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N26 vs Revolut in 2024: Which is best for you?

Baptiste Wicht | Updated: |

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)

N26 and Revolut are digital banks focusing on low currency exchange fees. They are both doing that well and are well-established. So, how can you choose between the two?

Which is best for you will ultimately depend on your needs.

But we can still compare their features and characteristics. In this article, I compare in detail N26 vs Revolut.

I start by introducing the two companies. And then, I compare them based on many different aspects: fees, limits, security… At the end of the article, you will know which of N26 or Revolut is best for you!

If you want to know which of N26 vs Revolut is better for you, keep reading!

I focus on the free accounts of both N26 and Revolut. They also have premium options. But they are out of the scope of this article!

What is N26?

N26 is a German company created in 2016. It started under the name Number 26 but quickly changed it to N26. Their main offering is digital bank accounts without any fees for converting currencies.

N26 is an official bank from the European Union. It is called a direct bank. They have no offices. They are available through a mobile application and a web application.

You can get either a Mastercard debit card or a Maestro card with your account. However, only a few countries can get a Maestro card. You get a personal IBAN in EUR, and you can use this as your bank account. You can do bank transfers from your account or directly transfer money to other people using N26.

They previously offered investment services, but this service has been discontinued. They are now focusing on their core business.

In early 2020, N26 claimed more than 3.5 million customers in 26 countries. It has more than 1300 employees and offers its services in most of Europe and the United States.

If you want more detail, I have an entire article about N26.

What is Revolut?

Revolut is a company from the United Kingdom. It was created in 2015. Mostly, they offer digital money transfer services. Most of their services are based on their cheap currency exchange systems. However, they have started having many offer money-related services.

You can get a Mastercard (sometimes a Visa) debit card or a Maestro card with your account. It can be practical in some cases to have both.

It is also an online direct bank since they do not have offices. However, since they are not yet an actual bank (they already have the license), they are not a direct bank per se.

Once you have deposited money into your account, you will use it as a payment card. You can also use it as a bank account and transfer money to other accounts or Revolut users.

They also have started offering access to cryptocurrencies and stocks. They want to expand their money services over time. The features you can get from Revolut will depend on which country your account is registered in.

In 2019, they announced that they have about four million users. To serve these customers, they employ about 600 people in many locations. They started early, only in Europe. But they are also available in the United States.

I have been using Revolut for a long time now. You can learn more about it in my full review of Revolut.

What are their premium options?

Both companies offer free services. We will focus on these free services for the rest of the N26 vs Revolut comparison.

However, talking about the different premium options both companies offer is still interesting.

We can start with Revolut. Revolut has three different account types:

  1. Revolut Standard account. It is the free account I focus on in this article.
  2. Revolut Premium account. This account will cost you 6.99 EUR per month. It offers priority support, increases the withdrawal limits, removes the monthly restrictions, and adds some insurance forms.
  3. Revolut Metal account. This account will cost you 12.99 EUR per month. On top of the Premium account, Metal will add a concierge service, a 0.1% cashback on European purchases, and a 1% cashback outside Europe.

As for N26, they also have three different accounts:

  1. N26 account. It is the free account that we focus on in this article.
  2. N26 You account. This account will cost 9.90 EUR a month. It will give you free withdrawals, an insurance package, and some discounts and offers from partners.
  3. N26 Metal account. This account will cost you 16.90 EUR a month. On top of the advantages of N26 You, it also offers dedicated customer support, many partner discounts, and a card in tungsten.

There are many advantages to each of these premium offerings. We can see that N26 premium accounts are more expensive than Revolut premium accounts. However, only N26 will offer free withdrawal worldwide. It can save a lot of money for people traveling a lot. On the other hand, the cashback from Revolut premium accounts can also be attractive.

Both companies offer business services, but I focus on standard accounts for this comparison.

Which is more available – N26 vs Revolut

Winner: Revolut

We start by checking where are the two services available.

Both services are widely available in Europe. First, N26 is available in 23 countries in Europe. Then, Revolut is available to each country part of the European Economic Area (EEA). It means it is available in 31 countries. It is also available in Switzerland.

On top of that, N26 is also available in the United States. Revolut just launched in the U.S. in early 2020. However, they are still in the early stages.

Finally, Revolut is also available in Australia, Canada, and Singapore. N26 is not available in these countries.

Depending on where you live, you may have access to some extra features for both services. For instance, if you are German, you can access real savings accounts with an interest rate of N26. And if you are French, you get access to stock trading on Revolut. Unfortunately, in Switzerland, we do not get any extra fancy features, but we probably do not need them anyway.

One difference for people living in a country is that they are not residents. N26 accepts people living in countries that they support to open an account. But this is not the case for Revolut. With Revolut, your residence does not matter as much as your nationality.

Since Revolut is available in more countries than N26, Revolut is the winner for availability.

Support in Switzerland

Winner: Revolut

Both services are available in Switzerland, which means Swiss citizens can open accounts with N26 and Revolut.

But there is a considerable difference between these two services in Switzerland.

With Revolut, you can withdraw some money for free in Switzerland (up to 200 euros a month). But you cannot do it with N26. I do not think this is a big deal if you live in Switzerland since you will probably keep a Swiss bank account.

With Revolut, you will get a Swiss IBAN to deposit CHF directly into your account. However, you will only get a EUR IBAN with N26. This means depositing money for free on your N26 account is more complicated.

Since neither offers a personal IBAN, you cannot use either service for your main bank account. So, being unable to withdraw in CHF with N26 is not a big deal. However, sending money to your account from Switzerland complicates it. You could use Revolut or Wise to send money to your N26 account. But then, it makes it more complicated.

Since Revolut has a Swiss IBAN, Revolut is the winner for availability in Switzerland.

Money Transfer Services – N26 vs Revolut

Draw

We can also compare the essential services of the two companies: their money transfer services.

Both services focus on offering cheap currency exchanges in many different currencies.

Both services offer a MasterCard (or Visa) card. You can use it everywhere, like a credit card. But you need to have money charged on it. The transactions will appear in real time on both services. It is an awesome advantage of debit cards compared to credit cards. Both services will execute payments extremely fast.

However, there is a slight difference with a real credit card. The two companies do not even provide the same kind of card. N26 provides a MasterCard Debit Card. And Revolut provides a MasterCard (or Visa) prepaid card.

Generally, a MasterCard Debit Card can be used the same way as a credit card without credit (you can only spend what you have). On the other hand, a prepaid card has some limitations. Many companies do not accept prepaid cards for pre-authorization transactions. This is often the case when renting a car or reserving a hotel. So there is a slight advantage with N26 here since they have a real Debit Card.

You could make the reservation with your standard credit card and then pay with Revolut. However, this is not as practical.

Most of the time, you will probably use the card directly to pay for purchases in other currencies. But you can also use the account to directly transfer to other accounts. And you can also send money directly to other customers.

With Revolut, you can also hold other fiat currencies directly in your account. So, you can have CHF, USD, and EUR simultaneously in your account. Having multiple currencies on your account is a great thing. And you can also receive these currencies directly into your account. When you spend currencies with your card or with a bank transfer, the money from the specific account will first be used if there is enough. So, these purchases will not result in currency exchange.

For N26, you will receive a real personal EUR IBAN. This IBAN is unique to you. However, with Revolut, you will not get a unique IBAN. You will still get an IBAN to receive money as a beneficiary. But this IBAN is shared with many people. It is just a slight difference.

Both accounts are also usable from Apple Pay and Google Pay. So you can use their cards directly from your phone if you like this service!

Both accounts are available on the phone and the web.

For money transfer services, when we compared N26 vs Revolut, I would say that they are both at a draw. Their core services are the same and are both great! However, only Revolut lets you hold different currencies in the account. This feature could be great if you need it!

Other Services

Winner: Revolut

Both companies offer different services as well. We can see how they compare to each other.

N26 focuses entirely on its core business. As a result, they do not have many other features. On the other hand, Revolut has many other features.

With N26 and Revolut, you can track your expenses. They automatically categorize each expense. If you opt for their premium products, you can purchase travel insurance. Both premium options give you access to some perks.

Revolut also has a system of Vaults where you do spare change savings. This could be interesting if you want to save a little on each purchase automatically.

One very cool feature of Revolut is that you can have virtual cards. You can create a secondary card directly in the app. And then you can use this card on the Internet. You can delete the card once you do not need the car anymore. Virtual cards are a great way to protect your online finances.

Revolut offers simple access to crypto-currencies. Remember that this is not a free service (1.5% fee on buy and sell). And this is not a wallet. You will not be able to take your crypto coins outside of Revolut.

Finally, Revolut recently started offering trading access to stocks. This service is free up to a certain number of trades per month. However, it is only accessible to Metal customers.

Overall, Revolut has many more features than N26. Of course, it only matters if you want to use these features.

N26 vs Revolut – Who has higher limits?

Winner: Revolut

We can also see what the limits of both companies are.

We start with Revolut. They have a straightforward system for limits. You can withdraw up to 3000 GBP per day.

And you can also transfer a lot of money with Revolut. The daily limit on Revolut is 100’000 GBP. And the weekly limit is 250’000 GBP. The equivalent in GBP is considered if you are working with other currencies. It is a straightforward system with high limits.

How does that compare to N26? With N26, you can withdraw up to 2500 EUR per day. You can spend up to 5000 EUR daily in a store or online using your card.

You can transfer up to 50’000 EUR per day with N26. You can transfer up to 100’000 EUR per month. It is also a straightforward system with relatively high limits.

Revolut has higher limits than N26. All their limits are significantly higher than N26.

Which is cheaper – Revolut or N26?

Winner: N26

Price is probably what most people are interested in. So, we must ask ourselves: how much fees we will pay for these services?

We start with withdrawal in Euros. N26 allows you five withdrawals in euros per month. After this limit, you will pay 2 EUR per withdrawal. With Revolut, you will get a 200 EUR withdrawal free per month. After this, you will pay a 2% fee on the total withdrawal.

For other currencies, N26 charges a 1.7% fee on each withdrawal. Revolut is free up to the 200 EUR equivalent. After this, you will also pay a 2% fee.

So, for withdrawal, N26 is significantly better than Revolut.

N26 is free for paying and transferring in other currencies!

On the other hand, Revolut has about a 0.40% surchage on average on the interbank exchange rate. Indeed, in 2023, they dropped the interbank exchange rate and are using the Revolut Exchange Rate, which means nothing.

On top of that, Revolut has extra fees under some conditions! Indeed, there is a limit of 1000£ (GBP) per month. Once you reach this limit, you must pay an extra 1.0% fee on each transfer. Moreover, you will have to pay an extra charge of 1.0% for each transfer on the weekend.

The limit for Revolut used to be 5000 GBP. But in June 2020, they decreased it to 1000 GBP. And they also increased their weekend fees. These changes make them less interesting compared to N26!

As for the exchange rates, N26 offers the Mastercard exchange rate, while Revolut offers the meaningless Revolut Exchange Rate. Both of these rates are about 0.40% worse than the interbank exchange on average. But it depends on each currency and on the time of the day. It will only make a difference if you transfer a large amount of money.

Example of exchange fees for spending by card

We can directly compare the prices for a few examples of conversions when you pay by card:

Amount From To N26 Revolut Revolut Weekend
1000 CHF EUR 0 CHF 0 CHF 10 CHF
5000 CHF EUR 0 CHF 50 CHF 100 CHF
10000 CHF EUR 0 CHF 100 CHF 200 CHF
1000 EUR USD 0 CHF 0 CHF 10 EUR
5000 EUR USD 0 CHF 50 EUR 100 EUR

Since both have about the same 0.40% surcharge, I did not account for the surcharge in the table.

If you look at this table, it should be clear that N26 is the winner! They are always at least as cheap as Revolut. And they are always free! Revolut has a much more complicated system for fees.

Reputation

Draw

If you plan to put money into a bank, it is good to check their reputation.

Neither of them has an excellent reputation. Revolut and N26 have generated quite a controversy at different times in their short history.

In 2016, N26 introduced a limit of 5 withdrawals per month. It made a lot of customers angry. Also, in the same year, there was a significant security breach at N26. Once again, it generated a lot of negative feedback about N26.

In 2019, both N26 and Revolut were accused of not doing enough to avoid money laundering.

Revolut has a bad reputation for its workplace. People have reported it as very toxic many times. Also, the customer service of Revolut has a bad reputation. And some people think that the Kremlin controls Revolut. But for that, there has never been any trustworthy source. So I would not care about that fact.

Overall, I would say that both N26 and Revolut have the same bad reputation. They probably have both been growing too fast and cannot keep up.

Which is more secure? N26 or Revolut?

Winner: N26

We also need to take a look at the security of both systems.

First, knowing that your money at Revolut is not insured by anything is essential! On the other hand, the money inside your N26 account is protected by European law up to 100’000 EUR! This protection is a great advantage of N26 over Revolut. If Revolut fails, you are very unlikely to see your money again.

As for pure security, both companies are using 3D Secure (3DS) for their transactions. It means you will get a push notification on the app when you pay with your card on some websites. And the transaction will only be validated once you confirm the transaction on the app. 3DS adds a second layer of security, which is great. Interestingly, Revolut has offered 3DS only since August 2019, while N26 has offered it since July 2017!

In 2016, there was a big security breach in N26. It is slightly scary. But since that point, they have taken security very seriously. And they are now much better. But, of course, no service is 100% secure.

With both services, you can limit the account from the app. For instance, you could turn off some swipe payments from your app.

Overall, I think that N26 offers greater security than Revolut. It is mainly due to the bank insurance of your money. However, for transactions, both companies should provide the same relative security.

If you care about security, I have an article on how to protect your online personal finances.

N26 vs Revolut Summary

Winner: N26

Finally, we summarize what we have seen so far.

 
 
N26
4.0
3.0
  • Awesome fees
  • Good security
  • Good mobile and web applications
  • Great availability
  • High limits
  • Good mobile and web applications
  • Few features
  • Bad reputation
  • Bad during the weekend
  • Bad reputation
  • Bad customer service
  • Little transparency on exchange rates
N26
4.0
  • Awesome fees
  • Good security
  • Good mobile and web applications
  • Few features
  • Bad reputation
3.0
  • Great availability
  • High limits
  • Good mobile and web applications
  • Bad during the weekend
  • Bad reputation
  • Bad customer service
  • Little transparency on exchange rates

Overall, we can see that both services have advantages and disadvantages.

However, I feel like N26 is superior to Revolut. It is because you can convert more money for free. With Revolut, you have to pay extra during the weekend. And you will have to pay extra for some currencies. N26, on the other hand, offers free currency exchanges!

Here are the main differences between N26 and Revolut:

  • N26 currency exchanges are always free!
  • Your money on N26 is insured up to 100’000 EUR!
  • N26 offers many more free withdrawals in euros than Revolut!
  • Revolut has more features.
  • Revolut has higher limits than N26.
  • Revolut has a Swiss IBAN to transfer CHF directly.

FAQ

Is N26 cheaper than Revolut?

Yes! N26 offers free currency exchanges for all currencies without limit. With Revolut, they are only free up to 5000 GBP a month. And Revolut charges you more during the weekend.

Is N26 better than Revolut?

It depends. They both have good features. N26 is cheaper but offers more features. And the premium options of N26 are more expensive than the premium options of Revolut.

Conclusion -N26 vs Revolut

N26 is a better fit than Revolut for Europe. You will get many free withdrawals. And all currency exchange will be free, even during the weekend.

However, Revolut is a better fit in Switzerland. Since N26 has no Swiss bank account, it is difficult to top it up for free! Also, you cannot withdraw any CHF for free with N26. But this could change in the future.

However, since Revolut reduced the total of free transaction exchanges to 1000 GBP (1250 CHF) in June 2020 and dropped the interbank exchange rate in 2023, they are becoming less interesting.

An awesome thing with N26 is that your money is insured! If they get busted, your money is safe. And I like the fact that all currency exchanges are free with N26. And five free withdrawals in Euros per month is a great thing!

Of course, nothing prevents you from having both! Having both cards could optimize your strategy to the maximum. You could also use Revolut to top up N26 for free! It makes a lot of sense! But if you prefer simplicity, you choose Revolut or N26.

Another alternative is to use the Swiss bank Neon. They also offer free purchases abroad with their Mastercard. That way, your money stays in Switzerland, and you get insurance for your cash.

Whether you choose N26 or Revolut, having a travel card can save you a lot of money. And this should be an essential part of your credit card strategy. It is likely the thing that can save you the most money with your payment card usage.

Regardless of the N26 vs Revolut debate, you probably want to use your local credit card in your country. That way, you will have more cashback. These two services are awesome when you work with other currencies. But they are not so great in Swiss francs, for instance.

What about you? Are you using N26 or Revolut?

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Photo of Baptiste Wicht

Baptiste Wicht started thepoorswiss.com in 2017. He realized that he was falling into the trap of lifestyle inflation. He decided to cut his expenses and increase his income. This blog is relating his story and findings. In 2019, he is saving more than 50% of his income. He made it a goal to reach Financial Independence. You can send Mr. The Poor Swiss a message here.

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41 thoughts on “N26 vs Revolut in 2024: Which is best for you?”

  1. Firstly, the banking status of our European entity, Revolut Bank UAB, is authorised by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Lithuania. All of our European customers’ funds are protected by the Lithuanian State Company “Deposit and Investment Insurance”.

  2. Thank you for the update. We had Revolut and N26. We got them for an extended trip in South, Central and North America. The Revolut failed big time. It was seldomly accepted and so utterly disappointing. This happened in almost every country. N26 was accepted almost everywhere. The customer support is also non-existent. In the end we ditched the Revolut card and just use the N26.

  3. You said Revolut funds are not insured.
    It is false. Since they are Latvian bank, up to €100k are insured with LT national bank. Is better with Germany, though.

    You said exchange rates are better with N26 when paying with card in a different currency. Is this still the case in 2023?

    1. No, your statement is false.

      Indeed, they are a bank, but they have not been working as a bank for Switzerland, only for countries in the European Union. So, if you are in Switzerland, your money is not insured. But if you are in the EU, your money is insured.

  4. Hi,
    after doing my taxes for this year, I keep wondering:
    does N26 supply an annual statement one can use for the tax-declaration?

    1. Hi,

      That’s a good question. I do not think it will be an issue. You can export your bank statement from the app. And then you can join that to the declaration if they ask you to.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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