Planar vacuum deposited p–i–n methyl ammonium lead tri-iodide perovskite solar cells are prepared with different electron and hole transporting layers, either doped or undoped. The effect of these layers on the solar cells performance (efficiency and stability) is studied. The main benefit of using doped layers lies in the formation of barrier free charge extraction contacts to the electrodes. However, this comes at the cost of increased residual absorption (reducing the current density and efficiency of the cells) and a decreased stability. A generic solar cell structure using undoped charge extraction layers is presented, containing a thin layer of a strong electron acceptor in between the transparent electrode and the hole transport layer, that leads to efficiencies of 18% and a significant (5 times) improvement of the stability.