Online bank comparison Switzerland
Best bank account 2026
There are around 250 banks in Switzerland and yet many people in your environment probably use the same banks. When choosing a bank, you should ask yourself what YOU expect from a bank and what YOUR typical approach to money looks like. Because what is the best bank for your neighbours can sometimes be the worst choice for you.
So that you don't have to check all Swiss banks, here is a selection for you. The Bank account comparison Switzerland focusses on online banks and has considered the following criteria: Low fees, payment options (Apple Pay, Google Pay etc.), cash withdrawals, security, interest rates and other relevant aspects.
I would like to start a small side income and have been advised to open a separate business account. Which bank has the best offer? Or would it be smarter to start with an account at Zak or Neon and just do all business transactions through a sub-account? Many thanks for your tips.
Have a look at my contribution to the Business account comparison he should help you!
I tried using the bank account finder to narrow down the selection to my needs, but when I click on the button, nothing happens. Is there a problem with the link?
I'm currently working on a new tool, you'll find it in next week's post 🙂
Thank you for your insightful comparisons Eric.
Could you add to the comparison which providers offer virtual disposable cards? I sometimes travel on business in countries where fraud is widespread. It would be extremely practical to have security with a disposable card (in addition to low exchange rates).
Best regards
John
Hello Johannes
virtual cards I looked at it here a long time ago. The article is therefore no longer completely up to date, but I'm sure it will still help you!
Unfortunately, Radicant has now also withdrawn, as they are discontinuing their banking business in 2026.
Was already known on 17 December 2025 when this article was published...
A new comparison for 2026 is therefore urgently needed...
Hello Pasajo,
That's right, Radicant has now been «taken over» by Alpian, and customers can easily switch over there.
However, Radicant never featured prominently in this comparison because the offer had been on the brink for a long time.
The new comparison is done here on an ongoing basis 🙂
Why are neo-banks recommended here if you want low-cost accounts?
There are numerous free accounts available, such as the Top banking package from WIR, UBS Key 4 Basic, etc.
Unfortunately, I find neobanks hardly usable as a product if you make large numbers of payments, especially on your mobile phone compared to your desktop, as there is simply no overview.
Hello Max,
Traditional banks are, of course, still attractive (for certain services and situations). But they are not always the cheapest option. Just because an account does not charge a current account maintenance fee (which most major banks do), it does not mean that the account is free. Fees are often hidden in the background, for example in the form of poor exchange rates, etc. The generally lower interest rates should also be taken into account in the opportunity costs.
It is therefore well worth taking a closer look here. And for many, the combination of a traditional bank and a neobank is a clever one.
I also find it interesting that Bank Wir, with its Top Account as a completely free online account, is not listed. Effectively the best online account in Switzerland.
Neon has now introduced fees for various services, which is its prerogative. However, this means that it is no longer the most affordable account.
WIR Bank is not primarily an online bank, which is why it is not listed at the top of this list.
However, due to its generally attractive interest rates, it appears time and again here in the interest rate section and in other articles 🙂
As described elsewhere: Unfortunately, Bank WIR's online banking service is not ideal and regularly causes problems in tests.
I used to use Zak and neon as smartphone banks. Zak for payments and savings (interest), for eBill and (more recently) TWINT, and from time to time there are good "Z promotions", e.g. free vouchers for Fust, Decathlon, etc... I used neon for payments in EUR and USD, as well as for occasional cash withdrawals in Switzerland. BUT neon is now abolishing these benefits in mid-May. With the free account, payments in foreign currency are now subject to a 0.35% surcharge and cash withdrawals now cost CHF 2.50 from the first withdrawal. If you want to keep these benefits, you have to pay CHF 20 per year. That's actually not much, and I would probably have done the same.
But recently I wanted to pay for a holiday booking on booking.com with my neon card in EUR. I couldn't because the neon cards have a daily limit of CHF 5000. A holiday booking for the whole family is quickly over that. neon writes on its website that if you need more, you should write an e-mail. I did and the answer from neon was that they can't change the daily limit themselves; you should call the partner bank Hypi Lenzburg during office hours and they could then increase the limit for a short time directly before the purchase. This is not really customer-friendly. If you want to spontaneously buy something over 5000 in the evening or at the weekend: Tough luck. If you want to buy something over 5000 more often: Call again every time.
So I looked for another solution and came across the Bank Radicant became aware of it:
Also free account. Free virtual debit card. Physical card one-off CHF 15. 12 free cash withdrawals per year in Switzerland. eBill. Twint. 50 CHF bonus credit through referral code "franke" (from this page here). 0% Surcharge for card payments in foreign currency.
And best of all: I can adjust the daily and monthly card limit in the app myself at any time, up to CHF 20,000 per day and month! That's how it should be. You can also do this with yuh, but not with neon and Zak. Unfortunately, this feature (as well as the general card limits) is practically never mentioned in tests and reviews of neo banks.
As a test, I made two card payments over EUR 100 within a few seconds, once with neon (Mastercard) and once with Radicant (VISA). The result:
- neon: 94.19 CHF
- Radicant: 93.99 CHF
This means that Radicant has an even better exchange rate than neon now (i.e. still with a 0% premium). This was also found out in tests by moneyland.
I will therefore now use Radicant for every card payment in foreign currency and for cash withdrawals.
Honestly, all these neo-banks are not really useful for real bank customers. I have one bank, one contact person, one app for EVERYTHING. Sure, I might pay a few francs more, but it's worth it! The bottom line is that I still get more. As a MemberPlus customer at my Raiffeisenbank in the Middle Rhine Valley, I receive all accounts + debit card free of charge, can use digital asset management including a savings plan function with Raiffeisen Rio, have integrated TWINT, can visit virtually any museum in Switzerland free of charge, received 4% on my share certificate, have a flexible mortgage solution, if something is wrong, I call or go by and it is taken care of. What do you save with your 7 different apps on your mobile phone? 200 francs a year? People here want to save a bit, but at the same time lease a BMW for 900 a month - absurd. Everyone as they wish... in the long term, quality, stability and safety pay off. That's why not everyone drives around in a Dacia, think about it 😉
Hello Alex,
good point! 🙂
I also don't think that every person should have 7 banking apps and need a different provider for every function.
Instead, the online banks mentioned offer a wide range of services. Investing, saving, paying, making provisions and more are offered by most digital banks. There is usually no personal advice in the branch, that's true. That's why some people combine a traditional bank + a good digital bank to get the best of both worlds.
But as far as the costs are concerned, you're making a mistake. A traditional account with a major bank costs a good CHF 200 more per year than with a digital bank - as studies show. But that's not all, it's only for traditional banking with payments. Finally, you mention that you want to do everything with your bank.
When you start using the 3a solution or investing in free assets, for example, we are quickly talking about tens of thousands of francs over a long investment horizon, depending on the amount. It then makes a big difference whether, for example, a fund charges 0.3% in fees or 3.0% (10x as much) and you invest in it for 30 years.
Most people don't realise this and save and invest diligently, but end up with only a low return despite the risks.
Hello Eric
I have been paying into a 3a pension product from an insurance company since 2001, combined with life and disability insurance. It is around 60% of the maximum amount for employees. Over the past few years, I have already thought several times about cancelling the insurance as I don't need the insurance cover as an employee (classic bad advice - you can't get out of it). Thanks to your interesting presentation of pension provision 3a, I would like to use the entire amount of CHF 7,600 for fund savings 3a for the last 8 years. What is your assessment?
Hello Alex,
This is a very important consideration! Be sure to check out this post here 3a Life insurance where you can find out more and find answers to your questions.
I (71) use Yuh as they pay 1 % and are very efficient. I use Swissquote for investments and BCV for the rest (good service but lousy int) . Raiffeisen has term investments with good rate. Banque Cler I gave up as their client service is lousy and their system is old int of 1,80 % is only valid for a year and many conditions to withdraw !
I am very happy with Truewealth (low fees, they manage your investments in only ETFs as per your risk profile. if interested pls contact me as if you join you get lower fees for a year and... me too
At Raiffeisen you have to be a co-operative member for CHF 200.00, which also earns quite a high interest rate each year, but remains a one-off fixed amount. Then all transactions as a member are free of charge. The member pass is sent to your mobile phone, to be renewed annually, and I have cancelled my EC card. (It cost CHF 60.00 a year. For everyday use I use Twint or the free Migros credit card.
The Raiffeisen account is now just my "free" e-banking account, with the Member Pass advantage on my mobile phone.
PS: I'm 73 years old and am always interested in new things. At the moment I'm using "yuh" instead of the Postfinance account, which I use as a sack money account via TWINT. There's over 50 years of nostalgia attached to it, but it costs 5 Stutz every month, so that's coming to an end soon. 😊
Thanks for your good input and insights, Walter! 🙂 Great that you continue to be so deep in the subject and take such good care of your finances!!!
Kaspar& now also has Mobilepay (Google, Apple, Samsung, Garmin).
Twint also works with the prepaid Twint (just like with Neon, Hypo Lenzburg can be deposited). I think the prepaid solution is better than the connection via UBS (I don't want any more such giants).
Sub-accounts can be created in a very similar way to Neon (Spaces), which is called Budget. You can park money there without the card being able to reach it ;-).
What do you think of radicant?
Could you also do a review on this?
Radicant offers 1.5% interest for balances up to CHF 250,000.
It is also a subsidiary of BLKB.
I'm still checking Radicant, thanks for the tip, Stefan!
As soon as the review can be created, you will read about it in the blog 🙂
I am hugely disappointed with Radicant. The app is very slow, as is the service. The support is almost non-existent, only responds to 2 or more enquiries or not at all. I'm cancelling Radicant again, I'm looking forward to Kaspar& (where the support was much better, fast and competent).
Radicant has reduced the interest rate to 1.25% as of today due to the interest rate cut by the SNB.
I would be cautious with Radicant.
Radicant is bankrupt and will be discontinued, but this will take another 1–2 years. It is currently unclear whether customers will be transferred to BLKB or not.
Yuh also have a CH deposit guarantee, right?
right, up to 100t francs 🙂
I have been using YAPEAL as a daily means of payment for a long time. Especially abroad. I am very satisfied with it. Unfortunately, YAPEAL focuses on B2B business and B2C takes a back seat.
Now I finally wanted to completely break away from UBS and went to ZAK (because of eBill, standing orders and savings target). Transferred one thing after the other (eBill, standing orders etc.). But then after 4 weeks I get an SMS saying "We have decided to reject your bank account application".
Last week I was also on holiday, so it was not convenient for me. Since I have a payment account with ZAK, with priority support, I called them. After 15 minutes in the queue, I cut off the premium hotline again. Called twice more, similar experience. An organised callback would have been possible after about 3 hours. But during the holidays, it just doesn't always work out that way. Now, back at the weekend, I wanted to transfer everything from ZAK back to my old account. I couldn't, because the app was closed for maintenance all weekend.
Unfortunately, not a recommendation for me. Despite a monthly fee of CHF 8 and priority support -> lousy handling of customers.
I have tried all of the above. But I have cancelled ZAK. The app is very poor and did not work properly on Android (on the Pixel device). But praise to the developers, who reacted very quickly and published the corresponding update in the Play Store very quickly.
Neon is great, but you have to be aware that Neon is a prepaid card, not a debit card. Otherwise, you'll be in Italy in the middle of summer, trying to pay motorway tolls and wondering why it doesn't work.
Revolut is absolutely great, it's just a pity that you don't have a personal IBAN, ebill etc..
Hello HP
thanks for sharing your experience!
Personally, I have already been to numerous countries and paid with Neon - until now, there have virtually never been any problems.
I usually use my cards via my mobile phone (mobile payment) because payment is even safer and, above all, more convenient.
What is not possible with all prepaid cards: renting a car, as a larger credit amount would have to be blocked as collateral.
What exactly is the difference between prepaid cards and debit cards? Both simply have to be covered in the account (I can compare Neon with Yuh). For the time being, you have to pack a real credit card (e.g. the new Cumulus from Migrosbank with favourable exchange rates).
Hello Jürg,
The prepaid card is like a kind of voucher: top up and then use it.
The debit card is linked to your account: your usage is debited from your account. If the account allows an overdraft facility, you can also go into the red.
I (51) am also a new Neon customer (so it's not just for younger customers 😉 ). I was/am a long-time UBS customer. The fee policy, however, I find so intransparent and also expensive that I switched my private account now to Neon (previously only been planned as a test) and I am very satisfied and would
currently no longer switch. I still have the private account with UBS because of the savings account. The following improvements would still have to be initiated on the part of Neon: Euro withdrawal is only possible at Postfinance, card code has only 4-digit numeric code as a possibility (little security!?), the code to enter the app (should touchid times not work) you have to remember, because you can not (yet?) Personalize this code. Second card (not yet) available, Twintapp only as prepaid possible not directly via account
Otherwise, I particularly appreciate the simplicity and clarity of the app, the fee transparency, and of course the low fees. The processing of payments is super fast.
I persuaded my mother to open Neon account and use Neon for daily expenses. She is with UBS but not an online account, which means she has always withdrawn cash. She is thrilled and also pays her bills with it (ebill).
By the way, she is 70.
Wow, that's great 🙂
4 digit code is international, i could not pay in some countries with the 6 digit ubs, only after i changed the pin to 4 digits, this is deliberately set to 4 digits. with the twint from ubs you can use neon, simply deposit neon as the issuing credit card and the iban from neon as the credit.
What about yuh?
There was little interest in this in a survey, so it was not included in the first step. But it is already in progress.
Do you know the advantages of being a Raiffeisen member? Especially if you like to go to museums and/or have children, an account with Raiffeisen is also financially worthwhile: Many museums in Switzerland are accessible for free with it or at least at a reduced price (e.g. Museum of Transport Lucerne at half price). This as a tip 🙂
Besides Raiffeisen, I am of course also with Neon (even as a shareholder).
Good input for all excursionists 🙂 The Raiffeisen fees must of course also be considered when looking at this. But especially if you have a family account, for example - by all means take advantage of them 🙂
Yes, that's right, that's why I decided to go with Raiba for my kids. Also the Half-Fare 50% suuuper
I am also a Raiffeisenbank member. But I don't have a Mastercard or an EC card. Therefore, please note that without these cards, nothing can be done in terms of discounts...
(Topic: Raiffeisen MemberPlus without chargeable credit card)
@ Wiki:
Yes, that should (now) work - but I haven't tested it myself yet:
1) Log in to MemberPlus: https://login.raiffeisen.ch/de?applicationId=memberplus
2) Click on Initials at the top right and click on "Your MemberPlus Pass"
3) Show your pass (with QR code) on your mobile phone -> either save it in a wallet or transfer it as a picture to your mobile phone.
(PS: Thanks to your question, I realised that I pay an annual fee for my Raiffeisen EC card (it was only free for the first year). I'll cancel it straight away and save 50 a year. Thank you)