N26 Belgium: the free account versus the paid plans

N26 works in Belgium, and its Standard plan really does cost €0 a year. There are two trade-offs: the IBAN starts with DE, which leaves you with a declaration to make to the National Bank of Belgium, and cash withdrawals are charged from the third one each month. The paid plans, from €58.80 to €202.80 a year, fix almost none of that. Prices checked on 5 October 2026.

Standard, Smart, Go, Metal: from €0 to €202.80 a year

N26 Bank is a branchless German bank run from Berlin. It sells four plans in Belgium, with monthly prices shown on its Belgian site. I converted them into annual costs and set them next to three €0 accounts already surveyed on this site.

N26 prices and savings rates shown on n26.com/fr-be, withdrawal allowances published by the N26 help centre, checked on 5 October 2026. In brackets, the date of the Belgian accounts' fee schedules. Keytrade savings: High Fidelity, Test-Achats survey of 21 September 2026. Argenta savings: Croissance account on 1 August 2026.

Metal costs more than twice the most expensive package found at a Belgian branch bank, Crelan Excellence Pack at €96 a year, according to our ten-year calculation. It sells on its insurance and its steel card, not on the account.

Does a paid plan pay for itself at the cash machine?

No. Never, if you only look at euro withdrawals.

Each tier adds one or a few free withdrawals a month, and every withdrawal beyond the allowance costs €2 on all plans. The sum is therefore a simple subtraction. Moving from Standard to Smart gives one more withdrawal a month, worth €24 a year at best, for a €58.80 subscription. Here is the full annual bill, subscription and withdrawals added together, depending on how often you visit a cash machine each month.

Own calculation based on the allowances and the €2 fee per extra withdrawal published by N26, checked on 5 October 2026. Keytrade: free euro withdrawals at all cash machines, fee list of 2 March 2026.

Standard remains the cheapest of the four on every line, €34.80 ahead of Smart whatever the number of withdrawals. And the right-hand column says the rest: someone who withdraws six times a month pays €96 a year at N26 for a service a free Belgian account includes. If you still pay the market, the baker and the sports club in cash, N26 is not a free account for you.

Outside the eurozone: €5.10 in fees on two weeks in the United States

This is where N26 wins, starting with the free plan.

N26 charges no commission on a card payment in a foreign currency: conversion is done at the Mastercard rate, with no margin added by the bank, according to its help centre. Foreign currency withdrawals cost 1.7% on Standard and Smart, nothing on Go and Metal. Take the standard trip from our survey of non-euro card fees, ten payments of €150 and two withdrawals of €150: on N26 Standard, the payments cost nothing and the two withdrawals €2.55 each, so €5.10 in total. The same trip came to about €7 with Revolut Standard on weekdays, €30.40 with the Keytrade Visa, €45 with the Belfius debit card and €62.35 with the BNP Paribas Fortis one. The cash machine operator may add its own fee, shown on screen, which N26 does not refund.

Go removes the 1.7%. To recover its €118.80 a year on that benefit alone, you would have to withdraw €6,988 in foreign currency over the year. Who takes out seven thousand euros in cash abroad?

Almost nobody.

Go and Metal should therefore be judged on their travel insurance, which I have not assessed here: read the policy's ceilings and exclusions before assuming the subscription replaces cancellation cover.

The IBAN is still German: two declarations fall to you

Revolut has issued Belgian IBANs since 1 May 2025. N26 has not. Its Belgian page still announces an IBAN starting with DE, and Test-Achats confirmed it on 11 August 2025.

For the tax administration, an N26 account is a foreign account. The bank reports nothing on your behalf. That leaves four steps, two of them declarations:

• declare the account once to the Central Point of Contact of the National Bank of Belgium (CPC, the register of accounts held by Belgian residents), online with itsme or your electronic ID card;
• mention the existence of a foreign account in your tax return every year, even if the balance is €12;
• declare the interest on N26 savings yourself, since the bank does not withhold the précompte mobilier, Belgium's withholding tax on investment income;
• report the closure to the CPC the day you close the account.

Test-Achats pointed out on 16 February 2026 that the first declaration must be made before filing the tax return that follows the opening. Ten minutes, once. Forgetting it, on the other hand, exposes you to a fine.

For salaries and direct debits, the law is on your side: EU Regulation 260/2012 prohibits refusing an IBAN from another SEPA country. Not every online form has read it.

Who protects money held at N26?

The German deposit guarantee scheme, up to €100,000 per person. The ceiling is the one you know in Belgium, the counterpart is not: supervision lies with the German authority, BaFin, not with the National Bank of Belgium (BNB).

How much do N26 savings pay?

Not much on Standard: 0.30% gross. Instant Savings (Épargne Express) is a non-regulated account under German law, with no loyalty bonus and no deposit cap, and interest is paid monthly. It does not qualify for the €1,020 per person exemption reserved in 2026 for regulated savings accounts, and its interest is taxed at 30% from the first euro, as explained by Wikifin, the financial education site of the FSMA, the Belgian financial markets authority.

On €10,000 left for a year, Standard pays €30 gross, of which €21 remains after tax. Metal shows 1.50%: €150 gross, €105 net, for a €202.80 subscription. Keytrade's High Fidelity account, with a 0.50% base rate, a 1.50% loyalty bonus and no deposit cap, gives €200 on the same sum kept for twelve months, tax-free below the exemption threshold, and its current account costs €0 a year. How that bonus works is explained in our article on advertised rates and actual returns.

This site compares fees and conditions. It recommends no investment and gives no personal advice.

Can N26 be your main account in Belgium?

It can receive a salary and pay wherever Mastercard is accepted. It cannot do everything:

• no Bancontact, and the Payconiq by Bancontact app cannot be linked to an N26 account, Test-Achats noted;
• no branch and no Dutch version;
• no credit card, hence a risk of refusal at a car rental desk;
• no regulated savings, hence no tax exemption on interest.

For those reasons Test-Achats advised against making it your main bank. I would qualify that: as a second account for travel, Standard is hard to beat, and Revolut, which now has a Belgian IBAN, is its real rival on that ground.

To see how N26 compares with Belgian banks, our bank ranking lists the annual cost of the current account institution by institution, and the bank comparison tool puts two offers side by side. The free Belgian account quoted here is detailed in our Keytrade Keypack review.

Sources

• N26, Belgian site: monthly prices of the Standard, Smart, Go and Metal plans, two free withdrawals a month on Standard, German IBAN, Instant Savings rates, German deposit protection. Checked on 5 October 2026.
• N26, free bank account: virtual card included, physical card at €10. Checked on 5 October 2026.
• N26, help centre, free withdrawals: allowances per plan, €2 per extra withdrawal, 1.7% on foreign currency withdrawals on Standard and Smart. Checked on 5 October 2026.
• N26, information on the savings account for customers living in Belgium: non-regulated account under German law, no Belgian tax withheld, interest to be declared. Checked on 5 October 2026.
• Test-Achats, Les services financiers de N26 sont-ils intéressants pour vous ?: German IBAN, no Payconiq by Bancontact, no Dutch version, 11 August 2025.
• Test-Achats, Déclarer ses comptes à l'étranger à la BNB et dans sa déclaration d'impôt: 16 February 2026.
• Test-Achats, Hausse des taux : 5 pistes pour mieux rémunérer votre épargne à court terme: Keytrade High Fidelity at 0.50% + 1.50%, 21 September 2026.
• National Bank of Belgium, Central Point of Contact, questions from private individuals. Checked on 5 October 2026.
• Wikifin (FSMA), Comment sont taxés les intérêts sur votre compte d'épargne ?. Checked on 5 October 2026.
• EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) No 260/2012: Article 9, reachability of accounts within SEPA.
• Keytrade Bank, Fee list: €0 account, free euro withdrawals, foreign currency withdrawal at €2 + 0.40% + 1.40%, in force since 2 March 2026.