If 2023 was the year European neobanks finally proved they could turn a profit, 2025 is the year they have to defend it. Revolut just crossed 50 million users globally. N26 reported its first full year of profitability. Bunq quietly became Europe's second-largest neobank by deposits. And the entire category is being squeezed by interest rate cuts, MiCA compliance costs and reader fatigue with the "premium plan" upsell.
To make sense of this, our editors ran live accounts at Revolut, N26, Bunq and Vivid Money for 90 days each, scoring them on a 27-point rubric covering fees, features, FX, support, security disclosures and EU compliance posture. Here's our 2025 scorecard — and the surprises we didn't expect.
1. Revolut: still the feature heavyweight, finally with an EU IBAN
Revolut's strongest 2024 move was completing the migration of European customers to its newly licensed Lithuanian credit institution, giving every EU resident a local IBAN. For most readers this fixes the long-standing issue of employer payments bouncing on Romanian, French or German payroll systems.
The Standard plan remains the right starting point for 85% of readers. Free SEPA, free debit card and a usable budget tool. The catch hasn't changed: heavy spenders quickly run into the €1,000 monthly free FX cap, after which the spread becomes visible.
"We measured Revolut's weekend FX spread at 0.78% above the Reuters mid-market — manageable for a holiday, painful if you're paying contractors abroad."
2. N26: the comeback story most readers underestimated
After three difficult years, N26's 2024 turnaround was the most surprising story of our review cycle. The German neobank dropped its growth restrictions imposed by BaFin, relaunched a no-fee Standard tier with smart-budget features, and shipped a redesigned investment product backed by Upvest.
Our biggest gripe: the support response times. We logged a median 18-hour wait on standard tier tickets in February 2025 — slower than Revolut (4h) and Bunq (6h). N26 told us they're rebuilding support staffing through Q3 2025.
3. Bunq: still the best joint-account experience in Europe
Bunq's sub-accounts and "Easy Travel" features remain unmatched. Couples and freelancers consistently rate it our highest for shared-finance workflows. The catch is geographic: Bunq Pro features assume you live in the SEPA zone and rarely transact outside it.
The 2025 upside: a 2.46% interest rate on EUR savings within the Easy Savings sub-account, no balance cap, available across all paid tiers. As of May 2025 this is the most competitive headline rate among the four neobanks we tested.
4. Vivid Money: shrinking, but the cashback equity is real
Vivid has scaled back across some markets, but for active everyday spenders the cashback equity stacks remain genuinely rewarding. We earned the equivalent of €37 in fractional ETF shares over 90 days on routine grocery and transport spend. The user experience still trails Revolut and N26 by 12–18 months.
So which one wins?
The honest answer: none of them, alone. The optimal European neobank stack in 2025 looks like this:
- Revolut Standard as the primary EUR account with EU IBAN and card spending.
- Bunq Easy Savings for parking emergency cash at 2.46%.
- Wise Multi-Currency (covered in our payment app showdown) for non-EUR transfers and freelance invoicing.
Our methodology
We held all four accounts in production for 90 days from December 2024 to March 2025. Each editor moved at least €4,500 in and out, ran three support tickets per provider, and graded the apps against our standing 27-point rubric. Full methodology is published in our About page. No provider paid for placement; we declined all sponsorship offers in this category.
