GoDutch vs N26
We have listed the main differences for you, so that you can make the best choice.
€0 fixed costs per month
NL IBAN active in 1 day
Up to 1% cashback on every payment, unlimited
24/7 real people on the phone
4.8/5
More than 23,000+ customers are already managing their finances smarter with GoDutch.
Which of the two to choose?
Which alternative suits your business account better: N26 or GoDutch? I built GoDutch because Dutch entrepreneurs do not need a German IBAN like they do with N26: German IBAN, limited Dutch support, no cashback. With GoDutch, as an entrepreneur, you get a Dutch business account in 1 day, free, with cashback and automatic administration. Below, the differences between N26 and GoDutch are set out side by side.
Account
Dutch IBAN
Extra (virtual) IBANs
Free card
Free customer and company research
Open account / onboarding
Fully digital registration process
Registration time
Processing time KYC/KYB
Costs
Fixed costs p/m (starting price)
Cost per SEPA payment
Cost of additional payment account (IBAN)
Cost of additional payment card
Features
Real-time balance insight
Automated invoice processing
Automatic VAT recognition
Access for accountant / bookkeeper
Accounting integrations
Team card and expenditure management
International
Currency exchange at mid rate
Countries available
Currencies available
Security & Support
Deposit guarantee (covered up to)
24/7 telephone support
Multilingual customer support
Rewards
Cashback on card transactions
Unlimited
3 minutes
1 day
€0
€0.12
Free with Unlimited
Free
At cost
150+
20+
€100,000
Unlimited up to 1.0%
Maximum 10
8 minutes
A few hours
€0
€0
€0 (up to 10 with Premium)
€10 per additional card
❌
❌
At cost
25+ (EU/EEA countries)
Only EUR
€100,000
❌
EN/DE/FR/ES/IT
Deze vergelijking is gebaseerd op openbaar beschikbare informatie per 14 juli 2025. Prijzen, functies en voorwaarden kunnen wijzigen. Raadpleeg altijd de website van de aanbieder voor de meest actuele informatie.
More than just a payment account
Useful features
Everything you need to manage your finances as a business owner wisely — from payments to insights.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Discover answers to frequently asked questions about our products and services.
What are the main differences between GoDutch and N26 for Dutch entrepreneurs?
The main differences between GoDutch and N26 for Dutch entrepreneurs lie in the IBAN country, the target group, accounting integrations and customer service. GoDutch is a Dutch provider of business accounts with a Dutch IBAN (NL prefix), Dutch accounting integrations and Dutch-language 24/7 support. N26 is a German online bank with a German IBAN (DE prefix), no direct integration with Dutch accounting packages and English-language customer service via chat and email.
At package level, GoDutch offers four variants from €0 to €49 per month with unlimited cashback up to 1% and a free physical card from Starter onwards. N26 offers four business packages from €0 to €16.90 per month, with cashback up to 0.5% and a one-off fee of €10 for a physical card on the Business Standard package. SEPA payments are free with N26, while GoDutch charges a fixed transaction fee of €0.12.
At target-group level, N26 primarily targets freelancers and sole traders who work internationally; private limited companies, holding companies, foundations, associations and homeowners' associations cannot open a business account with N26. GoDutch accepts all these legal forms plus sole proprietorships, general partnerships, public limited companies and co-operatives. For entrepreneurs with Dutch customers, a legal entity or a team that wants to collaborate on the account, GoDutch offers a broader all-round package. More factual information about the N26 business account is available on a separate review page.
Which IBAN prefix do I get with N26 compared with GoDutch?
At N26, as an entrepreneur you get a German IBAN with a DE prefix, because N26 Bank SE is based in Berlin and falls under German banking supervision. GoDutch provides Dutch IBANs with an NL prefix. Within the SEPA zone, a German IBAN is legally equivalent to a Dutch one, but in practice in the Netherlands a DE IBAN often leads to questions or even refusals from customers and automated direct debit systems.
Since 2014, it has been legally established that IBAN discrimination within the SEPA zone is not permitted: a German IBAN must be accepted by Dutch companies and institutions for both bank transfers and direct debit. Nevertheless, in practice it often happens that customers ask for a Dutch account number on an invoice, or that direct debit agreements with Dutch suppliers stall because of the DE prefix. This leads to delays in payments and extra administrative communication.
For entrepreneurs whose customer base is mainly in the Netherlands, a Dutch IBAN with GoDutch offers practical advantages: direct acceptance by all Dutch parties, no questions from customers or suppliers, and smooth integration with Dutch accounting packages and direct debit systems. For freelancers who invoice solely internationally, the difference is smaller, but for businesses with a Dutch customer base the NL IBAN makes a structural difference.
Is my money with N26 protected in the same way as with GoDutch?
Both providers offer protection up to €100,000 per account holder, but via different deposit guarantee schemes. N26 falls under the German deposit guarantee scheme, administered by the Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken. With GoDutch, your balance up to €100,000 falls under the deposit guarantee scheme via GoDutch's regulated financial partner, with the same level of cover as Dutch banks.
The practical difference is limited: in both cases your balance up to €100,000 is protected in the event of the institution's insolvency. The legal difference lies in the supervisory country (Germany vs GoDutch's European partner structure) and the resolution organisation. For entrepreneurs who structurally keep large amounts in their business account, it is sensible to spread balances above €100,000 across multiple accounts or to opt for a savings product, regardless of the provider.
For entrepreneurs who primarily use their account for day-to-day transaction traffic, the difference is not noticeable in practice. The difference that is noticeable lies in all other aspects of the product: IBAN prefix, accounting integration, customer service in Dutch and cashback level. On those points, GoDutch offers an integration that N26 cannot match in the Netherlands.
How long does it take to open an account with N26 compared with GoDutch?
At GoDutch, your account is operational within three hours of the online application; the registration itself takes three minutes and KYC processing is completed within one working day. At N26, the application in the app takes about 8 minutes and processing can take from a few hours to several working days, depending on the package and the documents provided. For entrepreneurs who want to be able to invoice or make payments straight away, the difference is significant.
At N26, the process is entirely via the mobile app: you download the app, complete the application (around 8 minutes), identify yourself via video call or photo verification, and wait for verification by the compliance team. For a Business Standard application, the virtual Mastercard is usually activated within a few hours; the physical Mastercard is delivered by post within 5 to 9 working days for a one-off fee of €10.
At GoDutch, KYC is fully automated via passport- or driving licence identification in front of the camera, followed by automatic verification within three hours. The Dutch IBAN and virtual Mastercard are active immediately afterwards; from Starter onwards, the physical card is included free of charge. For entrepreneurs who want to get started straight away or switch in parallel, GoDutch offers a quicker route to a working account on the same day.
How much does an N26 account cost compared with GoDutch?
N26 has four business plans: Business Standard €0, Business Smart €4.90, Business Go €9.90 and Business Metal €16.90 per month. SEPA payments are free of charge. GoDutch has four plans ranging from €0 (Free) to €49 (Unlimited) per month with a fixed transaction fee of €0.12 per SEPA payment. On N26’s Business Standard plan, you pay a one-off €10 for a physical Mastercard; with GoDutch, the physical card is included free from Starter onwards (€12 per month).
For an entrepreneur with low transaction volume, N26 appears cheaper at first glance: 100 SEPA payments cost €12 with GoDutch (Starter subscription plus transaction fees), while with N26 on Business Standard the cost is €0 in transaction fees plus a one-off €10 card fee. For an entrepreneur with substantial card spend, the comparison tilts towards GoDutch because of the cashback: with €3,000 in monthly card spend, GoDutch Pro delivers €144 cashback per year (0.4% × €36,000), while N26 Business Smart or Go delivers €36 (0.1%). The difference of €108 per year comfortably outweighs the difference in monthly costs.
In addition, GoDutch offers a standard Dutch IBAN, Dutch accounting integrations, automated invoice processing, VAT recognition and free access for your accountant across all plans. N26 does not offer these features on business plans in the Netherlands, regardless of plan level. The full fee comparison and feature overview can be found on the GoDutch pricing structure.
What cashback does GoDutch offer compared to N26?
GoDutch offers unlimited cashback of up to 1% on all card spending, increasing by package: 0% on Free, 0.1% on Starter, 0.4% on Pro and 1% on Unlimited, with no cap. N26 offers cashback on all business packages, but at a lower level: 0.1% on Business Standard, Smart and Go, and up to 0.5% on Business Metal (€16.90 per month). At the highest level, GoDutch therefore gives double the percentage of N26.
In practice: an entrepreneur with €4,000 in monthly card spending earns €480 cashback per year via GoDutch Unlimited (1% × €48,000). The same entrepreneur via N26 Business Metal receives €240 per year (0.5% × €48,000). The difference of €240 per year more than offsets the higher monthly costs of the Unlimited package. At the mid-range level (Pro €29 vs. Business Go €9.90), GoDutch already delivers a fourfold cashback percentage: 0.4% versus 0.1%.
For GoDutch's BV offering, where a lot of business expenses go through the card (software, hardware, travel costs, online advertising), the cashback alone already offsets a substantial part of the subscription costs. With N26, the cashback percentage on all packages remains below the 0.5% threshold, meaning the structural return is lower. More about the GoDutch cashback is on a separate page.
What automations does GoDutch offer compared with N26?
GoDutch offers automations specifically tailored to Dutch accounting practice: automatic invoice processing, automatic VAT recognition, direct links to Dutch accounting packages and integrated expense management with team cards. N26 does not offer these features on business packages in the Netherlands; transactions must be exported manually via CSV and imported into an external accounting package.
The automations GoDutch provides as standard where N26 falls short:
Automatic VAT recognition: GoDutch recognises the VAT amount on transactions for your records; N26 does not offer this feature
Automatic invoice processing: incoming invoices are recognised by GoDutch and prepared for approval; with N26 this must be done manually
Dutch accounting integrations: direct API integrations with Moneybird, e-Boekhouden, Exact, Visma and other Dutch packages; N26 offers no direct integration with Dutch accounting software
Access for your accountant: a free separate role for your accountant or bookkeeper; with N26 a business account is by definition in one person's name
Integrated expense management: overview of all business expenses with automatic categorisation and team cards
For entrepreneurs who want to automate their Dutch administration without external tools, GoDutch offers a broader platform that fits the local market better. In practice, N26 functions as a digital current account with cashback, without the connection to Dutch accounting and VAT practice that saves time in day-to-day operations. You can find a complete overview on the page with the GoDutch integrations for administration.
How does GoDutch's customer service differ from that of N26?
GoDutch is available 24/7 via chat, email and phone through its own staff, in both Dutch and English. N26 offers customer service primarily via in-app chat and email, mainly in English, without a Dutch-language telephone helpdesk. For Business Standard customers, only chatbot and chat are available; telephone support is reserved for Business Smart and above.
At N26, contact is entirely digital and response times vary; complex queries are handled in English by an international team. For business owners with Dutch-language business questions (VAT reporting, tax questions, a Dutch direct debit dispute), that means extra effort to frame the question in a second language. Resolving a blocked card or failed payment via English chat can take longer than a Dutch-language phone call of a few minutes.
GoDutch combines digital ease of use with traditional accessibility in Dutch. Pro and Unlimited customers receive priority support, and Unlimited customers also get a dedicated account manager. For boards using, for example, the GoDutch holding offering who want to speak directly to a Dutch-speaking employee when urgent questions arise, GoDutch aligns better with the reality of Dutch entrepreneurship.
Which legal forms does N26 accept compared with GoDutch?
N26 accepts in the Netherlands business accounts for freelancers, self-employed professionals and sole traders in their personal name. BVs, holding companies, NVs, cooperatives, foundations, associations and homeowners' associations cannot open a business account with N26. GoDutch accepts all these legal forms, with additionally a 0% VAT rate on the subscription for non-profit legal forms (foundations, associations, homeowners' associations).
For boards of non-profit organisations, GoDutch offers practical advantages. GoDutch's foundation package falls under the 0% VAT regime, while N26 is not an option at all for these legal forms. A foundation can open an account via GoDutch within three hours, including free access for the audit committee and an automatic bookkeeping integration.
Additionally, GoDutch offers dedicated functionality for specific legal forms, such as self-service management of board member changes for the GoDutch homeowners' association account and equal shared access for both partners in the GoDutch general partnership account. For a holding company with multiple operating companies, GoDutch offers the addition of multiple accounts under one account; with N26 this is not possible for business use in the Netherlands due to the limited acceptance of legal forms.
What is the difference in team management and spending between GoDutch and N26?
GoDutch offers extra users (free from Starter onwards), team cards with their own limits on Pro and Unlimited, virtual Mastercards for individual subscriptions and the option to let your accountant or bookkeeper look in free of charge. N26 business is by definition in one person's name and intended for one user; team cards, shared access for an employee or a separate role for the bookkeeper are not available.
In practice: an SME entrepreneur with four employees can with GoDutch on Pro request a separate team card for each employee with individual spending limits, automatic categorisation and real-time insight for the owner. The bookkeeper gets a separate role to look in without executive powers. With N26, that same entrepreneur would have to open four separate business accounts, one per employee in a personal name, without a central overview.
For growing SME entrepreneurs with staff or a fixed bookkeeper, this difference is structural. It not only saves time in administration, but also prevents employees from advancing private expenses and having to claim them back. You can read more about the expense management of GoDutch with team cards and real-time insight on its own page.
What is the difference in iDEAL options between GoDutch and N26?
iDEAL is for Dutch entrepreneurs the most commonly used payment method for online receipts. At GoDutch you receive SEPA and SEPA Instant payments directly into your Dutch IBAN, and iDEAL payment links and QR codes are in development. At N26, iDEAL payments are not available for business accounts.
In practice, this means the following. A Dutch webshop or service provider that wants customers to pay via iDEAL needs a Dutch IBAN to connect a payment service provider (Mollie, Stripe, Sisow) with iDEAL acceptance. With N26 and a DE-IBAN, this connection works only to a limited extent or not at all, depending on the payment provider. Customers can pay via a standard SEPA transfer or via the entrepreneur’s Mastercard, but linking the iDEAL button on an invoice or webshop to an N26 account does not work in practice.
For a Dutch-oriented business, this difference is immediately noticeable to customers in terms of payment convenience. iDEAL accounts for the vast majority of online consumer payments in the Netherlands; the absence of this option effectively means higher barriers for customers to checkout quickly. With the ZZP package at GoDutch for online customers, a Dutch IBAN connection to iDEAL providers is a direct practical advantage.
Which accounting integrations does N26 offer compared with GoDutch?
N26 offers no direct connection on business accounts in the Netherlands with Dutch accounting packages such as Moneybird, e-Boekhouden or Exact. You export transactions manually as a CSV file and import them into your accounting software. GoDutch offers direct API integrations with more than 25 Dutch accounting packages, with real-time synchronisation of transactions, automatic VAT recognition and categorisation.
For Dutch entrepreneurs, the difference in practice means hours of administrative work per month. With N26, you have to download your transaction overview every month manually, check it and import it into your accounting package, then manually categorise it and split out the VAT amounts. With GoDutch, this synchronisation runs fully automatically: new transactions appear in real time in your accounts with the correct category and VAT position.
For freelancers and small business owners who want to streamline their administration without extra tools or bridging services, GoDutch offers an integrated approach in which the bank account and accounting form one whole. In this respect, N26 functions more like a digital payment account than a fully fledged accounting platform. A business with a Moneybird, e-Boekhouden or Exact administration has directly working synchronisation with GoDutch, without an external bridging tool.
How do I switch from N26 to GoDutch?
Switching from N26 to GoDutch can be arranged in four steps. You will have an operational account with GoDutch within one working day, and you only close your N26 account as the final step, so you can switch over calmly without missed payments.
Step-by-step plan for the switch:
Open your account with GoDutch: complete the online application (three minutes), verify your identity with a passport or driving licence, and wait for the KYC processing (three hours). Your Dutch IBAN and virtual Mastercard will be active immediately afterwards, and your balance is covered by the deposit guarantee scheme up to €100,000.
Inform contacts about your new IBAN: send customers and suppliers a short email with your new Dutch account number (NL prefix instead of DE). In the GoDutch app, download a bank statement with your IBAN for your records. Update your invoices, email signature and website.
Move direct debits and subscriptions: adjust recurring payments for energy, software subscriptions, suppliers and periodic invoices. With N26 there is no switching service; you must change all direct debits yourself with each individual party.
Close your N26 account: transfer the remaining balance to GoDutch and close your N26 account via the N26 app under account settings. A complete guide for closing your N26 business account will guide you through this process.
Keep both accounts running in parallel for the first month, so that any forgotten direct debits are not rejected. If you have questions during the switch, GoDutch's support team can help you 24/7 by phone, something that with N26 is only available via English-language chat. Ready to switch to a Dutch provider with NL IBAN, deposit protection, unlimited cashback and 24/7 Dutch-language support? You can open a GoDutch business account straight away and get started today.
