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) |
|---|---|---|
| Revolut Business | Free UK card payments, send/receive/ hold up to 30+ currencies, accounting integrations | £10/mo– £90/mo |
| Tide | Free UK & international card payments on premium plans, invoicing, cash deposits | Free – £69.99/mo |
| HSBC | Free UK bank transfers & UK card payments, Small Business Growth Programme | Free |
| WorldFirst | Free UK bank transfers, free UK & international card purchases | Free |
| Airwallex | Multi-currency, corporate cards, partner perks | Free –£49/mo |
| Monzo | Tax saving feature, accounting integrations | Free –£25/mo |
| Allica | High interest savings, cashback, dedicated account manager | Free (eligibility criteria applies) |
| CountingUp | Real-time tax estimates, account integrations | £3 –£18/mo |
| Zempler | Extra cards for employees, accounting software integration | £0 – £19/mo |
| Starling | Free business account, optional add-ons, software integration | Free (Add-ons: £2 – £7 /mo) |
| Mettle | Invoice & payment tools, connects with accounting software | Free (Mettle+: £4/mo) |
| ANNA | Payment alerts, extra prepaid cards, export to accounting software | £12.50/mo + £55 setup fee |
Revolut Business
Revolut Business is a great option for small businesses and start ups that need a simple, flexible way to manage team finances. If your business deals with foreign currency, your ability to send, receive and hold 30+ currencies with a Revolut Business account will come in handy.
All plans include integration with ClearBooks, Xero, Sage, FreeAgent and more.
Right now, you can receive £100 welcome bonus by signing up to Revolut Business via Small Business. To receive the £100 you must onboard via the link. Offer ends 31/03/2026. Fees, promotional terms, and T&Cs apply.
Plans and pricing:
- Basic: £10 per month. 10 free UK bank transfers (20p afterwards). £3,000 withdrawal limit per day.
- Grow: from £30 per month. 100 free UK bank transfers (20p afterwards). £5,000 withdrawal limit per day. Earn up to 2.25% (variable) AER on savings.
- Scale: £90 per month. 1000 free UK bank transfers (20p afterwards). £10,000 withdrawal limit per day. Earn up to 2.75% (variable) AER on savings.
Get started with Revolut Business
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
HSBC
Although a traditional High Street bank, HSBC have a wide range of digital banking offerings.
The HSBC Small Business Banking Account gives you a wide-range of benefits to support your business along the way. Alongside fee-free UK digital banking and no monthly account fee*, you’ll be eligible for the HSBC Small Business Growth Programme. Access free bite-sized training courses from HSBC’s partners, including Microsoft, Google and WIRED, as well as events and webinars to gain valuable insights, business skills and insights. You’ll also have a range of borrowing solutions that could help your business grow.
(*Free UK digital banking and free bank transfers means day-to-day standard electronic transfers made through Business Internet Banking and HSBC UK Business Banking app are free. Other Charges apply e.g. Cheques and CHAPs. See Business Price List for details. Subject to application, eligibility, credit check, and T&Cs. A full list of prices and charges applicable can be found in HSBC UK’s Business Price List at business.hsbc.uk/legal)
Plans and pricing:
- Free: no monthly fees
Open a Small Business Banking Account with HSBC
WorldFirst
- No monthly fees.
- £4.00 per international payment.
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
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: Starts at £25/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 3.83% 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 if your balance falls below an average of £10,000 in the previous month, you’ll incur a fee of £25.
Open an Allica Bank business account
CountingUp
Countingup is a relatively new player in the mobile banking market, and, with prices starting from £3 a month, also 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
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
Open a Zempler business account
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 for 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.
Get started with Starling Bank
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.
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.
ANNA +Taxes is perhaps its biggest selling point for limited companies: it 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). Your first month of +Taxes is free, then it’s £29/month.
Plans and pricing:
- Pay-as-you-go: £0/month
- Business: £22.90/month package
- Big Business: £59.90/month
- +Taxes: £29/month
Open an Anna 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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