Nickel review

The monthly fee is €0, so the account carries no monthly cost. Nickel ranks position 1 of 379 on that measure, and the site median is €0, with €99 the highest figure listed. Most cards here sit in the free band, so cost alone does not separate them.

It is a debit card, so spending comes straight out of the account balance rather than building up credit. Debit cards make up 73.4% of the cards listed, against 21.2% for prepaid and 5.4% for virtual. You set the limit yourself, so top up before a large payment.

The card runs on mastercard. That choice matters at the cash machine, and a single network closes off one of the two most common options. Across the listings, 57.6% of cards use one network and 38.9% use the network behind this card, with 3.3% on local schemes only.

Nickel lists kids and business as its audiences, so the card is built for children and for business accounts rather than general adult spending. On the site, business is the most common audience at 64.6%, with kids at 37.8%. It fits a household setting a card for a child, or a small company keeping spend on its own card.

Multi-currency and travel sit at the centre of the offer, since multi currency and travel are the features listed. The card is a debit card, so a trip is funded from the account balance. Conversion cost varies widely across the site: the median conversion fee is 1%, 0% at the lower end and 10.5% at the top.

Support runs on phone, chat and community, so a card blocked while abroad can reach phone or chat, with a community space for everything else. On the site, phone appears in 44.7% of accounts, chat in 34.9% and community in 24.7%. Phone and chat are the quicker routes for a payment problem.

Nickel is headquartered in France and was founded in 2014, so the account is designed around its home market and sold to kids and business customers there. Anyone opening the same card from another country should check the availability terms first, because it does not present as a general international offer.

Nickel's monthly fee is €0, the same band as Monzo Flex at £0 and Wise at £0, while the BMW Card von American Express lists $0 in another currency. With running cost this close, the audience served and the card type decide it.