Free bank account in Germany

Free bank account in Germany: Available accounts, comparison and rating of the bank account without fees

Moving to Germany is often a stressful bureaucratic travel along German rules and prescriptions. Fortunately, opening a free bank account has become easier and easier in the last times! Many mobile and online banks have started to offer free bank accounts for expats or foreigners in Germany which you can open online in less than 30 minutes.

In our guide on German best banks, we have shown you neobanks and traditional banks and have focused on a broad products’ offer. Instead, in this page, we will show to you:

• 7 German bank accounts free of fees forever
• The best free bank account for expats according to our experts
• Some pieces of advice to choose your free bank account
• A comprehensive list of features that you will find in a free bank account in Germany

Free bank account for internationals in Germany: How did we evaluate the accounts

All accounts that you will find in this review are available for Germans and for expats or international living in Germany. Even though as an international living in Germany you may need the classical functions that all traditional banks offer, we have sought for bank accounts:

• with English speaking customer support
• which offer free or low cost international transfers
• which permit to open a multi-currency account within their basic product
• which are free of costs for opening and using the account

Free bank account in Germany: Comparison of 7 German bank accounts without fees

Bank	DKB	N26	Vivid	Revolut	Openbank	Monese	C24
Monthly fee	0,00 €	0,00 €	0,00 €	0,00€	0,00€	0,00€	0,00€
English-Speaking	-	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	-
Open Account without residence (or “Anmeldung”)	-	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	-
Withdrawal fees	Free on any ATM	3x free per month	Up to 200€ per month	Up to 200€ per month	5x free per month	Up to 100€ per month	2x free per month
Cards	VISA Girocard, VISA Debit	Mastercard Debit	VISA Metal Debit	VISA Debit	Mastercard Debit	Mastercard Debit	Mastercard Debit
Stocks and Crypto Trading Account	-	-	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	-
Personal Loans	Yes	-	-	-	-	Yes	-
Multi-currency account	-	-	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	-
Referral Program	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	Yes
Type of Bank	Online Bank	Mobile Bank	Mobile Bank	Mobile Bank	Online Bank	Mobile Bank	Mobile Bank
	Go to DKB	Go to N26	Go to Vivid	Go to Revolut	Go to Openbank	Go to Monese	Go to C24

Best free bank account in Germany: Revolut Standard Account

Vivid Money and Revolut are contending the title of best free bank account in Germany. With both account you can open a completely free bank account which speaks your language. You can enjoy all basic functions of a bank account (withdrawals, debit card payments and pockets). Additionally, you can open sub accounts in different currencies to be able to transfer money home.

However, Vivid will charge you a little fee for inactivity. This means that if you do not use actively your account, you may pay 3,90€/month for it. Instead, Revolut grants you a complete free bank account. In addition, following its rapid expansion and improvement, there are reasons to believe that Revolut may add new features as personal loans or credit cards in the short run.

Revolut

Speed: 4/5

Account and cards: 3.5/5

Costs: 4/5

Features: 4.5/5

RESULT

4.0

10/2023

Speed: 4/5

Account and cards: 3.5/5

Costs: 4/5

Features: 4.5/5

• Free bank account including credit card without credit check
• 4 account models that can be cancelled at any time
• Free cash withdrawal up to 200€ or 5 cash withdrawals per month
• Disposable virtual credit cards for one-time payments
• Easy exchange of cryptocurrencies and commodities
• Fee-free currency exchange in 30 currencies up to 1000€ per month

Revolut Review »

Go to Revolut »

What is important when choosing your free bank account in Germany?

There are many banks, even more traditional ones, which offer free bank accounts in Germany. As a rule, if you are a student, you will be granted free benefits until graduation! However, many free accounts are not completely free as they come with some additional requirements or with hidden costs. Take a look at the following points to find the free bank account for your needs:

Monthly deposit

• Is a minimum monthly deposit required? Many banks. such as DKB, requires a minimum entry (salary, retirement or similar) of about 500€ to 700€ for your bank account to be completely free.

Specific status

• Is the free price forever or only as you have a specific status, e.g. you are a student? Many German banks, such as Deutsche Bank, provide you with a range of benefits when you are a student but once you forget to prove that or you step into your career, you will have to pay for them.

Debit or credit card

• Is there an annual fee for a debit card or credit card? If yes, you can have a look on our guide on the best German free credit cards.

Cash withdrawals

• Are cash withdrawals free of charge? Are there limits on the number of cash withdrawals?
• At which ATMs can you withdraw cash free of charge? Often German banks only allow to withdraw money free of charge in ATMs of their own banks' group.

Online banking

• Is the use of online banking free of charge? Are there fees for transfers or standing orders? Remember that in Germany electricity, hot water and heat supply are usually paid through standing orders

Free multi-currency bank account: Which options are available for expats and digital nomads

If you have already moved to Germany but still handle money in different currencies to send home or receive international payments, having a free multi-currency account will be an advantage. Besides, if you are an expat or a digital nomad, a multi-currency account will allow you to act as a local even when you are travelling.

Whenever you need to handle foreign currencies, you can think about 4 main necessities: holding, spending, sending and receiving the foreign money. Unfortunately, the most German traditional banks such as Commerzbank or Deutsche Bank charge additional fees for some (or all) of these activities.

But we have good news! Neobanks such as Revolut and Vivid Money, offers free basic bank accounts for expats and internationals and nice possibilities to handle money in foreign currencies.

Before diving deep into the differences between some free multi-currency bank accounts, we thought that it may come in handy to have a list with the eventual fees that you may have to pay:

• Exchange rate: commonly, banks use the interchange rate or the one provided by big firms such as Currencycloud (used by bunq) or Morningstar (used by Vivid Money). When paying by card, the exchange rate is usually the one of VISA or Mastercard, depending on the provider of your card.

• Transaction fees: This is an additional fee that you may have to pay when exchanging (buying) money in a foreign currency or when paying by card in a foreign currency

• Fees for cash withdrawals: Usually the fees of neobanks for withdrawing cash in a foreign currency are the same as for cash withdrawals in your home country

• Fees for international transfers: This is a transaction fee that you may pay (additional to the interchange rate) when sending money abroad)

• Fees for receiving money in a foreign currency: Each bank usually charge a fixed fee for you to receive money in a foreign currency which you may consider when asking for money: for instance, if a friend pay to you 100€ but your bank charge 10€ fee (as in the case of Monese), then you will only get 90€ from your friend!

• Weekend markup fee: Often the transaction fee to buy or send money in a foreign currency is higher on weekends than in weekdays, you may want to consider it!

Unfortunately, when visiting Dubai we did not recall about weekend's markup on foreign currencies...

Comparison of Revolut vs. Vivid Money vs. Monese: Which is the best free multi-currency bank account that you can open in Germany?

Fee type	Vivid Money	Revolut	Monese
Exchange Rate	Morningstar Rate	Interbank Rate	Interbank rate
Exchange Rate for card payments	VISA rate	VISA rate	Mastercard rate
Transaction fees for money exchange	1%	Fee-free up to 1.000,-€, then 0.5%	2,5%
Weekend markup for money exchange	-	1%	1%
Free withdrawals in foreign currency	Up to 200,-€	Up to 200,-€	Up to 100,-€
Fee for receiving money in foreign currency	9,90€ + 0,2%	-	10,-€ + 2%
Fee for international transfer	-*	0,30% - 2,0%	-

When it comes to fees for holding a multi-currency account, the three competitors do not differ that much. Revolut offers a slightly better fees' structure as you do not have to pay for receiving money in a foreign currency and you can pay up to 1.000,-€ in a foreign currency without paying any fee. Both are surely a good option for expats as they all come with the possibility of opening different sub-accounts in different currencies.

We also have tested the three neobanks and you can find our detailed review on the following pages: Revolut, Vivid Money, Monese.

Banking like a local but acting like a global: Which options do you have with a free bank account in Germany

Besides looking up the fees that you have to pay to handle foreign currencies, you may want to consider the idea of opening a sub account with the IBAN of your home country to be able to run basic services also there. In this case, you will have a powerful multi-currency account. The advantages are:

• Easier Transactions: Having a local IBAN can make it easier to send and receive payments within the same country or economic area.
• Lower Costs: When you have a local IBAN, you can often avoid international transfer fees or foreign transaction fees that might apply when sending money to or from a foreign bank account.
• Faster Transfers: Payments between accounts with local IBANs can often be processed more quickly than international transfers.
• Local Compliance: In some cases, having a local IBAN can help meet local business requirements. For example, some businesses or government entities may prefer or require a local bank account for direct debits, deposits, or payroll.

However, we do not know any free multi-currency account in this sense. Bunq, a neobank which offer a Standard bank account for 2,99€/month, allows you to open a sub-account with international IBANs (NL, FR, DE, IE, ES). Unfortunately, we could not find any information about Vivid’s offer. For sure, they offer bank accounts with German, Spanish or Italian IBANs and the possibility to open sub-account with up to 40 currencies (in the free version). However, it seems that these sub-accounts will still have an IBAN from the home country of your main account.

Free money in your bank account: Which banks have attractive referral programs

We have seen that in the last year many banks literally fought to find new customers. Both neobanks and traditional institutions offer referral boni for new subscribers or a sign up bonus for the person that has invited them.

If you want to open a bank account in a bank which give you some new bank account bonus, check the table on the top of the page!

FAQs on free bank accounts in Germany