Digital banking platforms, also known as Authorised Payment Institutions (API) or e-money institutions/issuers, generally don’t consider themselves to be banks, and promise something different to their traditional competitors.
These platforms all offer an alternative to traditional high street accounts: they are quick to set up and operate entirely from your smartphone, where you can access all their digital banking services.
But which one is right for your small business? It depends on a number of factors, including your business size and the functionality you require. In this comprehensive guide, we compare the features and pricing of the market-leading platforms.
Read on for a full breakdown or compare the best option for you now.
The best digital banking platforms
| Bank | Key Features | Cost (excl. VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Tide | Free UK & international card payments on premium plans, invoicing, cash deposits | Free – £69.99/mo |
| Airwallex | Multi-currency account, expense management, Xero integration | £0–£999/mo |
| ANNA | Smart invoicing, payment reminders | Free – £49.90/mo |
| Revolut | Multi-currency, corporate cards, partner perks | £0–£90/mo |
| Countingup | Automated bookkeeping, invoicing, tax tools | £3–£18/mo |
| Starling | Free business account, optional add-ons, software integration | Free (Add-ons: £2–£7/mo) |
| Monzo | Tax saving feature, accounting integrations | Free – £25/mo |
| Coconut | Real-time tax estimates, account integrations | £9.95/mo (incl. VAT) |
| Mettle | Invoice & payment tools, connects with accounting software | Free (Mettle+: £4/mo) |
| Zempler | Extra cards for employees, accounting software integration | £0 – £19/mo |
| Allica | High interest savings, cashback, dedicated account manager | Free (eligibility criteria apply) |
| CardOneMoney | Payment alerts, extra prepaid cards, export to accounting software | £12.50/mo + £55 setup fee |
Tide
With Tide, you get free transactions on every plan, and free foreign currency transactions on paid plans. You also get generous allowances on transfers cash deposits, and invoices, and 1-3 free expense cards (additional cards are charged at £5).
Every plan also includes in-app support, payment links, tap to pay, as well as integration with Xero and QuickBooks. Paid plans allow for one or more additional team members to gain enhanced access to the account, as well as priority in-app and phone support.
Plans and pricing:
- Free: £0/month
- Smart: £12.49/month
- Pro: £24.99/month
- Max: £69.99/month
Airwallex
With Airwallex, you can open a multi-currency account online and start making transfers to more than 120 countries within minutes. The Airwallex Business Account also allows you to open local currency accounts and accept payments from 180 countries, allowing you to save on transaction fees and giving you a quick and easy way to expand your global reach. Every account comes with free employee card users and company cards.
Explore, the basic account, is free (provided you deposit or maintain at least £10k in your account every month, otherwise the premium plans are between £49 and £999 per month, and unlock features like customisable approvals and rules-based automation. There’s custom pricing available for high-volume businesses. There are no set up costs – you just pay a small currency conversion fee. You also get access to a wealth of tools and integrations including Xero and Oracle.
Plans and pricing:
- Explore: £0-£19/month
- Grow: £49/month
- Accelerate: £999/month
- Custom for high-volume businesses
Open an Airwallex business account
ANNA
ANNA is open to any UK resident who is a director of a limited company and non-limited businesses that are structured as a partnership or sole trader.
The core features of ANNA are spend tracking, allowing you to connect all your bank accounts for a holistic picture of your finances; a smart invoicing function that creates sales and purchase invoices for you and politely chases outstanding payments you’re owed; and tax support.
This is perhaps its biggest selling point for limited companies: ANNA does all your bookkeeping, calculates your taxes and allows you to file returns direct to HMRC. It also notifies you about VAT, corporation tax and self-assessment tax return deadlines (compliant with Making Tax Digital). On the premium plans, your first month is free.
Plans and pricing:
- Pay-as-you-go: £0/month a month for the
- Business: £19.90/month package
- Big Business: £49.90/month
- Taxes add-on: £24/month
Open an Anna Money business account
Revolut
Revolut is a good shout for businesses who travel and trade overseas. It supports over 25 currencies, allows you to use local account details for fast and low cost global transactions, and to save by exchanging at the interbank rate.
You can issue plastic, metal or virtual cards – which can spend in over 150 currencies – track and control your employees spending in real time, with custom spend and expense approvals, and pay salaries and taxes directly from your account.
Revolut comes with perks and benefits from partners such as Zipcar for Business, Pact Coffee and Shopify; and it allows you to integrate with more than 45 essential business tools, including essential software Xero, Sage, and QuickBooks.
Plans and pricing:
-
- Basic: £10/month
- Grow: £30/month
- Scale: £90/month
- Enterprise (custom pricing – speak to Revolut)
Revolut has now split its freelancer product from its business offering and it’s now exclusively accessible via your personal account as Revolut Pro. Prices range from free to £45/month. You can take payments, earn cashback, track your cashflow and access exclusive perks from Revolut’s partners.
Open a Revolut business account
Countingup
Countingup is a relatively new player in the mobile banking market, and, with prices starting from £3 a month, one of the cheapest. It claims you can set up an account in as little as four minutes, and then get access to real-time profit and loss reports, tax estimates and customised invoices. You can also file your VAT returns direct to HMRC and connect with your accountant.
This is best if your business is UK-based as you can’t make or receive international payments with this account as it doesn’t have an IBAN. However, you can apply for one via Countingup partner, CurrencyFair.
All accounting features appear in all of the accounts; these include receipt capture and automatically categorised transactions.
Plans and pricing:
Countingup has a novel pricing strategy that’s based on the amount you deposit in your account every month.
- £0-£750: £3/month
- £750-£7,500: £9/month
- Unlimited monthly deposits: £18/month
Starling Bank
The Starling Bank business account is open to you if you’re self-employed or the owner of a limited company or if you’re part of a limited company with multiple owners.
There’s no monthly charge on the account, UK bank transfers are free and you can make international payments to 34 countries with no hidden fees. If you want to deposit cash, you can do so at Post Office branches across the country. It’ll set you back 0.7 per cent (£3 minimum) per deposit.
To boost your business’ functionality, you can add on a toolkit for £7 a month. Extra tools include invoices and auto-matching, email integrations and VAT recorded on transactions. You’ve also got the option to add a euro business account for £2 a month or a US dollar business account for £5 a month.
What’s more, you can integrate it with Xero, FreeAgent and Quickbooks.
Monzo
Monzo has a business account for sole traders or the directors of a limited companies (it may support other business types in the future). Multi-user access is available for limited companies. Just be aware that you need to have a personal account with Monzo before you can apply for a business account.
As for features, Monzo integrates with Xero, FreeAgent and QuickBooks. With Monzo Business Pro, new Xero users can get six months of the cloud accounting platform free on the Business Pro account. It also has a Tax Pots feature, where you can set aside a percentage of your earnings to put towards tax every time you’re paid. What’s more, you can opt to be notified every time you get paid.
To limit financial crime, you can pay in £5-£300 of cash in one go, and up to £1,000 every six months.
Plans and pricing:
- Lite: £0/month
- Pro: £9/month
- Team: £25/month
Coconut
For sole traders and limited companies (with up to two directors), Coconut has the functionality to handle banking, bookkeeping, invoicing and tax.
You can connect current accounts and credit cards from over 30 different banks including Barclays, Lloyds and Starling. Notifications will let you know that a payment has been made or received, automatically categorising it.
Sole traders can get an extra help up with tax reports to help them with their self-assessment, all thanks to Coconut’s Making Tax Digital-compliant software. On top of that, you can see calculations of how much tax you’ll owe and tips on what expenses you can claim, maximising your tax savings.
Plans and pricing:
- Flat monthly fee is £9.95, including VAT (or £99 per year if you pay annually)
Mettle
Mettle is for sole traders and limited companies with up to two owners, though you must have a balance of up to £1 million to apply.
One of the main highlights is that you can create and send invoices directly from your smartphone, complete with company logo. Like Coconut, notifications will let you know when you’ve been paid. Mettle also reminds you that an invoice is overdue, and you can send an automated reminder to your client.
Transactions-wise, you can manage recurring payments in-app, add receipts to transactions and export your expense data. The tax autosave feature is another neat feature – it automatically puts aside a percentage of each incoming payment for taxes.
Other than that, you can sync your account with FreeAgent, Xero or QuickBooks but you can also export to CSV which is compatible with other accounting software. FreeAgent is free, saving you £150 a year.
Mettle+, which allows you to generate and send quotes on the go, and convert them into invoices, costs £4 a month.
Mettle is part of NatWest but is an independent arm. This means that you can’t ring NatWest and expect them to assist with your Mettle account.
Mettle is free to use and free to join.
Zempler Bank
Zempler Bank says that it takes minutes rather than months to get an account.
Core features include in-app and online banking, instant payment notifications, the ability to send and receive international payments, and 24/7 fraud monitoring. It’s a good choice if you already have a few members of staff on your payroll – you can add up to 20 additional business expense cards for your employees to use (fees apply), which you manage centrally through an online system.
Zempler integrates with a variety of accounting software, allows you to pay in cash at any UK Post Office, and access telephone support from its UK customer service team. The more premium your plan, the better cashback and the more free payments and transfers you get.
Plans and pricing:
- Business Go: £0/month
- Business Extra: £9/month
- Business Pro: £19/month
Allica Bank
Allica Bank is a leading digital banking platform tailored specifically for small business owners. The bank offers a range of business accounts with competitive rates and minimal fees, ensuring cost-effective financial management.
Allica Bank’s digital platform is user-friendly, with robust security measures ensuring the safety of transactions and data. It also offers dedicated customer support, giving business owners direct access to financial experts, and allows you to sync with Sage, Xero and Quickbooks.
One of the standout features of Allica Bank is its instant access savings feature, which allows you to earn up to 4.08% AER on your spare business cash. Additionally, Allica Bank provides flexible loan options with attractive interest rates, helping businesses secure the capital they need for expansion and operational costs.
The business account has no monthly fees. But to be eligible, you must have been incorporated for no less than 12 months, maintain a balance of £50,000, or have a loan with Allica.
Open an Allica Bank business account
CardOneMoney
The account from CardOneMoney (formerly CardOneBanking) is aimed at sole traders, limited companies or partnerships who have a turnover of up to £2m.
Make instant payments, manage bills and invoices, and add up to four additional prepaid corporate MasterCards, which will link to your business account to use within your business. Export statements to a cloud accounting network such as Xero, Sage and FreeAgent. You can also make domestic and international payments in a range of currencies, and pay cash and cheques into your account through Barclays Bank branches.
Just be aware that Card One Money isn’t covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so your first £85,000 investment won’t be covered.
It’s £12.50 a month and there’s a one-off £12.50 application fee.
Open a Card One Money business account
Which digital banking account is right for me?
Of course, the right bank account will depend on the needs of your small business. Factor in how many employees you have, your turnover and what features will support you in the day-to-day running of the firm. Whether you choose one as your primary account or a secondary account, digital banking platforms offer up a quick and convenient alternative to contend with your high street bank.
Related: Challenger and digital banks secure new funds to help small businesses
Compare business bank accounts now – Easily find the top business bank accounts from a range of providers here.
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