N26 Metal Review: Fees, Perks, and Monito's Recommendation

N26 is a German neobank available throughout much of Europe. N26 provides localized banking services for its customers and is partnered with Wise (formerly known as TransferWise) on international money transfers.

N26 offers several tiers of accounts: a free "Standard" account, a "Smart" account for €4.90/month, a "You" account for €9.90/month, and a "Metal" account for €16.90/month. As its most exclusive offering, N26 Metal comes with various features and exclusive benefits. Monito is here to review N26 Metal: What are its premium features? How does N26 Metal compare to N26's other paying accounts? What about its competitors?

Availability, Pricing, and Minimum Duration

Although Germany-based N26 offers its services in most of Europe, its Metal plan is only available in Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Greece, and Liechtenstein. 
At this time, N26 is only onboarding new customers from Germany or Austria, so if you would need to open a brand new N26 account and not simply upgrade your existing N26 account to N26 Metal,

N26 Metal costs €16.90 per month – up from €9.90 for the lower tier N26 You plan —  and is only available on a one-year contract. That’s both a bit more expensive and less convenient than its competitors: Monese Premium costs €15.95 a month without a minimum duration — €10.40 if you pay for a year upfront.  Revolut Metal is an even lower €12.99 a month, and you can also pay upfront, which costs only €10 a month. But cost isn’t everything: let’s see how its features stack up against these competitors.

Insurance

One of N26 Metal’s big draws is its extensive insurance package, which includes travel, mobility, and phone insurance. 

• Travel
  N26 Metal includes the same travel insurance package as N26 You, which covers medical and dental emergencies (even winter sports accidents!) for up to €1,000,000 during trips of up to three months abroad for both you and your family.
  If you book your accommodation or flights with your N26 card, you’ll also enjoy cancellation and curtailment insurance of for up to €10,000, compensation for flight delays of more than four hours for up to €500, and luggage insurance up to €500 in case it is delayed by more than twelve hours and €2,000 in case it is lost by the airline.
• Mobility
  Like N26 You, Metal also includes mobility insurance that covers the vehicles you hire with your N26 card through car, e-bike, or scooter sharing services for up to €20,000, and extends it to also cover traditional car rentals while on a trip. 
• Phone
  N26 Metal is the only one of N26’s plans that also insures your phone — even if you haven’t bought it with your N26 card — which will be covered for up to €1,000 in case of theft or damages. 

Please note that specific conditions apply for all these, so be careful and do read through N26’s terms and conditions before subscribing!

N26 Metal’s complete insurance package is a unique draw to N26 Metal, as its competitors’ offerings are not as extensive: Monese doesn’t include any insurance at any price point, and though Revolut does offer similar travel insurance — even on its cheaper €7.99 Premium plan — it doesn’t include mobility or phone insurance in any of its plans. If you don’t already have travel and phone insurance, these features alone might make N26 Metal worth it!

Banking Features

N26 Metal includes all the banking features offered by other N26 plans, and even improves on some of them: 

• You get a free euro account linked to a debit Mastercard which allows free payments anywhere, in any currency at a mid-market exchange rate, and without any limits.
• You can make up to eight free cash withdrawals in euros (up from three with a standard account and five with a Smart or You plan). Note that this can change depending on your country of domicile.
• Like with the You plan, you get unlimited withdrawals in foreign currencies.
• As with all N26 plans when it comes to transfers, you get free unlimited SEPA payments in euros with N26 Metal, but you’ll have to go through N26’s partner Wise and pay their fees for transfers to other currencies. This is not necessarily a bad deal, but as always, you should use Monito’s comparison engine before any foreign currency transfer to make sure that you’re getting the most bang for your buck! 
• Like other paid N26 plans, N26 Metal offers you up to ten “spaces” (up from two with the free plan), which are sub-accounts you can use to save or budget. You also can create “shared spaces,” which you can use in common with up to ten other N26 users, for example, to share expenses with your flatmates or your partner. You can also automatically round up transactions to the nearest euro and deposit the difference in a space to make sure you save some money every day.

Monito's Verdict

All of these features add up to a great value, though many of them are also included in N26’s cheaper plans and are increasingly commonly offered by other neobanks. All told, N26 Metal lags a bit behind Monese Premium, which includes unlimited withdrawals anywhere as well as free cash top-ups and free transfers to select currencies, but stacks up nicely against Revolut Metal, which only allows you to withdraw up to €800 euros a month for free anywhere in the world. Both Monese and Revolut allow you to create sub-accounts, and also allow you to automatically round up transactions.