In short:
- Why look for a DKB alternative? DKB runs two business accounts, and both start at €15 a month. There is no €0 plan. According to its price and services list, the flat-rate DKB-Business account is open only to the liberal professions, the self-employed and commercial property managers, while companies pay per transaction on top of the monthly price in the corporate account. Sub-accounts, cashback and investing from the account are missing.
- The alternatives in 2026: Vivid, N26, Finom, bunq, FYRST and Qonto. From the monthly price and the German IBAN through to investing.
- Bottom line up front: if you want everything in one account, Vivid fits: €0 a month on the Free Start plan, open to a GmbH and UG as well, unlimited SEPA transfers with no per-transfer price, as many sub-accounts as you need each with its own German IBAN, investing straight from the account and cashback on top.
You probably know DKB from the private current account. The business side adds up differently. There, every offer starts at €15 a month, and companies pay for each individual transfer on top. By the time the annual statement arrives, the question is whether the same thing exists for less money and with more built into the account.
So that the scope is clear from the start: this is about business accounts, not about DKB's private current account. The comparison is written for everyone who needs an account for business, whether you are founding a company, working as a freelancer, running a small team or operating a GmbH. You get a plain overview of six serious DKB alternatives and, at the end, a clear read on which account suits which need.
What does DKB offer?
DKB's business accounts
Deutsche Kreditbank is a direct bank without a branch network of its own, it belongs to BayernLB, it is supervised by BaFin and it issues a German IBAN. For business customers it runs two separate accounts. The first is called DKB-Business, costs €15 a month and is aimed at the liberal professions, medical professions, the self-employed and commercial property management. It includes all paperless payments in online banking, so transfers, an instant transfer just as much as a standing order, a bulk transfer and a SEPA direct debit, with no fee per transaction. On top of that come a Visa business credit card that is included when you open the account, cash withdrawals at ATMs in the euro area at no charge, Apple Pay and Google Pay, digital statements and a DATEV connection at no extra cost. The medical and liberal professions can also arrange an overdraft facility.
The second account is simply called Geschäftskonto and is aimed at companies, often industry by industry through a named contact, for instance in housing, agriculture or the public sector. It also costs €15 a month, but charges €0.08 for each paperless transaction and €2.95 for paper-based ones. It is opened online, though with an intermediate step that purely digital providers do not have: the application is downloaded as a PDF, signed and uploaded again, and only then comes the video identification procedure.
Where DKB reaches its limits for business
The first point hits you immediately. There is no €0 plan anywhere in DKB's business range, so the entry level is €180 a year before a single payment has gone out. The second point decides which of the two accounts you can even get: the price and services list restricts DKB-Business explicitly to those three groups, so a GmbH and UG end up in the corporate account and pay per transaction there. Sub-accounts are not part of DKB-Business at all; the virtual sub-accounts in the price list exist only for municipal and infrastructure customers via EBICS and start at €150. Securities from the business account are missing entirely, and anyone who wants interest on their balance books the Business savings account for another €10 a month. There is no account in a foreign currency, so no multi-currency account either. And cashback? The word does not appear once in the entire price list. Anyone who needs these things starts looking for a DKB alternative sooner or later.
In brief: DKB covers day-to-day payments and connects DATEV at no extra cost. For a growing business it stays tight, because the entry level costs €15 a month, the flat-rate account remains closed to capital companies, and sub-accounts, investing and cashback are not part of the package. That is exactly where the alternatives come in.
DKB alternatives compared
Six providers, eight criteria, one table. Anyone looking for a DKB alternative can read off what the entry level really costs, who the cheapest plan is open to, and what you get in sub-accounts, currencies and investing. DKB is in there as a reference row so that the difference between what you give up and what you gain becomes visible (as of August 2026, please check with the provider).
| Provider | Monthly price | IBAN | Cashback | Investing | Accounts & IBANs | Currencies | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vivid | €0 (Free Start), all legal forms incl. GmbH and UG | German IBAN | 0.1% to 1% by plan, no monthly cap (all purchases), up to 10% in categories | stocks, ETFs, iBonds, money market funds, crypto | unlimited, each with its own IBAN | 22 currencies | Freelancers to GmbH/UG |
| N26 Business | €0 (Business Standard), freelancers and sole traders only · separate company account for GmbH/UG | German IBAN | 0.1% (Standard), 0.5% (Metal) | stocks & ETFs from €1 | no sub-accounts on the free plan, up to 10 Spaces with their own IBAN from Smart | EUR only | Freelancers & sole traders |
| Finom | €0 (Solo), freelancers and sole traders only · from €8 (Basic) for GmbH/UG | German IBAN | no cashback on Solo, from 1% on Basic (monthly cap) | no investing | multiple accounts included, number not published | 17+ currencies | Freelancers & sole traders |
| bunq | €0 (Free), sole traders only · from €7.99 (Core) for companies | German IBAN | no cashback | no investing from the business account | up to 25, each with its own IBAN | 20+ currencies | SMEs & GmbH/UG |
| FYRST | €0 (BASE), freelancers and sole traders only · €6 for GmbH/UG from month 7 | German IBAN | no cashback | brokerage via partner (maxblue) | no sub-accounts on BASE, up to 5 from Premium | EUR only | SMEs & GmbH/UG |
| DKB | €15 (DKB-Business), no free plan, freelancers and self-employed only · companies: Geschäftskonto from €15 plus €0.08 per transaction | German IBAN | no cashback | no securities, interest account only for €10 a month | no sub-accounts on DKB-Business | EUR only | Freelancers & sole traders |
| Qonto | €0 (Starter), only 5 transactions a month · from €9 (Basic), excl. VAT | German IBAN | 0.4–0.8% (upgrade card only, capped) | money market fund only | 1 sub-account from Smart (self-employed) | EUR only | SMEs & GmbH/UG |
What matters in a DKB alternative
A table sorts things, but it does not decide. Which of the six alternatives is right for you comes down to six or seven points that keep coming up in day-to-day business. One at a time.
Price and transaction fees
The monthly price is only half the truth. What decides the bill is whether your provider counts every single transaction. At DKB that hits companies in the corporate account: €0.08 per paperless transaction sounds like nothing, yet at 300 payments a month that is €24 on top of the monthly price, so around €470 a year for an account whose price tag says €15. FYRST charges per transaction on every plan, Qonto works with a transaction allowance per plan. Vivid does not count SEPA transfers individually at all, not even on the €0 plan. So always do the maths with your real transaction volume: the account maintenance fee on the landing page is rarely the amount that shows up on your statement at the end of the year.
Audience and legal form
The second question is settled faster than most people expect: who is allowed to open the cheap account in the first place? At DKB the flat-rate account stays closed to capital companies under the price list. N26 gives the Standard plan only to freelancers and sole traders, at Finom the same applies to Solo, at bunq the Free plan is limited to sole traders, and FYRST has capital companies paying from month seven. Vivid draws no such line: the Free Start plan is open to every legal form, from the small trader to a GmbH or UG (limited liability). So check not only what an account costs, but whether it supports the legal form that is realistic for you in two years.
Sub-accounts and account structure
Tax reserves, project budgets, rent, salaries: as soon as more than one payment runs each month, you want to separate money without opening a second account for it. DKB-Business does not offer that. Qonto gives the self-employed their first sub-account with the Smart plan, N26 unlocks Spaces from Smart, bunq allows up to 25. With Vivid you open as many sub-accounts with their own German IBAN as you need, with no price per account and already on the €0 plan. This is the point where bookkeeping in your head and bookkeeping in your account line up for the first time.
Investing from the account
There is almost always money sitting in a business account that is not needed right now, the tax reserve for example. DKB offers the Business savings account for that, an overnight deposit account for €10 a month, and there are no securities from the account. N26 allows stocks and ETFs from €1, FYRST connects a brokerage account through its partner maxblue, Finom and bunq offer nothing from the business account, and Qonto limits itself to a money market fund. With Vivid you invest from that same account in stocks, ETFs, iBonds, money market funds and crypto, through ready-made model portfolios if you prefer, and an interest account is part of it. What counts for you is the simple question of whether the reserve works or only waits.
Bookkeeping and DATEV
If your tax adviser works with DATEV, a direct interface saves you both hours every month. DKB connects DATEV at no extra cost. FYRST delivers the export through its data centre, bunq through a data export, N26 has no DATEV connection. Qonto has the interface as well. With Vivid the DATEV interface and the invoicing tools sit inside the same account, so receipts, invoices and payments are not spread across three programmes.
Cashback compared
Finally, the line that surprises people at the end of the year. DKB pays no cashback, and neither do bunq and FYRST. N26 pays 0.1% on the Standard plan, Finom adds around 1% from the Basic plan with a monthly cap, and at Qonto the rate depends on the card and is capped. With Vivid you get up to 1% cashback with no monthly cap on all purchases depending on your plan, and up to 10% in selected categories. On running business expenses that adds up to an amount you can read off your balance.
Vivid as a DKB alternative
DKB processes payments, other providers cover invoicing or foreign currencies more broadly. What barely any account in this field brings together is the combination of a €0 plan that is open to capital companies as well, unlimited sub-accounts and investing inside the same account. That is the gap Vivid closes.
What the Vivid business account offers
The entry plan is called Free Start and costs €0 a month, permanently and with no minimum incoming payment. Unlike at DKB, access does not depend on your legal form: a GbR, a sole trader, a UG, a GmbH and an AG all open the same plan. SEPA transfers run with no per-transfer price, so there is no allowance that runs out mid-month. Everything else builds on that:
What other providers charge per transaction or unlock only on a higher plan is here from day one. And because Vivid is an e-money institution, your balance is held separately from the company's own funds.
The Vivid plans at a glance
| Plan | Price per month | Enough for |
|---|---|---|
| Free Start | €0 | getting started with the core features |
| Basic | €6.90 | self-employed people with many transfers and invoices |
| Pro | €18.90 | SMEs and start-ups with teams |
Moving from Free Start to Basic mainly adds accounts in foreign currencies, international transfers and a higher cashback rate. From Pro onwards you get card limits by category, merchant and country, plus corporate cards for the team. One detail that matters against DKB: no VAT is added on top of the Vivid price, while several providers quote their plans net.
Opening an account with Vivid
Opening runs entirely online. You enter your company details, identify yourself by video or selfie ident and activate the account; no printed and signed PDF is needed for it. It is meant for founders just as much as for switching from an existing provider, where standing orders and direct debits move across step by step. After that you set up your first sub-accounts and invite your team.
Bottom line on Vivid: the account, sub-accounts with their own IBAN, investing and cashback come together in one plan that starts at €0 a month and is open to a GmbH and UG as well. As a DKB alternative for business, that is a strong choice.
More DKB alternatives
N26 Business
N26 is a German direct bank with a German IBAN and an app many people know from their current account. The Business Standard plan costs €0, with Smart, Go and Metal above it. Cashback is 0.1% on Standard and 0.5% on Metal, and you can invest in stocks and ETFs from €1. Yes, but: the free plan is open only to freelancers and sole traders, and for a GmbH or UG there is a separate, size-limited company account. Sub-accounts arrive only from Smart, and there is no DATEV connection.
Finom
Finom is an e-money institution with a German IBAN and puts the emphasis on invoicing: quote, invoice and incoming payment sit in one tool, together with a DATEV interface and an unlimited number of accounts. The Solo plan starts at €0, and Basic from €9 also takes a GmbH and UG. Yes, but: there is no investing from the business account, the Solo plan has no cashback at all, and from Basic it carries a monthly cap.
bunq
bunq is a Dutch bank and issues German customers a German IBAN. The Free plan is €0, Core starts at €7.99, and there are up to 25 sub-accounts with their own IBAN and more than 20 currencies. Yes, but: the Free plan is reserved for sole traders, cashback was discontinued on 7 December 2025, and there is no investing from the business account.
FYRST
FYRST is Deutsche Bank's business-account brand and therefore covers what purely digital accounts lack: cash can be deposited at Deutsche Bank and Postbank branches. The BASE plan costs €0 for freelancers and sole traders, while a GmbH and UG pay €6 from month seven. A brokerage account runs through the partner maxblue, and the DATEV export through the data centre. Yes, but: every plan charges per transaction, there is no cashback, and BASE has no sub-accounts.
Qonto
Qonto is a payment institution with a German IBAN on every plan and a fine-grained team and permissions setup. The Starter plan costs €0 and includes five transactions a month, Basic starts at €9 excluding VAT. The DATEV interface is part of it, and cashback of 0.4 to 0.8% depends on the card and is capped. Yes, but: the account holds euros only, instead of stocks and ETFs there is only a money market fund, and the self-employed get their first sub-account with the Smart plan.
Interim conclusion: all six accounts either start cheaper than DKB or allow more structure. Only one bundles unlimited sub-accounts with their own IBAN, investing from the account and cashback into a plan that begins at €0.
Choosing the right DKB alternative
Which alternative suits whom?
For most readers the answer is Vivid: a business account that starts at €0 a month, is open to every legal form up to a GmbH and UG, does not charge per SEPA transfer, and brings sub-accounts, investing and cashback along in the same plan. If you run the account purely in an app and only need to pay from it, N26 does that. If you mainly write invoices, look at Finom. If you need many sub-accounts and foreign currencies, check bunq. If you deposit cash regularly, you need a branch connection, which FYRST covers through Deutsche Bank. And if it is purely about a bookkeeping connection with a money market fund, Qonto comes into play.
One last note on the maths: do not count the monthly price alone, add the fees for transactions, cards and foreign payments, and check whether the price is quoted net or gross. Only that total shows what a business account really costs you over a year. The table above and the criteria below it will get you to a decision in a few minutes.
Ready for your business account?
With the Vivid business account you get unlimited sub-accounts each with its own IBAN, investing and cashback with no monthly cap on all purchases in one app, for a GmbH and UG as well.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
What is the best DKB alternative?
It depends on your needs. For sub-accounts, investing and cashback in one account that starts at €0 a month and is open to a GmbH and UG as well, Vivid is a strong choice. If you only run the account in an app, N26 does that; for cash deposits over the counter FYRST comes into question.
Does DKB have a free business account?
No. Both DKB business accounts start at €15 a month, and in the corporate account companies pay a fee per transaction on top. A €0 plan is offered by Vivid, N26, Finom, bunq, FYRST and Qonto instead, each with different restrictions.
Which DKB alternative works for a GmbH?
According to the price list, the flat-rate DKB-Business account is reserved for the liberal professions, the self-employed and commercial property managers. For a GmbH and UG, Vivid with the €0 Free Start plan, bunq, FYRST and Qonto come into question.
Is there a DKB alternative with cashback?
Yes. Depending on the plan, Vivid pays up to 1% cashback with no monthly cap on all purchases and up to 10% in selected categories. N26 pays 0.1% on the Standard plan, Finom from the Basic plan with a monthly cap, and Qonto 0.4 to 0.8% depending on the card. DKB offers no cashback.
Can I invest from the business account?
With Vivid you invest straight from the business account in stocks, ETFs, iBonds, money market funds and crypto. DKB only offers the Business savings account for €10 a month. N26 allows stocks and ETFs from €1, FYRST a brokerage account via maxblue, and Qonto only a money market fund.
What does switching from DKB cost?
Switching itself costs nothing. You open the new business account online, identify yourself by video or selfie ident and update your payment partners. Standing orders and direct debits move across step by step, and you close the old account only afterwards.
As of August 2026. The information on DKB, N26, Finom, bunq, FYRST and Qonto was compiled to the best of our knowledge from the providers' official pages and can change at any time, in particular prices, plans and conditions. No claim is made to completeness or accuracy. Please check the current conditions directly with the respective provider. DKB, N26, Finom, bunq, FYRST and Qonto are trademarks of their respective companies; there is no business relationship between Vivid and these providers. Investment and interest products are provided by Vivid Money B.V. Investments carry risks; the value of an investment can rise or fall, and past results are not an indicator of future returns. Crypto assets are unregulated and highly volatile; a total loss is possible. This article is not legal or tax advice.
