Kontist Alternatives 2026: The Best Business Accounts Compared

You run your business account with Kontist and notice the free transactions running shorter month by month? You are not alone. Kontist made a name for itself early on because the app calculates the tax for the self-employed automatically and sets the tax reserve visibly aside, which makes for a genuinely handy piece of tax automation when you are starting out in self-employment. But as soon as more invoices come in, a team joins or a GmbH is on the horizon, you find yourself asking the same questions: what do all those bookings cost, where is the cashback, and why does the tax reserve sit around unused? That is when it is worth looking at a Kontist alternative. This comparison is for anyone who needs a business account, whether you are just starting out, working as a freelancer or running a small team.

So it is clear from the start what this is about: business accounts, not personal accounts. You get a level-headed overview of the serious Kontist alternatives in 2026 and, at the end, a clear recommendation on which account suits which need. No marketing speak. Just numbers you can compare directly.

What does Kontist offer?

What Kontist offers

Since 2025 Kontist has belonged to the Société Générale group and runs its accounts through the partner Solaris. So you get a German IBAN and statutory deposit protection up to €100,000. The heart of it is tax. With every payment, Kontist automatically estimates the tax due and sets the reserve visibly aside. The Free plan costs €0 a month, above it sit Start at €11 and Plus at €25 a month, each plus VAT. Receipt management, a sevdesk bookkeeping tool and a DATEV export come with the account depending on the plan, and the advance VAT return from the Plus plan. For solo self-employed people focused on tax, that is a specialised tool.

Kontist’s limits for business

As strong as the tax automation is: some things are left out for a growing business. The first point hits you right away in daily use. The Free plan includes only five free transactions a month, and every additional booking comes in at €0.25. Quick maths: anyone making 25 bookings a month pays €5 extra just for that, and over a year it turns into a hidden account fee. Kontist offers no cashback at all, and investing from the business account, for example into stocks, ETFs or funds, is missing as well, so your tax reserves lie idle instead of working through interest or a return. Multiple currencies are not part of the plan. And the tax functions partly hang on partner tools such as sevdesk. This is exactly where a good alternative to Kontist steps in.

Kontist alternatives at a glance

If you are looking for a Kontist alternative, here are the most important providers and competitors in a direct comparison, with starting prices, cashback, investing and bookkeeping at a glance (as of 2026, please check with the provider).

What matters in a Kontist alternative

Before you switch, it is worth looking at the points that really affect you day to day. It is about more than the base price. From the target audience through the booking fees to the question of what your balance actually does for you, every detail shapes the cost at the end of the year.

Target audience and legal form

Kontist is tailored to solo self-employed people and freelancers, and you feel that throughout the account. As long as you work alone and mainly want your tax sorted, that is half the battle. But as soon as a team joins or you set up a GmbH or UG, you need a business account that can make the jump to a corporation. With Vivid the account is open to corporations too, and so is Qonto. So first check which legal form you run today and which becomes realistic in two years. An account that grows with you saves you from moving all your payments in the middle of a growth phase.

Fees and free transactions

The monthly price is only half the truth. With Kontist what counts above all is how many transactions the plan includes. In the Free plan it is five per month, and after that every additional booking costs €0.25. Anyone regularly paying invoices and collecting direct debits therefore quickly ends up on the Start plan at €11 or pays for many booking items on top at the end of the month. So look not only at the account fee, but also at the cost of cards, cash and foreign-currency payments, because only that total shows the real price. An account for €0 can end up more expensive than a paid one. Vivid starts with the Free Start plan at €0 a month, with no monthly account fee and no metered single bookings. If you need more cards or extras, you pick a higher plan.

German IBAN or one from the EU?

For invoices, direct debits and salaries you need an IBAN that your payment partners accept without questions. Kontist, Vivid, N26, Fyrst and Qonto give you a German IBAN. Some providers, on the other hand, work with an IBAN from another EU country. Within the SEPA area both are legally equal, and a provider is not even allowed to reject an IBAN from another EU country, that is the law. But you know a German IBAN from your house bank. With some payment partners it saves you the odd follow-up question.

Cashback compared

In everyday business, cashback is nothing other than money back. Kontist offers none. Fyrst and Holvi pay nothing in the standard plan either, while Finom adds cashback from the Basic plan, N26 pays only 0.1% in the standard plan, and Qonto comes to 0.4 to 0.8% depending on the card. With Vivid you get, depending on the plan, 0.1 to 0.5% cashback with no monthly limit on all purchases, and up to 6% in selected categories. The reason is simple: especially with ongoing expenses, over a year it adds up to an amount you can read off your balance.

Investing from the account

Reserves for tax or the next investment simply sit around with many accounts. The reason: an integrated securities option is plainly missing. At Kontist the balance just stays idle. With Vivid you invest directly from the business account into stocks, ETFs, funds, money market funds and bonds, if you like through ready-made model portfolios that take the picking of individual securities off your hands. N26 allows stocks and ETFs from €1, but not funds and bonds, while Fyrst only offers a connected maxblue securities account from Deutsche Bank and Qonto is limited to a single money market fund. Anyone who does not want their tax reserves to lie idle finds clear differences here.

Tax tools, bookkeeping and DATEV

This is where Kontist focuses. The automatic tax estimate and the visible reserve take the biggest fright out of the advance VAT return. If your tax advisor works with DATEV, a direct connection saves you both hours at the end of the month. Kontist provides a DATEV export, as does Fyrst through its data centre, and Qonto is connected natively via DATEV. Vivid also has the DATEV interface and brings invoicing tools with it, so receipts and invoices land in the same account. A second look pays off. Do you write invoices from the same app, and do receipts land automatically in the right place? Then you do not need three programmes side by side.

Security and regulation

Where does your money actually flow once it lands in the business account? Reassuring: everyone here is regulated, there is no wild startup without supervision among them. Kontist runs through Solaris, N26 is a full bank, Fyrst belongs to Deutsche Bank, Qonto is a payment institution, and Finom and Vivid are e-money institutions. As a bank deposit, your balance at Kontist falls under the statutory deposit protection up to €100,000 through Solaris, while at Vivid your money is held separately from the company assets, which is called safeguarding and shields your balance in a different way than the classic deposit protection. In everyday business a simpler question counts in the end: is support reachable, and is your money there on time?

Vivid as a Kontist alternative

Kontist automates the tax, other providers cover bookkeeping or foreign payments more broadly. What hardly any account brings together in one package, though, is the combination of cashback, investing and sub-accounts, open to corporations too. And that is exactly the gap Vivid closes.

Vivid account plans and prices

With Vivid you start on the Free Start plan at €0 a month, with no account fee and no minimum incoming funds. Unlike with Kontist, you do not count single transactions in the Free plan. If you need more cards or additional functions, you grow into a higher plan. You reach your contact directly in the app. And you open the business account fully online via video or selfie ident, saving yourself the trip to a branch.

Vivid’s advantages for business

Vivid bundles exactly the points that together make the difference:

Everything sits in one app. Account, cards, investing and cashback run together, instead of spreading across three tools side by side. Cashback with no monthly limit on all purchases adds up to a real amount over a year with ongoing expenses. Your tax reserve no longer lies idle but works through investing. And because the business account is equally open to a GmbH and UG, you save yourself the provider switch at the next growth step.

Who is Vivid for?

As a business account for freelancers and the self-employed, Vivid fits just as well as for sole traders, small companies and for GmbH and UG. Teams that work internationally and want to give up neither cashback nor investing are in the right place too. Because the plans scale up from the €0 Free Start plan, the account grows with you, from the first invoice to the founded corporation.

Opening an account with Vivid

Opening the account runs online in a few steps. You provide details about the company, identify yourself via video or selfie ident, and activate the account. An account switching service makes the move from Kontist or another provider straightforward, because you move existing payments and direct debits over bit by bit. As a founder you are ready to go just as fast as when switching. You can find all the details on the page about the Vivid business account.

More Kontist alternatives

N26 Business

N26 feels familiar to many from a classic current account: a German IBAN, a smartphone app, everything running on the smartphone, Apple Pay and Google Pay included. The Standard plan costs €0, above it sit Smart, You and Metal with more cards and extras. As a direct bank, N26 protects your balance up to €100,000, and you can now invest from the account too, in stocks and ETFs from €1. The catch lies with the legal form. The free N26 Business is open only to sole traders and freelancers, and for a GmbH or UG there is only a separate, tightly limited company account. Cashback stays thin at 0.1%, and a native DATEV connection is not part of the core.

Finom

Do you write a lot of invoices? Then Finom is built around exactly that. Quote, invoice and incoming payment sit in one tool that noticeably shrinks the paperwork, designed for freelancers and small firms, with a German IBAN and cashback from the Basic plan. The Solo plan starts at €0. Things then get tighter for the rest, because the ecosystem is smaller than at the big players, securities investing is missing, and with multiple currencies it soon reaches its limit. For a lot of paperwork Finom fits, for investing it does not.

Holvi

If you would rather have account and bookkeeping in one place, Holvi is where you land. The e-money institution combines a business account with a German IBAN, an invoicing tool and e-invoicing in the XRechnung and ZUGFeRD formats, which puts the bookkeeping routine in order especially for small firms. The Flex plan starts at €0, above it sit Lite, Pro and Business, and a DATEV connection is available via an EBICS link for a small surcharge. Things get tighter with the extras, because Holvi offers no cashback, and an attractive interest on the balance as well as the full business functions remain tied to higher plans or to a founded corporation.

Fyrst

Sometimes it simply comes down to cash, and that is when Fyrst comes in. The business account brand of Deutsche Bank offers exactly what the purely digital accounts lack, namely real branches where you can deposit and withdraw cash. The BASE plan starts at €0, COMPLETE is €10 a month, and it comes with a German IBAN and a DATEV export through the data centre. The limits show in the feature set, because you will look for cashback in vain here, and investing is available exclusively through the connected maxblue securities account from Deutsche Bank, not natively in the account.

Qonto

If everything revolves around bookkeeping for you, you quickly land at Qonto. The payment institution provides a German IBAN on all plans, a DATEV and Lexoffice connection, the One Card Mastercard and fine-grained team management with roles, and unlike the solo-focused Kontist, Qonto also takes a GmbH or UG without tight size limits. Price and scope hold it back, though, because there is a free Starter plan but the Basic plan is €9 a month, the account runs euros only, cashback comes only via the higher-tier cards at 0.4 to 0.8%, and instead of a stocks-and-ETF depot Qonto offers merely a single money market fund.

Choosing the right Kontist alternative

Which alternative fits simply depends on your needs. Some are looking only for a plain replacement for Kontist, others for an account that brings much more than pure tax automation. If you want cashback and investing in one business account that is open to GmbH and UG too, the way leads to Vivid. If you are after a solid app bank with a German licence, N26 is strong, and anyone who writes many invoices finds the right tool at Finom. If you value e-invoicing and bookkeeping, Holvi is worth it, and anyone who wants to deposit cash or a classic banking brand is right with Fyrst. If, on the other hand, pure bookkeeping with a money market fund is in the foreground, Qonto is worth a look. A rule of thumb helps with the maths. Count not only the base price, but add the cost of bookings, cards and foreign payments on top, because only that total shows what an account really costs you over the year.

Conclusion: which Kontist alternative fits?

Kontist remains a tax account for solo self-employed people who mainly want their tax handled automatically. But anyone looking for cashback, investing and sub-accounts in one business account for business, and that as a GmbH or UG too, finds the right all-in-one alternative with Vivid. N26, Finom, Holvi, Fyrst and Qonto each cover individual needs depending on the focus. In the end your profile decides. Solo self-employed people, growing teams and corporations set different priorities. The table and the criteria above help you make the right choice quickly.

Ready for your business account?

With the Vivid business account you get cashback with no monthly limit on all purchases, investing and sub-accounts with their own IBAN in one app, for GmbH and UG too.

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As of July 2026. The details on Kontist, N26, Finom, Holvi, Fyrst and Qonto were compiled to the best of our knowledge on the basis of the official provider websites and may 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. Kontist, N26, Finom, Holvi, Fyrst and Qonto are trademarks of their respective companies; there is no business relationship between Vivid and these providers. Investing and interest products are provided through Vivid Money B.V. Capital investments carry risks; the value of an investment can rise or fall, and past results are not an indicator of future returns.