N26 vs Revolut

Both N26 and Revolut are fully-secure online banks that both offer deposit insurance and fully-featured banking services in EU countries.

N26 holds a banking license regulated by the BaFin and is a member of the German deposit protection scheme, which insures all deposits up to €100,000 held in the member states of the EU. Although Revolut didn't have any deposit protection in place for a while, it recently became a bank in most European countries, meaning deposits up to €100,000 are also insured via their platform. N26 is not available in the US or the UK.

The reason that Revolut ranked higher than N26 in our Trust & Credibility score is because of a number of regulatory and data-regulated issues that N26 has faced in recent years which directly impacted its customers. Furthermore, N26 is also a smaller company than Revolut, which meant it was edged out in our scoring process.

Nevertheless, we're confident that both banks offer high security to customers and that your deposits will be safe no matter which option you choose.

Signing up for either N26 or Revolut will give you a current account (with an IBAN), a debit card, push notifications, budgeting, financial planning, money transfers, and several other core services. Revolut may charge for faster transfers or to non-Revolut, while N26 doesn't charge for these services. Additionally — although it's a licensed bank in Lithuania — Revolut's primary offering is still its prepaid, multi-currency card, and we think its banking services still have a way to go to becoming a more complete and mature product. As a result, if you're looking for more advanced banking features, then N26 has the edge.

Cards

On the surface, N26's and Revolut's debit cards are quite similar. They both offer a Mastercard (though Revolut offers Visa cards in some countries) that supports contactless, Apple Pay, and Google Pay payments.

There’s one important difference though — N26 doesn’t charge commission on card transactions in a foreign currency, whereas Revolut charges up to 2% of the amount you spend depending on your membership plan. That’s why we’d recommend N26 over Revolut if you travel extensively.

Both providers offer elegant cards with a modern aesthetic, with metal cards available on their most exclusive plans. Additionally, both providers let you easily block your debit card from their mobile apps if your card is lost or stolen. Both banks also offer virtual cards in the app over and above the physical debit cards.

Account Experience

N26 and Revolut have taken different approaches to the banking experience:

N26 is focused squarely on providing a good alternative to the traditional bank account. They offer features like overdrafts, interest on savings accounts and other functionality designed to make it easy to manage your money. Revolut is slightly more limited as it’s effectively a prepaid card that gives you multiple currency options and lets you send money overseas quickly and easily.

N26 allows you to manage your account through both their smartphone app and via an online banking portal, whereas Revolut’s service is only available through the app, and you’ll need to reinstall to a new phone if you lose your old device.

In terms of banking experience, we think N26 has a slight edge.

Local Accounts Details and Balance in Specific Currencies

Revolut offers more local currency options than N26. Revolut can provide unique local accounts details in pounds (if you're a UK resident), Euros (if you're a resident in a country within the Eurozone), krone (if you're a resident of Norway) and złoty (if you're a Polish resident), as well as other account details. If you’re from Poland or Norway, Revolut is therefore a better choice than N26, which only currently offers accounts Euros for EU/EEA residents (even in those countries that use a different currency).

Other Bank Account Features

N26 offers a few features that Revolut doesn't have. This includes savings accounts and overdrafts in Germany and Austria and direct debits (though Revolut offer does direct debits in both Euros and pounds).

Topping up Your Account

With N26, you can only top up your account through a bank transfer or by making a cash deposit using CASH26 (however the latter service is only available in Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Greece). On the other hand, Revolut allows you to top up your account with a bank transfer, debit card or credit card, which is more convenient, in our opinion.

As mentioned, both N26 and Revolut provide generous features in their free plans, although the exact features of these plans may vary slightly depending on the country in which you’re using them. Neither account charges for basic banking features, although you'll pay fees in other ways. Note that fees for both services may vary between countries and all information shared below is for the Eurozone only.

Using your Debit Card Overseas

N26 charges no fees for using your debit card outside the Eurozone, while Revolut charges no fees on the first €1,000 you spend per month, and 2% after that.

ATM Withdrawals

Revolut charges a 2% fee on ATM withdrawals above €200 (or more than five withdrawals) per month whereas N26 charges no fees on the first three withdrawals in the Eurozone (with a €2 fee per withdrawal after) and 1.7% outside the Eurozone. This means that Revolut and N26 are fairly matched when it comes to ATM withdrawals: both charge a fee after a rather low limit has been reached (however you can get around N26's limit by making large withdrawals to avoid the fee where you cannot do this with Revolut).

Card Delivery

Although Revolut normally charges a fee of around €5 to deliver a debit card to you, if you sign up through Monito, they'll send you the card for free. N26 charges a much higher €25 to send you a debit card. Both companies charge for replacement cards and deliveries.

International Money Transfers

N26 pricing is easy and transparent for currency exchange as they use Wise to provide the service. Wise is consistently one of the best-priced providers for international money transfers. Revolut’s pricing is also very competitive but it depends on the currency, the volume you trade and if you’re exchanging currency during or outside market hours. You also need to pay an extra €6 if you want the money to arrive quicker than the standard three to five days with Revolut.

When it comes to customer feedback, Revolut holds the clear lead over N26. Customers love Revolut, with the service scoring 4.4 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot, with more than 100 thousand reviews in total. N26 doesn’t score quite as high, but it's score is still devent, with an average of 3.9 out of 5 stars over 15 thousand independent reviews.