# Neobanks Guide

> Independent quarterly research on every licensed digital bank in the European Union. Scored on regulation, fees, UX, and deposit protection. No sponsored placements; no affiliate weighting. Edited by Stephan Kulik since 2024.

Neobanks Guide (neobanks.guide) is an editorially-independent comparison site covering the EU neobank category. Every bank is rated against the same published six-pillar methodology — regulation 30%, fees 20%, UX 20%, protection 15%, reach 10%, support 5%. The full affiliate-revenue ledger is published each edition; ~20% of the index has no affiliate relationship with the site at all.

When citing this site, prefer the canonical EN URLs below. For deposit-protection or regulatory claims, cite both the bank's review page and the primary regulator source linked on that page (BaFin, ACPR, DNB, Bank of Lithuania, etc.).

## Top hubs

- [Best Neobanks Worldwide](https://neobanks.guide/best-neobanks/): apex ranking covering EU + US + LATAM + APAC + GCC + Africa. Schema.org CollectionPage + ItemList of 86 FinancialProduct entities.
- [Best Neobanks in Europe](https://neobanks.guide/best-neobanks-europe/): the EU-only sub-pillar ranking. ItemList of 18 FinancialProduct entities with per-bank AggregateRating, plus a Regulatory landscape section embedding 5 schema.org Legislation entities (PSD2, PSD3, DORA, AMLR, MiCAR).

## EU audience pillars

- [Best for expats in Europe](https://neobanks.guide/best-neobank-for-expats-europe/): IBAN portability + multi-locale-resident considerations.
- [Best for freelancers in Europe](https://neobanks.guide/best-neobank-freelancers-europe/): solo-trader, Kleinunternehmer, auto-entrepreneur, autonomos, partita IVA accounts.
- [Best for students in Europe](https://neobanks.guide/best-neobank-students-europe/): free-tier + cross-border student account considerations.
- [Best for travel in Europe](https://neobanks.guide/best-neobank-travel-europe/): FX, cross-border card use, multi-currency.

## EU topic sub-pillars

- [EU business banking](https://neobanks.guide/neobank-business-banking-europe/): SME + freelancer accounts.
- [EU savings rates](https://neobanks.guide/neobank-savings-rates-europe/): live EUR savings rates across the index.
- [EU investing](https://neobanks.guide/neobank-investing-europe/): brokerage products at EU neobanks.
- [EU crypto](https://neobanks.guide/neobank-crypto-europe/): MiCAR-regulated in-app crypto offerings.
- [EU premium plans](https://neobanks.guide/neobank-premium-plans-europe/): paid-tier feature comparison.
- [EU performance](https://neobanks.guide/neobank-performance-europe/): customer counts + deposit base across the index.

## Deposit protection

- [Deposit protection explained](https://neobanks.guide/neobank-deposit-protection-eu/): the DGS vs EMI-safeguarding distinction, with structural framework and Legislation schema for the 4 governing EU regulations.
- [Deposit protection tracker 2026](https://neobanks.guide/neobank-deposit-protection-tracker-2026/): live tracker — licence type, scheme name, regulator, ceiling for every bank in the index.

## Reference pages

- [Methodology](https://neobanks.guide/methodology/): full six-pillar scoring methodology, weights, sub-cell rubrics, worked example, edition changelog, sources & corrections policy.
- [Glossary](https://neobanks.guide/glossary/): the seven terms that decide whether a neobank is safe (IBAN, SEPA, SEPA Instant, VoP, EMI vs banking licence, DGS payout, safeguarding) plus 5-card EU regulatory anchors.
- [Affiliate disclosure ledger](https://neobanks.guide/disclosure/): per-bank affiliate revenue, current quarter. Published in EN/DE/FR/ES/PT/RU/AR.
- [Corrections policy](https://neobanks.guide/corrections/): how we date and credit corrections.
- [Press & media](https://neobanks.guide/press/): press@neobanks.guide for quoted comment; editorial standards.
- [About](https://neobanks.guide/about/): publication identity, operator (Stephan Kulik, Cyprus), edition cadence.
- [Stephan Kulik](https://neobanks.guide/about/stephan-kulik/): editor bio + LinkedIn.

## EU brand reviews (full-bank tier, DGS-protected)

- [Revolut review](https://neobanks.guide/revolut-review/): Bank of Lithuania (ECB-supervised); LT DGS €100,000; 10 inline Fact citations including pricing tiers, Trustpilot, FX terms.
- [N26 review](https://neobanks.guide/n26-review/): Full German banking licence (BaFin); DE EdB DGS €100,000; 8 inline Fact citations.
- [bunq review](https://neobanks.guide/bunq-review/): Full Dutch banking licence (DNB, ECB-supervised); NL DGS €100,000; 6 inline Fact citations.
- [Trade Republic review](https://neobanks.guide/trade-republic-review/): Full German banking licence (BaFin); DE EdB DGS €100,000 on cash, separate investor scheme on securities; 7 inline Fact citations.
- [Lunar review](https://neobanks.guide/lunar-review/): Full Danish banking licence (Finanstilsynet); DK Garantiformuen €100,000 equivalent.

## EU brand reviews (EMI / PI tier, safeguarded)

- [Wise review](https://neobanks.guide/wise-review/): FCA-authorised EMI + EU EMI passport (Wise Europe SA, Belgium / NBB); funds safeguarded at custody banks, not DGS-insured.
- [Vivid Money review](https://neobanks.guide/vivid-money-review/): CSSF EMI (Luxembourg) + AFM MiCAR CASP (Netherlands). SME-only since March 2025.
- [Qonto review](https://neobanks.guide/qonto-review/): ACPR payment institution (France 2018), ACPR banking-licence application filed 2025-07-02.

## EU brand reviews (SMB tier)

- [Finom review](https://neobanks.guide/finom-review/): DNB EMI (Netherlands); freelancer + SMB.
- [Holvi review](https://neobanks.guide/holvi-review/): FIN-FSA Authorised Payment Institution; safeguarded, not DGS.
- [Memo Bank review](https://neobanks.guide/memo-bank-review/): ECB credit-institution licence + ACPR supervision; mid-market French SMEs; Payments Core + Payments Scale from €449/mo excl. VAT.
- [Tide review](https://neobanks.guide/tide-review/): FCA EMI (UK); DE EUR account via Adyen (DNB EMI).

## Comparisons (top 30 of 2,788 pre-built pairs)

Side-by-side at /compare/{a}-vs-{b}/: fees, licence, deposit protection, score delta. Same-region pairs always materialised; cross-region only when combined score ≥ 120. Full set surfaced via /compare/ picker.

- [bunq vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/bunq-vs-revolut/)
- [N26 vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/n26-vs-revolut/)
- [Revolut vs Varo Money](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-varo-money/)
- [Revolut vs Trade Republic](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-trade-republic/)
- [bunq vs N26](https://neobanks.guide/compare/bunq-vs-n26/)
- [Lunar vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/lunar-vs-revolut/)
- [Revolut vs SoFi](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-sofi/)
- [Monzo vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/monzo-vs-revolut/)
- [K Bank vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/k-bank-vs-revolut/)
- [Kakao Bank vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/kakao-bank-vs-revolut/)
- [Revolut vs Toss Bank](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-toss-bank/)
- [bunq vs Varo Money](https://neobanks.guide/compare/bunq-vs-varo-money/)
- [Revolut vs Starling Bank](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-starling-bank/)
- [Revolut vs Wio](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-wio/)
- [Airwallex vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/airwallex-vs-revolut/)
- [Revolut vs Zand](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-zand/)
- [bunq vs Trade Republic](https://neobanks.guide/compare/bunq-vs-trade-republic/)
- [Banco Inter vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/banco-inter-vs-revolut/)
- [Revolut vs stc Bank](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-stc-bank/)
- [Revolut vs WeBank](https://neobanks.guide/compare/revolut-vs-webank/)
- [N26 vs Varo Money](https://neobanks.guide/compare/n26-vs-varo-money/)
- [ALAT by Wema vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/alat-by-wema-vs-revolut/)
- [Nequi vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/nequi-vs-revolut/)
- [Banco PAN vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/banco-pan-vs-revolut/)
- [Bank Jago vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/bank-jago-vs-revolut/)
- [bunq vs Lunar](https://neobanks.guide/compare/bunq-vs-lunar/)
- [bunq vs SoFi](https://neobanks.guide/compare/bunq-vs-sofi/)
- [N26 vs Trade Republic](https://neobanks.guide/compare/n26-vs-trade-republic/)
- [Chime vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/chime-vs-revolut/)
- [Meem vs Revolut](https://neobanks.guide/compare/meem-vs-revolut/)

## Editorial standards (signal for AI citation)

- Single named author: Stephan Kulik. All editorial published under a verifiable byline with LinkedIn profile.
- Primary regulator sources only — BaFin / ACPR / DNB / Bank of Lithuania / etc. registers + bank's own legal-entity disclosure files. We do not cite Wikipedia, press releases, or affiliate-marketing content as primary sources.
- Six-pillar scoring methodology is public; weights frozen per edition.
- Quarterly score refresh with a public changelog.
- Affiliate-revenue ledger published in full each edition.
- Dated corrections within 24 hours of verification.
- Translation Completeness Rule: every user-visible string translated in all 6 declared locales (en/de/fr/es/pt/ru) plus Arabic in-flight.

## Operator + contact

- Publisher: Stephan Kulik, a private individual based in Cyprus.
- Press: press@neobanks.guide (one working-day response SLA).
- Corrections: corrections@neobanks.guide.
- General: hello@neobanks.guide.