Starling Bank vs Revolut

Starling Bank and Revolut are both legally licenced companies in the UK regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. They are subject to high levels of compliance, which protect your deposits in the rare case of bankruptcy.

With Starling Bank, up to £85,000 of your money will be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). With Revolut, your deposits will not be protected by the FSCS because your money is technically in an electronic money account (not a bank account). Regardless, Revolut is required by law to segregate your account from their accounts, and they safeguard your deposits in the case of insolvency. 

Starling Bank scored slightly higher on our credibility metrics mostly because their fee schedule was more comprehensive than Revolut’s. Revolut’s fee schedule is easily accessible but it does not detail every fee that it charges, such as its international money transfer fees and foreign card transaction fees.

Global Availability

Starling Bank has a full banking license from the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which allows the company to offer fully functional bank accounts to UK citizens and residents. However, this also limits its offerings to only UK citizens and residents.

Revolut, on the other hand, is an electronic money institution in the UK that partners with licensed banks to provide an electronic money platform to residents of various countries worldwide. In addition to the UK, Revolut is available to residents in Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Japan, the United States, and the European Economic Area (EEA).

Starling Bank and Revolut are among the best in their industry for offering low-fee international account services and debit cards. Their high-quality products have led the experts at Monito to consider this one a tie. 

While we like what each company has to offer, they do differ quite a bit. We will get into the details below, but what is important to note is that Revolut’s multi-currency account is far more global but is quicker to charge ATM fees, foreign transaction fees, and international transfer fees. Starling Bank, on the other hand, has a more limited multi-currency function but offers one of the most impressive zero-fee schedules we’ve seen. 

Starling Card vs Revolut Card

The debit cards offered by Starling Bank and Revolut are extremely similar. Both offer virtual and physical debit and will be accepted wherever MasterCard is accepted. They are contactless, and you can connect them to Apple Pay or Google Pay. Their mobile apps allow you to instantly freeze and unfreeze your debit cards if you misplace them.

The Account Experience

Both mobile apps are well known for their excellent user experience and their sleek and easy-to-use design. The debit cards are connected to the app so that you can set budgets, track your monthly spending, and even earn interest on savings. 

Starling Bank allows you to set up a joint account with your partner. They also offer ‘Kite Cards’ for your children too, which you can easily manage in the app and help them build their financial literacy at a young age. Revolut does not allow partners to set up joint accounts. However, you can set up a Junior account for your child and manage their unique debit card from your app.

While Revolut ‘Vaults’ and Starling Bank's Saving Spaces both allow you to make passive money from your deposits, Starling’s savings rates are better. Revolut applies 4.75% AER on your GBP savings, while Starling Bank applies a 3.25% AER on personal account balances up to £5,000, and a 4.48% AER on balances in the 1-Year Fixed Saver account up to £1,000,000.

Which Has a Multi-Currency Account?

Multi-currency accounts are incredibly convenient for international travel. If you have holdings of the local currency of your travel destination, then you can spend like a local without suffering from international card transaction fees. 

Starling Bank customers can open euro or US dollar accounts and access those deposits from the same Starling debit card. Personal account customers can open a euro account for free by using Starling Bank’s app. US dollar accounts are not available to personal accounts. Starling business account holders must pay £2 a month for the euro account. While business account holders can open US dollar accounts, they do cost £5 per month. 

With Revolut, you can open British pounds, US dollars, and euro accounts for free and send money in 35 currencies.

Topping up Your Account

Starling Bank supports more top-up methods than Revolut. You can top up your account by direct deposit and by bank transfer. At partner locations across the UK, you can make cash deposits; cheque deposits can also be made digitally by taking a photo of your cheque with the mobile app.

Starling Bank will deposit £1,000 in cash for free per year. After that, Starling Bank will charge a 0.7% fee per cash deposit. 

While you cannot top-up your Revolut account by cash or cheque, you can do so by bank transfer and by debit or credit card. This is an advantage, as Starling Bank does not support top-ups by card.

Starling Bank and Revolut accounts are both free to open, and they never charge monthly maintenance fees. Starling Bank easily won this section though, due to its fee-free international card transactions, foreign and domestic ATM withdrawals, and card delivery. Their international money transfer fees are both much lower than your standard high-street bank, but Revolut will waive them entirely if you subscribe to their paid plans. 

International ATM Withdrawals

Starling Bank wins here because their debit card will give you free ATM withdrawals within the UK and abroad. They do set a monthly withdrawal limit of six per day for a max of £300, but this isn't too bad in our opinion. In fact, Starling Bank is one of Monito’s most highly recommended travel cards of all. You may pay fixed service fees charged by the ATM machine (which Starling Bank can’t control). 

Revolut is still a worthy option, especially as an alternative to high-street banks. You get a monthly withdrawal allowance of £200 per month. After that, you will be charged a 2% fee of the amount withdrawn. This applies to both domestic UK withdrawals and international ones.

Getting a Debit Card

Starling Bank and Revolut will provide you with physical and virtual debit cards. Starling Bank’s card is free and should arrive at your door within 5 business days. Revolut, on the other hand, charges a £4.99 delivery fee and sends your debit card to you within 9 business days.

Whether you choose Starling Bank or Revolut, virtual cards are free to access from the mobile app.

Overdraft Fees

Starling Bank charges overdraft fees starting from 15% EAR. You are allowed to overdraft up to £5,000. 

Revolut does not offer overdrafts or credit.

Exchange Rates for International Money Transfers

Starling Bank and Revolut’s international money transfer systems are superior to the UK's high-street transfer network thanks to their low fees and market exchange rates. Starling Bank and Revolut both apply industry-low exchange rate margins on your transfers (around 0.4% for Starling and usually under 0.5% for Revolut, although these are subject to change and may increase on weekends).

Overall, their convenient service are much cheaper than high-street SWIFT transfers and traditional money transfer services like Western Union, which can charge from 3% to even 9%. 

Starling Bank Exchange Rates

For each transfer, Starling Bank will charge a low 0.4%  fixed fee. They tack on an additional commission fee of 30p per transfer, or £5.50 if you make a SWIFT transfer (which is optional for most currencies).

As stated earlier, Starling Bank personal account holders can access free euro accounts. This multi-currency account comes with the added bonus of unlimited free inward and outward transfers to banks in the Eurozone. If you have friends and family in the EU, then you can really leverage this powerful Starling Bank product.

Revolut Exchange Rates

Revolut's fee schedule is a bit more complicated. Premium members get one free international transfer per month while Metal members get two. 

For all other users, international money transfers will cost the following:

• Sending the local currency: Sending money to a country in the local currency (i.e. USD to the U.S. or JPY to Japan) will incur a fee of 0.30%. For this fee, there is a minimum of £0.30 and a cap at £6.00.
• Sending non-local currency: Sending money in a different currency than the country’s local currency (i.e. USD to the UK or GBP to India) will be more expensive. Sending USD, GBP, EUR or CHF will cost £4.00. Sending any other currency will cost £6.00.

Foreign Exchange Rates: Using Your Debit Card Overseas

Starling Bank never charges foreign card transaction fees when you spend with your card overseas. The exchange rate that will apply is the one that MasterCard sets, which is near the mid-market exchange rate.

Revolut sets a £1,000 per month limit on free foreign card transactions. Once this limit is reached, you will be charged 0.5% per transaction. You can benefit from zero foreign card transaction fees if you upgrade to their Premium or Metal plans.

Starling Bank and Revolut are both highly rated and recommended on Trustpilot by their many customers. Revolut, with a Trustpilot score of 4.4, narrowly beat Starling Bank’s 4.3 score. Revolut's over 100,000 total reviews are quite impressive against Starling Bank’s 27,000 as well.

Both have over 15,000 four and five-star ratings on the review site. Both offer in-app live chat, which is the easiest way to get ahold of customer support. In the end, millions of customers have been satisfied with Starling Bank and Revolut as their service of choice.