Revolut Review UK: Is the Free Account Enough, or Is a £3.99 to £55 Plan Worth It?

Revolut's UK personal account is provided by Revolut Bank UK Ltd (company number 12871051, FRN 981170), which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and the PRA. The FCA register lists it as authorised since 25 July 2024, when it started with restrictions while it built up its operations. Revolut says those restrictions were lifted and it has been a fully licensed UK bank since March 2026.

Eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS up to £120,000 per person. That covers the current account and its other-currency balances, Pockets and Group Pockets, joint accounts (each holder separately), Kids & Teens accounts and Revolut Pro. Revolut is moving customers across in stages: new customers get a bank account straight away, but some existing customers are still on e-money accounts with Revolut Ltd (FRN 900562), where money is safeguarded in separate accounts rather than covered by the FSCS. The app shows which one you have, and your sort code, account number and card stay the same when you are moved.

Not everything in the app is a bank deposit. Savings are held with partner banks such as ClearBank, each with its own £120,000 FSCS limit, separate from your Revolut Bank limit. Crypto, stocks and commodities sit with other Revolut companies and aren't covered by the bank's FSCS protection, and the commodities service isn't regulated by the FCA at all.

Standard has no monthly fee. You get a UK sort code and account number, balances in more than 30 currencies, Pockets to set money aside for bills or savings, monthly spending budgets, and free virtual cards that work with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Revolut also offers virtual card details that regenerate after every purchase, for shopping online.

Payments in pounds to UK accounts, euro payments within the SEPA area and instant transfers to other Revolut users are free. Other international transfers carry a fee that the app shows before you send, which Revolut says is capped; the higher paid plans cut or remove Revolut's own fee. Your first physical card is free, but Revolut charges for delivery and shows the price before you order. Extra cards cost £5 each, plus delivery.

Once you have a personal account and are over 18, you can add a joint account or a Revolut Pro account for freelance income, where Pro card payments earn 0.4% to 1% cashback depending on your plan. Parents can open Kids & Teens accounts for children aged 6 to 15. We couldn't find an overdraft on Revolut's UK pages, and its switching page says an overdraft at your old bank won't move across.

Plus costs £3.99 a month, Premium £7.99, Metal £14.99 and Ultra £55. Every paid plan runs for 12 months, paid monthly or annually; paid monthly, that is £47.88, £95.88, £179.88 or £660 a year. We couldn't confirm the annual prices on Revolut's UK pages, so check them in the app before you choose.

Moving up changes how much you can exchange before extra fees and whether weekends cost more, the free cash machine allowance, the savings rate, how fast you earn RevPoints and how you reach support: priority in-app chat on Plus, and chat plus in-app calls from Premium. Premium and above include partner subscriptions, which Revolut says may change or be removed. Metal adds travel insurance, and Ultra adds a platinum-plated card, unlimited airport lounge access, 3GB of global mobile data a month and cancellation cover.

A bundle is only worth what you would otherwise pay for the parts you use. If you exchange less than about £1,400 a month and rarely at weekends, Plus saves you nothing over Standard. If the insurance, lounges or data are what tempt you, price them on their own before committing to £180 or £660 a year.

Revolut converts at its own exchange rate, which it sets and which changes constantly. On top of that rate, Standard lets you exchange £1,000 a month, Monday to Friday, with no extra fee, and Plus allows £3,000. Above the limit Revolut adds a fair-usage fee of 1% on Standard or 0.5% on Plus. Premium, Metal and Ultra have no limit. The limit is shared, so exchanging crypto or commodities uses it up too.

Weekends cost more on the cheaper plans: an extra 1% on Standard and 0.5% on Plus, on top of any fair-usage fee. Revolut's UK pricing page doesn't give the exact hours; its EU pages define the weekend as 5pm Friday to 6pm Sunday, New York time. A card payment in a currency you don't hold is converted on the spot, and that is the one case where Revolut can't show you the cost in advance. The simple fix is to exchange into the currency in the app on a weekday before you travel, so weekend card payments come out of a balance you already hold.

Worked example: £800 of card spending on a weekday costs nothing on top of Revolut's rate on Standard, but £8 if it is all converted at the weekend (£4 on Plus). Exchange £2,000 a month on weekdays and Standard charges 1% on the £1,000 above its limit, £10 a month or £120 a year, while Plus costs £3.99 and charges nothing, a saving of £6.01 a month. The crossover is about £1,400 a month. Premium starts to beat Plus once you exchange more than about £800 a month at weekends, or more than about £3,800 a month in total.

Free cash withdrawals run on a rolling month: £200 or five withdrawals on Standard, whichever comes first, then £200 on Plus, £400 on Premium, £800 on Metal and £2,000 on Ultra. After that Revolut charges 2% a withdrawal with a £1 minimum, so a sixth £40 withdrawal in a month on Standard costs £1, not 80p.

Adding money by bank transfer, or with a UK or EEA-issued card, is free; a card issued elsewhere, or a commercial card, may cost a small fee. Sending money to a card number outside Revolut has a fee that the app shows before you confirm.

One less obvious cost: if Revolut decides to close your account, it usually gives you two months' notice to move your money, and may then charge £2 a month for as long as a positive balance remains.

Instant Access savings pay 2.9% AER (variable) on Standard and Plus, 3.25% on Premium, 3.4% on Metal, and 4% on Ultra for balances up to £200,000. The account is powered by ClearBank: interest is worked out daily and paid the next day before tax, and Revolut must give at least 14 days' notice before cutting your rate. Revolut's own example: £1,000 left for 12 months at 2.9% grows to £1,029.01.

Don't upgrade for the rate alone. Premium's extra 0.35 percentage points only covers its £95.88 a year once you keep about £27,400 in savings; Metal's extra 0.5 points needs about £36,000 to cover £179.88, and Ultra's extra 1.1 points needs £60,000 to cover £660.

RevPoints are earned on card spending: 1 point per £10 on Standard and Plus, per £4 on Premium, per £2 on Metal and per £1 on Ultra. They go towards travel perks such as air miles and Revolut Stays discounts. Revolut doesn't give a fixed value per point on the pages we read, so we have left them out of the sums.

Revolut's personal referral rewards the person who sends the invite. Its help centre says only the inviter is eligible, unless Revolut has sent you details of a reward of your own, and its referral terms say any reward for the person joining is set out in the invitation. So joining through a link, ours included, gives you no promised reward. Open the account because it suits you, not for a bonus.

For the inviter to be paid, you have to open your first Revolut account through the link (Kids & Teens sign-ups don't count), verify your identity in the app, add money by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank transfer (money from other Revolut users doesn't count), order a physical card before the campaign deadline, and make card payments of at least the minimum shown in the inviter's app. Payments to currency exchanges, payment processors, gambling, gift cards and money transfers don't count, and some campaigns need several payments on separate days. The reward is cancelled if you close the account within 14 days, cancel the card before it arrives, or get a qualifying purchase refunded.

Disclosure: the link on this page is GetQuids' own Revolut referral link, so if you join through it and complete the steps, Revolut may pay us within 10 business days. When the reward is a draw, Revolut's UK odds are 60% for £10, 26% for £25, 10% for £50, 3% for £100 and 1% for £200, about £22.50 on average, and an inviter is paid for at most five people per campaign. Revolut's invite page also says it shares very limited information about your account set-up and activity with the person who invited you, so that rewards can be paid. The campaign deadline and minimum payment appear only in the inviter's app, so we can't confirm the current ones here.

On 11 October 2026 the Revolut app was rated 4.9 from 1,088,685 ratings on the UK App Store and 4.7 from 4,153,071 on Google Play. Revolut's Trustpilot page scored 4.7 from 471,340 reviews, 80% of them five-star and 7% one-star, with many labelled "Invited", meaning they were written after an invitation from Revolut.

The Financial Ombudsman's figures for 1 July 2025 to 31 March 2026 show 5,520 new complaints about Revolut Ltd and an uphold rate of 26%, against 29% across all firms. For comparison, Monzo had 5,314 (26% upheld) and Barclays Bank UK 6,826 (25%). These are raw counts, not adjusted for how many customers each firm has.

The recurring complaints are accounts frozen during source-of-funds checks, slow document reviews, difficulty reaching a person, passport scans failing during ID checks, referral rewards not arriving, conditions on paid-plan travel insurance, and fraud and scam cases. Some reviewers also say they can't pay in cheques; we couldn't confirm this on Revolut's own pages. If Revolut becomes your main account, keep a second account at another bank so a freeze doesn't leave you without access to money.

You need to be 18 or over and legally resident in a supported country for the full range; UK residents aged 16 or 17 can open an account with some products unavailable, such as trading, crypto and credit. You can only have one personal Revolut account, even across countries. You'll need a mobile number, an email address, your address and other personal details, a government-issued ID document and a selfie, and Revolut may ask what you plan to use the account for.

To make it your main account, request a switch in the app. A full switch through the Current Account Switch Service moves your Direct Debits, standing orders, incoming payments and remaining balance, closes your old account and takes seven working days, backed by the Current Account Switch Guarantee. Payments sent to your old account are redirected for at least three years. You can also move only your payments and keep the old account open. Bills and subscriptions set up on your old debit card, and any overdraft, don't move. With your salary paid in by Bacs, Early Salary pays it 24 hours early.

Leaving a paid plan: within 14 days you get a full refund, although card and delivery fees and benefits you've used, such as lounges, eSIM data or Fast Track, may be charged. After that, monthly payers pay for the current month plus a break fee of two months' fees if they leave within 10 months (£7.98 on Plus, £15.98 on Premium, £29.98 on Metal); on Ultra the break fee is one month (£55) within six months. Annual payers get no refund but keep the plan until the year ends.

To close the account, bring every balance, Pocket and currency account to zero, downgrade to Standard, close any investment account, and clear subscriptions, Kids & Teens accounts, insurance and open chargebacks. Then tap your profile icon, Settings, Close account, and download any statements you need first. If you can't use the app, email support@revolut.com from the address linked to your account with the subject "account closure request".

Consider it if you travel or spend in other currencies a few times a year and can do your exchanging on weekdays, if you want a free second account with Pockets and virtual cards, or if you send money abroad and want to see the fee before you pay. Pay for Plus only if you exchange more than about £1,400 a month, and for Premium only if you exchange more than about £800 a month at weekends or £3,800 a month in total.

Keep it as a second account, or skip it, if you want to phone someone on the free plan (in-app calls start with Premium), need an overdraft, or can't afford to have money frozen during a check. Skip the paid plans if their insurance, lounges or subscriptions aren't things you would buy anyway, because you are committing for 12 months.