N26 has rolled out a new tool and officially left beta in the US

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Following a limited beta launch in the US last month that allowed 100,000 users to sign up and access its product, N26 has now rolled out its services in full, per TechCrunch. Further, its "Spaces" tool — personal subaccounts to help users save for goals — has been expanded as a shared banking feature, "Shared Spaces," where up to 10 people can collectively hold or set aside money.

With its emergence from beta, N26 is officially a full US neobank player — here’s how its primary competitors stack up:

Chime recently surpassed 4 million users, after adding more than 200,000 new users monthly and quadrupling its user base in one year. In its last funding round, Chime’s valuation reached $1.5 billion. The firm offers emerging digital features, like a chatbot for customer support.
Aspiration counts more than 1 million customers and is adding around 100,000 users per month. It markets itself as "anti-Wells Fargo," and offers features like automated savings functions and integrated investment features.
Varo tripled its user base in the past year and is expected to reach 750,000 registered customers this month. It raised $100 million in a Series C funding round earlier this year and is in the process of applying for a national bank charter from the OCC.
Moven was an early starter in the US neobank space and has drawn in 250,000 users since its 2011 launch. Moven also offers Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) solutions.

PFM features could be N26’s best way to stand out from these existing players in the US, as consumers are hungry for such tools, and the neobank already has robust offerings. The N26 mobile app automatically categorizes each transaction, allows customers to set daily spending limits, and enables locking and unlocking of cards.

Customers can also use Spaces sub-accounts to reach their financial goals by dropping money in and out of them. These features could help N26 differentiate, as they’re somewhat rare but in high demand: 44% of mobile banking users who responded to Business Insider Intelligence’s Mobile Banking Competitive Edge study (Enterprise only) said the ability to set spending limits for a credit or debit card would "very" or "extremely" valuable, for example.

For its part, Shared Spaces could help further amplify N26’s usefulness for customers, though its premium status could limit its adoption. The feature, which is currently being tested with a small subset of users and is expected to be fully launched in the coming months, can be useful for people going on holidays together or for splitting living costs — such as bills — with roommates, for instance.

However, N26 is offering it as a premium tool, with free users limited to accessing up to two Shared Spaces, per TechCrunch, potentially in an effort to boost premium subscriptions and revenue. With premium N26 accounts costing either €9.90 ($11) or €16.90 ($19) per month — both hefty tags — the tool will probably only tempt people who were already considering premium accounts due to their other, more substantial benefits, such as free withdrawals worldwide and exclusive partner offers.

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