Finom vs bunq Business: Invoicing & Cashback vs AutoVAT & Company Cards

Finom has five tiers: Solo (free), Basic (EUR 9/month annual), Smart (EUR 24/month annual), Pro (EUR 119/month), and Grow (EUR 249/month). The free Solo plan includes a local IBAN, limited invoicing, and basic card access. Higher tiers add cashback (up to 3%), more SWIFT allowances, multiple user seats, and advanced accounting integrations.

bunq Business currently offers three main plans. Easy Money (EUR 9.99/month or EUR 7.99/month annual) covers the basics. Easy Business (EUR 18.99/month or EUR 14.99/month annual) adds more Company Cards and features. The top-tier plan (up to EUR 23.99/month) unlocks the broadest feature set. All plans include a full Dutch banking licence and deposit insurance. bunq does not have a permanently free business plan.

Finom's free Solo plan gives it an entry-point advantage. For teams needing deposit insurance and VAT automation, bunq's pricing is competitive. Neither platform is cheap at higher tiers, but their value propositions differ.

Finom's strongest differentiator against bunq is its integrated invoicing. Finom lets you create, send, and track invoices inside the app, with support for e-invoicing standards: XRechnung (Germany), SDI (Italy), and standard EU invoice formats. Recurring invoices, payment reminders, and payment links are all available. This replaces the need for a separate invoicing SaaS tool for many small businesses.

bunq does not offer invoicing. Its headline workflow feature is AutoVAT: bunq automatically calculates the VAT element of each incoming payment and sets it aside in a dedicated sub-account so you always have the tax funds available when payment is due. This is particularly valuable for VAT-registered businesses who struggle with cash flow around quarterly VAT payments.

These two features address different pain points. Invoicing (Finom) helps you get paid. AutoVAT (bunq) helps you not spend money that belongs to the tax authority. Many businesses need both — and will have to choose a primary platform and complement with another tool.

Finom's cashback programme rewards card spending directly. Solo earns 0.5% back; Basic 1%; Smart 2%; Pro 3%. This applies to business card spend with no category restrictions on eligible purchases. A business spending EUR 5,000/month on the Smart plan earns EUR 100/month — meaningfully offsetting the EUR 24/month fee.

bunq's Company Cards serve a different purpose: they give each team member their own physical or virtual card linked to the business account, with individual spending limits and controls. This is an expense management tool rather than a reward programme. bunq does not offer cashback on card spend.

If your goal is to earn rewards on business spend, Finom wins. If your goal is to give your team controlled spending access, bunq's Company Cards are the better fit. A solo freelancer gets more value from Finom's cashback; a team of five benefits more from bunq's per-person card controls.

One of bunq's notable constraints is its annual SEPA transfer caps. Depending on the plan, bunq includes 100–500 free outgoing SEPA transfers per year; additional transfers cost EUR 0.13 each. For a business making 20+ transfers per month, this can add a meaningful per-transaction cost. bunq supports 22 currencies and charges 0.5% FX beyond the interbank rate.

Finom operates on a monthly SEPA allowance model (e.g., 20 outgoing on Solo) with per-transfer overage fees. Finom supports outgoing SWIFT transfers in 19 currencies from all plans, including Solo. This makes Finom more accessible for businesses with non-EU clients even at the entry level.

bunq handles SWIFT via Wise (its transfer partner for international payments). This works but is less integrated than Finom's native SWIFT support. For businesses with regular international payment needs, Finom's direct SWIFT access is a simpler experience.

bunq holds a full Dutch banking licence from the DNB (De Nederlandsche Bank). Business deposits are insured up to EUR 100,000 per depositor under the Dutch deposit guarantee scheme (DGS). This is the same protection offered by ING or ABN AMRO — full statutory deposit insurance.

Finom is an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) regulated by the Dutch DNB. Finom's customer funds are safeguarded — held in segregated accounts at BNP Paribas — but are not covered by a deposit guarantee scheme. Safeguarding provides strong protection but it is a different legal mechanism from deposit insurance.

For businesses holding significant operating balances, bunq's deposit insurance is a concrete advantage. For freelancers and SMEs whose primary need is workflow tooling (invoicing, cashback) rather than balance protection, Finom's safeguarding regime is adequate and the regulatory difference is less material day-to-day. Both are DNB-regulated entities.