N26

What N26 is, in 2026

N26 is a full German banking licence (BaFin-regulated, Bundesbank-supervised) operating as a mobile-first current account across most of the EEA. It has roughly 8 million customers and is the oldest of the EU neobank class.

In practice: a German-IBAN current account, Spaces (sub-accounts), a small stock/ETF brokerage (N26 Stocks), and Insurance-aggregator integrations. The feature set is narrower than Revolut's — deliberately so.

Safety and regulation

N26's licence is a full German credit-institution authorisation — the same class as Deutsche Bank. Deposits up to €100,000 are covered by the Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken (EdB) — Germany's statutory DGS.

The ongoing context: BaFin imposed a customer-growth cap in 2021 over AML controls, which was fully lifted in 2024, and a more recent (December 2025) capital-reserve requirement affecting new mortgage lending in the Netherlands. Neither measure affects the deposit guarantee or existing accounts.

Hands-on UX

The app is deliberately quieter than Revolut's. Spaces work well for budgeting; the main card has instant freeze/unfreeze and Apple/Google Pay. Customer support is chat-based, slow-but-functional on the free tier, genuinely fast on Metal.

The weakness: the feature curve flattens early. After Spaces and a couple of virtual cards, there isn't much more to explore. If you want savings rates, crypto, or deep investing, you will outgrow N26 and open something alongside it.

Who N26 is for

Choose N26 if: you want a proper German IBAN, you prize a calm app over feature breadth, you're a resident of a country where N26 offers a local bank product (DE, ES, IT, FR, AT, NL), and you're comfortable with English or German in-app.

Look elsewhere if: you travel heavily (Revolut is better on FX), you want in-app crypto (Revolut or Trade Republic), or you want the highest EUR savings rate (Trade Republic).

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