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Self-Employed7 providers Updated Jun 2026

Best Business Bank Account UK 2026: Free vs Fee Compared

Quick answer - our pick

Mettle (by NatWest)

Best for: The cheapest honest stack: free banking plus free FreeAgent accounting in one place

For the typical UK sole trader or small limited company, the cheapest honest stack is Mettle plus its free FreeAgent. Mettle charges nothing monthly, your deposits sit with National Westminster Bank plc so they carry FSCS protection up to £120,000, and the bundled FreeAgent would otherwise cost you over £150 a year. That is genuinely the lowest real-world total cost of banking plus accounting on this list, which is why it is our pick rather than the best-paying one. The one condition to know: FreeAgent stays free only while you make at least one transaction a month from the account. If you want a fully licensed standalone bank without any conditions attached, Starling Business is the integrity runner-up - a real PRA-authorised bank, FSCS-protected, with no monthly fee. And if you trade in multiple currencies, Revolut Business earns its fee despite the protection caveat on older accounts.

Visit Mettle (by NatWest) See full comparison
Most high-street business accounts charge you a tenner a month to do precisely nothing a free challenger does not do better. That monthly fee is really a tax on inertia - a switching-laziness charge dressed up as a banking service. The free digital accounts on this list (Tide, Starling, Mettle, Monzo, ANNA) cover everything a sole trader or small limited company actually needs, and two of them throw in accounting software that would otherwise cost you over £200 a year. There is one distinction nobody selling you an account wants to surface: whether your money is actually protected. A licensed bank gives you the FSCS deposit guarantee (now £120,000 per person, per institution). An e-money account does not - your cash is 'safeguarded' in a segregated account, which protects it against the provider going bust but is not the same statutory guarantee. We flag that for every provider below, because it is the difference that matters when you are holding a float you cannot afford to lose. We rank on the honest cost of the everyday account, the protection structure, and whether free accounting comes bundled. For the software decision that sits alongside this one, see our note on the Mettle plus free FreeAgent stack below.

Monthly account fee on the everyday (entry) tier

Year 1 (annual fee)

Mettle (by NatWest) ★

Free

Starling Business

Free

Tide

Free

Monzo Business

Free (Lite)

Revolut Business

£120/yr

NatWest / RBS Business

Free (12-mo intro)

ANNA Money

Free (PAYG)

Ongoing (after any intro offer)

Mettle (by NatWest) ★

Free

Starling Business

Free

Tide

Free

Monzo Business

Free (Lite)

Revolut Business

£120/yr

NatWest / RBS Business

About £60/yr

ANNA Money

Free (PAYG)

Entry-tier monthly account fee only, shown as an annual figure. Excludes per-transaction charges, cash deposit fees and paid upgrade tiers. Free banking introductory periods on the incumbents revert to a monthly fee afterwards. Provider names link to each platform's published fee schedule.

Full comparison

Provider Monthly feeProtection Best for
Mettle (by NatWest)FreeFSCS-protected (via NatWest)The cheapest honest stack: free banking plus free FreeAgent accounting in one place
Starling BusinessFreeFSCS-protected (full bank)The integrity pick - a fully licensed, FSCS-protected bank that still charges nothing monthly
TideFree (paid plans from a few pounds a month)Mixed: e-money (safeguarded) or FSCS via ClearBank, depending on your accountFreelancers and sole traders prioritising a quick, free sign-up over guaranteed FSCS cover
Monzo BusinessLite free / Pro £5/moFSCS-protected (full bank)App-first owners who want FSCS protection and will pay £5/month for the accounting integrations
Revolut BusinessBasic from £10/mo (no free tier)FSCS for accounts on the new UK bank entity; older accounts still e-money during migrationMulti-currency and cross-border businesses willing to pay for the feature set
NatWest / RBS BusinessFree for 12 months, then around £5/moFSCS-protected (full bank)Owners who want a traditional bank, branch access and free FreeAgent in one place
ANNA MoneyFree (Pay As You Go) / paid tiers from around £14.90/moE-money (safeguarded), not FSCSSole traders who value built-in tax and invoicing tools and hold only small balances

Provider details

Mettle (by NatWest)

The cheapest honest stack: free banking plus free FreeAgent accounting in one place

Monthly feeFree
ProtectionFSCS-protected (via NatWest)
Free accounting softwareFreeAgent included free
Best forSole traders and small Ltds who want banking plus accounting in one

Pros

  • No monthly fee on the standard account
  • Deposits held by National Westminster Bank plc, so FSCS-protected up to £120,000
  • FreeAgent accounting software included free (saves £150-plus a year) while the account is active

Cons

  • FreeAgent stays free only if you make at least one transaction a month from the Mettle account
  • No lending, overdraft or business savings
  • Sole trader and limited company only - some other structures are not supported
Mettle account page Visit Mettle (by NatWest)

Starling Business

The integrity pick - a fully licensed, FSCS-protected bank that still charges nothing monthly

Monthly feeFree
ProtectionFSCS-protected (full bank)
Free accounting softwareNo (own bookkeeping add-on; integrates with Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent)
Best forSole traders and Ltds who want a real licensed bank with no monthly fee

Pros

  • Genuine UK bank licence (PRA-authorised), so deposits are FSCS-protected up to £120,000
  • No monthly fee for sole traders or limited companies
  • Optional add-ons for borrowing and business savings, plus integrations with the main accounting packages

Cons

  • No free accounting software bundled (its own bookkeeping tool is a paid add-on)
  • Limited company account is free but some add-on tools are not
  • No physical branches if you ever need in-person help
Starling Business account page Visit Starling Business

Tide

Freelancers and sole traders prioritising a quick, free sign-up over guaranteed FSCS cover

Monthly feeFree (paid plans from a few pounds a month)
ProtectionMixed: e-money (safeguarded) or FSCS via ClearBank, depending on your account
Free accounting softwareNo (invoicing tools built in; integrates with accounting software)
Best forFreelancers and sole traders who want the fastest free sign-up

Pros

  • Free Pay As You Go plan with no monthly fee
  • Fast app-based onboarding, built-in invoicing and expense categorisation
  • Some accounts are held with ClearBank, which carries FSCS protection up to £120,000

Cons

  • Tide itself is an electronic money institution, not a bank
  • Older or PrePay Technologies accounts are e-money (safeguarded), not FSCS-protected - check your sort code
  • Per-transaction and cash-handling fees can add up on the free plan
Tide pricing page Visit Tide

Monzo Business

App-first owners who want FSCS protection and will pay £5/month for the accounting integrations

Monthly feeLite free / Pro £5/mo
ProtectionFSCS-protected (full bank)
Free accounting softwareNo (Pro adds accounting integrations + Tax Pots)
Best forSole traders and Ltds who want the slickest app and FSCS cover

Pros

  • Full UK banking licence, so FSCS-protected up to £120,000 on both Lite and Pro
  • Lite tier is genuinely free; Pro at £5/month adds invoicing, accounting integrations, Tax Pots and virtual cards
  • Among the best-rated mobile apps in UK business banking

Cons

  • The useful accounting integrations (Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent) sit behind the £5/month Pro tier
  • No overdraft facility at any plan level
  • No physical branches
Monzo Business plans and pricing Visit Monzo Business

Revolut Business

Multi-currency and cross-border businesses willing to pay for the feature set

Monthly feeBasic from £10/mo (no free tier)
ProtectionFSCS for accounts on the new UK bank entity; older accounts still e-money during migration
Free accounting softwareNo (multi-currency tools; integrates with accounting software)
Best forBusinesses that trade in multiple currencies or pay overseas often

Pros

  • Strong multi-currency and international payment features
  • Revolut secured a full UK banking licence in March 2026, so newer accounts on Revolut Bank UK Ltd are FSCS-protected up to £120,000
  • Deep feature set: expense management, bulk payments, team cards

Cons

  • No free business plan - the Basic plan starts around £10/month
  • Accounts opened before the March 2026 licence are migrating in phases; until yours moves across it sits with the e-money entity and is safeguarded, not FSCS-protected
  • Feature breadth is overkill for a simple UK-only sole trader
Revolut Business page Visit Revolut Business

NatWest / RBS Business

Owners who want a traditional bank, branch access and free FreeAgent in one place

Monthly feeFree for 12 months, then around £5/mo
ProtectionFSCS-protected (full bank)
Free accounting softwareFreeAgent included free for life while you hold the account
Best forBusinesses that want a high-street bank plus free FreeAgent and branch access

Pros

  • FreeAgent accounting software included free for as long as you keep the account
  • Full bank licence with FSCS protection up to £120,000, plus branch access and an overdraft on the main account
  • Twelve months of free banking on the everyday account when you open it

Cons

  • A monthly account fee (around £5) applies after the introductory free-banking period
  • FreeAgent stays free only while you hold the qualifying account (and needs activity to stay active)
  • Slower, more paperwork-heavy onboarding than the app-only challengers
NatWest Business account page Visit NatWest / RBS Business

ANNA Money

Sole traders who value built-in tax and invoicing tools and hold only small balances

Monthly feeFree (Pay As You Go) / paid tiers from around £14.90/mo
ProtectionE-money (safeguarded), not FSCS
Free accounting softwareNo (built-in invoicing, receipt scanning and HMRC tax estimates)
Best forSole traders who want tax and invoicing admin handled in-app

Pros

  • Free Pay As You Go plan with 20 free outgoing transfers a month
  • Built-in AI receipt scanning, invoicing and real-time HMRC tax liability estimates on every plan
  • Useful for owners who want admin and tax prep handled inside the banking app

Cons

  • Funds are e-money safeguarded (PayrNet Limited), not covered by the FSCS deposit guarantee
  • Free plan charges 20p per outgoing transfer beyond the first 20 each month
  • Paid tiers start around £14.90/month, which is steep for the protection on offer
ANNA business account page Visit ANNA Money

Honourable mentions

Starling Business

Runner-up

Best for: The integrity pick - a fully licensed, FSCS-protected bank that still charges nothing monthly

The cleanest standalone answer: a genuine UK bank licence, FSCS protection up to £120,000, and no monthly fee for sole traders or limited companies. No conditions to track. If the Mettle FreeAgent transaction rule annoys you, this is the no-strings pick.

Visit Starling Business

NatWest / RBS Business

Runner-up

Best for: Owners who want a traditional bank, branch access and free FreeAgent in one place

The high-street option that actually earns its keep: FreeAgent free for life, FSCS protection, branch access and an overdraft, with 12 months of free banking up front. Worth it if you want a traditional bank rather than an app-only challenger.

Visit NatWest / RBS Business

Monzo Business

Runner-up

Best for: App-first owners who want FSCS protection and will pay £5/month for the accounting integrations

The best app in the category, FSCS-protected on both tiers. The free Lite plan covers core banking; the £5/month Pro tier adds the accounting integrations and Tax Pots that Mettle and NatWest give you free, so it is the one to pick on user experience rather than cost.

Visit Monzo Business

How we picked

Monthly fees and protection status verified from each provider's public pricing pages and help centres, last reviewed June 2026, cross-referenced against FSCS register status. 'FSCS-protected' means the provider holds a UK banking licence and your eligible deposits are covered up to £120,000 per person; 'E-money (safeguarded)' means the provider is an electronic money institution and your cash is held in a segregated safeguarding account but is not covered by the FSCS deposit guarantee. Where a provider routes deposits through a partner bank (for example Tide via ClearBank), we note the conditional FSCS status. The 'free accounting' column reflects software bundled at no extra cost while the account stays active. Figures change frequently in this market - always click through to the source page before opening an account.

Background

FSCS vs e-money: is your money actually protected?

This is the single distinction nobody selling you a business account wants to put front and centre, and it is the answer to the 'what is the £85,000 bank rule?' question people keep searching (the figure rose to £120,000 on 1 December 2025). There are two kinds of provider on this page: - A licensed bank (Starling, Monzo, NatWest/RBS, and now Revolut Bank UK Ltd) holds your money under a UK banking licence. If the bank fails, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme repays your eligible deposits up to £120,000 per person, per banking licence. This is a statutory government-backed guarantee. Mettle is in this group by proxy: your cash sits with National Westminster Bank plc, so it carries the same FSCS cover. - An electronic money institution (a pure e-money account such as ANNA, and parts of Tide) does not hold a banking licence. Instead it must 'safeguard' your money by keeping it in a separate, ring-fenced account, usually at a third-party bank. Safeguarding protects you if the e-money firm itself goes bust - the money is not theirs to lose - but it is not the FSCS deposit guarantee. There is no fixed compensation cap, recovery can be slower, and you are exposed to the mechanics of how the safeguarding account is held. For most small businesses keeping a modest float, safeguarding is fine in practice. But if you routinely hold tens of thousands - a tax pot, a VAT reserve, retained profit - the FSCS guarantee of a licensed bank is worth choosing on purpose. Our guides on how FSCS protection works and how it compares to deposit insurance elsewhere go deeper. The honest rule of thumb: keep large balances in an FSCS-protected account, and never assume an app that looks like a bank actually is one - check the small print for the words 'electronic money' or 'safeguarded'.

Do sole traders need a business bank account?

The honest answer depends on your business structure, and the top results blur this badly. If you are a sole trader, you are not legally required to open a separate business bank account. You and the business are the same legal entity for tax purposes, so HMRC does not mandate a dedicated account. You could run everything through a personal current account - except most personal account terms and conditions prohibit business use, so you risk having the account frozen or closed. The practical move is a free business account (Tide, Starling, Mettle and Monzo Lite all cost nothing) purely to keep your business money cleanly separated from your personal spending. That separation makes your self-assessment tax return far less painful and gives you a clean audit trail. See our guide to sole trader cash management for how to structure the pots. If you run a limited company, the rules are stricter. A limited company is a separate legal entity, its money is not your money, and you must keep company finances entirely separate. In practice that means a dedicated business bank account is effectively required - you cannot legally run company income and expenses through your personal account. Every provider on this list offers a limited company account. So the split is: sole traders should open a free business account for the practical and tax-admin benefits; limited companies must. Either way, free is the default - there is no reason for a small business to pay a monthly fee in 2026.

The free-accounting cross-sell nobody totals up

Here is the maths no comparison table connects up. Two accounts on this list bundle FreeAgent, a full accounting package, completely free: Mettle and the NatWest/RBS business accounts (the same is true of Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, which sit in the same banking group). FreeAgent handles invoicing, expense tracking, VAT, Self Assessment and Making Tax Digital filing. Bought directly it costs in the region of £150 to £400 a year depending on your structure. A comparable Xero or QuickBooks subscription runs to roughly £180 to £400 a year too. So choosing Mettle or NatWest does not just save you the monthly banking fee a high-street account would charge - it nets off a couple of hundred pounds of software cost as well. That is why our pick leads with the Mettle plus free FreeAgent stack: it is the lowest genuine total cost of running the banking-and-accounting side of a small business, not just the cheapest account in isolation. The one string attached on both Mettle and NatWest is that FreeAgent stays free only while the account is active and you make at least one transaction a month, so do not open the account and then leave it dormant. If you would rather keep banking and accounting separate, that is a legitimate choice - but you should make it knowing you are leaving a couple of hundred pounds a year on the table.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best bank account for a small business?
For most small UK businesses, the best account is a free one that is FSCS-protected. Mettle (free, FSCS-protected via NatWest, with FreeAgent accounting included free) is the strongest all-rounder on total cost. Starling Business is the best fully licensed standalone bank with no monthly fee. Monzo Business has the slickest app. There is no good reason for a small business to pay a high-street monthly fee in 2026.
Which bank in the UK is best for a business account?
It depends on what you value. For the lowest combined cost of banking plus accounting, Mettle (free, plus free FreeAgent) wins. For a no-strings, fully licensed bank, Starling Business. For multi-currency and international payments, Revolut Business. For branch access and a traditional bank with free FreeAgent, NatWest or RBS. All of these are FSCS-protected except parts of Tide and all of ANNA, which are e-money (safeguarded) rather than bank-licensed.
Do I need a business bank account as a sole trader?
No, you are not legally required to as a sole trader, because you and the business are the same legal entity for tax. But most personal accounts ban business use in their terms, so the practical answer is yes: open a free business account to keep your money separate, simplify your Self Assessment and protect yourself if HMRC ever asks questions. Limited companies are different - they must keep company money separate, so a dedicated business account is effectively required.
What is the best free business bank account?
Mettle and Starling Business are the standout free accounts, and both are FSCS-protected. Mettle adds free FreeAgent accounting, making it the cheapest banking-plus-software stack. Monzo Business Lite and Tide also offer free tiers. ANNA has a free Pay As You Go plan but it is e-money (safeguarded), not FSCS-protected, so it suits only small balances.
Does HMRC check business bank accounts?
Yes, HMRC has statutory data-gathering powers and can request information from banks and payment providers, particularly during a compliance check or investigation. This is not a reason to avoid a business account - it is the opposite. A clean, separate business account is your best protection: it produces a clear record that your business income and expenses are exactly what you declared. Mixing business and personal money in one account is what creates risk, because it makes your figures harder to evidence. Keeping a separate account, and a tax pot for what you owe, is the defensible setup.
What is the £85,000 bank rule (now £120,000)?
It refers to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) deposit guarantee. If a UK-licensed bank fails, the FSCS repays your eligible deposits up to a fixed limit per person, per banking licence. That limit rose from £85,000 to £120,000 on 1 December 2025. It applies only to licensed banks - so Starling, Monzo, NatWest/RBS and Mettle (via NatWest) are covered, while pure e-money accounts such as ANNA and parts of Tide are safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected. If you hold large business balances, choosing an FSCS-protected account on purpose matters.
Which business accounts come with free accounting software?
Mettle and the NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank business accounts all include FreeAgent accounting software free while you hold the account. FreeAgent would otherwise cost roughly £150 to £400 a year, so this is a genuine saving on top of free banking. The only condition is that the account stays active, typically meaning at least one transaction a month. No other account on this list bundles full accounting software for free, though Monzo Pro and others integrate with Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent if you pay for the software separately.
Is my money safe in a challenger bank or e-money account?
It depends whether the provider is a licensed bank or an electronic money institution. Licensed banks (Starling, Monzo, NatWest/RBS, and Mettle via NatWest) give you FSCS protection up to £120,000 per person. E-money providers (ANNA, and parts of Tide) safeguard your money in a separate ring-fenced account, which protects it if the firm fails but is not the FSCS guarantee and has no fixed compensation cap. For small floats, safeguarding is fine; for large balances, choose an FSCS-protected bank. Always check the small print for the words electronic money or safeguarded.

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