17 licensed digital banks across the EEA, scored on regulation, fees, UX and deposit protection. No sponsored placements. No affiliate weighting.
Looking worldwide? See the global ranking →
The full EU table sits below. These three earned the strongest combined scores — judged identically whether they pay us or not.
Six dimensions — regulation (30%), fees (20%), UX (20%), protection (15%), reach (10%), customer support (5%). See methodology →
| Bank | Jurisdiction | Licence | Price | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | R Revolut Best overall · travel | LT | Full bank Bank of Lithuania | Free | → | |
| 02 | b bunq Best EU-wide | NL | Full bank DNB | Free | → | |
| 03 | N N26 Best full-EU bank | DE | Full bank BaFin | Free | → | |
| 04 | T Trade Republic Best for savers | DE | Full bank BaFin | Free | → | |
| 05 | L Lunar Nordic pick | DK | Full bank Finanstilsynet | Free | → | |
| 06 | M Monzo Ireland · new entrant | IE | Full bank Central Bank of Ireland | Free | → | |
| 07 | S Starling Bank UK reference | GB | Full bank FCA | Free | → | |
| 08 | T Tide — | GB | Partner-bank FCA | Free | → | |
| 09 | W Wise Best for transfers | GB | E-money inst. FCA | €0/mo | → | |
| 10 | F Finom — | NL | E-money inst. DNB | Free | → | |
| 11 | V Vivid Money Hybrid crypto + banking | DE | E-money inst. Electronic money institution authorisation in Luxembourg; MiFID II investment firm licence in Netherlands; MiCAR authorisation for crypto-asset services | Free | → | |
| 12 | P Penta — | XX | Partner-bank BaFin | €9/mo | → | |
| 13 | A Anna — | GB | E-money inst. FCA | £11/mo | → | |
| 14 | M Memo Bank — | FR | E-money inst. ACPR | €449/mo | → | |
| 15 | H Holvi — | FI | E-money inst. Holvi Payment Services Oy is authorised and regulated by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority | €9/mo | → | |
| 16 | N Nomo — | GB | Payment inst. FCA | Free | → | |
| 17 | Q Qonto Best for freelancers | FR | Payment inst. Payment institution license | €9/mo | → |
Most readers don't need the full ranking — they need a single decision. Pick the lane that fits.
Revolut, Wise Multi-Currency, bunq Pro. FX allowances compared, lounge access tiers tested at four EU airports, and the Lithuanian-IBAN question answered (it's fine).
Read guide → For saversTrade Republic, Revolut Ultra, Lightyear. Savings-rate tracker, updated quarterly.
Read guide → For freelancersQonto, Wise Business, N26 Business. Multi-currency invoicing, accounting integrations.
Read guide → For crypto280 coins at Revolut, 50 at Trade Republic. What a CASP licence grants — and what it doesn't.
Read guide → For protectionWhat "deposit protection" actually means at e-money vs full bank — with worked examples.
Read guide →Five regulations frame what every bank above can and cannot do — payments (PSD2 → PSD3), ICT resilience (DORA), anti-money-laundering (AMLR / AMLA Frankfurt), and crypto services (MiCAR). Verified against EUR-Lex and the European Commission.
EU directive governing payment services and PSPs; introduced Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), open banking APIs, and consumer protections. Being superseded by PSD3/PSR.
Successor framework to PSD2. EU Parliament and Council reached provisional political agreement 27 November 2025. Extends Verification of Payee (VoP) to all credit transfers; mandates fraud-data sharing between PSPs.
ICT risk-management and incident-reporting framework for EU financial entities. In force since 17 January 2025.
Single AML rulebook + EU AML Authority (AMLA, HQ Frankfurt, operational 2025). 6th AML Directive transposed 2025–2027; AMLR directly applicable from July 2027.
EU framework for crypto-asset issuers + CASPs. Transitional period through end-2025; full effect from Jan 2026. Required for any neobank offering crypto trading (Revolut, Vivid Money, Lunar, Bitpanda).