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.
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).
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.
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 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.
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). On the premium plans, your first month is free.
Plans and pricing:
- Pay-as-you-go: £0/month a month for the
- Business: £14.90/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 – and track and control your employees spending in real time, with custom spend and expense approvals.
Revolut comes with perks and benefits from partners such as Zipcar for Business, Pact Coffee and Shopify.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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
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.
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 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.
It’s a good account 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. E.g. 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, and with Pro (£19 a month) you get 1% cashback, 500 free payments and transfers, dedicated support, and more.
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. 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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