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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 - £100 a month, depending on the account (or they can speak to Revolut and get a bespoke deal) Freelancers pay £0 for the free account, £7 a month for the Professional account and £25 a month for the Ultimate account |
| 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 |
| Tide | No fees on card payments in UK or abroad, Tide Mastercard, instant invoicing, integration with FreeAgent, Sage and Xero | Free (£0) Plus (£9.99) + VAT Pro (18.99) + VAT Plus Cashback (£49.99) + VAT |
| 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: £5 a month |
| Airwallex | Global business account Create multi currency cards, Xero integration and expense management. | No monthly fees Small currency conversion fee applies |
| Coconut | Can connect current accounts and credit cards from over 25 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 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 |
| Cashplus | 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 |
| 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. |
| SumUp | Unlimited free bank transfers Access sales cash in your business bank account the next working day (including weekends and bank holidays) | Free (withdrawal charges apply) |
| 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 a £55 application fee |
Digital banking platforms
On this page, you will find:
- ANNA
- Revolut
- Starling Bank
- Tide
- Monzo
- Airwallex
- Coconut
- Mettle
- CashPlus
- Countingup
- SumUp
- CardOneMoney
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, creating 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; £49.90 a month (both before VAT).
Compare ANNA business banking with NerdWallet
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:
- Free (£0 a month)
- Grow (£25 a month)
- Scale (£100 a month)
- Enterprise (bespoke – speak to Revolut)
Freelancers can choose from the free account (£0 a month), Professional (£7 a month) and Ultimate (£25 a month).
Compare Revolut business banking with NerdWallet
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. You must have been trading for a minimum of 18 months to apply.
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.
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 cash flow.
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.
There are three accounts available through Tide: Free (£0), Plus (£9.99), Pro (£18.99) and Plus Cashback (£49.99)
Compare Tide business banking with NerdWallet
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 the 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.
The pricing is on two tiers: Lite offers up the basics but for additional features like Apple Pay and Google Pay but for Tax Pots you’ll need to go Pro at £5 a month.
Airwallex
Airwallex offers a business account with domestic and international business accounts, company cards, and expense management – all in one place.
Its multi-currency account allows you to start collecting payments from your customers in their preferred currency so you can trade globally without the red tape.
The account is free and there are no set up costs, you just pay a small currency conversion fee.
Access a wealth of tools and integrations including Xero and Oracle, plus you can open an account in minutes online.
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 25 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 £9.00 – 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 less than £100,000 (or £50,000 for sole traders) 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. However, you’ll need to match the payment to the outstanding invoice yourself.
Again, it goes half-way there in terms of chasing overdue invoices. It’ll remind you that an invoice is overdue, but you’ll have to send the client a follow-up yourself.
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.
A key consideration you must make is that the app isn’t covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). However, the account is covered under the FCA safeguarding requirements and the corresponding regulations. The purpose of safeguarding is to protect and return customer money if the company fails.
Mettle is free to use and free to join.
Cashplus
Cashplus 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. Manage employee expense cards and travel cards centrally through an online system.
Get a business cash advance to help with cash flow and integrate it with online accounting software.
Compare Cashplus business banking with NerdWallet
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.
Compare Countingup with NerdWallet
SumUp
The payment processing firm, SumUp, has launched a business account offering. The account, geared at freelancers, sole traders and small businesses, is free but withdrawal fees apply.
You can link your MasterCard with Apple Pay and Google Pay to make faster payments. With a SumUp card reader, you can also make a sale and access the money on the next working day, even on bank holidays and weekends.
SumUp also has a built-in invoicing tool so you can send customised invoices from your phone or your computer. Share payment links with customers through text, WhatsApp, Facebook or another platform.
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 into your account at the Post Office and cheques through Barclays Bank.
Just be aware that this one isn’t covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme either.
It’s £12.50 a month with a £55 application fee.
Compare CardOneMoney with NerdWallet
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.
If you want to see all your options online, compare business bank accounts with Nerdwallet now.
Related: Challenger and digital banks secure new funds to help small businesses
