Bunq Elite vs Revolut Metal for Expats 2026

Quick answer: Is bunq Elite or Revolut Metal worth the premium price? Here is the fee and feature picture for expats in the Netherlands, with plan names and prices as bunq and Revolut publish them today.

bunq Elite costs €18.99 a month and Revolut Metal €19.99 a month (or €195 paid yearly). Both include travel insurance and mobile data abroad. bunq is stronger on Dutch banking and on bank accounts with their own IBAN; Revolut Metal adds €800 of ATM withdrawals a month, unlimited currency exchange without additional fees and discounted lounge entries. If you’re settled in the Netherlands, bunq is the natural choice; if you mainly want travel perks in one app, compare the two policies and limits.

First: bunq renamed its plans

If you are reading a comparison that talks about “Easy Bank”, “Easy Money” or “Easy Green”, it is out of date. Those names are retired. The current personal line-up, per bunq Help: What plans are available (checked 14 September 2026):

Business plans run alongside: bunq Free €0.00, Core €7.99, Pro €13.99, Elite €23.99 per month.

That renaming is why this comparison is deliberately careful about what it claims. Anything below that is not stated as a bunq Elite feature is something to read off bunq’s own plan page before you pay for it.

What You Get with bunq Elite (€18.99/month)

bunq Elite is the top personal plan from bunq, the Dutch neobank. At €18.99 per month, that is €227.88 over a year.

According to bunq’s plan comparison and bunq Elite page (bunq.com, checked 29 September 2026):

• bunq Elite (€18.99/month): 25 bank accounts, each with its own IBAN, 3 physical cards, 25 digital cards, up to 10 free foreign-currency transfers a month, worldwide travel insurance (medical, baggage and rental car cover; your family travels on the same policy) and 8 GB of eSIM data a year (four 2 GB bundles).
• bunq Pro (€9.99/month): the same 25 bank accounts, 3 physical cards and 25 digital cards, with 5 free foreign-currency transfers a month.
• bunq Core (€3.99/month): 5 bank accounts, 1 physical card and 1 digital card.
• bunq Free (€0.00/month): 3 bank accounts and 1 digital card, with no physical card.

Bunq is licensed by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and deposits are covered by the Dutch deposit guarantee scheme up to €100,000. This matters if you’re going to use it as your primary Dutch account. You can receive salary, set up iDEAL payments, and handle direct debits — it functions like a full Dutch bank account.

So the honest framing of Elite is this: the Dutch-banking case for bunq is already made at Pro, and often at Free. Elite costs €9.00 more per month than Pro, or €108.00 more per year. Before paying that, open bunq’s plan page and check what Elite adds over Pro for you specifically. If you cannot name the extra, take Pro.

What You Get with Revolut Metal (€19.99/month)

Revolut Metal sits above Revolut Plus (€3.99) and Premium (€10.99) and below Ultra (€65). At €19.99 per month it is €1.00 more than bunq Elite and €10.00 more than bunq Pro; paid for a year upfront, Metal costs €195. What Revolut lists for Metal (revolut.com, Netherlands, checked 29 September 2026):

Metal card. Your first two cards are free as a Metal customer, according to Revolut’s Metal fee terms.

€800 of ATM withdrawals per rolling month without fees charged by Revolut. After that a 2% fee applies, with a minimum of €1 per withdrawal; third-party fees may apply.

Unlimited currency exchange without additional fees, including at weekends, according to Revolut. Premium, Metal and Ultra have no exchange limit and no fair-usage fee.

40% discount on international transfer fees.

Travel insurance, plus purchase insurance. Insurance policy terms and exclusions apply.

Discounted airport lounge entries that you can buy in the app.

RevPoints: 1 point per €2 spent on eligible payments, compared with 1 point per €10 on Standard.

Savings: up to 2.00% a year (variable) on savings, according to Revolut.

Revolut says eligible deposits are insured by the Lithuanian deposit insurance scheme, with some exceptions, and Revolut Bank UAB is on iDEAL’s list of issuers.

Side-by-Side Comparison

bunq: bunq.com plan comparison, checked 29 September 2026; plan names also checked 14 September 2026 against bunq Help: What plans are available. Revolut: revolut.com, Netherlands, checked 29 September 2026 (plan comparison, Metal page and Metal fee terms).

Travel Insurance

Revolut Metal includes travel insurance, according to Revolut. Revolut’s plan comparison lists travel-related cover such as global medical insurance, winter sports insurance, delayed flight and lost luggage insurance, and personal liability cover of up to €1 million; check in the Metal policy which of these apply to Metal and at which limits. Read the full policy document before your trip.

bunq Elite includes worldwide travel insurance, according to bunq: medical, baggage and rental car cover on every trip, and your family travels on the same policy. Compare the limits and exclusions of both policies before a trip.

If you’re thinking seriously about insurance for expat life, our article on life insurance for expats in the Netherlands covers the broader picture of what you need beyond travel coverage.

ATM Withdrawals: How to Do the Math

Revolut Metal: €800 per rolling month without Revolut fees, then 2% with a minimum €1 charge per withdrawal.

bunq: bunq counts withdrawals rather than euros. On bunq Pro and Elite the first 6 withdrawals a month are free, the next 5 cost €0.99 each and after that €2.99 each; on bunq Core the first 5 cost €0.99 each and then €2.99 (bunq Help, checked 29 September 2026). For example, 10 withdrawals in a month on Elite cost 4 × €0.99 = €3.96, or €22.95 all-in with the subscription.

The method matters more than any single number here, because both providers change these terms. Take three realistic months of your own withdrawals — a quiet month, a normal month, a holiday month — and for each provider add the subscription fee to the fees its published allowance would have charged you. On Revolut Metal, for example, €1,400 of withdrawals in a month is €600 over the allowance, so 2% of €600 = €12 in fees, or €31.99 all-in for that month. A month with €2,000 of withdrawals is €1,200 over, so €24 in fees, or €43.99 all-in.

Then run the same sum for the bunq plan you are considering, using the allowance bunq currently publishes. A higher subscription is only cheaper if your actual usage crosses the break-even point — and for most expats it does not.

If you’re a frequent traveler comparing Revolut specifically for transfers, our Wise vs Revolut comparison covers international transfer costs in more depth.

Rewards: RevPoints, Not Cashback

On the plan pages we checked on 29 September 2026, neither lists a general cashback percentage. Revolut Metal earns RevPoints: 1 point per €2 spent on eligible payments, which you can redeem on airline miles, stays and experiences, and more. bunq’s plan comparison listed no cashback percentage for Elite when we checked on 29 September 2026; bunq’s help centre article on plans (2 October 2026) lists none either. Check the app for any current offers, and assign no value to an offer you would not otherwise use.

Money Pockets: Who Actually Uses This?

bunq’s best-known feature is splitting your money into separate accounts, each with its own IBAN — rent, bills, taxes, savings, spending. On bunq Pro that runs up to 25 Money Pockets; on Core it is 5; on Free it is 3.

For expats, this structure is particularly useful because it mirrors the financial organisation that many of us do mentally anyway — separating “Dutch life costs” from “home country costs” from “savings”. With bunq, each mental bucket gets its own real IBAN.

It also helps with side hustles and passive income in the Netherlands — keeping business money genuinely separate from personal money, even at a basic level, makes your Dutch tax return less chaotic.

Note that this argument favours bunq, not bunq Elite specifically: 25 Money Pockets arrive at Pro, €9.00 per month cheaper.

Break-Even Analysis: When Does Each Plan Pay for Itself?

Revolut Metal at €19.99/month (€239.88 a year, or €195 paid yearly): there is no cashback to offset the fee, so Metal pays for itself only through things you would otherwise pay for: travel insurance, ATM withdrawals above the Standard allowance (€200 or 5 withdrawals a month), currency exchange above Standard’s €1,000 a month, and the 40% discount on transfer fees. For example, exchanging €3,000 in a month on the free Standard plan costs a 1% fair-usage fee on the €2,000 above the limit, or €20, on top of regular fees; on Metal that fair-usage fee does not apply.

bunq Elite at €18.99/month: there is no cashback either, so break-even comes entirely from features you would otherwise buy. The comparison that actually decides it is not Elite versus Revolut but Elite versus bunq Pro: €108.00 per year more, for worldwide travel insurance, 8 GB of eSIM data a year and 10 instead of 5 free foreign-currency transfers a month. If that is not worth €108 a year to you, Pro is the answer.

For most expats the sensible sequence is: open bunq Free, use it, and move up only when a specific limit — the third bank account, the missing physical card, the foreign-currency allowance — actually bites.

Who Wins for Each Expat Type?

Frequent international traveller: Both plans include travel insurance and mobile data abroad, so compare the policies. Revolut Metal adds discounted airport lounge entries and unlimited currency exchange without additional fees, including at weekends; bunq Elite adds up to 10 free foreign-currency transfers a month and a policy that also covers your family.

Regular cash user (€800+/month in ATM withdrawals): This is where Revolut Metal starts charging: 2% on everything over €800 a month. bunq Pro and Elite count withdrawals instead: the first 6 a month are free, the next 5 cost €0.99 each and after that €2.99 each. Run the three-month calculation above for both.

Expat running a side business or freelancing: bunq wins on the Money Pocket structure. Having a dedicated IBAN for business income and expenses — even a basic separation — is worth more than the monthly fee difference, and it arrives at Pro rather than Elite. bunq also has separate business plans (Free €0.00, Core €7.99, Pro €13.99, Elite €23.99 per month). Pair this with our guide to side hustles in the Netherlands for the broader financial picture.

Someone settling long-term in the Netherlands: bunq. An NL IBAN as standard, DNB licensing and the ability to receive salary directly make it a more complete replacement for a traditional Dutch bank account — and you get all of that on bunq Free. For everything you need to set up in your first year, the first year in the Netherlands guide covers what Dutch banking infrastructure you actually need.

Cost-of-living-conscious expat in Amsterdam or Rotterdam: Neither premium plan, most likely. bunq Free at €0.00 or Core at €3.99 covers ordinary Dutch banking. For a concrete look at what things actually cost in different cities, our Amsterdam vs Rotterdam cost of living comparison is worth reading before you decide how much your banking setup will matter to your monthly budget.

Someone primarily investing and less focused on daily banking: Probably neither — look at free or low-cost accounts and redirect that €18.99–€19.99 a month into your investment account. The best ETF platforms for expats in the Netherlands guide covers where to put that money to work.

The Verdict

Choose bunq if:

• You want a Dutch NL IBAN for salary and direct debits without any discussion
• You’d benefit from multiple bank accounts with separate IBANs for financial organisation
• You have or plan to have a side income stream that benefits from account separation
• And within bunq: start at Free, step up to Core or Pro when a specific limit bites, and take Elite if you want its travel insurance (which also covers your family), eSIM data and extra free foreign-currency transfers

Choose Revolut Metal if:

• Your cash withdrawals are consistently under €800/month
• You travel often and want travel insurance together with unlimited currency exchange without additional fees and discounted lounge entries
• You exchange more than €1,000 a month in other currencies, including at weekends
• You already use Revolut’s ecosystem and don’t need Dutch-specific banking infrastructure

Neither is a bad choice. The difference is whether Dutch banking infrastructure matters more to you, or travel perks.

Ready to Sign Up?

If you’ve decided on bunq, you can sign up through the link below. Check the app for any current promotion after you create your account.

Get started with bunq: Check bunq’s current plans — bunq Free €0.00, Core €3.99, Pro €9.99, Elite €18.99 per month (bunq.com plan comparison, checked 29 September 2026), Dutch NL IBAN, bank accounts with their own IBANs.

If Revolut Metal sounds like the better fit for your lifestyle, you can explore it directly:

Revolut Metal: €19.99/month (or €195 a year), €800 of ATM withdrawals per rolling month without Revolut fees, unlimited currency exchange without additional fees, travel insurance (revolut.com, Netherlands, checked 29 September 2026).

Related Articles

• Best banking accounts for expats in the Netherlands 2026 — full market overview including free tiers
• N26 vs Bunq vs Revolut for expats in the Netherlands — three-way comparison including N26
• Wise vs Revolut for expats 2026 — if international transfers are your main concern
• Your first year in the Netherlands: the complete guide — everything you need to set up your Dutch financial life

Last updated: 29 September 2026. Fees and features change — always verify current terms directly with bunq and Revolut before signing up.