Fintech That Became a Subscription App
How Revolut earns $0.5 billion on subscriptions
Wait…a bank that lives on subscriptions?
When people talk about mobile subscription apps they usually think of fitness trackers, meditation or note-taking apps. A global fintech is hardly the first thing that comes to mind. Yet Revolut, originally started as a low-fee FX card, now pulls in about half a billion dollars a year from subscriptions alone, up 74 % year-over-year.
Revolut’s 2024 numbers:
Currency Exchange: $0.5Bn (+60%)
Subscriptions: $0.5Bn (+74%)
Invest & Crypto: $0.6Bn (+298%)
Card Payments: $0.9Bn (+43%)
Interest Income: $1.0Bn (+58%)
So Revolut’s revenue from subscriptions is the same as on currency exchange and growing even faster. Subscriptions now contribute ≈12 % of total revenue.
Revolut offers several tiers of subscription. Here’s what you get at different tiers (listing just some of the perks here):
Standard - FreeBasic account, FX at 1 % spread
Plus £3.99/mo - Purchase protection, disposable cards
Premium£7.99 - Travel insurance, higher FX limits
Metal£14.99 - Cashback, concierge, higher ATM limits
Ultra £45 - 3×WeWork day-passes, airport lounge access, travel e-sim, NordVPN, 20 ClassPass credits, free weekend FX, and more.
A single day WeWork pass in London costs ~£40 on its own, so three passes already exceed the £45 fee. Add a £12/month NordVPN subscription, airport lounge access, and travel e-sim and the tier feels like a no-brainer for any frequent travellers.
Sizing the paid subscribers base (back-of-the-envelope)
Revolut had around 52M users in 2024 with subscription revenue of $0.5 bn. Let’s assume the weighted avg. price ≈ $15/mo → $180/yr
→ Paying users ≈ 2.8 m, or ~5 % of Revolut’s 52.5 m customers.
In other words, a single-digit share of the user base delivers an outsized chunk of revenue and plenty of upside remains as Revolut upsells more free customers. Looks like subscription side of the business has potential to become the major source of Revolut’s revenue and its growth in the coming years.
And unlike regular apps on the App Store Revolut does not have to pay 30% to Apple and 5-10% VAT on every sale. Amazing business model, isn’t it?
Sources: Revolut 2024 annual report (published 24 Apr 2025); LinkedIn post by Dmitry Zlokazov, Head of Product at Revolut