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Revolut, Bunq and N26 among the best online banks in Europe tested by Monito

Best Online Banks in Europe in 2023: Fees, Features, and More

Byron Mühlberg, writer at Monito.com
Jarrod Suda

Reviewer

Feb 21, 2023
Affiliate disclosure

By offering low fees, easy application, and convenient web and mobile apps, online banks have risen rapidly in prominence across the EU in recent years, going even so far as to challenge traditional banks for a new tech-savvy generation of customers.

In 2023, as both the popularity and the market share of Europe's online banks continue to rise, you might wonder which of the many online banks in Europe offers you the best service. In this guide, we whittle down the top online banks in the EU/EEA fintech scene to the prominent contenders and explore which one might make sense for you.

recommendation icon

A full bank in most EU countries, Revolut gives you a free current account with an EU IBAN (and UK local bank details too!), a debit card, and excellent multi-currency features. Combined with investments, loans, and savings features, we think Revolut is convincingly the best online bank in Europe in 2023.

✨ Get 3 months of free Revolut Premium as a Monito reader with our exclusive link.

How Monito Scores Online Banks

To determine which online banks scored better than others within the EU/EEA market, we used a consumer-first framework to analyse several key factors. To begin with, we weighed a number of concrete metrics relating to factors such as fees and rates, ease of use, credibility, service and coverage, transparency, and customer satisfaction to piece together a reliable all-around picture of which top digital banks offer the savviest solutions to EU residents.

Next, we explored these results and presented our findings in the form of a series of key takeaways that we believe you should know about the three digital banks ranked highest.

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In our definition of "online bank," we only consider:

  1. Digital banks that are available across all or most EU/EEA countries, not just in specific countries.
  2. Online-first banks, and not traditional banks which have pivoted to digital banking while still maintaining an extensive brick-and-mortar infrastructure.

While we ranked these online banks on an overall list, bear in mind that this list does not mean that our choice for the EU's best digital bank is necessarily the best choice for you. As you'll see, each online bank comes with its own unique set of pros and cons that may impact its overall relevance to you.

If you'd like to see how EU online banks stack up against one another, then check out our live neobank comparison engine.

Without further ado, let's go through our rankings for the top online banks in Europe in 2023 —

Key Facts About Best Banks in Europe

👥 No. of customers

≈ 50 million

🔎 No. reviewed on Monito

10+

💸 Average monthly fee

€0.00

🏆 Best overall
📶 Largest (customers)
  1. Revolut (20 million)
  2. Wise (15 million)
  3. N26 (8 million)
📶 Largest (revenue)
  1. Revolut (€188 million)
  2. N26 (€130 million)
  3. Wise (€56 million)

Revolut: Best All-Rounder

A major name in the digital banking sphere, Revolut has stood at the forefront of Europe's low-cost online financial services sector in recent years. With over 12 million users, the London-based fintech is available not only in the EU and EEA but worldwide. However, because it's not yet a bank in all EU countries, we think Revolut is best used as a spending tool next to a main bank account instead of in place of it.

  • Account name: Standard
  • Account details: Lithuanian IBAN, UK account number
  • Licensing: Bank
  • Account maintenance: €0 /month.
  • Noteworthy features: UK bank account details, multi-currency balances, trading, savings, tracking and analytics.
  • Availability: 30 European countries
  • Overview of all plans:

Account Name

Fee /Month

Revolut Standard

€0.00

Revolut Plus

€2.99

Revolut Premium

€7.99

Revolut Metal

€13.99

Revolut Ultra

€55.00

N26: Best Free Current Account

Arguably the best-known mobile bank, N26 is a widely-used and much-loved German online bank with around seven million customers across the EU. N26 is also partnered with Wise's money transfer service, allowing in-app international money transfers at some of the best exchange rates on the market. Because of its complete current account offering, we recommend N26 to just about anybody interested in low-cost banking.

  • Account name: N26 Standard
  • Account details: German IBAN
  • Licensing: Bank
  • Account maintenance: €0 /month.
  • Noteworthy features: Instant social payments, overdraft facilities, cash deposits
  • Availability: 22 European countries
  • Overview of all plans:

Account Name

Fee /Month

N26 Standard

€0.00

N26 Smart

€4.90

N26 You

€9.90

N26 Metal

€16.90

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Living in Italy? N26 is unavailable there. See more.

Tomorrow: Best for Sustainability

Tomorrow is a fintech company affiliated with German bank Solarisbank striving for positive impact and claiming to put sustainability before profit. Customers can choose between three sustainable current accounts, the first two coming with a plastic Visa debit card, and the premium tier coming with a wooden Visa debit. We particularly think Tomorrow's basic 'Now' account is the ideal choice for sustainability-oriented customers due to its low all-around costs and pro-sustainability investments.

  • Account name: Now
  • Account details: German IBAN
  • Licensing: Payment Institution
  • Account maintenance: €3-€9 /month
  • Noteworthy features: Climate contributions, savings pockets
  • Availability: 4 European countries
  • Overview of all plans:

Account Name

Fee /Month

Now

€3.00

Change

€7.00

Zero

€15.00

Wise: Best Multi-Currency Account

Wise is not a bank but a money transfer operator well-known for offering some of the cheapest international transfers globally. (In fact, according to our rankings, Wise is the best money transfer service.) However, money transfers aren't Wise's only game; they also offer the Wise Multi-Currency Account — a low-cost foreign currency spending account and card product that's best in class on the market.

  • Account name: Multi-Currency Account
  • Account details: Belgian IBAN and 9 others
  • Licensing: Payment Institution
  • Account maintenance: €0 /month.
  • Noteworthy features: International money transfers, multiple account details, multi-currency balances, virtual debit cards.
  • Availability: 32 European countries
  • More info: See our full Wise Account review or visit the website.

Bunq: Best Paid Current Account

Dutch neobank bunq doesn't really lift a candle to some of the other contenders on this list in terms of affordability. That's because bunq doesn't offer a free account, and many of its services come with additional fees. However, for those who don't mind paying higher fees every month for an online bank account, then bunq comes packed with many interesting features and perks to take advantage of.

  • Account name: Easy Bank
  • Account details: Dutch bank account
  • Licensing: Bank
  • Account maintenance: €2.99 /month.
  • Noteworthy features: Bill splitting, Wise money transfer integration,
  • Availability: 27 European countries
  • Overview of all plans:

Account Name

Fee /Month

Easy Savings

€0.00

Easy Bank

€2.99

Easy Money

€8.99

Easy Green

€17.99

Yuh: Best Swiss Franc Account

Yuh is a Swiss neobank that's backed by Swissquote and PostFinance. It offers a Swiss franc (CHF) IBAN account and multi-currency functionality that allows you to hold in-app balanced in up to 13 other currencies, including EUR, USD, and GBP. Yuh also comes with a built-in stock and crypto trading platform. Because it's available in Switzerland and all neighbouring EU/EEA countries, we think it's the best CHF account in Europe and an excellent way to hold a balance in the currency if that's something you find helpful.

  • Account name: Yuh
  • Account details: Swiss IBAN
  • Licensing: Bank subsidiary
  • Total cost: €0 per month.
  • Noteworthy features: CHF bank account details, multi-currency balances, stock and cryptocurrency trading.
  • Availability: 6 European countries
  • More info: See our full Yuh review or go to the website.

Starling: Best EUR Account for UK Residents

Starling Bank is a fully-authorised bank in the UK that's well known for its fee-free current account. In fact, because this account is entirely free and gives you access to an impressively complete range of financial services (including overdraft facilities, loans, joint accounts, youth cards, pensions, Euro and US dollar accounts, interest, etc.), we think Starling offers the best online bank in the UK — one we recommend as a complete replacement for an account at a high-street bank.

  • Account name: Personal account
  • Account details: UK IBAN
  • Licensing: Bank
  • Total cost: £0 /month.
  • Noteworthy features: EUR and USD bank account details, savings, pension scheme, youth card, interest, overdraft.
  • Availability: United Kingdom only
  • More info: See our full Starling Bank review or go to the website.

The Best EU Online Banks Compared

To wrap things up, let's take a look at how the product, service, and pricing of a few of the online banks we explored compare to one another in the EU/EEA. We've chosen to compare the standard plans of Tomorrow, bunq, Revolut, and N26 because of their similar all-round product offerings:

N26

Revolut

Tomorrow

Account

Standard

Standard

Now

Monthly Fee

€0

€0

€0

Intl. Withdrawal Fee

1.7%

3%

1.5%

Intl. Transaction Fee

0%

0%

0%

Intl. Transfer Fee

0.3%-2.8%

  • 0.30%
  • €3-€5

N/A

Card Delivery Fee

€0

€0

€0

Contactless

Google Pay

Apple Pay

3D Secure

Deposit Options

  • SEPA transfer
  • Cash
  • Debit/credit card
  • Bank transfer
  • Debit/credit card

SEPA transfer

Overdraft

Platforms

  • Mobile
  • Internet banking
  • Mobile
  • Internet banking

Mobile

Deposit Insurance

€100,000

€100,000

€100,000

No. of Customers

7 million

15 million +

Approx. 70,000

Trustpilot

3.3/5

4.3/5

3.4/5

Customer Service

  • Email
  • Live chat

24h in-app live chat

  • Email
  • Live chat
  • Telephone
Try N26 ❯Try Revolut ❯Try Tomorrow ❯

Last updated: 3/1/2023

FAQ About Online Banks in Europe

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