Holvi business account: costs, features and limits

Holvi keeps its pricing page pleasantly short, and that is exactly where the trap sits. A Holvi business account starts at €0 a month, but that zero only describes the base fee. What lands on the statement at the end of the month depends on how many transfers and direct debits run through the account, how many IBANs you need, and whether your bookkeeping hangs off DATEV. For a copywriter with six invoices a month that is a different sum than for an agency with sixty.

This article takes the Holvi business account apart: the four plans, the per-item prices, the features inside the account, and the points where the offer ends. At the end there is a direct comparison with Vivid and a read on who the account fits. All figures come from the official German Holvi pages and were read in August 2026.

What is the Holvi business account?

Who can open an account at Holvi

Anyone looking for a Holvi bank will not find one. Behind the offer sits Holvi Payment Services Ltd., founded in Helsinki in 2011 and licensed as an authorised payment institution across the European Economic Area. It is supervised by the Finnish financial supervisory authority FIN-FSA as well as by BaFin and the Federal Ministry of Finance. Customer money is held separately in accounts at European banks under the German payment services supervision act. In practice that means an account with a German IBAN, run entirely online, with no branch.

The list of eligible legal forms for opening an account is broader than at many digital providers. A Holvi account can be opened by freelancers, small trades and sole traders, by a GbR, a GmbH and a UG, the Unternehmergesellschaft with limited liability, and Holvi now points out on every page that an OHG and a KG qualify too. One point matters for the comparison later: the €0 plan is not limited to solo businesses. A GmbH can start on Flex as well.

One detail on the side often decides the choice anyway: alongside the account, Holvi also sells the company formation itself. More on that below.

Four plans from Flex to Business

The four account models at a glance. Holvi Flex is the entry point: one German IBAN, one virtual Mastercard debit card, permanently without a base fee, and available on a monthly term only. The plan contains no included transactions. A classic plastic card costs €3 a month here, every additional IBAN €2.

Holvi Lite lifts that to 2 IBANs, one virtual plus one classic card and 100 included SEPA transactions. Holvi Pro carries the label “Bestseller” on the pricing page and is the first tier with unlimited SEPA transfers and direct debits, plus 5 IBANs, three plastic cards and the e-invoicing feature. Holvi Business is aimed, in the provider’s own words, at “GmbHs und UGs mit mehreren Mitarbeiter*innen, Budgets und monatlichen Finanzaufgaben”: 15 German IBANs, 5 classic and 20 virtual cards, up to 25 employee cards.

So the tier that removes the per-item price is Pro, not the free one. That is the one sentence worth understanding before you open an account, and the rest of this article does the arithmetic.

What the Holvi business account costs

The plans compared on price

The Holvi prices sit in two columns next to each other, and both are correct. On the left the monthly term, on the right the one-year term, which Holvi advertises with a discount of up to 50 %. The annual variant means twelve months of commitment with no early cancellation, billed monthly. Holvi quotes every paid plan as a price excluding VAT, so the value added tax comes on top. Lite and Pro can be tested for 30 days without the base fee. If you want to stay flexible month by month, you pay a premium for it on every paid plan: €4.50 more on Lite, €6 on Pro and €10 on Business.

Run the sum with your own numbers. 60 transactions a month, incoming and outgoing together, cost an extra €15 on Flex. That is exactly the base fee of Pro, where the same 60 transactions cost nothing and four more IBANs are included. Someone issuing five invoices a quarter, on the other hand, really does run Flex for a couple of euros a month. The costs of the Holvi business account therefore depend less on the plan than on your transaction volume.

What gets billed on top

Next to the monthly account fees sits a short but effective list of individual prices. Holvi states them openly on its pricing page:

One item breaks the pattern: the Business credit card. It comes on request, according to Holvi with a credit line of up to €50,000, without a base fee and without interest if you repay in full at the end of the month. Other repayment options cost extra, and cash cannot be withdrawn on that card. Alongside the debit cards, that puts a credit line on the account.

Features in the Holvi business account

Payments and cards

Day to day the account covers what payment traffic needs: sending a transfer or an instant transfer, setting up a standing order, handling SEPA direct debits, categorising payments, storing receipts through the app. The VAT preview shows in real time how much value added tax has piled up. Up to 15 German IBANs can be created, one each for a project or a reserve.

For cards Holvi uses Mastercard: classic and virtual Business debit cards, both with Apple Pay and Google Pay, plus the credit card on request. Locking and unlocking cards works in the app, online payments are secured by Mastercard Identity Check, and on the Business plan up to 25 employee cards for teams are included. For a team that pays travel and software subscriptions itself, that is the number that matters.

Two things are missing from this list, and both are missing on purpose. Holvi pays no cashback on any plan. Withdrawing cash at an ATM costs 2.5 % of the amount, and on the Business plan €2,000 a month are free.

Bookkeeping, DATEV and invoices

This is where the offer puts its weight, and it explains why Holvi turns up on bookkeeping queries. The account connects to DATEV over an EBICS connection, so the tax office sits directly on the transactions. This DATEV interface costs €3 a month on Flex, Lite and Pro and runs over EBICS, the same standard a bank uses. Next to it stand Lexware Office, sevDesk and BuchhaltungsButler, plus an accountant access.

Invoices are written inside the account. Classic invoices come without a surcharge, e-invoices in XRechnung or ZUGFeRD format are available from Pro, with 500 included and €0.50 for each one after that. Incoming e-invoices are uploaded, checked, paid and archived in a legally compliant way in the same account. Since the B2B e-invoicing obligation this is no longer a side topic.

Exports are ready for the monthly close: a statement as PDF, as a table or as an electronic account statement in camt.052 format, plus a booking journal and reports on VAT and DATEV payments.

Transfers abroad in 18 currencies

Holvi runs payment accounts in 18 currencies inside the account. You receive, hold and send money in the original currency without the detour through a third-party provider, and the foreign currency accounts work like the EUR account. A transfer abroad by SWIFT costs €1 plus 1 % of the amount.

For a consultant issuing three invoices a year in pounds, that is more than enough. Anyone billing in a foreign currency every day should multiply the percentage by the volume before celebrating: 1 % of €20,000 is €200, and card payments in a foreign currency cost another 2.5 %. In practice everything stays in the same account: foreign currency transactions land in the same exports as the EUR bookings, and a second tool for currencies is not needed. The account structure is the same as in euros.

Yield on company capital for a GmbH and UG

Liquidity can now be invested from inside the account. Holvi calls it Renditezugang: the money flows into a money market fund from DWS, brokered under the liability of lemon.markets brokerage GmbH. The net yield after fund fees is 2.26 %, of which 0.50 % p. a. goes to a service fee, leaving up to 1.76 % p. a. according to the provider. That figure is an annualised 30-day performance as at 07.08.2026, not a promise. Deposits and withdrawals cost nothing, with no lock-up period.

The restriction sits on the same page, word for word: “Dieses Angebot ist aktuell nur für GmbHs und UGs verfügbar.” A freelancer cannot use the Renditezugang, even though she is allowed to open an account. And it stays with this one fund: stocks, ETFs or crypto are not part of the offer, and it is not a securities account.

Anyone parking reserves gets an alternative to a company call account that stays inside the account. Anyone wanting to invest more broadly needs a second provider.

Formation services and switching

Two extra services run alongside the account. First the formation: a GmbH and UG can be founded online from €99, and business registration, GbR formation and paying in the share capital to a Holvi account come with it. Second a free account switching service, which Holvi advertises with five minutes: move payments, inform business partners, close the old account.

Neither point says anything about the quality of the payment traffic, yet they often decide the choice. Anyone founding a UG who needs an account for the share capital reaches for the provider that handles both in one flow. Before switching it pays to look at the payment partners: standing orders and direct debits do not always move across on the first attempt.

Limits of the Holvi business account

Six points limit the offer. All of them are stated on Holvi’s own pages, none is interpretation:

That produces a clear profile. The account is built for self-employed people who move little cash, write their invoices inside the account and hand bookkeeping to the tax office. For a company with high transaction volume, several reserve accounts or investment plans beyond a money market fund, the list quickly turns into a shopping list, item by item.

Opening a Holvi business account

The route to opening a Holvi business account is fully digital and takes three steps: fill in personal details, confirm your identity by video call, add company information. Holvi itself puts the registration at ten minutes, so the account opening is started within a few minutes. After that comes the review, and how long it takes depends on the legal form.

As the required documents you need a valid ID document, your tax number and proof of the activity: the business registration for a trade, the commercial register extract for a GmbH, UG, OHG or KG, while for freelancers the registration with the tax office is usually enough. To open a Holvi account during formation there is the founder account, into which the share capital is paid.

The trial phase is useful: Lite and Pro run for 30 days without the base fee, so you can try the bookkeeping features on real transactions before the first payment is due.

Alternatives to the Holvi business account

After the limits, the search can be phrased precisely. What you want is an account that does not bill transactions individually, does not charge extra for further accounts, and does not tie investing to a legal form. The table puts Holvi next to a provider that calculates differently at exactly those three points. Two questions decide it almost every time: how many payments run through the account each month, and which legal form is on the register.

Both rows start at €0 a month, and after that they part company in every column. The zero at Holvi has a per-transaction price attached to it, the one at Vivid does not. The accounts with their own IBAN are tied to the plan at Holvi and cost €1 to €2 a month beyond it, while at Vivid they are unlimited on every plan. Cashback does not exist in one row and starts with the first euro in the other. And investing is open to capital companies only at Holvi, whereas at Vivid it belongs to every legal form. What that means day to day is in the next section.

Vivid as an alternative to Holvi

What Vivid Business offers

A business account at Vivid starts on the Free Start plan at €0 a month, and that plan is open to every legal form, from freelancers and sole traders through a GbR to a GmbH and UG. SEPA transfers run without a per-transfer price, and incoming payments carry no fee either. Exactly the sum that grows with every transaction on the Flex plan disappears here.

On top of that comes a structure that grows with the company instead of with the number of movements. You open as many money accounts as you need, each with its own German IBAN, and split VAT, reserves, projects or salaries across them. Team members join without a price per seat, with four roles from owner to employee and spending limits per card.

And money works inside the same account: stocks, ETFs, iBonds, money market funds and crypto are bought straight from the business account, alongside the interest account. Not only for capital companies, but for every legal form Vivid serves. Bookkeeping hangs off the tax office through the DATEV interface and an MT940 export, and invoices are written in the app.

The Vivid plans at a glance

The table covers three plans. The prices €6.90 and €18.90 apply with annual billing; paid monthly it is €8.90 on Basic and €24.90 on Pro. The paid plans can be tested for two months, twice as long as at most providers in the comparison.

The third column from the right stands out: the number of accounts does not change across the plans. It is as unlimited on the free plan as it is on Pro. The same goes for team members and for SEPA transfers, both without a price per seat and without a price per transaction. What separates the plans are rates and limits: the cashback rate, the interest rate, the free cash at an ATM, and the rules you can attach to a card. For getting started that means you are not choosing between a small and a large account, but between rates. And moving up later does not rebuild the account structure, it only changes the numbers.

What the €0 plan contains

Free Start is the direct answer to Holvi Flex, and the list is longer than the price suggests: SEPA transfers with no per-transfer price, as many accounts with their own IBAN as you need, Visa Business cards virtual and physical, guaranteed cashback from the first euro, the DATEV interface and MT940 export, invoicing and receipt upload.

For a GmbH the point about legal forms is the most important one. It pays nothing for this package, while at several providers in the comparison the free plan is closed to capital companies or starts costing money after a few months.

One point that matters day to day: incoming SEPA payments cost nothing either, however many there are. On an account that bills per movement, the sum grows with the number of your customers instead. Bookkeeping is connected from the free plan too. Transactions flow into the tax office through the DATEV interface, receipts are uploaded in the app, and invoices are written inside the account without subscribing to a second tool.

Basic and Pro: what comes on top

From Basic, accounts in 22 currencies and international transfers come on top, along with a higher interest rate, a higher cashback rate and more free cash at an ATM. From Pro, advanced card limits with rules for category, merchant and country are added, plus company cards for the team and approval flows for limit increases. For a business account for a GmbH and UG with several cardholders, that is the tier that sorts out the day.

The structure stays the same across all plans: unlimited accounts with their own IBAN, unlimited team members, SEPA with no per-transfer price. What changes are rates and limits, not the blueprint of the account. So anyone starting on Free Start and growing in the second year changes the plan, not the way the finances are sorted. The paid plans can be tested for two months before the first payment is due, twice as long as at most providers.

Investing and interest from the account

Where Holvi offers one money market fund for capital companies, Vivid puts a company brokerage account inside the account: stocks, ETFs, iBonds, money market funds and crypto, plus Model Portfolios for anyone who would rather not pick the components. The interest account runs alongside, and its rate rises with the plan.

The difference lies in the breadth and in the access. Reserves, securities and crypto sit in the same app as the payment traffic, visible in the same bookkeeping, and open to freelancers as well as to a GmbH. In practice it looks like this: reserves sit on an account with its own IBAN, part of them works in the interest account, and whatever stays longer moves into the brokerage account. The Model Portfolios take over the selection if you do not want to handle the composition yourself, and the service fee for the portfolios falls with the plan.

Cashback on all purchases

Last comes the point that no other account in this table combines with a free plan: guaranteed cashback with no monthly cap on all purchases, up to 1 % depending on the plan, and up to 10 % in selected categories. It already starts on the Free Start plan, not in a premium tier, and it is not tied to a card that costs extra.

On €4,000 of card spend a month that comes to anything between a few euros and a two-digit amount, depending on plan and category, which you would otherwise never see. It is counted on all purchases with the Visa Business cards, virtual and physical, and the credit lands in the business account without an application. Not a reason to pick an account on its own, but one that comes back every month.

Opening an account at Vivid

Opening runs online: details about the company, an identity check with a selfie alongside your ID document, and after that the account is ready with a German IBAN and a virtual card. A free business account on the Free Start plan can be opened with no minimum term, and if you are coming from another provider, standing orders and direct debits move across gradually.

In the end the same documents should be ready as for any business account: ID, tax number and proof of the activity or the commercial register extract. For a GmbH or UG in formation there is the founder account, into which the shareholders pay the share capital, and that happens before the entry in the commercial register.

Which business account fits whom?

If everything is to sit in one account, the route leads to Vivid: €0 a month for every legal form including a GmbH and UG, SEPA with no per-transfer price, as many accounts with their own IBAN as you need, and investing straight from the business account. That covers getting started as much as a team that wants to hand out cards with rules.

Holvi comes into question when invoicing and the handover to DATEV are to sit inside the account, the payment traffic stays modest and you factor in the per-transaction pricing below Pro. For a practice with twenty invoices a quarter that sum works out. As soon as several reserve accounts, a team with its own cards or investing beyond one money market fund come into play, it climbs, and the base price says less and less about the real cost.

In practice a look at two numbers is enough in the end. Count your monthly transactions and then look at your legal form. Those two values decide the annual bill more than any feature list online.

Verdict on the Holvi business account

The Holvi business account is built for self-employed people who write invoices inside the account and hand bookkeeping to the tax office. Advantages and disadvantages, briefly: four plans from €0 to €69 net, a German IBAN, 18 currencies, a credit card with a real limit and eligible legal forms up to an OHG.

Two points decide. The free plan bills every transaction at €0.25, in both directions; unlimited transfers only start at €15 net. And the Renditezugang stays reserved for a GmbH and UG. Anyone transferring little runs it cheaply; anyone moving a lot lands on Pro.

If you would rather not run that sum at all, Vivid is where you belong: SEPA transfers with no per-transfer price, as many accounts with their own German IBAN as you need, unlimited team members with no price per seat, the DATEV interface and invoicing tools built in, investing straight from the account and cashback with no monthly cap on all purchases. All of it on the Free Start plan for €0 a month, open to every legal form up to a GmbH and UG. The comparison is decided by what is included, not by the base price.

Ready for a business account?

Open a Vivid business account with a German IBAN: Free Start for €0 a month, unlimited SEPA transfers and as many accounts with their own IBAN as you need.

Open a business account

As at August 2026. The information on Holvi was compiled to the best of our knowledge from the official German Holvi pages, read on 12.08.2026, and can change at any time, in particular prices and terms. No claim is made to completeness or accuracy. Please check the current terms directly with the respective provider. Holvi is a trademark of Holvi Payment Services Ltd.; there is no business relationship between Vivid and Holvi. Vivid Money S.A. is an e-money institution supervised by the CSSF and not a bank; customer funds are held separately. 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 performance is 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.