Digital banking platforms, also known as Authorised Payment Institutions (API) or e-money institutions/issuers, generally don’t consider themselves to be banks, and they 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 will be right for your small business depends on a number of factors, from your business size to 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.
| Bank | Features | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Tide | No fees on card payments in UK or abroad, Tide Mastercard, instant invoicing, integration with FreeAgent, Sage and Xero | Free (£0) Smart (£12.49) + VAT Pro (£24.99) + VAT Max (£69.99) + VAT |
| Airwallex | Global business account Create multi currency cards, Xero integration and expense management. | Explore: £0-£19 (fee free tariff available if you deposit or maintain at least £10k in your account every month Grow: £49 a month Accelerate: £999 a month Custom pricing: for high volume businesses |
| ANNA | Smart invoicing, automatically chase outstanding payments | Free – pay as you use + VAT £14.90 a month + VAT £49.90 a month + VAT |
| Revolut | Hold, exchange and transfer currencies with real exchange rate, issue free corporate cards to employees, perks from commercial partners | Companies pay between £0 – £90 a month, depending on the account (or Enterprise customers can access custom pricing depending on their needs) Revolut Pro (for freelancers) costs £0-£45, depending on which package you go for |
| Countingup | Automated bookkeeping, professional invoices and automated receipt scanning as key features along with tax calculated and filed for you Add notes and attachments directly to your transactions Receipt capture and tax estimate | £3 a month for businesses with monthly deposits of £0-£750; £9 a month for businesses with monthly deposits of £750 to £7,500; and £18 a month for unlimited deposits. |
| The Starling Bank | Categorised transactions, integration with Xero, FreeAgent and Quickbooks, overdraft facility | No monthly fee Can add a monthly £7 ‘business toolkit’ for extra functionality; £2 for a euro business account and £5 for a dollar business account |
| Monzo | Integrations with Xero, FreeAgent and QuickBooks; set aside a percentage of your earnings to put towards tax every time you’re paid | Lite: Free Pro: £9 a month Team: £25 a month |
| Coconut | Can connect current accounts and credit cards from over 30 different banks including Barclays, Lloyds and Starling Sort categories into transactions in real time Work out how much tax you owe in real time Tax tips for you small business | £9.95 a month including VAT |
| Mettle | Create and send invoices directly from your smartphone, complete with company logo Manage recurring payments in-app, add receipts to transactions and export your expense data Can connect with Xero, Freeagent and Quickbooks | Free to use and free to join Mettle+ allows you to create and send quotes and convert them into invoices for £4 a month |
| Zempler Bank | Add up to 20 additional business expense cards for your employees to use Cashplus integrates with accounting software | Go: £0 a month Extra: £9 a month Pro £19 a month |
| Allica Bank | The Business Rewards Account gives you a direct line to your own relationship manager as well as access to a 4.58 per cent Savings Pot The business account has no monthly fees and offers up to 1.5 per cent cashback on all eligible spend. To open this account, you must have been incorporated for at least 12 months, keep a balance of £50,000 or more in your account or have a loan product with Allica Bank. | No monthly fees |
| CardOneMoney | Text alerts confirming when money is in and to confirm that bills have been paid Up to four additional prepaid corporate MasterCards linked to your business account Export statements to a cloud accounting network | £12.50 a month (plus one-off £55 application fee) |
Digital banking platforms
On this page, you will find:
Tide
With Tide, get real-time business forecasts with the ability to predict your balance 30 days ahead. What’s more, receive actionable suggestions to improve cashflow.
You’ve also got free invoice templates and the ability to set up scheduled payments. The package is rounded off with in-app support 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.
There are four accounts available through Tide: Free (£0), Smart (£12.49), Pro (£24.99) and Max (£69.99)
Airwallex
With Airwallex, you can open a multi-currency account online and start making transfers to more than 150 countries within minutes. The Airwallex Business Account also allows you to open local currency accounts in over 60 countries and accept payments from 180, giving you a quick and easy way to expand your global reach.
Explore, the basic account, is free (provided you deposit or maintain at least £10k in your account every month, otherwise £19 a month)) and there are no set up costs – you just pay a small currency conversion fee. There’s also Grow (£49 a month) for growing businesses, Accelerate (£999 a month) for large businesses, and Custom pricing available for high-volume businesses.
You also get access to a wealth of tools and integrations including Xero and Oracle, plus you can open an account in minutes online.
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.
On the app you’ve got smart invoicing, which creates sales and purchase invoices for you. It’ll politely chase outstanding payments that you’re owed and you’ll be notified about VAT, corporation tax and self-assessment tax return deadlines (compliant with Making Tax Digital).
ANNA offers a pay-as-you-use package; or you could pay £14.90 a month for the Essentials package; or the Big Business package with all the app tools included at £49.90 a month (both before VAT).
Open an Anna Money business account
Revolut
Revolut is a good shout for businesses who travel and trade overseas. Customers can hold, exchange and transfer in over 150 currencies with the real exchange rate.
You can issue plastic, metal or virtual cards and track your employees spending in real time.
Revolut comes with perks and benefits from partners such as Zipcar for Business, Pact Coffee and Shopify.
In terms of accounts you’ve got:
-
- Basic (£10 a month)
-
- Grow (from £30 a month)
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- Scale (from £90 a month)
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- Enterprise (custom pricing – speak to Revolut)
Freelancers have got Revolut Pro. The Standard package (£0) allows you to exchange up to £1,000 in over 29 currencies with no additional fees.
Or you could go with Plus package (£3.99 a month) where you can earn points which translate to travel rewards, as well as purchase protection. Premium (£7.99 a month) includes partnerships with Deliveroo, Headspace and Freeletics.
Plus you can get 20 per cent of international transfer, with no limits. Metal (£14.99 a month) has higher limits on savings and 40 per cent off fees on every international transfer.
Finally, the Ultra (£45 a month) comes with a platinum-plated card, 3GB of global data access around the world every month, unlimited airport lounge access and a 100 per cent saving on international transfer fees.
Open a Revolut business account
Countingup
Countingup is a relatively new player in the mobile banking market.
Its business offering comes with real-time profit and loss reports, tax estimates and customised invoices.
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.
It costs £3 for those with a monthly deposit of £0-£750; £9 a month for those with a monthly deposit of £750-£7,500; or £18 a month for unlimited monthly deposits.
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. 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.
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.
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 registered limited company by shares (Ltd). 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.
Accounts aren’t available to some types of businesses but this may be reviewed in future.
To limit financial crime, you can pay in £5-£300 of cash in one go, and up to £1,000 every six months.
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.
Monzo has three plans available: Lite, the free plan, has basic features like a debit card, free instant transfers, and 24/7 support. Pro (£9 a month) includes Tax Pots, accounting integrations, invoicing, access for up to 3 team members and more. Team (£25 a month) adds expense cards, bulk payments, payment approval limits and the ability to add up to 15 team members.
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. Of course, it has Making Tax Digital-compliant software.
See calculations of how much tax you’ll owe and tips on what expenses you can claim, maximising your tax savings.
The flat monthly fee is £9.95 – and that includes VAT.
Mettle
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.
You’ll be eligible if you’re a sole trader or a limited company 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.
It’ll remind 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.
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 free to use and free to join.
Zempler Bank
Zempler Bank says that it takes minutes rather than months to get an account.
It’s a good account if you already have a few members of staff on your payroll – add up to 20 additional business expense cards for your employees to use (fees apply). Manage employee expense cards and travel cards centrally through an online system.
You can integrate with a variety of accounting software, pay in cash at any UK Post Office, access telephone support from Zempler’s UK customer service team. The Extra plan (£9 a month) adds 0.5% cashback on card spend, 20 free payments and transfers a month and in-app messaging support. With Pro (£19 a month) you get 1% cashback, 500 free payments and transfers, dedicated support, and more.
Allica Bank
Allica Bank is a leading digital banking platform tailored specifically for small business owners. Established in the UK, Allica Bank focuses on providing personalised banking solutions to support the growth and development of small enterprises. The bank offers a range of business accounts with competitive rates and minimal fees, ensuring cost-effective financial management.
One of the standout features of Allica Bank is its commitment to high deposit limits, allowing businesses to manage larger sums without frequent transfers. Additionally, Allica Bank provides flexible loan options with attractive interest rates, helping businesses secure the capital they need for expansion and operational costs.
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.
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.
Add up to four additional prepaid corporate MasterCards which will link to your business account to use within your business. You can also 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.
Pay cash and cheques into your account through Barclays Bank branches.
Just be aware that this one 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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