In short:
- N26 Business at a glance: four plans, from €0 a month up to €16.90. Electronic transfers come without a per-item price on every plan. The account is open only to self-employed people and freelancers who work under their own name. A company name fits neither on the account nor on the card.
- Where it gets tight day to day: sub-accounts only start with the Smart plan, you cannot collect direct debits from customers, the app does not do foreign-currency transfers, and there is no native DATEV interface. A GmbH or UG has to use a separate company account that is not yet generally available.
- Vivid as the alternative: €0 a month on the Free Start plan, open to every legal form up to GmbH and UG, unlimited SEPA transfers without a per-item price, as many accounts as you need with their own German IBAN, and investing straight from the account.
Whether the N26 business account suits you comes down to a single question, and it arrives before any price comparison: under which name do you issue your invoices? If you work as a freelancer or sole trader under your own name, the account is open to you. If you run a GmbH or a UG, the picture changes. Everything else, meaning price, cards, sub-accounts and cash, is fine-tuning after that.
This article is about the business account, not the N26 personal current account. It takes the four Business plans apart, shows what is actually included day to day, names the limits, and puts both accounts side by side at the end. All figures come from the official N26 pages and were read in August 2026. Prices change, which is why there is a dated note at the bottom.
What is the N26 business account?
Who N26 Business is built for
N26 is a bank based in Berlin and issues a German IBAN. The business account is called N26 Business, runs entirely through the app, and according to the support centre is aimed at self-employed people and freelancers who work under their own name. That sentence matters more than it sounds. It means the company name can appear neither on the account nor on the card, and it therefore rules out every legal form that carries a name of its own.
In concrete terms: limited companies such as a GmbH and a UG, but also partnerships such as a GbR, OHG and KG, cannot open N26 Business. For sole traders, UGs, GmbHs and AGs, N26 has since set up a second, separate product, the company account for small businesses. The conditions there are tightly drawn, and the official page publishes them. You need an existing German N26 account on any membership except N26 Flex, residence in Germany and sole directorship. The company may have no more than 9 employees and a maximum of €2m in annual revenue. The page itself talks about the time "after the launch": early access with a waiting list, and not yet generally available.
Two more things are worth knowing before you sign up. A personal account and a business account cannot run side by side at N26, and that is stated in the official FAQ. Anyone who is already an N26 customer no longer qualifies. If you want to keep the personal N26 account and separate your freelance work from it, you end up with the Freelancer account instead, available in Germany since April 2025.
N26 Business plans and costs
The cost of an N26 business account depends solely on the plan you pick. Account maintenance fees based on transaction volume, the kind traditional institutions charge, are not part of the model.
The four plans at a glance
The provider tiers the account in four steps: the entry level costs nothing, the top one €16.90 a month. What actually changes between the steps is modest: the cards, the number of Spaces sub-accounts, the free allowances at the cash machine, travel insurance from Allianz Assistance on Go, and the cashback rate on the top plan. The table shows the figures from the official pricing page.
| Plan | Price per month | Cashback rate | Spaces with own IBAN | Free withdrawals | Enough for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N26 Business Standard | €0 | 0.1% | no Spaces | 2 per month | Getting started with a card and transfers |
| N26 Business Smart | €4.90 | 0.1% | up to 10 | 3 per month | Self-employed people setting money aside |
| N26 Business Go | €9.90 | 0.1% | up to 10 | 5 per month | Frequent travel, with an insurance package |
| N26 Business Metal | €16.90 | 0.5% | up to 10 | 8 per month | A higher cashback rate and a metal card |
N26 advertises the business account on the Business Standard plan as permanently free, and for payments alone that holds. One detail tends to slip through such overviews, though, and it concerns exactly this plan: the first physical debit card is not included, it costs a one-off €10. From Smart it comes at no extra charge, together with up to six virtual cards for online payments. On the Standard plan you get exactly one virtual card.
What every plan includes
The shared base is the strongest part of the offer, and it starts with the transactions. Electronic transfers, instant transfers, standing orders and direct debits on your own account are not charged per item by N26, on any plan. Someone making a hundred transfers therefore pays no more than someone making three a month. On top of that, all four plans include:
Investing runs in the same app. Stocks, ETFs and ETCs cost €0.90 per trade, Business Go includes three free trades a month and Metal ten. Added to that are instant funds with a management fee of between 0.29% and 0.55% depending on the plan, savings plans, and the option to buy crypto at 1.5% for Bitcoin and 2.5% for other coins. The securities account sits with a partner and is settled through Upvest Securities GmbH.
Interim conclusion on costs: the account starts at €0 a month, but the two features the self-employed ask about first sit on the plan from €4.90: the physical card and the Spaces sub-accounts. At Vivid, an unlimited number of accounts with their own German IBAN is already part of the Free Start plan at €0 a month, and that plan is open to a GmbH and a UG as well.
Features in the N26 business account
Payments and cards
SEPA transfers and SEPA instant transfers run without per-item costs, and standing orders and direct debits can be set up on the account. The card is the Mastercard Debit, with virtual cards arriving from Smart. A true credit card with a credit line is not part of the offer.
One point weighs more heavily in daily business than the pricing page suggests. Business direct debits, meaning collecting amounts from your own customers, are not possible with N26 Business according to the support centre. If you collect membership fees, subscriptions or recurring invoices by direct debit, you will need a second route for it. Also not provided in the app: transfers in foreign currency. The account holds euros, and that is where it stops.
Sub-accounts with their own IBAN
Spaces is what N26 calls the sub-accounts. From the Business Smart plan you can create up to ten of them, each with its own IBAN and each linkable to a card. On the Standard plan there are none. For the self-employed this is the practical core of the account: one Space for VAT, one for income tax, one as a buffer for quiet months. Rules for Spaces and the income splitter move incoming amounts to where they belong automatically, and the round-up rule sets small amounts aside.
Ten Spaces are enough for most sole traders. Anyone separating by project, by client or by entity hits the ceiling faster than expected. At Vivid, sub-accounts come in unlimited numbers, each of them with its own German IBAN as well, and already on the Free Start plan.
Paying cash in and taking it out
Here N26 has something many digital providers do not. Through Cash26 you pay cash in at retailers and take it out there, by barcode at the till, without a branch and without an appointment. N26 puts the network at around 13,000 partner stores in Germany, among them REWE, Penny and dm. The deposit costs 1.5 % of the amount, the same on all four plans.
At the cash machine the free euro withdrawals are tiered by plan: two a month on Standard, three on Smart, five on Go and eight on Metal. After that a fee applies per withdrawal. Outside the euro area a withdrawal costs 1.7%, and on Business Go and Business Metal that rate falls away. The amounts are where it gets tight: Cash26 takes at least €50 and at most €999 a day, with €8,000 a month as the ceiling. Anyone carrying four-figure sums out of the shop daily will not get far with that, and 1.5 % on every deposit adds up noticeably over a year.
Bookkeeping and interfaces
There is no native DATEV interface. You export transactions as a CSV export or as a PDF, and you connect external accounting software through the PSD2 interface. HBCI and EBICS are missing too. Invoicing is not part of the account, so you need a separate tool for it.
For working with a tax adviser that means one extra step stays in the process every month. With small volumes of receipts it is a matter of minutes. As the business grows, the minute turns into an hour, and at some point the practice asks for a direct connection.
Limits of the N26 business account
No account can do everything, and with N26 the open points can be named clearly. Five of them come up again and again in customer reports, and they all trace back to the same underlying decision: N26 Business is built as a lean account for one person, not as a platform for a growing company.
None of this is a verdict on N26, it is a question of fit. For a designer with twenty invoices a year, not one of these points matters. The moment a business account for a GmbH or UG is needed, amounts are collected, or invoicing happens in a second currency, the question is there immediately.
Interim conclusion on the limits: N26 Business serves solo self-employed people with a digital account that charges nothing per transaction. If you run a limited company, split reserves across accounts with their own IBAN, or invoice in several currencies, you will find exactly that at Vivid on the Free Start plan at €0 a month.
Opening an N26 business account
Opening the account runs entirely online and takes a few minutes according to N26. You download the app, register with the first and last name from your identity document, and go through the identity check. Once your identity is confirmed, the account is ready to use. You do not need commercial register documents, because the account runs in your name anyway.
N26 checks three conditions along the way: you use the account mainly for business, you live in a country where N26 operates, and you are not yet an N26 customer. With the company account for small businesses the logic is reversed: there, an existing personal N26 account is an explicit requirement.
Alternatives to the N26 business account
Eight criteria, two accounts, one table. It puts N26 Business and the Vivid business account side by side and shows what the entry level really costs, who the cheapest plan is actually open to, and what comes with it in terms of accounts, currencies and investing. As of August 2026; the current conditions are on the provider pages themselves.
| 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 |
Vivid as an alternative to N26 Business
N26 covers the digital day-to-day of a solo self-employed person, at a price that starts at zero. If you run a limited company, split reserves across accounts with their own IBAN, collect amounts from customers, or invoice in several currencies, you keep looking after that. This is exactly where Vivid comes in.
What Vivid Business offers
The Free Start plan costs €0 a month and is open to every legal form, from a freelancer through a GbR to a GmbH and a UG. Vivid does not charge SEPA transfers per item, and they are unlimited, on this plan too. Added to that are as many accounts as you need, each with its own German IBAN, so you keep VAT, project budgets and reserves cleanly apart without paying for every further account.
You can invite an unlimited number of team members, with no per-person charge, across four roles from owner to employee, and with card limits per card. Investing sits inside the same business account: stocks, ETFs, iBonds, money market funds and crypto, plus model portfolios and an interest account for balances that are not needed right now. The DATEV interface is included, you write invoices directly in the account. From Basic you add accounts in 22 currencies and international transfers.
And then there is the cashback, which at Vivid is not tied to a paid card add-on. Depending on the plan the rate on all purchases sits between 0.1% and 1%, with no monthly cap, and up to 10% in selected categories. It is already included on Free Start.
The Vivid plans at a glance
Vivid runs Free Start at €0, Basic at €6.90 and Pro at €18.90 a month, with the Enterprise plans above them for larger teams. Each plan carries the previous one along and adds something on top. From Basic you add accounts in 22 currencies and international transfers, from Pro advanced card limits with rules for category, merchant and country, plus corporate cards for the team. The cashback rate and the interest on balances rise with every step.
| Plan | Price per month | Cashback on all purchases | Accounts with own IBAN | Enough for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Start | €0 | 0.1% | unlimited | Getting started, every legal form incl. GmbH and UG |
| Basic | €6.90 | 0.2% | unlimited | Working in several currencies |
| Pro | €18.90 | 0.5% | unlimited | Teams with card rules and approvals |
Above those sit the Enterprise plans for larger teams. What a Vivid plan shows is the amount that gets debited. Several providers quote net, so VAT is added on top there. Otherwise you are comparing two different numbers.
What the zero-euro plan holds
Free Start is the plan the difference turns on. It costs €0 a month and is open to every legal form, from a freelancer through a GbR to a GmbH and a UG. SEPA transfers run without limit and without a fee per item. You open as many accounts as you need, each with its own German IBAN. Team members you invite without limit, at no extra charge per person.
Work the numbers once: sub-accounts and the physical card arrive at N26 with the plan at €4.90, while at Vivid they are part of the plan at €0. The same goes for the DATEV interface, invoicing inside the account and the cashback that runs from the first tier. Over twelve months that is the difference between €58.80 and nothing.
Basic and Pro: what comes on top
From Basic you add accounts in 22 currencies and international transfers, the cashback rate rises and balances earn more interest. From Pro you unlock advanced card limits, with rules for category, merchant and country, plus corporate cards for the team and approval flows for higher limits. Every step carries everything from the one below it.
Investing and interest from the account
Stocks, ETFs, iBonds, money market funds and crypto sit in the same place as the business account at Vivid, along with model portfolios for companies that would rather not pick themselves. Money that is not needed right now moves to the interest account and keeps working there. These products are provided by Vivid Money B.V.
For everyday work that means one thing above all: the tax reserve, the buffer and the investment do not run across three providers but through a single login. Anyone parking reserves on a second account today and holding securities with a third provider saves themselves that detour.
Opening an account with Vivid
The application runs online. You enter the details of the business, identify yourself with a selfie alongside your identity document, and once the check is done the account is ready to use. If you are coming from another provider, standing orders and direct debits move across gradually while the old account is still running. For a GmbH or UG in formation there is also a founder account, through which the share capital is paid in before the entry in the commercial register.
Conclusion on Vivid: the account, sub-accounts with their own German IBAN, investing and cashback sit in one place, from €0 a month and open to a GmbH and a UG. If you would rather run everything in one place than assemble a business account out of several tools, Vivid is the short answer.
Which business account suits whom?
If you want to run everything in one account, Vivid is where you land. The Free Start plan costs €0 a month and is open to a GmbH and a UG as well. Unlimited SEPA transfers without a per-item price come with it, along with as many accounts as you need, each with its own German IBAN. Investing and cashback run from the same place, from the first plan onwards.
N26 Business comes into play if you work solo under your own name, run the account entirely in the app, and regularly pay cash in through retailers. That is the shape the account is built for, and payments there cost nothing per transaction.
Conclusion on the N26 business account
The N26 business account is a lean, fully digital account for self-employed people and freelancers who work under their own name. Payments cost nothing per transaction, the app is fast, and Cash26 provides a route for cash that many digital providers do not offer at all. If that is what you are looking for, the plan at €0 a month has you covered.
The limits sit where the individual turns into a company: at the legal forms, the sub-accounts on the free plan, collecting direct debits, and the bookkeeping connection. Vivid covers exactly those points, at no extra charge: unlimited accounts with their own German IBAN, a DATEV interface, investing from the account and cashback, all from €0 a month and for a GmbH and a UG as well. Which account fits in the end is decided by your legal form and by what you have planned for the next year.
Ready for your business account?
With the Vivid business account you get unlimited sub-accounts with their own German IBAN, investing and cashback with no monthly cap on all purchases in one app, including for a GmbH and a UG.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
What does the N26 business account cost?
N26 Business Standard costs €0 a month, Business Smart €4.90, Business Go €9.90 and Business Metal €16.90. Electronic transfers are included on every plan without a per-item price, so no running costs per transaction arise. The first physical card costs a one-off €10 on the Standard plan; from Smart it comes at no extra charge.
Who can open an N26 business account?
Self-employed people and freelancers who work under their own name, resident in a country where N26 operates. The company name can appear neither on the account nor on the card. Anyone who already holds an N26 account does not meet the requirements.
Is there an N26 business account for a GmbH?
Not in the regular Business account. For a UG, GmbH and AG, N26 runs the separate company account for small businesses: sole directorship, no more than 9 employees, a maximum of €2m in annual revenue, and an existing personal N26 account. It runs as early access with a waiting list. At Vivid, the Free Start plan at €0 a month is open to a GmbH and a UG directly.
What are the experiences with N26 Business?
Two patterns repeat across the review portals when users report on their N26 business account. The app and the speed of opening an account are mentioned positively. The missing direct-debit collection and the availability of support come up critically. We deliberately do not award a test score of our own here.
Can I run a personal and a business account in parallel?
Not at N26. Business and personal accounts are mutually exclusive according to the official FAQ. If you want to keep your personal account and separate your freelance work, you use the Freelancer account instead. At Vivid, the business and the personal account sit in the same app.
Does N26 Business offer a DATEV interface?
No. You export transactions as a CSV export or a PDF, and you connect external accounting software through the PSD2 interface. HBCI and EBICS are not available. The DATEV interface is part of the Vivid account.
What alternative to the N26 business account is there?
If the account, sub-accounts with their own German IBAN, investing and cashback are meant to sit together, Vivid covers that from €0 a month, for a GmbH and a UG as well. Unlimited SEPA transfers without a per-item price and unlimited team members are part of that plan.
As of August 2026. The information on N26 was compiled to the best of our knowledge from the official provider 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. N26 is a trademark of N26 SE; there is no business relationship between Vivid and N26. Vivid Money S.A. is an electronic money institution supervised by the CSSF and is not a bank; customer funds are safeguarded in segregated accounts. Investment and interest products are provided by Vivid Money B.V. Investments carry risk; the value of an investment can rise or fall, and past performance is not an indicator of future results. Crypto assets are unregulated and highly volatile; a total loss is possible. This article is not legal or tax advice.
