Digital banking platforms, often known as Authorised Fee Establishments (API) or e-money establishments/issuers, typically don’t take into account themselves to be banks, and so they promise one thing totally different to their conventional rivals.
These platforms all provide a substitute for conventional excessive avenue accounts, they’re fast to arrange and function fully out of your smartphone the place you may entry all their digital banking providers.
However which one might be proper to your small enterprise is dependent upon numerous components, from your online business dimension to the performance you require. On this complete information, we examine the options and pricing of the market main platforms.
Learn on for a full breakdown or examine the best choice for you now.
| Financial institution | Options | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| ANNA | Sensible invoicing, routinely chase excellent funds | Free – pay as you employ + VAT
£14.90 a month + VAT £49.90 a month + VAT |
| Revolut | Maintain, change and switch currencies with actual change charge, situation free company playing cards to workers, perks from business companions | Firms pay between £0 – £100 a month, relying on the account (or they’ll communicate to Revolut and get a bespoke deal)
Freelancers pay £0 for the free account, £7 a month for the Skilled account and £25 a month for the Final account |
| Starling Financial institution | Categorised transactions, integration with Xero, FreeAgent and Quickbooks, overdraft facility | No month-to-month charge
Can add a month-to-month £7 ‘enterprise toolkit’ for additional performance; £2 for a euro enterprise account and £5 for a greenback enterprise account |
| Tide | No charges on card funds in UK or overseas, Tide Mastercard, prompt invoicing, integration with FreeAgent, Sage and Xero | Free (£0)
Plus (£9.99) + VAT Professional (18.99) + VAT Plus Cashback (£49.99) + VAT |
| Monzo | Integrations with Xero, FreeAgent and QuickBooks; put aside a proportion of your earnings to place in the direction of tax each time you’re paid | Lite: Free
Professional: £5 a month |
| Airwallex | World enterprise account
Create multi foreign money playing cards, Xero integration and expense administration. |
No month-to-month charges
Small foreign money conversion charge applies |
| Coconut | Can join present accounts and bank cards from over 25 totally different banks together with Barclays, Lloyds and Starling
Kind classes into transactions in actual time Work out how a lot tax you owe in actual time Tax suggestions for you small enterprise |
£9 a month together with VAT |
| Mettle | Create and ship invoices immediately out of your smartphone, full with firm brand
Handle recurring funds in-app, add receipts to transactions and export your expense information Can join with Xero, Freeagent and Quickbooks |
Free to make use of and free to affix |
| Cashplus | Add as much as 20 further enterprise expense playing cards to your workers to make use of
Cashplus integrates with accounting software program |
Go: £0 a month Further: £9 a month |
| Countingup | Automated bookkeeping, skilled invoices and automatic receipt scanning as key options together with tax calculated and filed for you
Add notes and attachments on to your transactions Receipt seize and tax estimate |
£3 a month for companies with month-to-month deposits of £0-£750; £9 a month for companies with month-to-month deposits of £750 to £7,500; and £18 a month for limitless deposits. |
| SumUp | Limitless free financial institution transfers
Entry gross sales money in your online business checking account the following working day (together with weekends and financial institution holidays) |
Free (withdrawal expenses apply) |
| CardOneMoney | Textual content alerts confirming when cash is in and to substantiate that payments have been paid
As much as 4 further pay as you go company MasterCards linked to your online business account Export statements to a cloud accounting community |
£12.50 a month plus a £55 utility charge |
Digital banking platforms
On this web page, you’ll find:
- ANNA
- Revolut
- Starling Financial institution
- Tide
- Monzo
- Airwallex
- Coconut
- Mettle
- CashPlus
- Countingup
- SumUp
- CardOneMoney
ANNA
ANNA is open to any UK resident who’s a director of a restricted firm and non-limited companies which are structured as a partnership or sole dealer.
On the app you’ve obtained sensible invoicing, creating gross sales and buy invoices for you. It’ll politely chase excellent funds that you simply’re owed and also you’ll be notified about VAT, company tax and self-assessment tax return deadlines (compliant with Making Tax Digital).
ANNA affords a pay-as-you-use bundle; or you can pay £14.90 a month; £49.90 a month (each earlier than VAT).
Examine ANNA enterprise banking with NerdWallet
Revolut
Revolut is an effective shout for companies who journey and commerce abroad. Prospects can maintain, change and switch in over 150 currencies with the actual change charge.
You possibly can situation plastic, steel or digital playing cards and monitor your workers spending in actual time.
Revolut comes with perks and advantages from companions corresponding to Zipcar for Enterprise, Pact Espresso and Shopify.
When it comes to accounts you’ve obtained:
- Free (£0 a month)
- Develop (£25 a month)
- Scale (£100 a month)
- Enterprise (bespoke – communicate to Revolut)
Freelancers can select from the free account (£0 a month), Skilled (£7 a month) and Final (£25 a month).
Examine Revolut enterprise banking with NerdWallet
Starling Financial institution
The Starling Financial institution enterprise account is open to you should you’re self-employed or the proprietor of a restricted firm or should you’re a part of a restricted firm with a number of homeowners. You have to have been buying and selling for at least 18 months to use.
There’s no month-to-month cost on the account. To spice up your online business’ performance, you may add on a toolkit for £7 a month. Further instruments embrace invoices and auto-matching, electronic mail integrations and VAT recorded on transactions. You’ve additionally obtained the choice so as to add a euro enterprise account for £2 a month or a US greenback enterprise account for £5 a month.
If you wish to deposit money, you are able to do so at Put up Workplace branches throughout the nation. It’ll set you again 0.7 per cent (£3 minimal) per deposit.
What’s extra, you may combine it with Xero, FreeAgent and Quickbooks.
Tide
With Tide, get real-time enterprise forecasts with the flexibility to foretell your stability 30 days forward. What’s extra, obtain actionable options to enhance money move.
You’ve additionally obtained free bill templates and the flexibility to arrange scheduled funds. The bundle is rounded off with in-app help in addition to integration with Xero and QuickBooks.
There are three accounts obtainable via Tide: Free (£0), Plus (£9.99), Professional (£18.99) and Plus Cashback (£49.99)
Examine Tide enterprise banking with NerdWallet
Monzo
Monzo has a enterprise account for sole merchants or the administrators of a registered restricted firm by shares (Ltd). Multi-user entry is offered for restricted corporations. Simply remember that you might want to have a private account with Monzo earlier than you may apply for a enterprise account.
Accounts aren’t obtainable to the some forms of companies however this can be reviewed in future.
To restrict monetary crime, you may pay in £5-£300 of money in a single go, and as much as £1,000 each six months.
As for options, Monzo integrates with Xero, FreeAgent and QuickBooks. With Monzo Enterprise Professional, new Xero customers can get six months of the cloud accounting platform free on the Enterprise Professional account. It additionally has a Tax Pots function, the place you may put aside a proportion of your earnings to place in the direction of tax each time you’re paid. What’s extra, you may decide to be notified each time you receives a commission.
The pricing is on two tiers: Lite affords up the fundamentals however for extra options like Apple Pay and Google Pay however for Tax Pots you’ll have to go Professional at £5 a month.
Airwallex
Airwallex affords a enterprise account with home and worldwide enterprise accounts, firm playing cards, and expense administration – multi functional place.
Its multi-currency account lets you begin amassing funds out of your clients of their most well-liked foreign money so you may commerce globally with out the pink tape.
The account is free and there are not any arrange prices, you simply pay a small foreign money conversion charge.
Entry a wealth of instruments and integrations together with Xero and Oracle, plus you may open an account in minutes on-line.
Coconut
For sole merchants and restricted corporations (with as much as two administrators), Coconut has the performance to deal with banking, bookkeeping, invoicing and tax.
You possibly can join present accounts and bank cards from over 25 totally different banks together with Barclays, Lloyds and Starling. Notifications will let you understand {that a} cost has been made or obtained, routinely categorising it.
Sole merchants can get an additional assist up with tax experiences to assist them with their self-assessment. In fact, it has Making Tax Digital-compliant software program.
See calculations of how a lot tax you’ll owe and recommendations on what bills you may declare, maximising your tax financial savings.
The flat month-to-month charge is £9.00 – and that features VAT.
Mettle
Mettle is a part of NatWest however is an unbiased arm. This implies that you may’t ring NatWest and anticipate them to help together with your Mettle account.
You’ll be eligible should you’re a sole dealer or a restricted firm with as much as two homeowners, although you need to have a stability of lower than £100,000 (or £50,000 for sole merchants) to use.
One of many major highlights is that you may create and ship invoices immediately out of your smartphone, full with firm brand. Like Coconut, notifications will let you understand if you’ve been paid. Nonetheless, you’ll have to match the cost to the excellent bill your self.
Once more, it goes half-way there by way of chasing overdue invoices. It’ll remind you that an bill is overdue, however you’ll should ship the shopper a follow-up your self.
Transactions-wise, you may handle recurring funds in-app, add receipts to transactions and export your expense information.
Apart from that, you may sync your account with FreeAgent, Xero or QuickBooks however you can even export to CSV which is appropriate with different accounting software program. FreeAgent is free, saving you £150 a yr.
A key consideration you need to make is that the app isn’t lined by the Monetary Providers Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Nonetheless, the account is roofed underneath the FCA safeguarding necessities and the corresponding laws. The aim of safeguarding is to guard and return buyer cash if the corporate fails.
Mettle is free to make use of and free to affix.
Cashplus
Cashplus says that it takes minutes moderately than months to get an account.
It’s a superb account if you have already got just a few members of workers in your payroll – add as much as 20 further enterprise expense playing cards to your workers to make use of. Handle worker expense playing cards and journey playing cards centrally via a web-based system.
Get a enterprise money advance to assist with money move and combine it with on-line accounting software program.
Examine Cashplus enterprise banking with NerdWallet
Countingup
Countingup is a comparatively new participant within the cell banking market.
Its enterprise providing comes with real-time revenue and loss experiences, tax estimates and customised invoices.
That is finest if your online business is UK-based as you may’t make or obtain worldwide funds with this account because it doesn’t have an IBAN. Nonetheless, you may apply for one by way of Countingup companion, CurrencyFair.
All accounting options seem in the entire accounts; these embrace receipt seize and routinely categorised transactions.
It prices £3 for these with a month-to-month deposit of £0-£750; £9 a month for these with a month-to-month deposit of £750-£7,500; or £18 a month for limitless month-to-month deposits.
Examine Countingup with NerdWallet
SumUp
The cost processing agency, SumUp, has launched a enterprise account providing. The account, geared at freelancers, sole merchants and small companies, is free however withdrawal charges apply.
You possibly can hyperlink your MasterCard with Apple Pay and Google Pay to make quicker funds. With a SumUp card reader, you can even make a sale and entry the cash on the following working day, even on financial institution holidays and weekends.
SumUp additionally has a built-in invoicing software so you may ship customised invoices out of your telephone or your pc. Share cost hyperlinks with clients via textual content, WhatsApp, Fb or one other platform.
CardOneMoney
The account from CardOneMoney (previously CardOneBanking) is geared toward sole merchants, restricted corporations or partnerships who’ve a turnover of as much as £2m.
Add as much as 4 further pay as you go company MasterCards which is able to hyperlink to your online business account to make use of inside your online business. You can too export statements to a cloud accounting community corresponding to Xero, Sage and FreeAgent. You can too make home and worldwide funds in a variety of currencies.
Pay money into your account on the Put up Workplace and cheques via Barclays Financial institution.
Simply remember that this one isn’t lined by the Monetary Providers Compensation Scheme both.
It’s £12.50 a month with a £55 utility charge.
Examine CardOneMoney with NerdWallet
In fact, the precise checking account will rely upon the wants of your small enterprise. Consider what number of workers you have got, your turnover and what options will help you within the day-to-day operating of the agency. Whether or not you select one as your main account or a secondary account, digital banking platforms provide up a fast and handy various to contend together with your excessive avenue financial institution.
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