Revolut's Ultra Plan - Is it worth it?

Revolut's Ultra Plan - Is it worth it?
Photo by AltumCode / Unsplash

Is the Revolut's Ultra plan worth it?

My answer is no - here's why:

In the Netherlands, the Ultra plan stands at a price point of EUR 690 (EUR 50 for the first 3 months, then EUR 60 per month) - and yes while this is a promotional price - after your first year is up, you can simply downgrade your subscription to a lower plan, and then upgrade again for the same offer (at least as of Feb. 2025).

The benefits that I found to be the most useful (in the order they are displayed in the App) were the following:

  1. 1 RevPoint / EUR Spent
  2. Fee-Free ATM Withdrawals up to EUR 2000 / Month
  3. Unlimited Fee-Free Currency Exchange
  4. 3GB / Month Global Travel E-Sim
  5. 3.5% p.a. Interest on Savings
  6. Partner Offers - Tinder Gold, Nord VPN, ClassPass
  7. Unlimited Airport Lounge Access

While there are a variety of other benefits such as Commission-Free Trades, Revolut Pro with Uncapped Cashback, Insurance and a variety of partner offers - I do not use Revolut for Stocks/Crypto, nor do I have a Revolut Pro account, and based on the wide-variety of reviews I've seen surrounding Revolut's insurance policies - I don't trust them enough to cancel my existing policies.

With about half of the above listed perks - I find the following problem: I can get these benefits for free, or I wouldn't pay for them without having the Ultra plan. For instance:

  1. Fee-Free ATM Withdrawals and Currency Exchange - I can simply switch between plans in order to reset my monthly limit - thus gaining access to unlimited withdrawals and currency exchange without any problems.
  2. Partner Offers - While the combined yearly value of the three partner offers I find most useful is EUR 611,97, which is almost the entire subscription price - I would never purchase these myself, and the most valuable of these - ClassPass - doesn't actually allow you to go to the gym more than around thrice per month (at least in Amsterdam), and even if you purchase more credits at the "beneficial corporate rate" you would still be paying more per month than most other monthly gym subscriptions.

Tinder: Gold - EUR 165 / Yearly Plan

Nord VPN: Complete Plan - EUR 86,97 / Yearly Plan

ClassPass: 20 Credit Plan - EUR 360 / Yearly Plan (at a cost of EUR 1,5 per credit)

  1. 3.5% p.a. Interest on Savings - This is an increase of 1.1% from the free plan's interest rate of 2.4% p.a. - in order for the interest on your savings to pay for the price of the Ultra plan on a yearly basis you would need to have around EUR 63.000 in savings with Revolut. Most people I know don't trust Revolut with more than EUR 1.000 in their savings account - so I'm not sure who's willing to risk putting 63.000 into their savings account.

Moving onto the less-problematic benefits... these must make up for the difference you might say - but no. Here's why:

  • Unlimited Airport Lounge Access: This is accomplished through a partnership with DragonPass, and if you were to purchase the equivalent "Prestige" subscription it would cost you around EUR 410 / year. However, this is only worth it if you travel 1) more than 4 times per year; and 2) solo most of the time. If you travel 4 or less times, then the value drops to EUR 250 with the "Preferential" DragonPass subscription. In addition, this is only a saving of around EUR 27, as if you were to purchase the passes separately at EUR 34 a piece on the free plan it would cost your EUR 272. Finally, if you don't travel solo - you'll still need to purchase a "guest" pass for your travel companions at EUR 24 per entry.

    Personally, I travelled on more than 16 flights in a 2 month period, and only used the free lounge around 3-4 times as my flights were either too early / late for the lounges to be open, or I would be travelling with other people, at which point the EUR 24 per additional person became too expensive to be worthwhile for a quick snack.
  • 3GB / Month Global Travel E-SIM: While quite useful in general, I experienced a lot of issues with connectivity - usually for the first half-, or full-day of arriving in a country. Furthermore, it was often much more convenient to purchase a local SIM in order to have a local number for use with local transportation or food-delivery apps.
  • 1 RevPoint / EUR: Compared to 1 RevPoint / 10 EUR on the Plus plan or on the Standard plan with a "RevPoint Savings Plan", this is quite the improvement.

    However - what can we do with these points? Well, the only real use is converting them at a 1:1 ratio to several Airline miles programs (e.g. FlyingBlue, Miles&Smiles, and OneWorld).

    So how much are these points worth? Being located in the Netherlands, the most interesting program is KLM's FlyingBlue. They offer one-way european flights for around 7,500 miles, and one-way intercontinental flights for around 17,000 miles. This means that for every EUR 7,500 you spend on Revolut while on the Ultra plan - you receive a "cashback" equivalent to around EUR 75 or 1%, or for every EUR 17,000 spend - you receive a "cashback" of around EUR 1000 or ~5-6%.

    While that is quite a heafy cashback, personally, I don't spend enough on a monthly basis to warrant paying EUR 65 per month, to receive a 1% cashback.

Therefore, overall I would argue that on the Dutch Revolut, the Ultra plan is not worth it.

Notes:

  • I don't mention the Platinum card in this article, as it doesn't really have any value beyond being a status symbol. However, it does accomplish this purpose. Although personally, I prefer the customized Metal card, as the Platinum card cannot be personalized with text or drawings.