7 Best Digital Banks UK

business-bank-account
In this review, we help you choose between the best digital banks UK, so you can make the right choice for your business.

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Do you want to save money on business banking and foreign currency fees? Perhaps you’re starting a new business and want to compare fees for the best digital banks UK?

In this guide, we’ll help you choose the best digital business bank account.

In this review…

Compare the best digital banks using our free tool.

7 Best Digital Banks UK

Monese

Competitive currency exchange rates for international businesses
best digital banks uk

Pros

  • Can be used anywhere in the world with Mastercard’s exchange rate and a 0.5% currency fee.
  • State of the art security features. 
  • Easy to add cash into your business account.

Cons

  • Customer service is not 24/7 and only operates in office hours, no emergency number if you get in a sticky spot. 
  • Not the best for freelancers and sole traders who are encouraged to use the personal version. 
  • Have to open a Monese personal account to get a business account.

Monese Features

You can transfer and send money internationally to a wide variety of currencies with Monese’s excellent exchange rates and little transaction fees. The bank also has a pretty simple and easy sign-up process and is built for easy user interface and navigation, letting you keep track of your money through its secure app all around the world. 

Monese online business bank accounts are best for small businesses because of its slightly higher pricing packages and higher account limits, plus the app is also great for small businesses needing to create invoices and categorise all your transactions. 

But there is a catch, Monese is not FSCS protected, but the bank does guarantee 100% of your funds are protected when you sign up to use the bank. 

Monese Pricing

Monese has a monthly subscription fee for its online business bank accounts, costing £9.95 per month which may be a little bit pricey for sole traders compared to other online banks. 

This will get you access to all of Monese’s business features including a personal account, a cash top-up location at a UK Post Office or PayPoint station, and 6 free ATM withdrawals per month. 

Monese online business bank accounts are great for travelers as it will only take a 0.5% fee for foreign currency card spending and bank transfers. When you get your business account you’ll automatically have a bank limit of £50,000, which you can apply to Monese to increase who will usually up your limit to £100,000 after 3 months. 

Monese Trustpilot Reviews

Reviews for Monese online business bank accounts are generally pretty good. Ranked 4/5 stars on Trustpilot, many love the features Monese has to offer.

There are some reviews online that worried us with many users saying they were locked out from withdrawing funds when trying to work with Monese’s customer services, who were also slightly unhelpful. 

Here’s our expert Monese review.

Mettle

Best value for money and 100% free
Mettle Bank Logo

Pros

  • Perfect for sole traders and small businesses. 
  • Powered by NatWest providing a secure and safe banking solution. 
  • Accounting integrations built around you. 
  • Free to use!
  • Access to FreeAgent for free!

Cons

  • Not FSCS protected. 
  • Does not come with an overdraft facility. 

Mettle Account Main Features

Mettle is definitely the best value for money out of all the online business bank accounts. Mettle provides sole traders with a sleek and easy to use digital banking system they can also use as a piece of accounting software to track the performance and profitability of their business. 

The icing on the cake of this banking software is that it gives you free access to one of our favourite accounting software providers, FreeAgent

It’s an awesome piece of software that can help you save tons of money on your tax filings as a self-employed business. FreeAgent comes free with Mettle’s business package – perfect for sole traders.

Mettle Pricing

Mettle offers awesome online business bank accounts for sole traders, startups, and freelancers. It’s 100% free to use and sign up to, and there are no hidden transaction fees, including if you’re sending money abroad. 

Mettle is great in this respect for any small organisation looking to save money on business admin and banking. You may think Mettle’s free accounts might not have the same level of features as other subscription-based accounts – that’s wrong. Mettle holds its own against the big guns, providing you with a £100,000 bank limit if you’re a limited company or £50,000 limit if you’re a sole trader.

After you’ve signed up you’ll get access to all the features of Mettles online business bank accounts, including its invoice creation tools, expense tracking tools, plus you’ll get access to FreeAgent accounting tools for free!

Mettle Trustpilot Reviews

Mettle online business bank accounts are ranked pretty well online with multiple users stating that it was easy to get up and running with the bank account, and its FreeAgent integration was highly rated by many users online. 

Revolut

Great for integrating with all your businesses’ tools
Revolut Bank Logo

Pros

  • Great integrations.
  • Flexible pricing options for both freelancers and companies also comes with a free version.
  • Easy and intuitive mobile application. 
  • Comes with its own easy to use payroll features.

Cons

  • Not FSCS protected. 
  • 2% charge on all ATM withdrawals in the UK. 
  • Free accounts don’t let you make that many free payments. 
  • Can’t deposit cash.

Revolut Main Features

With all of Revolut’s online business bank accounts, you’ll be able to hold and exchange 28 currencies, be provided with sleek black company cards, and gain access to 24/7 support wherever you are in the world. 

On Revolut’s company plans, you’ll also be able to use its sleek app to access Revolut’s payroll features to simplify your payroll for you, skipping data entry and approving your payrolls in a few clicks. 

But for all its accounts, you can seamlessly integrate your Revolut business account with a variety of online bookkeepers, including Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent. One other cool feature about Revolut is that it lets you make bulk payments across all its payment plans, letting you pay multiple contractors or servicers all in one go – making it one of the best digital banks UK.  

Revolut Business Pricing

Revolut business comes with 2 online business bank accounts tailored to freelancers and limited companies. The first is its Freelancer plan, which comes in a free version and a £7 per month version. The Freelancer free plan provides you with unlimited payments to other Revolut accounts, and 5 free local payments.

It’s quite a basic plan compared to the paid Freelancer plan which gives you 20 local payments for free, 5 free international payments, and £5000 worth of foreign exchange at the interbank rate. 

For limited companies, the same features apply. The free version will give you the same perks as the Freelancer free package, although you’ll be able to add an extra team member to your plan. 

The next step up is the £25 per month plan which gives you 100 free local payments, 10 foreign payments and £10,000 worth of foreign exchange at the interbank rate. 

The next plan up at £100 per month offers 1000 free local payments, 50 international payments, and £50,000 worth of foreign exchange while also allowing you to add 30 team members to your accounts. 

Revolut Trustpilot Reviews

Revolut has a 4.4 star ranking on Trustpilot making it one of the best digital banks UK based on user reviews.

It is highly rated by its users with its customer service standing out as fast and reliable in many online reviews, with users citing the support team as “friendly” and “knowledgable”. 

Visit Revolut bank or check out our expert Revolut review.

Coconut

Banking and accounting for sole traders in one
Coconut Bank Account

Pros

  • A current account and accountant in one app. 
  • All your finances in one place, easy to use for non-tech savvy freelancers.
  • Easy set-up. 
  • Invoice tools and tax filing tools included.

Cons

  • Fee for cash withdrawals. 
  • Not the full banking product. 
  • 2% currency conversion fee, with a £1 oversees ATM charge.

Coconut Main Features

Coconut offers smart and functional online business bank accounts, that are easy to use and aren’t overbearing in its features making it the perfect all-in-one bank and accounting system for freelancers and startups.

The app lets you connect all of your current accounts and credit cards to Coconut so you can get a full view of all your finances, or you can even sign up to make a business current account with Coconut for free. 

From there the application will automatically track your expenses, your predicted tax payments, and VAT payments, keeping you updated on how much you have to pay.

Although Coconut does lack some of the features you’d expect from out-and-out online bookkeepers like Sage or QuickBooks, making it only really useful for small businesses and freelancers just starting out. 

But that being said, the app makes it even easier if you’re new to all the tax and self-assessment stuff, by giving you access to a panel of accountants who can give you a hand working out your finances and ensuring you don’t have any nasty surprise tax bills pop up on you at the end of the year. 

Coconut Pricing

Coconut has 2 online business bank accounts; it’s free Starter package, and a Grow plan which costs £5 per month. The Free package is best suited for side businesses or small startups that are looking to set up a current account, track expenses, calculate your tax estimates, and put together 3 invoices per month. 

The paid plan gives you slightly more flexibility with unlimited invoices, free foreign currency exchange, and gives you 5 free Post Office cash deposits per month. 

Coconut Trustpilot Reviews

With 4.6/5 stars on Trustpilot, Coconut is one of the best digital banks UK. Many users seem to love Coconuts multi-functionality as a bank account.

Tide

Business banking dedicated to small businesses
Tide Bank Account Review

Pros

  • One of the best and most reliable banking apps for small businesses. 
  • Sorts and allows you to track each of your transactions and set up pots. 
  • Connect your account up with online accounting programs like Xero, QuickBooks. 
  • Invoice from your tide application. 
  • No monthly or annual fees.

Cons

  • Cannot transfer cash internationally. 
  • Must pay extra for dedicated support. 
  • No FSCS protection.

Tide Bank Main Features

Trusted by over 200,000 businesses in the UK, Tide offers one of the most popular online business bank accounts. Tide is a very reliable banking solution formulated by a group of small business owners who were looking to develop a more streamlined supportive banking system for businesses who are starting out. 

For those businesses starting up, Tide can help you get through a lot of the confusing admin you’ll experience at the start, you can even use it to kill two birds with one stone, actually registering a limited company and opening a business account at the same, something that no other account provider on this list can do. 

But Tide stands out as an easy, user-friendly banking service that keeps you up to date of all your incomings and outgoings, lets you manage multiple accounts and tag all your expenditures, freeze and lock your debit card if you lose it, and manage and create invoices

Tide also gives its users access to several perks that provide you with discounts and free subscriptions to some handy services, for example, you’ll get a free subscription to the Telegraph online when you sign up to Tide.

Tide Bank Pricing

Tide doesn’t charge you a monthly fee to use its services, it will simply take a small 20p fee from each of your incoming payments and outgoing transactions. Tide will also take £1 from each of your ATM Cash withdrawals and cash deposits and will allow you to transfer freely between Tide business accounts. 

But it does come with two paid plans which give you access to greater features, with its £9.99 per month service giving you access to greater 24/7 support services, and exclusive member perks and its £49.99 per month service adding onto that a dedicated account manager and £1000 flexible balance. 

Tide Bank Trustpilot Reviews

Despite many online ranking Tide as a very easy to use banking system, it seems many account holders have a hard time getting in touch with service agents, who are unresponsive and are hard to get in touch with. 

We’re sure this will improve over time. That said, we still believe Tide is one of the best digital banks UK due to the fact it makes the process of starting and registering a business so simple.

Starling

Best for customer service
Starling Bank Account

Pros

  • Fast set up. 
  • Integration with QuickBooks, Xero, and FreeAgent. 
  • 24/7 customer service. 
  • Covered by the FSCS.
  • Delivers spending insights and metrics to help you keep tabs on your outgoings. 
  • Can move your current banking info over for you easily.

Cons

  • Sole traders can’t apply for a loan on Starling. 
  • International payments are limited.
  • Web banking features aren’t as extensive as Tide or Monzo.

Starling Main Features

Of all the online business bank accounts, Starling’s customer service is probably the best in the game. Accounts come with 24/7 support via live chat, email, and phone with its support services coming as part of the free packages it offers, and providing speedy responses to any of your queries. 

We liked how Starling does it all for you, it is one of the best all-rounders in the world of online business bank accounts, giving you the functionality to manage and keep tabs on all your expenses, integrate your bank with your chosen accounting tools, and manage your funds on a highly secure platform.

Plus it stands out as it provides sole traders with a specific plan tailored to help you automate your expenses, capture your receipts, and manage all your accounts in one place. The plan also gives sole traders access to a flexible overdraft which many other banks won’t currently do!

Starling Pricing

Starling’s online business bank accounts are free to use and are stacked with a ton of features you can use to start up your business. Although if you’re looking for an overdraft or a business loan, starling will add an interest rate on starting from 5% up to 15% depending on how much you are borrowing, with an annual fee of 1.5% included in the loan. 

Although Starling does cater for sole traders too and offers them a business toolkit add-on which will set you back £7 per month and will give you access to a few extra features like tax estimation, MTD compliant VAT submissions, and automated expenses and bookkeeping software. And it will cost you to send money abroad too, starling will charge 0.4% when you exchange money, using interbank exchange rates.

Starling Trustpilot Reviews

Starling’s switchover feature was highlighted in their reviews as being one of the best features of the system. The switching feature lets you seamlessly and quickly transfer over all your existing banking information from one provider to Starling, with no fuss, and many online reviews report this was one of the best features they’ve found on Starling. 

Monzo

Great for managing tax pots and business payments
Monzo Online Business Bank Account Logo

Pros

  • Slick and easy to use application.
  • 24/7 customer service. 
  • Protected by the FSCS.
  • Can create pots to let you separate money and can transfer funds quickly.
  • Security features are robust and helpful.

Cons

  • Cash deposit charges. 
  • Can only operate the banking platform through its app, no desktop application included. 
  • Can be difficult for sole traders to get an account.

Monzo Main Features

Monzo one of the best digital business bank accounts for small and medium-sized businesses, and it makes the process super easy through its well designed and eye-catching app.

With Monzo you can tag all your expenditures into different categories for food, travel, and more and you can also build tax pots which will automatically set aside your income to pay for those nasty VAT and corporation tax bills at the end of the year. 

Plus if you sign up to Monzo’s Pro plan, you’ll be able to use Xero accounting for free for 6 months, a great bit of kit for small businesses to take care of all their bookkeeping and accounting needs. Monzo is also highly secure, is protected by the FSCS, and includes card and account protection features, like its card freezing function that lets you freeze your card if you have lost or misplaced it. 

Monzo Business Pricing

Monzo comes with two digital business bank accounts, its Lite package, and its Pro package. It’s Lite package is free to use and gives you a current account, a business debit card, and access to Monzo’s mobile app. 

Its Pro plan gives you even greater functionality for just £5 per month, allowing you to create tax pots, integrate third-party accounting software, create invoices, and gives you multi-user access. 

Monzo is not clear on its account limits, but it does state that you are only able to draw £400 per day from ATMs. But if you’re looking to use the card overseas, you’ll be subject to Mastercard’s wholesale exchange rate with no added fees and if you’re looking to transfer funds you’ll need to pay a TransferWise fee. 

Monzo Trustpilot Reviews

Monzo has a wealth of plaudits on Trustpilot with most saying the app brings you a lot closer to managing your finances, with one user saying “I love the symbiotic relationship I now have with my money.

We think Monzo is one of the best digital banks UK. Check our our full expert review.

Compare Fees – Online Business Bank Accounts

FeeAccount LimitsFSCS Protected?Exchange rates and fees
Monese£9.95/ month£50,000 Business Basic or £100,000 Business Plus.No (Monese says 100% of your funds are protected) Mastercard wholesale exchange rate + 0.5% transaction value. 
MettleFree – no monthly transaction fees£100,000 for limited companies or £50,000 for sole traders. No. (Mettle is part of Natwest)Mastercard wholesale exchange rate.
RevolutCompany plans are scalable from their free version, middle-tier costing £25/ month, higher tier costing £100/ month, and a top of the range spec which you’ll need to seek a quote from Revolut from. 
Revolut also offers Freelancers with a package, which also has a free version and a £7/ month version.  
Unlimited account limits. NoExchange money at the interbank exchange rate, with a £3 transaction/transfer charge. 
CoconutCoconut has a free plan that lets you set up a current account, track expenses, calculate your tax estimates, and put together 3 invoices per month. 
Its paid plan costs £5 per month and adds on to that unlimited invoices, free foreign currency exchange, and gives you 5 free Post Office cash deposits per month. 
£40,000No. Coconut safeguards your funds with a Barclays account so your funds are not at risk. Free plan: 2% on all foreign exchange transactions.
Paid plan: No fee on foreign exchange transactions.
TideTide comes as a free service, and charges customers 20p per incoming and outgoing transactions, plus £1 for each ATM withdrawal. 
If you want dedicated support services with your bank you can upgrade to its £9.99 per month service that will give you 24/7 support or upgrade to its £49.99 per month service that will provide you with a dedicated account manager. 
£1,000,000No, similarly to Coconut Tide is protected by it’s safeguarding systems. No foreign transactions. 
Starling Starlings plans are all free, but you can upgrade for £7 per month if you are a sole trader to get access to some added features like tax estimation, MTD compliant VAT submissions, and automated expenses and bookkeeping software. Not disclosed. Yes. 0.4% plus foreign exchange rates. 
Monzo Monzo comes with a Lite version that is free and gives you access to a current account, a business debit card, and access to Monzo’s mobile app. 
But its Pro version at £5 per month is worth purchasing allowing you to create tax pots, integrate third-party accounting software, create invoices, and gives you multi-user access. 
Not disclosed.Yes. Mastercard wholesale exchange rate.

Compare the best digital banks UK using our free tool.

How To Choose The Best Online Business Bank Accounts

Here’s several features you should look out for when you’re choosing your account.

Accounting application integration 

Do the online business bank accounts you’re considering work with cloud accounting services? Online accounting and bookkeeping applications are a lifesaver when it comes to keeping an eye on your tax payments, profit and loss statements, and ultimately keeping your finances in order. 

To enhance and streamline your businesses’ admin, we recommend you consider using a bank that integrates well with online bookkeepers like Xero, QuickBooks, or FreshBooks, like Monzo or Starling. 

The best digital banks UK integrate with most payment providers such as PayPal, which integrate with your website platform to enable you to receive and make payments from your online business.

Security Features

A vital consideration for any bank, make sure your bank is covered with FSCS protection or has safeguarding protocols included in its functionality, to protect your money if the bank happens to go insolvent. 

Plus you’ll also want to pick a bank that has security features that will let you freeze your cards quickly in the event they are stolen or lost, check out Monzo for a bank that is FSCS protected, and has card protection features built-in. 

Value For Money 

Many online business bank accounts offer free services, but a lot of these accounts are limited in what you can and can’t do. Inevitably you’ll end up paying for the top of the range features, which you’ll need to consider as your business grows, but if you’re just getting started, opt for a bank like Mettle that can provide you a whole host of features free.

Low Exchange Rates & Fees

You can be stung badly on exchange rates and overseas transaction fees. It’s best to look for online business bank accounts with low fees and good exchange rates to make savings.  

Customer support

When things go wrong with online business bank accounts you’ll need access to 24/7 customer service to help you resolve your issue. When it comes to managing your money, you can’t put a price on being secure and having great customer support.

What online business bank accounts are best?

Here’s our top choices

  • Best online business bank accounts for foreign currency: Revolut or Monzo
  • Best online business bank accounts for value for money: Mettle
  • Best online business bank accounts for customer service: Starling
  • Best online business bank accounts for new businesses: Tide
  • Best online business bank accounts for managing accounts: Coconut & Mettle

If you’re looking to move banks, check out our guide to switching business bank accounts. If you’re freelancing on the go and are looking for a business account for your new venture, check out our guide to the best business bank account for digital nomads.

Did this review of the 7 best digital banks UK help you? If so please recommend DigitalSupermarket.

Compare The Best Digital Banks UK

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