Monese vs N26: Which Is the Best? What Are the Pros & Cons of Each?

Monese vs N26: which one offers the best card for travelling? What about the best way to manage your money digitally? Who offers the most options to add to your account's balance and the lowest fees or best exchange rates to use it at home or around the world? Check out our side-by-side comparison of Monese vs N26 offering and the pros and cons of each company.

Monese vs. N26

Monese and N26 are modern banking providers that offer current account services directly from a smartphone app. Both providers give you a fully-featured bank account, a debit card, international money transfers and a range of other services designed for people with busy lifestyles. If you’re trying to decide between the two providers, we have the insight you need—we’ve researched both of them in detail and shared our insights below. Read on to see how they compare to each other across several areas so you can choose the right service for your banking and money transfer needs. 

Plans and Fees Winner: N26 🏆

Monese and N26 offer an excellent selection of features under their free plans. Neither charges you to open or hold an account, allows you to send money internationally, and comes with good mobile apps. N26 does win in this area due to lower charges for international money transfers and zero commissions when using your debit card overseas. 

Overall Banking Service: Tie

Both providers offer a wide range of services under their free plans. You get a fully-featured current account, a Mastercard debit card, international money transfers and a range of other services. Both services have options including notifications, direct debits, budgeting, financial planning and multi-currency summaries.

International ATM Withdrawals: Tie

Each provider does charge slightly different fees for withdrawing money from an ATM. N26 charges a flat 1.7 percent of the amount you withdraw. With Monese, the first €200 per month does not attract a fee, but you’ll be charged two percent of any amount withdrawn above that. 

Getting a Debit Card: Tie

It can take up to ten working days to get a card from N26, while Monese say it will take 14 days in total—or ten working days. N26 does provide an express delivery service at a cost of 22 EUR to get you a card in one to three days. Monese charges a £4.95 card delivery fee if you sign up for their free Simple plan.

International Money Transfers: N26

N26 offers international money transfer services through their partnership with TransferWise, a popular provider with excellent exchange rates and low, transparent fees. TransferWise charges a fee of 0.35 percent to 2.85 percent of the amount you’re transferring, depending on the currency, with most currencies towards the bottom end of that range. Monese charges a flat, two percent fee on international money transfers, with a two euro minimum charge.

Using your Debit Card Overseas: N26

N26 does not charge any commission for FX services when you pay with your card abroad. Monese doesn’t charge a fee for the first €2,000 per month that you spend on the card and then charges a flat, two percent fee on any amounts after that. 

Monese Card vs. N26: Card Features

The cards offered by Monese and N26 come with identical features. Both are Mastercard debit cards and both offer contactless payments, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Mobile apps from each provider allow you to block and unblock your debit card if it goes missing.

Overall Winner for Card Features: Tie

Monese vs. N26: How Does the Account Compare?

Monese and N26 can both replace a traditional bank account and come with a range of financial services for users. N26 just nudges ahead here for offering web access to your account, plus offering interest and overdrafts if you’re in German or Austria.

Overall Winner for Account Comparison: N26

The Account Experience: N26

Both providers offer a range of features to make banking easier. N26 and Monese offer direct debits in EUR or GBP. Both providers offer multi-currency balances in EUR and GBP, although N26 also offers access to your account through both their app and their web platform. Monese only gives you access via the app, so we’re giving this one to N26. Both providers have financial services including notifications, financial analysis and budgeting. N26 also offers savings “pots.”

If you lose your phone or card, both providers let you block and unblock your card, and get back into the app through installing it on a new device. 

Local Accounts Available in Specific Currencies: Monese

N26 and Monese both offer banking services in British pounds and euros for their current accounts. Monese doesn’t require proof of residency and there’s no need for a credit check, which makes them ideal if you’ve just moved to a country. For that reason, we’re giving this one to Monese.

Other Bank Account Features: N26

If you’re in Germany or Austria, you can get interest on your savings if you use N26, and the rate is up to 1.48 percent. Additionally, if you’re in Germany or Austria, you can get an overdraft facility for your N26 account that charges 8.9 percent a year. Monese does not provide interest on money you save or offer an overdraft facility. 

N26 insures and guarantees deposits made to its service, up to €100,000. Monese is an agent of PrePay technologies Limited who are licensed as an Electronic Money Institution. This means that your money is kept segregated from Monese's own accounts and you would get your balance back if Monese went out of business. 

If your card is lost or stolen, TransferWise and Monese let you freeze and unfreeze cards via their apps. 

Topping Up Your Account: Tie

N26 offers account top ups via bank transfer and also by cash if you’re in Austria or Germany. Monese lets you top up with cash in the U.K. and via a bank transfer in the U.K. and Europe.

Monese vs. N26: Service Coverage and Customer Satisfaction

Monese wins in this area due to their wider availability, greater number of support languages and higher Trustpilot scores from users.

Overall Winner for Service Coverage and Customer Satisfaction: Monese

Service Availability: Monese

N26 offers services across the European Economic Area: The EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. N26 doesn’t yet offer services in Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania or Romania. Monese is available throughout the EEA. 

Languages Supported: Monese

The breadth of service availability is also reflected in support languages. N26 offers EN, FR, ES, DE and IT. Monese offers services in EN, FR, ES, DE, IT, PT, BG, RO, PL, CZ, TR and LT.

Number of Customers: N26

N26 does have more customers with 3.5 million, compared to Monese that currently has around one million customers. 

Customer Satisfaction: Monese

Unfortunately, N26 doesn’t do quite as well, only scoring 7.7 out of ten, one of the lower review scores we’ve seen for these modern banking services. Although many reviewers were happy with N26, some did mention issues with money or accounts being frozen. Monese does very well here with an average Trustpilot review score of 8.9 out of ten. 

Customer Support Hours: Tie

N26 only offers support between 07:00 - 23:00 Berlin Time, via in-app chat and email. Monese offers support through email and call centers, although hours do vary by country. 

Monese App vs. N26: App Features and Reviews

Both Monese and N26 apps offer very similar features through their mobile apps. You can get instant notifications, access to your bank account services, budgeting, categorization and summarizing all your important financial information in one place. N26 also allows you to set cash aside in savings “pots.”

The similarity between the apps also translates into how customers review them, with both scoring highly on Android and Apple devices, although N26 has many more reviews. Google Play customers with Android phones scored N26 at 4.3 out of five and Monese at 4.5 out of five. Apple Store customers with iOS phones scored both N26 and Monese at 4.8 out of five.

The apps are well-designed, attractive and easy-to-use, so this is a tie. 

Overall winner for app features and reviews: Tie

As you can see from our detailed research, one thing is true—both providers are very closely matched. However, we do believe that N26 edges just slightly ahead, especially if you’re based in Germany or Austria and can take advantage of the additional services they provide to users in those countries. Apart from that, we think they’re both excellent options, and that either choice could work for you. 

Overall Winner for Overall Verdict: N26 ( Just Barely)

N26 just about edges out Monese in our final verdict, but they’re very closely matched, and we’re sure you’d be happy with either choice.