.
A multi-currency card lets you hold more than the currency of the account, which is the point of the Absa Kenya Multi-Currency Prepaid Card. A virtual card has no chip, so ask whether it can live in your phone wallet and whether the merchants you plan to use will take a phone payment. Airtm runs on visa, so it sits on a broad network rather than a local scheme.
Money safety is a question the tables leave open
Money safety sits alongside cost, and the comparison covers only part of it. What the listings give you is the conversion charge, the network and the ATM allowance. What they do not set out is what stands behind the balance, and that differs sharply between money in a current account and money loaded onto a prepaid card.
Treat that as an open question rather than a settled point. Work through the 1st National Bank Saint Lucia review and the AikBank review for the terms sitting behind the card, and ask the provider directly about the things you want to know before you travel. A question left unanswered in a table is not a reassuring answer.
A short routine that gets it right
Here is the order that saves time. Start with the network and set aside anything on a single market. Compare the conversion charges across the cards that remain. Then put each ATM allowance into your own currency and against the cash you expect to need. After that, decide whether you are holding a current account balance or a loaded prepaid balance, because that changes what the rest of the comparison is for.
Finish with the written terms and an outside check. A review sits next to every listing, and if the card is funded from crypto holdings, the crypto debit cards ranking compares that side of the market on the same basis.