Online Business Bank Accounts in France: What Actually Fits Your Company

You have a SIREN number, a client waiting on an invoice, and a shortlist of fintech logos that all look the same. The differences sit in small, expensive details.

The rule that decides half of your shortlist

French company law is fairly specific about when a dedicated account stops being a nice habit and becomes an obligation. If your activity is commercial — buying and reselling, retail, food, e-commerce — a separate professional account is required from day one, whatever your turnover. For service providers and artisans, the trigger is revenue above €10 000 for two consecutive years. Plenty of freelancers stay under that line for a while, but a single statement where a client payment sits next to a supermarket receipt makes an URSSAF review far more painful than it needs to be.

There is a second deadline most founders discover late. Since September 2026, every business registered in France must be able to receive electronic invoices through an approved platform, and issuing obligations extend to smaller companies from September 2027. Choosing an account that already plugs into that system saves you from running two tools side by side later.

A third point worth understanding: the account does not have to sit at a traditional bank. Licensed payment institutions and electronic money institutions regulated in France or elsewhere in the EU can issue a French IBAN and a RIB, and most handle the paperwork your accountant asks for. Traditional branches still win on cash deposits, chequebooks and lending. Online providers win on speed, price and integrations. Where you land depends on how money physically arrives in your business.

What each type of provider actually costs

Published prices below are monthly, shown excluding VAT as French professional rate cards do, and come from providers' own pricing pages. They move, so treat them as a starting point rather than a quote.

Provider	Institution type	Published monthly price	French IBAN	Cash or cheques	Strongest for	Watch out for
Qonto	Payment institution	Basic €9, Smart €19, Premium €39 (annual billing)	Yes	No cash; cheques not standard	Teams needing cards, approvals, invoicing	Capital deposit €69 excl. VAT; €10 excl. VAT per extra admin on Smart
Shine	Payment institution (ACPR-licensed)	€0 entry plan, paid tiers from about €7	Yes	No cash	Solo consultants, micro-entrepreneurs	Five SEPA transfers included on entry plan, €0.40 excl. VAT after
Indy	Payment institution	€0	Yes	No cash, no cheques	Freelancers keeping costs near zero	Limited international transfers
BoursoBank Pro	Bank	No monthly account fee	Yes	Cheques up to €1 500 over 30 days	Cheque-taking businesses	Requires a personal BoursoBank account; no overdraft
Revolut Business	Electronic money institution	Tiered plans, entry tier at no monthly cost	Yes	No cash	Cross-border teams, multi-currency	Interbank FX only within a monthly allowance (€1 000 entry, €15 000 on Grow)
Airwallex	Electronic money institution	Paid tiers reaching around €99	Yes	No cash	Importers, marketplace sellers	Onboarding takes one to three days

Two structural costs hide behind these numbers. Extra users are the real bill once you hire: Qonto's Smart plan includes two users and charges roughly €10 excl. VAT per additional administrator, while Shine includes two collaborator accesses on its Plus tier and then bills about €5 excl. VAT each. And foreign currency transfers rarely stay inside the allowance — Qonto applies 0,8 % with a €5 minimum on dollar transfers at its lower tiers.

Matching the account to how your company earns

The solo consultant under the threshold

A Nantes-based translator billing three European agencies needs a French IBAN, clean statements and nothing else. An entry-tier account at Shine or Indy covers this at €0 in monthly fees, with invoicing built in and the electronic invoicing platform already connected. The trap here is transfer limits: five included SEPA transfers sounds generous until a month with twelve small invoices arrives, and then per-transfer charges quietly add up. Read the transfer count before the headline price.

The five-person team with cards and approval flows

Once two or three people spend company money, the account becomes a control tool rather than a payment rail. Qonto's Smart tier at €19 excl. VAT adds sub-accounts, 100 transfers and accountant access, which is what most small agencies in Lyon and Bordeaux end up needing. Set spending ceilings per card and require validation on outbound transfers before you hand anyone a card.

The importer paying suppliers outside the eurozone

An e-commerce seller in Lille buying stock in Asia faces two costs traditional branches rarely explain: fixed SWIFT fees and the FX margin baked into the rate. An Airwallex or Revolut Business account with multi-currency balances lets you hold and convert in the same place, and the margin is visible before you confirm. Compare the all-in cost of a €20 000 supplier payment rather than the subscription price.

The company that may need credit

Here the fintech story gets thinner. Qonto offers an overdraft facility up to €5 000 at a 17,5 % annual rate, and longer lending runs through partner banks. BoursoBank Pro and Manager.one do not grant overdrafts at all, and Hello bank! Pro no longer includes an automatic cash facility. If seasonal cash flow is part of your model, keep a relationship with a branch bank alongside the online account instead of assuming the app will cover a bad quarter.

Opening the account without losing a week

Gather the documents before you start the form: proof of company registration, identification, proof of address, and the articles of association. If you are incorporating, the capital deposit certificate matters — most providers issue it online, but the fee and process differ, and a handful of structures such as SCI or associations are refused outright. Confirm three things in writing: that your legal form is accepted, that the IBAN is French, and that you receive a proper RIB that clients and the tax office will recognise.

Then test the edges. Ask what happens if you deposit cash, whether you can collect client payments by direct debit with a SEPA creditor identifier, and what an inactive account costs to close. Accounts that look cheap at €0 often earn their margin on dormancy fees, cash handling and out-of-allowance transfers.

Expect onboarding to take a day or two at Shine and Indy, and up to three at Airwallex. A rejected file usually comes down to a mismatch between the name on the registration document and the name on the application.

Where to start this week

Pick the account based on how money arrives, not on which homepage looks cleanest. Solo service providers with modest volume: compare Shine's entry plan and Indy, then check the transfer count against your last three months of invoices. Companies with staff spending: price out Qonto Smart and Shine Plus with the extra user fees included. Cross-border sellers: run the FX cost on one real supplier payment through Revolut Business and Airwallex. Before signing, ask your accountant which format they want statements and invoices in — a five-minute call now saves a quarter-end reconciliation later.

Then open one account, move a single client payment through it, and see how the statement reads. That first real transaction tells you more than any comparison table.