Revolut Business vs N26 Business: Multi-Currency Teams vs Freelancer Banking

N26 Business is available only to freelancers and self-employed individuals. Sole traders, consultants, and self-employed professionals qualify. GmbHs, AGs, SARLs, SLs, and any other registered legal entity do not. This single restriction makes N26 irrelevant for the majority of businesses evaluating banking options.

Revolut Business is open to registered companies of all sizes — from sole traders to large enterprises. It serves businesses across 30+ countries in the EU, EEA, and UK. If you operate as a registered company, Revolut is the only option of these two worth evaluating.

For freelancers who do qualify for N26, the comparison becomes meaningful. Both offer a full banking license, but N26 provides a genuinely free option while Revolut's Basic plan starts at €10/month. The question is whether Revolut's additional features justify the cost for a solo operator.

N26 offers four plans: Standard (free), Smart (€4.90/month), Go (€9.90/month), and Metal (€16.90/month billed annually). All plans include unlimited free SEPA and SEPA Instant transfers — a key advantage for high-SEPA-volume freelancers. Premium tiers are differentiated by ATM withdrawal allowances, travel insurance, and virtual card count rather than banking features.

Revolut Business starts at €10/month for Basic (10 free local transfers, €1,000–1,500 FX allowance). Grow costs €35/month (100 free SEPA, 5 SWIFT, €15,000 FX). Scale is €125/month. The cheapest Revolut plan includes fewer free SEPA transfers than N26's free tier.

For freelancers making many SEPA transfers domestically, N26 Standard is hard to beat on price: free, unlimited SEPA, and 0% card FX. Revolut's value emerges when you need SWIFT transfers, multi-currency accounts, or team functionality.

Revolut supports 30 currencies with monthly FX allowances (€1,000–€60,000 depending on plan) and a 0.6% overage markup. SWIFT transfers are available from Grow onward. This makes Revolut the clear choice for freelancers or businesses with regular international payment needs.

N26 supports only EUR accounts and provides 0% card FX markup using Mastercard exchange rates — excellent for card spending abroad or in foreign currencies. However, N26 does not support outgoing SWIFT transfers at all. Freelancers needing to receive or send international wire transfers must use an additional service such as Wise.

If your international exposure is primarily card spending (travel, online purchases in foreign currencies), N26's 0% card FX is genuinely competitive — better than Revolut's 0.6% card markup beyond free allowances. If you need to send or receive international wires, Revolut is the only option.

Both Revolut and N26 hold full banking licenses — a shared strength that distinguishes both from EMI-only platforms. N26 is regulated by BaFin and the ECB with deposits protected up to €100,000 per depositor under the EdB (Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken), Germany's statutory deposit guarantee scheme.

Revolut Bank UAB holds an ECB banking license regulated by the Bank of Lithuania. Deposits are protected up to €100,000 per depositor under Lithuania's VAS (Valstybės įmonė "Indėlių ir investicijų draudimas") scheme.

Both provide equivalent formal deposit protection. N26's German regulatory domicile may feel more familiar to German freelancers, but the practical protection is identical. Neither operates on the weaker "safeguarding only" model used by EMI-licensed fintechs.

N26 Business is a single-user product by design. There are no team cards, no expense delegation, no approval workflows, no receipt capture, and no accounting software integrations beyond manual CSV export or Open Banking TPP connections. It is a personal-scale business banking tool.

Revolut Business offers team functionality from the Basic plan: virtual cards for team members, expense management, bulk payments, and API access on higher tiers. Grow and Scale add custom approval workflows, metal cards, and priority support. For any business with even one additional employee, Revolut is more capable.

Freelancers who work alone and value simplicity will find N26's clean, single-user interface refreshing. For those managing contractors, tracking business expenses across categories, or needing accounting software integration, Revolut's toolset is significantly richer.