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Which of the three is cheapest for a traveller spending £2,000 abroad a month?

Monzo Free, at £6 a month in our worked traveller month — £0 on card payments and 3% on the £200 of cash above its £200 free allowance outside the EEA. Revolut Standard costs £14 on weekdays and £34 if the same £2,000 is exchanged over a weekend, because of its £1,000 exchange limit and 1% weekend fee. N26 Standard costs €6.80 for a euro-based traveller, which is £5.68 at the ECB reference rate of €1 = £0.83559 on 13 November 2026.

Does Revolut charge a fee on weekends?

Yes, on the two cheapest plans. Revolut adds a 1% weekend exchange fee on Standard and 0.5% on Plus for exchanges made outside weekday market hours; Premium, Metal and Ultra pay no weekend fee. The fee stacks with the fair usage fee: a Standard customer exchanging £2,000 over a weekend pays £10 of fair usage on the £1,000 above the limit plus £20 of weekend fee, £30 in total before any ATM cost.

Can I receive international payments into Monzo or N26?

Not directly in the way a freelancer usually needs. Monzo states in its own fee information that receiving money from outside the UK is not applicable — its international transfers run through Wise instead. N26 can receive a SWIFT payment, but third-party reporting of its fee schedule puts the cost at €12.50 plus 0.1% per incoming SWIFT transfer, so a $3,000 payment costs about €15.21 before conversion. Revolut accepts international payments into the account and charges no receipt fee on its own schedule, though intermediary banks may deduct their own fees.

Are deposits protected at all three banks?

Yes, but under different schemes and limits. Monzo is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and the PRA, and eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS up to £120,000 per person. Revolut Bank UK became a fully licensed UK bank in March 2026, and third-party reporting puts its FSCS cover at £120,000 as well — check the footer of your own statement, because older e-money accounts were safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected. N26 is a German bank licensed by BaFin, and eligible deposits are protected up to €100,000 by the German Deposit Protection Scheme.

When does paying for Revolut Premium actually save money?

At a weekday FX volume above £1,499 a month, or a weekend volume above £749.50 a month, on the traveller math in this playbook. Premium costs £8.99 a month and removes the exchange limit, the weekend fee and the ATM allowance problem; Standard pays 1% on every pound exchanged above £1,000 plus 1% at weekends and 2% on cash above £200. Below those volumes the free plan is cheaper — Premium is a volume product, not a status product.

Banking & Payments • 12 min read

Revolut vs N26 vs Monzo: the Digital Bank Pricing Playbook

Three free accounts, three different price tags. Revolut charges for weekends, N26 charges for cash outside the eurozone, Monzo charges for cash outside the EEA — this playbook prices all three on the same traveller month and the same freelancer income, from the vendors' own pages.

By Enow A. Jovial • Published 2026-11-14

Revolut, N26 and Monzo all offer a free account, and all three will cost a heavy user real money. Revolut taxes weekends and volume, N26 taxes cash outside the eurozone, and Monzo taxes cash outside the EEA while charging nothing for card payments in any currency. Pick wrong and the free account bills you £14 to £34 a month; pick right and it costs £6. This playbook prices all three on the same traveller month and freelancer income, from the vendors' own pages, read 14 November 2026.

Monzo Free is the cheapest card-first travel account here at £6 a month: card payments cost £0 and only cash above £200 outside the EEA is charged. Revolut Standard is the most expensive free plan for a heavy traveller at £14 on weekdays and £34 at weekends.

The price is four lines, not one

Every digital bank charges across four lines: subscription, FX limits and weekend markups, ATM allowances and overage fees, and cross-border transfers. The only honest comparison adds all four at stated usage.

\text{Monthly cost} = \text{Subscription} + \text{FX fees} + \text{ATM fees} + \text{Transfer fees}

Conversion uses the European Central Bank reference rates for 13 November 2026: €1 equals £0.83559, so £2,000 equals €2,393.52.

Revolut: the deepest bench, and the most fees to trip over

Revolut runs five UK personal plans, all priced in GBP. Its own fees page, updated 14 October 2026, prices them at Standard free, Plus £3.99 a month or £40 a year, Premium £8.99 a month or £90 a year, Metal £16.99 a month or £165 a year, and Ultra £60 a month or £595 a year.

Revolut UK personal plans table: Standard free, Plus £3.99, Premium £8.99, Metal £16.99, Ultra £60 a month, with FX limits, weekend fees and ATM allowances

The FX line is where Revolut makes its money on free users. Standard allows £1,000 of exchange a month, Monday to Friday, then charges a 1% fair usage fee; Plus allows £3,000, then 0.5%; Premium, Metal and Ultra have no limit and no fair usage fee. A weekend exchange fee of 1% on Standard and 0.5% on Plus applies outside weekday market hours; Premium, Metal and Ultra pay none.

Standard gives five withdrawals up to £200 a month, Plus £200, Premium £400, Metal £800 and Ultra £2,000; beyond the allowance every plan pays 2% per withdrawal, minimum £1. International transfers are discounted by tier — 20% on Premium, 40% on Metal, free on Ultra — and Revolut to Revolut transfers, UK transfers and SEPA payments are free. All three banks run KYC identity checks and AML screening before opening an account.

Revolut Business has no free tier. Third-party comparisons checked in October 2026 price it at Basic £10 a month, Grow £35 a month or £30 billed annually, Scale £125 a month or £90 a month billed annually, and Enterprise custom, with FX allowances of £1,000, £15,000 and £60,000. Those business figures are secondary-reported.

N26: the cheapest card, the dearest cash

N26, the eurozone bank of the three, licensed in Germany by BaFin, prices personal accounts at Standard free, Smart €4.90 a month, Go €9.90 a month and Metal €16.90 a month. Eligible deposits are protected up to €100,000 by the German Deposit Protection Scheme.

N26 EU personal plans table: Standard free, Smart €4.90, Go €9.90, Metal €16.90 a month, with EUR ATM allowances, 1.7% non-eurozone ATM fee and savings rates

N26's card line is the most generous in this comparison: worldwide card payments are free on every plan, with no exchange limit and no weekend markup published anywhere on its plans page. The cash line is the opposite. Free ATM withdrawals in euros run 2 a month on Standard, 3 on Smart, 5 on Go and 8 on Metal, and withdrawals outside the eurozone cost 1.7% on Standard and Smart and are free on Go and Metal. The overage on euro withdrawals beyond the free count is €2 per withdrawal, per third-party reporting.

Savings pay 0.25% a year on Standard and Smart, 0.55% on Go and 1.5% on Metal — confirm the live rate in the app first. Go and Metal add travel insurance, 1% travel cashback outside the EEA, and airport lounge access. Every account comes with a German IBAN for salary payments; a physical card costs €10 on Standard.

Monzo: free cards everywhere, capped cash everywhere

Monzo, the UK-licensed bank of the three — authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and the PRA — prices personal plans at Free £0, Extra £3 a month, Perks £9 a month and Max from £19 a month. Eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS up to £120,000 per person.

Monzo UK personal plans table: Free £0, Extra £3, Perks £9, Max from £19 a month, with fee-free cash allowances, £0 foreign-currency card payments and savings rates

Monzo's fee information document (version 1.11) prices a debit card payment in a foreign currency at £0, with no markup added to the Mastercard rate. The cash line is where Monzo charges. Outside the EEA, every plan gets £200 of fee-free cash per rolling 30 days, then 3% — except Perks and Max, which get £600. Inside the UK and EEA, cash is free without limit if Monzo is your main bank, and £400 per rolling 30 days otherwise, then 3%.

Monzo's transfer line is the thinnest of the three. International transfers run through Wise, priced with a fixed fee of no more than £9 plus a variable 0% to 1.80%. Receiving money from outside the UK is listed as not applicable in the same document — a freelancer paid from abroad cannot receive a SWIFT payment directly into Monzo. Savings pay 2.80% AER (variable) on Instant Access free, 3.15% on Extra, 3.55% on Perks and 3.80% on Max; Perks pays 3.70% on Select Access against 3.45% free. Monzo's Flex credit card carries a representative APR of 29% (variable).

Worked math: the traveller month

One traveller, one month, £2,000 of card spending abroad and £400 of cash withdrawn outside the EEA. Weekday first, then the same £2,000 exchanged over a weekend.

\text{Revolut Standard, weekday} = (\text{£}2,000 - \text{£}1,000) \times 1\% + (\text{£}400 - \text{£}200) \times 2\% = \text{£}10 + \text{£}4 = \text{£}14

\text{Revolut Standard, weekend} = \text{£}10 + \text{£}2,000 \times 1\% + \text{£}4 = \text{£}34

\text{Monzo Free} = \text{£}0 + (\text{£}400 - \text{£}200) \times 3\% = \text{£}6

\text{N26 Standard} = \text{€}0 + \text{€}400 \times 1.7\% = \text{€}6.80

Worked traveller month table: Revolut Standard £14 weekday and £34 weekend, N26 Standard €6.80, Monzo Free £6, with the arithmetic shown for each figure

N26's row is a euro-based traveller; at €1 equals £0.83559, €6.80 converts to £5.68. On paid plans the order changes. Revolut Plus at this usage costs £3.99 plus £4 of cash fees on weekdays (£7.99 total) and £10 of weekend FX plus £4 of cash plus £3.99 (£17.99) at weekends. Premium costs £8.99 flat. Annualised: £168 on Revolut Standard weekdays and £408 at weekends, £95.88 on Plus weekdays, £107.88 on Premium, £203.88 on Metal, and £72 on Monzo Free.

Breakeven math: the exact volume where each paid plan wins

A paid plan is only worth its fee when the fees it removes exceed the subscription.

\text{Premium beats Standard, weekday} \quad 0.01 \times (V - 1,000) + 4 > 8.99 \quad \Rightarrow \quad V > \text{£}1,499

\text{Premium beats Standard, weekend} \quad 0.02 \times V - 10 + 4 > 8.99 \quad \Rightarrow \quad V > \text{£}749.50

The £4 in both lines is the cash saving: Premium's £400 ATM allowance against Standard's £200 saves 2% of £200. Above £400 of cash, Premium also pays 2% on the excess, so the cash saving caps at £4. Plus breaks even against Standard at £1,399 of weekday FX volume and £932.67 at weekends.

Savings interest never pays for a plan at ordinary balances. Monzo Perks pays 3.55% on Instant Access against 2.80% free — a 0.75% gap — so the £108 annual fee needs a balance of £108 divided by 0.0075, which is £14,400, before the extra interest covers the subscription. At £10,000, Perks nets £247 against £280 free.

The freelancer month: $3,000 received from abroad

A freelancer paid $3,000 a month by US clients converts it at the ECB reference rate. One dollar buys £0.756053 at the 13 November 2026 cross rate, so $3,000 converts to £2,268.16 before fees. On Revolut Standard the £1,000 exchange limit bites: (£2,268.16 minus £1,000) times 1% is £12.68 a month. On Plus the same £2,268.16 sits inside the £3,000 limit, so the cost is the £3.99 subscription alone. Premium costs £8.99 and is £3.69 cheaper than Standard here.

N26 receives the same payment by SWIFT, and third-party reporting of its fee schedule prices an incoming SWIFT transfer at €12.50 plus 0.1% — $3,000 is €2,714.44, so the fee is €12.50 plus €2.71, or €15.21, about £12.71. Monzo cannot receive the payment at all. For cross-border business banking, see Wise Business vs Revolut cross-border, and for contractor payouts see Wise vs Airwallex vs Payoneer cross-border payout fees.

Business accounts: where the free tier disappears

Revolut Business has no free tier, and its breakeven against itself is clean. At £5,000 a month, Basic costs £10 plus 0.6% of the £4,000 above its £1,000 allowance — £34 — against Grow's flat £35. At £10,000, Basic costs £64 against Grow's £35. The crossover sits at £5,166.67 of monthly FX volume:

\text{Basic} = \text{£}10 + 0.6\% \times (V - 1,000) = \text{£}35 \quad \Rightarrow \quad V = \text{£}5,166.67

N26 Business mirrors its personal prices — free to €16.90 a month — but only for sole traders. Monzo Business Lite is free and Pro is £9 a month per third-party reporting. A UK limited company can choose Revolut Business or Monzo Business; N26 Business is not an option for one. For a fuller comparison, read Mercury vs Relay vs Wise business banking.

The decision table

Factor	Revolut	N26	Monzo	Authority
Free plan	Standard, £0	Standard, €0	Free, £0	Vendor plan pages
Paid plans	£3.99 to £60 / month	€4.90 to €16.90 / month	£3 to £19 / month	Vendor fees pages
FX, weekday	£1,000 free, then 1%; unlimited Premium+	No limit, no fee on card payments	£0 on card payments, Mastercard rate	Vendor fee pages
FX, weekend	1% Standard, 0.5% Plus, none above	None published	No weekend markup	Vendor fee pages
Free ATM	£200 to £2,000 / month	2 to 8 EUR withdrawals / month	£200 outside EEA; £600 Perks, Max	Vendor fee pages
ATM overage	2%, min £1	1.7% outside eurozone; €2 overage, secondary	3%	Vendor pages
International receipt	Free	SWIFT €12.50 + 0.1%, secondary	N/A; via Wise	Vendor pages; Statrys
Deposit protection	FSCS £120,000, secondary	€100,000, Germany	FSCS up to £120,000	Vendor pages
Regulator	FCA and PRA, Revolut Bank UK	BaFin, German licence	FCA and PRA, FRN 730427	Vendor pages
Business	£10 to £125 / month, secondary	€0 to €16.90, sole traders only	Lite free, Pro £9	Secondary reporting

Who each one is for — and who should avoid it

Revolut is for the UK traveller and the multi-currency earner whose FX volume crosses £1,500 a month on weekdays or £750 at weekends. Avoid Revolut Standard if most of your spending lands on weekends or above £1,000 a month, and avoid Ultra unless the lounge access and insurance are worth £720 a year on their own.

N26 is for the euro-based resident who spends by card abroad and rarely needs cash outside the eurozone: card payments are free everywhere, the account is free. Avoid N26 if you are paid in dollars by SWIFT transfer, and avoid it as a limited company — N26 Business only serves sole traders.

Monzo is for the UK resident who wants a proper current account with budgeting tools, a £0 foreign-currency card, and FSCS protection. Avoid Monzo as your only account if you take more than £200 of cash a month outside the EEA, and avoid it as a freelancer receiving international payments.

Use the Currency Converter to price your own volumes at the current rate before you commit, and estimate the tax on freelance income first with the Self-Employed Tax & Quarterly Estimator.

Founder & CEO Insight — Enow A. Jovial

"Every founder I know has paid the margin tax at least once — the transfer that looked free and cost real money in the rate, the weekend exchange that cost 1% because nobody read the fees page. The discipline is simple: price your own month, on your own volumes, from the vendor's own schedule, and the cheapest bank names itself."

— Enow A. Jovial, Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Three costs sit outside the vendors' control. An ATM operator can charge its own fee on top of the bank's — common in the US, Thailand and tourist airports — and all three banks pass it through. A correspondent bank can deduct its own fee from a SWIFT transfer, as Revolut's fees page states. And plan prices move: Revolut raised Premium from £7.99 to £8.99 and Metal from £14.99 to £16.99 on 14 October 2026. Check the live fees page before you switch.

Execution checklist

[x] Price your own month first. Run the four-line formula on your own volumes before choosing a bank.
[x] Check the weekend. Weekend spending doubles Revolut Standard's weekday cost.
[x] Count your cash separately. The cash line decides the ranking for cash-heavy travellers.
[x] Test the breakeven before upgrading. Premium only pays above £1,499 of weekday FX or £749.50 at weekends.
[x] Confirm the receipt route for freelance income. Monzo cannot receive them directly; N26 charges per SWIFT transfer.
[x] Check the statement footer. Revolut's FSCS cover applies to accounts held with Revolut Bank UK Ltd.
[x] Re-check prices before switching. Read the live fees page on the day you apply.

Run the weekend test on any digital bank before you trust it: exchange £100 on a Saturday and £100 on a Tuesday, and compare what lands. The gap is the weekend markup, and it separates the cheapest travel account from the most expensive one.