Rating
Swiss neobanks and online banks compared: which is best?
Yuh takes the top spot with 4.9/5. CHF 0 per month, a free debit card, one free ATM withdrawal per week, and stocks, ETFs, crypto and pillar 3a in the same app you pay rent from. Nothing else in Switzerland packs that much into a free account.
Here's the odd thing: Switzerland has more than a dozen neobanks and online banks chasing your salary, yet most people still pay a traditional bank CHF 50 to CHF 200 a year for a branch they never visit. The table above ranks every neobank account we hold verified data on, sorted by score, not by marketing budget.
Want to narrow it down? Use Annual fees to hide paid accounts, Bank to show a single provider, See details for our verdict on each account, and Compare to put up to three side by side.
Spend a lot in foreign currency? neon is still the simplest cheap option at a Swiss-licensed bank. neon free charges 0.35% every day of the week, roughly a third of what Yuh charges, and neon plus drops it to 0% for CHF 2 a month. Both score 4.8/5, held back only by expensive cash.
Revolut Standard is built for spending in other currencies: Revolut rate on all currency exchanges (weekend and fair usage fees may apply). That's most of the reason it reaches fifth despite having no TWINT and no eBill.
The top five are separated by just 0.3 stars, from Yuh's 4.9/5 down to Revolut's 4.6/5. So the right account depends on how you actually spend, not on who sits one row higher.
Neobank, online bank, digital bank: what's the difference?
A neobank is a bank you run entirely from a smartphone app, with no branches of its own. Most people use "online bank" and "digital bank" to mean the same thing, and for choosing an account that's fine. The label that matters is the bank behind the app, and the Swiss accounts in our ranking fall into three groups:
- App-first brands: Yuh, neon and Revolut were built as apps from day one. Yuh runs on Swissquote Bank and neon on Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, both Swiss-licensed. Revolut is its own bank, licensed in Lithuania.
- Digital accounts from traditional banks: Zak (Bank Cler), UBS key4 and Swissquote Light are app accounts from established Swiss banks.
- A digital bank with its own Swiss licence: Alpian holds a FINMA banking licence itself.
Why it matters: every account here except Revolut comes with a native Swiss IBAN and esisuisse deposit protection up to CHF 100,000. Revolut's IBAN is virtual and its deposits fall under the Lithuanian scheme. Our Swiss neobanks hub covers the category in more depth.
How do we rank Swiss neobanks?
We score every account out of 112 points across five pillars. The weights explain why the table looks the way it does:
- Cost of ownership (35 points): monthly account fee, debit card fee, and what it costs to reach your own cash.
- Everyday digital banking (25 points): app quality, QR-bill and eBill handling, TWINT, standing orders, and extras like investing or savings pots.
- Foreign currency (22 points): the card markup on non-CHF spending plus withdrawal costs abroad.
- Access and flexibility (18 points): web banking, joint accounts, sub-accounts, branch fallback, and how painlessly you can leave.
- Swiss integration (12 points): deposit protection, whether the CH IBAN is native or virtual, eBill, and TWINT.
Swiss integration is new, and Revolut is the reason we added it. We built the original four-pillar model when every product here was a Swiss-licensed bank with a Swiss IBAN, so there was nothing to tell apart. Once a cross-border EU bank entered the category, we had to price that difference in rather than pretend it didn't exist. Revolut currently scores 0 of those 12 points, for reasons we set out in the Revolut section.
Cost still carries the most weight, which is why the free accounts finish above the paid tiers. Foreign currency matters a lot but never dominates. That's why neon's 0.35% markup alone can't lift neon free above accounts that also make cash cheap. We convert the total into the rating out of 5 you see in the table.
Every figure comes from published fee schedules, not from what the banks say about themselves in their app store listings.
Yuh: the best neobank overall4.9/5
Yuh is the only free account here that's strong on cost, cash and investing at the same time. You pay CHF 0 a month, the Mastercard debit card is free, and your first Swiss ATM withdrawal each week is free, then CHF 1.90.
Stocks, ETFs, crypto and pillar 3a live in the same app as your salary, and one account holds 13 currencies. Your deposits sit at Swissquote Bank, protected up to CHF 100,000 by esisuisse.
The catch is foreign currency. Card payments in another currency cost 0.95%, nearly three times neon free's 0.35%, and cash abroad costs CHF 4.90 a withdrawal. On CHF 5,000 a year of spending abroad, that's CHF 30 more than neon free.
Best for: anyone who wants one free app for everyday banking, investing and pillar 3a.
neon free: the lowest seven-day FX markup4.8/5
neon free charges a 0.35% markup on foreign currency card payments, weekdays and weekends alike. No other free Swiss-licensed account in the ranking holds a rate that low all week. The account costs CHF 0 a month, with free domestic and SEPA transfers, eBill, investing and pillar 3a. The debit card costs CHF 20 once.
The catch is cash. Every Swiss ATM withdrawal costs CHF 2.50 and cash abroad costs 1.5%, so two withdrawals a month add up to CHF 60 a year. TWINT only works through TWINT Prepaid, which you top up from your neon balance.
Deposits sit at Hypothekarbank Lenzburg. For the head-to-head with number one, read our Neon vs Yuh comparison.
Best for: people who pay abroad by card and rarely use cash.
neon plus: no markup for CHF 2 a month4.8/5
neon plus fixes both weak spots of neon free for CHF 2 a month, or CHF 20 for a full year, with a one-month minimum term. Card payments abroad carry no neon markup, your first two Swiss withdrawals each month are free (then CHF 2.50), and cash abroad drops to 1%.
The maths is quick. Two Swiss withdrawals a month cost CHF 60 a year on neon free, more than double the CHF 24 you pay for plus. The CHF 20 card fee and TWINT Prepaid stay the same.
Best for: neon users who take out cash a couple of times a month or travel at all.
UBS key4 Pure: the big-bank option, closed to new clients4.7/5
UBS key4 Pure is the only big-bank account in the ranking, and it takes full marks on cost and Swiss integration. CHF 0 a month, a free debit card, native TWINT, eBill, both an app and web banking, and free withdrawals at UBS ATMs.
There are two catches. UBS no longer opens key4 accounts, so this mainly helps people who already have one (new clients get the same prices with UBS Banking Easy from age 26). And card payments in foreign currency cost 2% with a CHF 1 minimum, the joint worst markup here. Other banks' ATMs cost CHF 2 in Switzerland and CHF 5 abroad.
Best for: existing key4 clients who rarely spend in another currency.
Revolut: built for spending abroad4.6/5
Revolut Standard is built for spending in other currencies, with 36+ currencies to hold, 150+ to spend. Revolut rate applies to all currency exchanges. Weekend fees and fair usage fees may apply. The account is free and the physical card is free, though delivery costs CHF 5.99.
Cash is tighter than the headline suggests: five withdrawals or CHF 200 per rolling month, whichever comes first, Switzerland and abroad combined. After that it's 2%, with a CHF 1 minimum.
So why fifth? Swiss clients bank with Revolut Bank UAB in Lithuania, so deposits are covered up to EUR 100,000 by the Lithuanian scheme, not by esisuisse. The Swiss IBAN is real but virtual, issued through PostFinance. There's no eBill, no TWINT and no QR-bill invoicing, which leaves Revolut 0 of 12 on Swiss integration. It applied to FINMA for a Swiss banking licence in September 2026, with no published timeline.
Best for: a second account for foreign currency, next to a Swiss main account.
Zak by Bank Cler: best for budgeting4.5/5
Zak is Bank Cler's app account, so your money sits at a traditional Swiss bank in the Basler Kantonalbank group. It's free, the Visa debit card is free, and your balance earns 0.05% where Yuh and neon pay nothing. The "Töpfli" savings pots are the best budgeting tool of any Swiss neobank, and Zak Invest now covers stocks, funds and ETFs.
The catch is a 2% FX markup, the joint worst in the ranking with UBS key4. Cash is free at Bank Cler ATMs, CHF 2 at other Swiss ATMs and CHF 5 abroad. There's no web banking and no payments outside SEPA.
Best for: budgeters and savers who spend almost entirely in francs.
Zak Plus: free cash everywhere, same 2% markup4.0/5
Zak Plus costs CHF 8 a month and makes every ATM free, in Switzerland and abroad, with no limit on the number. It doesn't touch the 2% card markup, which is why it finishes last of the twelve. With withdrawals abroad at CHF 5 on free Zak, the CHF 96 a year pays off at around 20 foreign withdrawals a year.
Best for: Zak users who take out cash abroad more than once or twice a month.
Alpian: best for holding EUR, USD and GBP4.5/5
Alpian is a Swiss bank with its own FINMA licence. One Swiss IBAN holds CHF, EUR, USD and GBP, and paying from the matching balance costs nothing. When you do convert, the markup is 0.20% on weekdays, the lowest of any free Swiss-licensed account here, and 0.50% at weekends. EUR and USD balances earn 0.75% and 1% on the portion between 10,001 and 500,000.
The catch is everything around the card. The metal Visa debit card costs CHF 60, again on renewal after five years. Swiss withdrawals cost CHF 2 and cash abroad 2.5%. There's no web banking, and TWINT is Prepaid only.
Best for: people paid or saving in EUR, USD or GBP who mostly pay by card.
Alpian Signature: the free upgrade if you qualify4.5/5
Signature is the same account with the metal card included, 0.10% card cashback and lower investment fees. It costs nothing, but you need one of three things: a salary of at least CHF 7,000 a month paid into Alpian, at least CHF 1,000 a month in recurring investments, or CHF 150,000 held at Alpian. Qualify already? Switch it on. If not, the everyday savings of about CHF 60 a year aren't worth rerouting your salary for.
Is neon metal worth CHF 180 a year?4.4/5
Rarely. neon metal costs CHF 15 a month, or CHF 150 if you pay yearly, with a 12-month minimum term. You get a 0% card markup, five free Swiss withdrawals a month, no neon fee on cash abroad, a metal card and an insurance bundle.
Set that against neon plus at CHF 24. The three extra free Swiss withdrawals are worth up to CHF 90 a year, and free cash abroad saves 1% on every withdrawal. Even on the yearly price, you'd need to use all five Swiss withdrawals every month and take out about CHF 4,000 abroad before metal comes out ahead, unless you'd buy the insurance anyway.
Best for: frequent travellers who withdraw a lot of cash abroad and want the insurance.
neon global: an insurance plan with a bank attached4.3/5
neon global costs CHF 8 a month or CHF 80 a year, with a 12-month minimum. Over neon plus, it adds a third free Swiss withdrawal, 0.5% on cash abroad instead of 1%, a free card, 20% back on Wise transfer fees, and travel, shopping and cyber insurance. The banking extras alone don't cover the price, so pick it only if you'd pay for that cover anyway.
Swissquote Light: free, but the card is virtual only4.2/5
Swissquote Light is the free account from Swissquote Bank, the bank behind Yuh. It takes full marks on cost and Swiss integration: CHF 0 a month, a native CH IBAN, TWINT, eBill, an app and full web banking, and the same 0.95% markup as Yuh on 13 main currencies.
The catch: the Debit Mastercard is virtual only, so you pay with your phone or watch. Every ATM withdrawal costs CHF 1.90 in Switzerland and CHF 4.90 abroad, and SEPA transfers cost EUR 2. Yuh adds a physical card and a free weekly withdrawal at the same exchange rate, which is why it ranks ten places higher.
Best for: Swissquote investors who want their everyday account at the same bank.
Do neobanks offer savings accounts?
Yes, but this ranking compares everyday accounts, so we rank the savings accounts from Yuh and Alpian alongside every other Swiss savings account. See neobank savings accounts to open that ranking with the Neobanks only filter switched on.
Which neobanks are not in the ranking?
Radicant is gone. It ceased all operations in November 2025, and its closure is why the free end of the Swiss market no longer has a 0% FX option.
N26 offers a Mastercard, free withdrawals and decent rates, but your IBAN is German. That still causes real friction with Swiss payroll and QR-bills, so N26 stays out of the table.
Wise is outstanding for international transfers and multi-currency balances, with genuinely transparent pricing. It isn't a bank, though. No Swiss IBAN, no domestic payment infrastructure, and it was never designed to be your main account.
Which online bank is right for you?
Good news: none of the ranked neobanks is a bad choice. The right one depends on how you use your money.
Daily Swiss Banking
Live in Switzerland, earn in CHF, spend mostly in CHF? Yuh is the default answer. CHF 0 per month, a free card, one free ATM withdrawal a week, and investing you can ignore until you want it. neon free is just as valid if you'd rather have the lower FX markup than the free cash.
Frequent Travellers
Revolut is built for spending abroad: Revolut rate on all currency exchanges (weekend and fair usage fees may apply), and the account costs nothing to hold. Run it next to a Swiss account, not instead of one.
Want everything inside one Swiss-licensed app? neon plus removes the card markup for CHF 2 a month and gives you two free Swiss withdrawals. If you hold EUR, USD or GBP, Alpian lets you pay from those balances for free, though the CHF 60 card and 2.5% on cash abroad make it a narrower pick.
Investors
Yuh is still the most complete investing app among ranked Swiss neobanks: salary, budget, stocks, ETFs, crypto and pillar 3a in one place. Zak has closed part of the gap with Zak Invest since January 2026.
If trading costs matter more to you than convenience, pair a free neobank with a dedicated broker.
Budgeters and Savers
Zak's Töpfli pots are the best goal-based budgeting tool in the category, and the account pays 0.05% interest where neon and Yuh pay nothing. Just keep foreign currency spending off the card, because its 2.00% markup is the joint worst here.
Best online bank for expats in Switzerland
The fees in the table are the same whatever your passport. What changes is whether you can open the account at all, and that depends on where you live and which permit you hold.
Living across the border? Yuh is the only account in our ranking whose terms accept residents of neighbouring countries: Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein, with restrictions Yuh flags for France. Alpian Signature is limited to people living in Switzerland. We don't hold verified non-resident rules for the other providers, so check their opening requirements before you apply.
Newcomers and cross-border workers often earn in francs and spend part of their money in euros, so the FX markup hits harder than for most people. neon plus charges 0% on card payments for CHF 2 a month, Alpian lets you hold EUR and pay from that balance for free, and Revolut gives you the Revolut rate on all currency exchanges (weekend and fair usage fees may apply). Zak and UBS key4 charge 2%, so keep them for francs.
Our guide to banking for expats covers which banks accept which permit.
Are Swiss neobanks and online banks safe?
Short answer: yes, almost all of them. Eleven of the twelve accounts in our ranking are, or run on, a FINMA-regulated Swiss bank. Your deposits are covered by esisuisse up to CHF 100,000 per depositor per bank, exactly as at UBS or a cantonal bank. The app is just the interface. The licence underneath is what protects your money:
- Yuh and Swissquote Light deposits sit at Swissquote Bank (FINMA-regulated)
- neon deposits, on every plan, sit at Hypothekarbank Lenzburg (FINMA-regulated)
- Zak deposits sit at Bank Cler (FINMA-regulated, BKB group)
- UBS key4 deposits sit at UBS (FINMA-regulated)
- Alpian holds its own Swiss banking licence (FINMA-regulated)
- Revolut deposits sit at Revolut Bank UAB in Lithuania, covered up to EUR 100,000 by the Lithuanian scheme instead
Our guide to deposit protection explains how esisuisse works and what a cross-border scheme means in practice.
Common neobank mistakes to avoid
Revolut is built for spending in other currencies and still finishes behind Yuh, both neon plans and UBS key4. Foreign currency is 22 of our 112 points, not all of them. The same trap works the other way at neon free: the lowest seven-day markup of any free Swiss-licensed account disappears fast if you withdraw cash every week.
neon plus (CHF 24 a year), neon global and neon metal all drop the card markup to 0%, but only plus is cheap enough to pay off for most people. Zak Plus (CHF 96 a year) doesn't change the markup at all: it buys free cash, and you still pay 2% on card payments abroad.
Add up last year's card statements before you upgrade.
Yuh, Zak, Swissquote Light and UBS key4 debit TWINT payments straight from your account. neon, on every plan, and Alpian only offer TWINT Prepaid, which you top up first. Revolut has no TWINT at all. If you split bills with TWINT every week, check this before you move your salary.
Zak and Alpian are phone-only, with no desktop access. That hurts at tax time, or when your phone is in for repair. Yuh, Swissquote Light, UBS key4 and Revolut all give you a browser login.
My recommendation: which neobank should you pick?
After testing every Swiss neobank and running my own spending through them, here's what I actually tell people: open Yuh unless you have a specific reason not to. It's free, the card is free, you get a free weekly ATM withdrawal, and the investing side means you won't need a separate brokerage account later.
The one real reason to go elsewhere is foreign currency. If a good slice of your spending is in EUR or USD, take neon free and accept the cash fees, or pay CHF 2 a month for neon plus and lose the markup entirely.
What I wouldn't do is pay CHF 150 to 180 a year for neon metal. neon plus gives you the same 0% card markup for CHF 24, and the extra cash perks rarely make up the difference.
And Revolut? It's built for spending in other currencies, and I keep one myself. None of its Swiss gaps close unless FINMA grants the licence Revolut applied for in September, so don't count on that yet. Use it the way I do: a Swiss account for your Swiss life, Revolut for everything in another currency. That pairing costs CHF 0 in monthly fees.
The truly expensive mistake is none of these. It's staying at a traditional bank and paying CHF 200 a year for services you never use.
Want to weigh these accounts against traditional banks feature by feature? Use the bank account comparison tool. And if you only care about zero-fee options, our free bank accounts guide covers every one of them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best online bank in Switzerland in 2026?
Yuh, at 4.9/5. It combines a CHF 0 monthly fee, a free debit card, one free ATM withdrawal per week and built-in investing, including pillar 3a. If you spend a lot in foreign currency, neon free's 0.35% markup every day of the week or neon plus at 0% for CHF 2 a month will serve you better, and Revolut, built for spending abroad, works well next to a Swiss account.
What is the best free neobank?
Yuh: CHF 0 a month, a free card and one free Swiss withdrawal a week. Its catch is the 0.95% FX markup, and every other free account has one too. neon free charges CHF 20 once for the card and CHF 2.50 per Swiss withdrawal. Zak adds 2% on foreign currency. Revolut Standard charges CHF 5.99 for card delivery and caps free cash at five withdrawals or CHF 200 per rolling month. Alpian's metal card costs CHF 60, and Swissquote Light has a virtual card only.
Alpian, neon or Yuh: which is the best Swiss digital bank?
Yuh (4.9/5) for most people, thanks to free cash once a week and built-in investing. neon free (4.8/5) beats it if you pay abroad by card, with a 0.35% markup against Yuh's 0.95%. Alpian (4.5/5) is the pick if you hold EUR, USD or GBP, since you pay from those balances for free, but its CHF 60 card and 2.5% on cash abroad pull it down.
How do Neon, Yuh and Zak differ?
Yuh (4.9/5) is the all-rounder: free account and card, one free ATM withdrawal a week and investing built in, but a 0.95% FX markup. neon free (4.8/5) has the lowest markup of the three at 0.35%, but every Swiss ATM withdrawal costs CHF 2.50 and TWINT is Prepaid only. Zak (4.5/5) has the best budgeting pots and 0.05% interest, but charges 2% on foreign currency, even on the paid Zak Plus.
Do Swiss neobanks offer the same services as traditional banks?
For everyday banking, yes, and a neobank usually wins on cost. Yuh, Zak and neon free all charge CHF 0 a month, while many people pay CHF 50 to CHF 200 a year for a traditional account they barely use. A traditional bank still wins on cash deposits, mortgages and face-to-face advice. My view: make a free Swiss neobank your main account, and keep a branch bank only if you need those services. Our best private bank accounts guide covers both sides.
Which Swiss neobank has the lowest foreign currency fees?
Among Swiss-licensed accounts with no monthly fee, Alpian charges 0.20% on weekdays (0.50% at weekends) and neon free 0.35% every day. If you're willing to pay, neon plus (CHF 24 a year), neon global and neon metal all charge 0% on card payments. Zak, Zak Plus and UBS key4 Pure charge 2%, the highest in our ranking. Revolut Standard works differently. Revolut rate applies to all currency exchanges. Weekend fees and fair usage fees may apply.
Can I use a neobank as my only bank in Switzerland?
Yes, as long as it gives you a Swiss IBAN from a Swiss-licensed bank. Yuh, Zak, Swissquote Light and UBS key4 all work as a sole account, with salary deposits, QR-bills, eBill, standing orders and TWINT. neon and Alpian cover the same ground, but TWINT only works through TWINT Prepaid. Revolut isn't a substitute here. The other limit is cash deposits, which most neobanks don't handle well.
Which Swiss digital banks are regulated by FINMA?
Every account in our ranking except Revolut is held at a FINMA-regulated Swiss bank: Swissquote Bank (Yuh, Swissquote Light), Hypothekarbank Lenzburg (neon), Bank Cler (Zak), UBS (key4) and Alpian, which holds its own licence. Revolut's Swiss arm is FINMA-authorised, but your money sits at Revolut Bank UAB in Lithuania. Revolut applied for a Swiss banking licence in September 2026.
Can expats and cross-border workers open a Swiss online bank account?
If you live in Switzerland, yes, subject to each bank's permit rules. If you live abroad, Yuh is the only account in our ranking whose terms accept residents of neighbouring countries (Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein, with restrictions for France). For the others, check the provider's opening requirements first, and see our guide to banking for expats for permit details.
Next steps
Use the comparison table above to filter by the fee that actually affects you, then open the detailed review for each account on your shortlist. That's the fastest way to find the best Swiss online bank for how you actually bank, not for how the ads say you should.
