Your legal form decides what you actually need
Whether you are a freelance translator in Toulouse or running a small SAS in Lille, the first question is not which interface looks cleanest but which account the law expects you to hold. For a company — SASU, EURL, SARL, SAS — a dedicated account in the company's name is required from the start. For a micro-entreprise, a separate account becomes mandatory once turnover passes €10,000 across two consecutive years, and immediately if the activity is commercial, meaning you buy and resell goods. Below those thresholds nothing forces you to open one. Blending client income with supermarket receipts still makes a URSSAF check unnecessarily painful, which is why most freelancers separate flows early.
That rule shapes the second, quieter problem: the account must carry the right identity. An account opened under your personal name will not satisfy the requirement for a société, and a shared account complicates a later capital increase or a share transfer. Providers handle this differently, and not every platform lets you open in a company name with a French IBAN.
Cross-border payments are the third friction point. A euro transfer inside the SEPA zone usually costs the same as a domestic transfer, but anything outside it tends to route through SWIFT with a fixed fee, a percentage, and a currency margin on top. Qonto, for instance, charges 0.8% with a €5 minimum for a dollar transfer on its entry plans. If you invoice clients in Belgium, Germany, or the UK, per-transfer cost quickly outweighs the monthly subscription.
Then there is the team question. Published plan prices quietly assume one card and one user. Qonto Smart includes two users and then bills €10 excl. VAT per additional administrator each month; Shine Plus includes two collaborator accesses and then €5. Manager.one and Revolut Business do not cap the number of members. If three people need cards, the arithmetic changes.
Two more items deserve a check before you sign. Invoicing compliance: reception of electronic invoices becomes compulsory for all businesses in September 2026, with issuance following for small and mid-size companies in September 2027, so an included approved platform saves a separate subscription. Cash and cheques: many online accounts limit cash deposits per month and some refuse cheque remittance entirely, which matters if your customers still pay that way.
Providers that are payment institutions rather than banks also deserve a careful read. Your money is safeguarded at a partner institution rather than sitting on the provider's own balance sheet, and the protection mechanism differs from a bank deposit. Ask how funds are held and confirm the company appears on the ACPR register.
What the main options cost, and where they fit
| Provider | Type of account | Monthly price (excl. VAT) | What stands out | Watch out for |
|---|
| Indy | Payment institution, freelancer-focused | €0 | French IBAN, Mastercard, unlimited transfers, invoicing built in | Capable for simple freelance use; advanced treasury tools are limited |
| Shine Free | Payment institution, ACPR-registered | €0 | French IBAN, basic Mastercard card, unlimited quotes and invoices, 5 SEPA transfers included | Transfers beyond the included five cost €0.40 each |
| Qonto Basic | Payment institution | €9 on a 12-month commitment, €11 rolling | French IBAN, accounting exports, French tax-system integrations, overdraft up to €5,000 at a 17.5% annual rate | Capital deposit fee of €69; extra users and cards billed separately |
| Manager.one | Payment institution | Tiered by cards and features | No limit on members, no capital deposit fee | No overdraft facility |
| Hello bank! Pro | Bank | €10.90 | Full banking relationship, credit possible for established clients | No automatic cash facility; credit reserved for clients with a track record |
| Airwallex, Revolut Business, Wise Business | Payment and multi-currency platforms | Varies by plan | Local details in several currencies, interbank-level exchange rates, bulk payments | Not a substitute for every statutory account obligation on their own |
Treat subscription price as the smallest part of the bill. Real annual cost is the plan plus cards, plus extra users, plus the operations you actually run: outbound transfers, non-SEPA payments, foreign exchange on card spending, cash deposits, and the one-off capital deposit at incorporation. Note also that pro tariffs are published excluding VAT, and part of bank fees is VAT-exempt — at Hello bank! Pro, only €3 of the €10.90 monthly fee is subject to VAT, so adding 20% across the board overstates the bill.
Three real-world setups
Camille, an illustrator registered as a micro-entreprise in Lyon, stayed under the turnover threshold for two years and still opened a free account with a French IBAN. Five included SEPA transfers cover most months; in a busy month she pays a few euros for extras. Her quotes, invoices, and card sit in the same app, which keeps her URSSAF declaration straightforward.
Karim runs an SASU in Marseille selling spare parts. He buys from a supplier in northern Italy and ships to Belgian customers, so he pairs a Qonto entry plan for the French IBAN and accounting export with a multi-currency platform for receipts in other currencies. He paid the €69 capital deposit fee at opening; a colleague who registered a single-associate SASU through Indy paid nothing for that step, and Manager.one also waives it.
Thomas, in Bordeaux, sells online with two employees and a stock of returns. Seat pricing decided the choice more than the headline plan: his shortlist was Manager.one and Revolut Business precisely because neither charges per member, while a two-card Qonto setup would have added €10 per extra administrator.
Opening one without losing a week
Get the file right before you compare offers. You will need your SIREN or SIRET number, an extract of company registration such as a KBIS, proof of identity for each signatory, proof of address, and the statutes for a société. Applications stall most often on a mismatch between the account holder's legal name and the registration documents.
Then work through five practical checks. Confirm the account can be opened in the company's name, not only yours. Verify the IBAN is French if your clients and payroll partners expect one. Read the fee schedule for the four operations you run most, rather than the marketing page. Ask what identification is required for each additional cardholder. Confirm the electronic invoicing platform is included or compatible before the September 2026 reception deadline.
If an application is refused, France provides a right to an account procedure through the Banque de France for eligible applicants. Keep written evidence of the refusal, then follow the process rather than accepting an informal no. Local support exists too: your expert-comptable usually has a preferred provider, CCI and Bpifrance Création advisers review business plans at no cost, and the ACPR register lets you verify a provider's status in a couple of minutes.
Start with one account that matches your legal form, one card, and a clear view of your three most frequent transactions. Add the multi-currency layer only when a client actually pays you in another currency. Opening the account takes an afternoon; fixing a mismatched account title during a tax review takes considerably longer.
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