What changed in the French market this year
Since September 2026, every VAT-registered company in France has had to be able to receive electronic invoices, and the smallest structures, micro-entrepreneurs included, must be able to issue them from September 2027. That deadline pushed plenty of owners to reopen the question of where their money sits. An account that talks to invoicing software saves hours a branch account cannot give back.
The rules on who actually needs a dedicated account are looser than most people assume. An auto-entrepreneur is only obliged to open a business account once turnover passes €10,000 in two consecutive years. Under that line, paying suppliers from a personal account is legal, though it makes bookkeeping and tax filings noticeably harder to untangle later.
Branch banks still do the job. BNP Paribas publishes business packages starting near €25 per month, Société Générale near €22, and both generally want a face-to-face meeting before anything opens. Crédit Agricole works through regional branches with pricing that differs by area. None of that is slow by accident; compliance checks take the time they take. An online business bank account simply moves those checks into a form, a video call and a document upload.
The price gap shows up quickly. Shine runs an entry plan with no monthly subscription cost, then Start at €11, Plus at €25 and Business at €80. Qonto sits at €9 excluding tax for Basic, €19 for Smart and €39 for Premium, so the VAT-exclusive label matters when you compare it against inclusive prices.
Three places owners get stuck
Cash is the first one. Accounts built for cards and transfers treat notes and coins as an afterthought. Qonto's entry plan caps withdrawals at roughly €1,000 per month and does not take cash deposits. A market trader, a bakery or anyone with a till float still needs a branch relationship somewhere.
Cross-border work is the second. Revolut Business charges around €5 for each international transfer once the monthly allowance is used, and applies a 2 percent fee on ATM withdrawals. Wise Business charges no monthly subscription and takes a currency conversion margin of roughly 0.4 to 0.6 percent.
Being new, or foreign, is the third. A company with no trading history, or a founder living outside France, can be refused without a stated reason. French law does provide a route through the right to an account procedure at Banque de France, but it requires a domicile address and a documented refusal first.
How the main options compare
| Provider | Best suited to | Monthly cost | French IBAN | Cash deposits | E-invoicing status | Typical opening time |
|---|
| Shine | Freelancers, micro-entrepreneurs | €0 to €80 | Yes | Limited | Approved platform | 1 to 2 days |
| Qonto | Teams of 3 to 50, mixed legal forms | €9 to €39 excl. tax | Yes | Not supported | Approved platform | 1 to 2 days |
| Revolut Business | Importers, exporters, multi-currency | €10 to €100+ | Yes | Through partners only | Verify with provider | 1 to 3 days |
| Wise Business | Freelancers paid in several currencies | No subscription, FX margin instead | Yes | Not supported | Verify with provider | 1 to 2 days |
| BNP Paribas / Société Générale | Companies needing credit, cash, advice | From €22 to €25+ | Yes | Yes, at branch | Via partner tools | Several days to 2 weeks |
Sole traders and micro-entrepreneurs
A consultant working out of Lyon moved her activity from a branch account to an online provider after her second year, when turnover crossed the €10,000 threshold and the dedicated account stopped being optional. What she gained was an invoice template inside the same dashboard as the balance, plus automatic reminders on unpaid bills. What she gave up was the ability to pay in a cheque at a counter.
For this profile, the deciding factors are usually the subscription level and whether the provider is recognised as an approved platform for electronic invoicing. Shine and Qonto both hold that status, which means invoices created there can be sent and received in the required format without a separate tool.
Small teams with shared spending
Once there are employees, the question shifts from price to control. Qonto's Basic tier includes 30 SEPA transfers per month and an authorised overdraft, and higher tiers add per-member spending limits, unlimited virtual cards and expense tracking by category. Its public review score sits around 4.8 out of 5 across tens of thousands of ratings, and several hundred thousand companies use it.
The trade-off is physical cash. No cash deposits, and a low withdrawal ceiling on the entry plan, so a business that handles notes needs a second account rather than a replacement.
Companies paid from abroad
If invoices go out in dollars, pounds and euros, a multi-currency account changes the maths. Revolut Business starts around €10 per month with 10 included local transfers, then €0.20 per additional transfer. Wise Business avoids a subscription entirely and instead prices the conversion. Neither takes cash, and neither replaces a French branch for a company that also needs credit lines or a chequebook.
Documents worth preparing before you apply
Identity proof for the legal representative and, where relevant, for each beneficial owner. Proof of address dated within the last three months. The company's registration extract from the trade register or the INSEE certificate for a micro-entreprise. Articles of association for a société. A specimen signature and a note of the expected monthly turnover and main payment flows.
Non-resident founders usually face a second layer: an additional identity document, a residence permit or equivalent, and occasionally a justification of the link between the person and the French entity. Preparing those in advance shortens the file review considerably.
Costs that are easy to overlook
Card delivery charges on additional plastic, which Revolut lists at €4.99 per extra card. Withdrawal fees abroad. The gap between tax-exclusive and tax-inclusive subscription pricing. The per-transfer charge that starts once an allowance runs out. And the cost of keeping a second account open purely to handle cash, which is often the honest reason a company ends up running two providers side by side.
One rule of thumb holds across the market: the account that suits a solo consultant billing two clients a month is rarely the right one for a six-person firm that pays suppliers weekly and takes payment in three currencies.
A practical way to decide
Write down three numbers first: how much cash you deposit monthly, how many outgoing transfers you send, and how many currencies you invoice in. Most comparisons collapse once those are on paper. Next, check whether the provider is an approved platform for electronic invoicing, since that requirement now touches every VAT-registered business and will reach micro-entrepreneurs in September 2027. Then confirm the opening timeline against your first invoice date, because a two-day online setup and a two-week branch appointment create very different amounts of stress in the first month.
Apply to one online provider and keep your existing branch account open for a quarter. Running both for three months shows you the real cost of each, including the fees buried in statements. If a bank turns you down, request the refusal in writing and take it to Banque de France rather than reapplying at random. That single step turns a rejection into a documented right.
Start with the cash question, then the currency question, then the price. Providers differ most on the first two, and least on the third.
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