Revolut Verdict (2026)

Score sheet

Why B−: The app does more than any rival and the free plan is useful abroad. Annual auto-renewal, two-month break fees, inflated 'worth' figures and chat-only support for most users pull it down.

Overall is the weighted mean of the five rows, adjusted by a small slug-seeded offset so that brands never line up in a false staircase, and capped at 9.8. Full working on the Methodology page (v2.1).

Findings in brief

1. Paid plans auto-renew every year. Cancel a monthly-paid UK plan between 14 days and 10 months in and Revolut keeps that month plus a break fee of two months' subscription.
2. Standard is free. The UK ladder runs Plus at GBP 3.99, Premium GBP 8.99, Metal GBP 16.99 and Ultra GBP 60 a month; the US offers Premium at $9.99 and Metal at $16.99.
3. Free-plan currency exchange carries a fair-usage cap and a 1% extra fee at weekends in the UK, or outside forex market hours in the US.
4. In the UK the footer names Revolut Bank UK Ltd as PRA-authorised and FCA- and PRA-regulated. In the US Revolut says it is not a bank; partner banks hold the money.
5. The dominant one-star theme on Trustpilot is accounts frozen for checks, followed by difficulty reaching a human through in-app chat.
6. Plan pages put a value on each tier ('worth GBP 3,750 a year' for Metal) built from retail prices of bundled perks, which few customers will use in full.

What Revolut sells

Revolut is a London-headquartered fintech that began as a travel card and now sells close to a full bank in one app. The homepage claims more than 80 million customers worldwide. Everyone gets a free Standard account with a card, multi-currency balances, budgeting tools, transfers and savings. Paid plans layer on cheaper or unlimited currency exchange, larger fee-free ATM allowances, insurance, partner subscriptions, eSIM data and, at the top, airport lounges. The app also sells stocks, crypto, commodities, credit and, in the US, an automated investing service. What you can buy depends heavily on where you live: the UK has five plans and a banking licence, the US has three plans run through partner banks. It suits frequent travellers and people who like one app for everything, provided they read the plan terms.

Line-by-line verdicts

6 items. Each chip is a per-product call and can differ from the brand verdict.

Standard plan BUY

Free in both markets, and the best reason to open an account. You get a debit card, multi-currency balances, budgeting tools and savings. The catch is the fine print on exchange: in the UK currency swaps are fee-free only up to GBP 1,000 a month on weekdays, after which a 1% fair-usage fee applies, plus a 1% weekend markup. US Standard users pay 1% outside forex market hours and have a $1,000 monthly exchange limit before fees. UK fee-free ATM withdrawals stop at GBP 200 or five withdrawals a month. For a two-week holiday that is usually enough.

StrengthFree card and multi-currency account that works well abroad

WeaknessWeekend markup and monthly caps catch out larger exchanges

Check at Revolut

Plus plan (UK) SKIP

Listed at GBP 3.99 a month. It raises the weekday fee-free exchange limit to GBP 3,000, halves the weekend markup to 0.5%, adds purchase protection insurance and a personalised card, and gives 20% off international transfer fees. The plan page says it is worth GBP 100 a year. The problem is the contract: like every paid plan it renews annually, and cancelling on monthly billing after the first 14 days and before month ten triggers a two-month break fee. For a modest bump over the free plan, that is a lot of lock-in.

StrengthCheap entry to higher exchange limits and purchase cover

WeaknessAnnual contract with break fee for a small upgrade

Check at Revolut

Premium plan CONSIDER

GBP 8.99 a month in the UK or $9.99 in the US. Premium removes the UK exchange fair-usage limit (the US page says fees may apply after $10,000 in 30 days), drops weekend markups, raises the fee-free ATM allowance and adds bundled brand subscriptions and a higher savings rate. US users get a 3.75% APY on the High Yield account at the time of reading. It makes sense for someone who exchanges thousands a month or travels often. Check whether you would actually use the bundled subscriptions before counting them as value.

StrengthUnlimited weekday exchange in the UK and no weekend markup

WeaknessBundled perks inflate the advertised value

Check at Revolut

Metal plan CONSIDER

GBP 16.99 a month in the UK and $16.99 in the US. Adds a stainless steel card, travel medical insurance (UK limit GBP 10m a year), car hire excess and winter sports cover in the UK, delayed flight and luggage cover, more global eSIM data, and larger ATM allowances. Travel insurance in the US is provided by Chubb. For a frequent traveller who would otherwise buy an annual travel policy, the maths can work. If you cancel within 14 days the UK terms charge GBP 40 for the metal card plus delivery, so ordering one is a commitment.

StrengthReal travel insurance bundled with the card

WeaknessMetal card charged at GBP 40 if you cancel early

Check at Revolut

Ultra plan (UK) SKIP

The top UK tier lists at GBP 60 a month: unlimited airport lounge access and fast track, trip and event cancellation insurance, 5GB of monthly global data, one RevPoint per GBP 1 spent and a 4% AER savings rate on balances below GBP 200,000. Revolut values it at over GBP 9,000 a year, a figure built from retail prices of bundled perks. At GBP 720 a year it competes with premium travel credit cards, which often carry similar lounge access plus purchase protection. Ultra has a shorter six-month break-fee window, but the card costs GBP 50 if you cancel in the first 14 days.

StrengthUnlimited lounge access and cancellation cover

WeaknessGBP 720 a year; the 'worth' figure is marketing arithmetic

Check at Revolut

High Yield Savings (US) CONSIDER

US savings are provided by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC, insured up to $250,000, per Revolut's own footer. The APY listed on September 1, 2026 was 3.5% on Standard, 3.75% on Premium and 4% on Metal, all variable. The footnote matters: only one High Yield account is allowed and it is limited to $10,000 in customer-initiated deposits, with other Savings accounts paying less. That makes the headline rate a capped promotion rather than a home for an emergency fund. It is a sensible place for a small cash buffer if you already use Revolut.

StrengthFDIC-insured via a named partner bank

WeaknessHeadline rate applies to $10,000 of deposits at most

Check at Revolut

Policies at a glance

Values are short phrases taken from the brand's own pages at the time of the last update. "Not stated" means the desk could not find the policy in writing.

Things to know before you buy

• Paid plans are 12-month contracts that renew automatically. In the UK, monthly payers who cancel between day 15 and month ten pay that month plus two more as a break fee.
• Account freezes during compliance checks are the most common serious complaint on Trustpilot and the App Store, with direct debits blocked and weeks without a clear explanation.
• The 'worth GBP X a year' figures on the plans page add up retail prices of bundled perks; treat them as marketing, not savings.
• In the UK, Revolut's commodities service is stated in its own footer to be outside FCA regulation and outside the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS.

Sentiment from reviews

Revolut shows an 'Excellent' 4.7 on Trustpilot from close to half a million reviews, and 4.7 on the US App Store. Most five-star reviews are short and praise the app's speed, card spending abroad and exchange rates.

The one-star reviews are where the detail is. A recurring complaint is an account blocked for a 'routine check', sometimes for weeks, with direct debits failing in the meantime. The next theme is support: reviewers describe automated or AI agents first, chat conversations handed between people, and no way to escalate. Disputed card transactions are another sore point, with some saying fraud claims were refused or reclassified as chargebacks. App Store reviewers add frequent upsell prompts and an app that has grown cluttered. Fair to say the product delights most users until something goes wrong.

If not Revolut, then

The verdict

Research notes

• Read Revolut's UK and US plan comparison pages and UK homepage, including regulatory footers, in October 2026.
• Read the UK and US Paid Plan Terms in October 2026 for renewal, downgrade and break-fee rules.
• Read Trustpilot reviews for revolut.com, overview and one-star filter, in October 2026, noting themes.
• Read the US App Store listing for the Revolut app and its visible reviews in October 2026.

Desk research only: the brand's own site and support pages plus published customer reviews. Nothing was purchased or tested by this site. Scored under Methodology v2.1.