Revolut vs N26 in 2026: Fees, Deposit Protection and Which Is Best

N26 or Revolut? Choose N26 if you want a plain euro bank account with free foreign-currency card payments on every plan. Choose Revolut if you need to hold and exchange several currencies in one app, or want trading and extras alongside your account. Both are licensed banks for EEA customers with deposits protected up to €100,000 — the difference is which country's scheme pays out, and that crypto and investments held in Revolut sit outside that protection.

Revolut and N26 are the two biggest neobanks in Europe, but they take very different approaches to digital banking. This comparison sticks to what can be checked at source: plan prices, the fee rules that are most often reported wrongly, and which entity actually holds your money.

Account types and pricing

N26 runs four personal plans, not three. Standard is free, Smart is €4.90 a month, Go is €9.90 a month, and Metal is €16.90 a month, per N26's own plan comparison read on 11 August 2026. Go is the tier most older comparisons omit, and it is the one that matters for travel, for the reason in the next section.

Revolut is also tiered, from a free Standard account up through paid tiers that raise limits and add travel and insurance perks. We are not printing Revolut's monthly prices here, and that is deliberate: the line-up and the price differ by country, and any figure we copied would be undated within weeks. Read the current plans on Revolut's own site before you decide on price.

Foreign exchange — the part most comparisons get wrong

This is the section where published figures, including our own earlier version of this page, are routinely wrong. Two different fees get mixed together.

Card payments in a foreign currency are free on every N26 plan, at Mastercard's exchange rate, and N26 states that it does not mark that rate up. The frequently-quoted 1.7% is not a card-payment fee. It is a fee on cash withdrawals outside the eurozone, and it applies on N26 Standard and Smart while being waived on Go and Metal.

Free ATM withdrawals in euros are capped per month and rise with the plan: two on Standard, three on Smart, five on Go, eight on Metal.

Revolut's strength is holding and exchanging multiple currencies in-app, with exchange included up to a monthly limit that depends on your plan and a fair usage fee beyond it. As an example of how that works, Revolut's UK fee schedule, read in September 2026, sets £1,000 a month on Standard with a 1% fee above it, £3,000 on Plus with 0.5% above it, and no limit on Premium, Metal and Ultra — and the limit is shared across currency, crypto and commodity exchanges. EEA plans have their own schedule, so check the figures for your country rather than assuming "free FX" is unconditional.

The practical read: if your spending abroad is on the card, N26's card fee is zero on every plan and the tier you pay for buys you ATM cash, not cheaper spending. If you actually need to hold euros, dollars and pounds side by side, that is Revolut's territory rather than N26's.

Who holds your money

This is the most important difference and the one usually described incorrectly.

N26 is a licensed German bank, N26 Bank SE, based in Berlin. Deposits are protected up to €100,000. That protection comes from the German statutory deposit guarantee scheme implementing the EU deposit guarantee directive — not from a "European Deposit Insurance Scheme", which has been proposed at EU level but does not exist as an operating scheme. An earlier version of this article said otherwise and was wrong.

For customers in the European Economic Area, Revolut's account is provided by Revolut Bank UAB, authorised by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Lithuania, with deposits insured up to €100,000 by the Lithuanian state deposit-insurance company. Revolut also states that virtual currencies, commodities and investments are not covered by that scheme — so crypto and stocks held in the same app as your salary do not carry the same protection the salary does.

Both are therefore licensed banks with the same €100,000 statutory ceiling. The difference is which country's scheme pays out, not whether one exists. UK customers are in a different position: Revolut's UK bank exited its mobilisation phase in March 2026, and UK deposit protection works through the FSCS rather than an EU scheme — our Revolut vs Wise comparison covers that side.

What the regulators have on the record

Supervisory history is public, and it is a fair input to a decision as long as it is read accurately.

BaFin, Germany's regulator, ordered a package of measures against N26 Bank SE on 15 December 2025: establish proper business organisation, accept a special representative, meet additional capital requirements, and stop writing new mortgage business in the Netherlands. BaFin's stated basis was a 2024 special audit and the 2024 annual-accounts audit, which found serious deficiencies in risk management, complaints handling and the organisation of the lending business. Separately, on 21 May 2024 BaFin published a legally final fine of €9.2 million for systematically late suspicious-activity reports during 2022.

None of that is a solvency finding and none of it changes deposit protection. It is, though, a documented regulator view that complaints handling has been weak — which is worth knowing if service quality is what you are choosing on. We cover the wider question in how safe are neobanks, and if you want to verify any of this yourself, how to check a bank licence shows where the registers are.

Features

Both offer spending insights and automatic categorisation. Revolut is the broader product — multi-currency accounts, stock and crypto trading, and a wide set of add-ons — while N26 is the narrower one, with Spaces sub-accounts for budgeting and a simpler surface. Whether "more product" is a benefit depends entirely on whether you want your investments and your current account in the same app; the deposit-protection note above is one reason some people deliberately do not.

What about Monzo, Wise or bunq?

These come up in the same searches, and each answers a slightly different need. Monzo is a UK bank, so it suits people banking in pounds rather than euros — see our Monzo review. bunq issues local IBANs in several countries — see the bunq review. And if you mostly need to convert currency rather than hold a bank account, Revolut vs Wise sets out how the two charge. The broader field is ranked in the best neobanks of 2026.

The verdict

Choose Revolut if: you travel frequently, hold more than one currency, or want an all-in-one app — accepting that the investment side of it sits outside deposit insurance.

Choose N26 if: you want a plain, well-designed euro bank account with free foreign-currency card spending on every plan, and you do not need multi-currency balances.

Choose neither if: what you actually need is currency conversion rather than a bank account — Wise does that job at the mid-market rate with a stated fee, though it is an e-money institution rather than a bank and is safeguarded rather than deposit-guaranteed.

If you are weighing a move away from N26 specifically, N26 alternatives covers the wider shortlist and the switching order. Fees and plans change; check the current terms on each provider's site before opening an account. This is general information, not financial advice.

Frequently asked questions

Is N26 or Revolut better?

N26 is better for a simple euro bank account with free foreign-currency card payments on every plan. Revolut is better if you need to hold and exchange several currencies, or want trading and extras in the same app.

Is my money safer in N26 or Revolut?

For EEA customers both are licensed banks with deposits protected up to €100,000: N26 through the German statutory scheme, Revolut Bank UAB through the Lithuanian state deposit-insurance company. Crypto, commodities and investments held in Revolut are not covered.

Does N26 charge 1.7% on foreign card payments?

No. Card payments in a foreign currency are free on every N26 plan. The 1.7% is a fee on cash withdrawals outside the eurozone on the Standard and Smart plans, and it is waived on Go and Metal.

How much does N26 cost per month?

Per N26's plan comparison read on 11 August 2026: Standard is free, Smart €4.90, Go €9.90 and Metal €16.90 a month. Check N26's site for current prices in your country.

Has N26 had problems with regulators?

Yes. BaFin ordered a package of measures against N26 Bank SE on 15 December 2025 and fined it €9.2 million in 2024 for late suspicious-activity reports. Neither is a solvency finding, and neither changes deposit protection.