Kontist review 2026

Kontist offers three plans. Free costs €0 a month and includes a physical Visa debit card and five free SEPA transactions a month; every further booking costs €0.25. The Start plan costs €11 and Plus €25 a month; the paid packages include tax calculation, bookkeeping functions and a much larger transaction allowance. With five free transactions, the free plan falls below the threshold at which our methodology awards points for transactions. Anyone who regularly pays supplier invoices quickly ends up on the paid plans. Cash cannot be deposited with Kontist; deposits via branch networks or partners are not provided for. Withdrawals are only possible by card at cash machines and are chargeable beyond the respective free allowance. Scoring (14/30): The monthly base price receives the full 14 points for the free Free plan. We award 0 points for included transactions because five free transactions do not reach the level of at least ten free bookings. Cash deposits and withdrawals get 0 points, as cash deposits are not possible.

A physical Visa debit card is part of the account even on the Free plan, and the higher plans add further card options. Kontist does not offer a genuine credit card with a credit line and monthly consolidated billing. Additional cards for employees can be created on the paid plans, but they are not free. SEPA direct debit collection is already possible on the Free plan, so recurring customer payments can be collected without changing plan. Transfers run as standard SEPA or instant transfers. The IBAN is German because the accounts are held by Solaris SE. Scoring (15/20): We award 5 points for the card included in the base price, because exactly one card is included and a genuine credit card is missing. Additional cards for employees are only available for a fee, which gives 3 out of 5 points. SEPA direct debit collection is already included in the basic plan and receives the full 7 points.

Kontist is positioned as a tax and bookkeeping solution. On the paid plans, the service continuously calculates the expected income tax and VAT, prepares VAT returns and provides business analytics. Exports in a DATEV-like format are available for the tax adviser, but we could not verify a full DATEV interface with direct connections to several external accounting programs. Receipts can be captured in the app and matched to transactions. According to the publicly available information, fully automatic matching without a manual check is not consistently available. Kontist offers sub-accounts for reserves in the form of tax pots, into which a share of every payment received is set aside automatically. These pots, however, have no IBAN of their own and are only available from the Start plan. Scoring (11/20): For interfaces to accounting software we award 6 points for the connection of individual tools, because a full DATEV connection with several accounting tools cannot be verified. Receipt capture gets 3 points for receipt upload without consistent automation. For sub-accounts we award 2 points, as the reserve pots have no IBAN of their own.

The information on permitted legal forms is contradictory. Some sources report that since the takeover by the Shine group Kontist serves all legal forms including corporations, while others expressly state that GmbH and UG are not accepted. As the broader claim could not be reliably confirmed from the publicly available documents, we apply our methodology rule and rate the worse verifiable level, stating the contradiction here openly. Kontist does not offer a deposit account for the share capital of a GmbH or UG in formation; another institution is needed for the notarised capital payment. Account opening itself is fully digital: online application, identification by video ident, and the account is usually usable the same day. A Schufa check (a credit-bureau check) with a risk of rejection is part of the process. Scoring (8/16): For permitted legal forms we award 4 points for sole proprietorships and partnerships, because the acceptance of corporations could not be verified beyond doubt. The formation or capital deposit account gets 0 points, as this function is not available. The account opening process and its duration are fully digital with usability within 24 hours and receive 4 points.

Kontist is not a credit institution itself. The accounts are held by Solaris SE, a credit institution authorised in Germany and supervised by BaFin. Statutory deposit protection of up to €100,000 per customer therefore applies to balances. The protection is thus fully valid, but depends on the partner bank and not on a licence of Kontist's own. Customer service can be reached on working days via a German-language phone hotline, as well as by live chat and email. There is no named fixed contact person on the standard plans. The banking app is available for iOS and Android and covers transfers, card management, receipt capture and the tax functions; at Kontist it is the central user interface. Scoring (10/14): We award 4 points for deposit protection and supervision, because statutory deposit protection applies via the partner bank Solaris SE, but Kontist has no banking licence of its own. Customer service reachability gets 3 points for the German-language hotline without a fixed contact person. The banking app for iOS and Android with full functionality receives 3 points.