Start with how money arrives, not with the logo
The UK business current account market is crowded. An independent service-quality survey run for the financial regulator covers the 17 largest providers, and challenger names sit alongside the high-street banks in it. That choice is useful, though it makes comparison harder than it needs to be.
Four things trip people up again and again. Cash still exists, especially in trades, food, and anything market-based. Overseas clients pay in dollars or euros and the exchange rate quietly eats the margin. Accountants want a clean data feed, not a PDF bundle. And protection matters once a balance grows beyond a few thousand pounds.
Tom runs a barber shop in Leeds with two chairs and a card machine that gets used for maybe half of takings. His old bank charged him to pay in notes, and the branch was a twenty-minute bus ride. He moved to an app-based account, pays cash in at a Post Office counter, and now sees the fee before he leaves the till. The saving was small each month. The time was the real gain.
What the main providers actually offer
| Provider | Monthly cost | Protection status | Cash deposits | Best suited to | Watch out for |
|---|
| Starling Bank | No monthly fee on the GBP account; euro account £2/month | FSCS protected | £3 or 0.7%, whichever is higher | Straightforward banking with accounting links | Sole trader cash limits; app-only service |
| Tide | No-fee plan; paid tiers from about £10 up to £69.99/month | FSCS protected through its partner bank | 0.5% (minimum £2.50) at Post Office; 3% at PayPoint | Invoicing, expense cards, small teams | Transfer allowance, then around 20p per payment |
| ANNA Money | Pay-as-you-go at no monthly fee; £14.90 + VAT; £49.90 + VAT | E-money safeguarding, not FSCS | 0.95% | Tax reminders and admin in one place | Deposit and incoming payment charges add up |
| Monzo Business | Lite at no monthly fee; Pro is paid | FSCS protected | £1 per deposit | App-first sole traders | Invoicing tools sit on the paid tier |
| Revolut Business | £10, £35, or £125/month depending on plan | Check current safeguarding terms | Limited or unavailable | Multi-currency and international payments | Plan fees and fair-use limits on transfers |
| Mettle | No monthly fee | FSCS protected | No charge | Small limited companies with up to two owners | Eligibility is narrow |
| Wise Business | No subscription; pay per use | Safeguarded, not a UK current account | Not supported | Freelancers billing overseas clients | Not a full substitute for a domestic account |
Prices move, so treat the table as a starting point and confirm on the provider's own pricing page before applying.
Cash is not dead, it just costs more
Deposit charges are where cheap accounts stop being cheap. A market trader paying in £4,000 a week at 0.95% hands over roughly £38, which is close to £2,000 across a year. Tide's Post Office rate is lower but has a minimum charge, and its PayPoint rate is steep enough that most people use it only in an emergency.
If cash is a big part of your week, work out the annual cost before you sign up. Starling caps sole trader deposits at £5,000 a day and £100,000 a calendar year, which is fine for a salon and useless for a busy car boot seller.
Foreign invoices and the hidden margin
Priya designs packaging from a spare room in Manchester and bills three clients in the United States. Her first account converted dollars at a rate that looked fine until she compared it with the mid-market figure. Two years of small differences paid for a new laptop.
Multi-currency accounts from Revolut Business and Wise Business let her hold dollars, convert when the rate suits her, and invoice in the client's currency. Starling's euro account costs £2 a month and suits businesses paid mainly from the EU. The trade-off is admin: two accounts mean two sets of reconciliations, so keep one as the main account and the other as a currency pot.
Protection, paperwork and the checks that slow you down
Bank deposits are covered by the Financial Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per person, per institution. E-money providers work differently — client funds are safeguarded in segregated accounts rather than covered by that scheme. Neither approach is automatically better, but you should know which one you have before parking a VAT bill or a tax reserve in an app.
Applications take minutes. The checks take longer. You will need your Companies House number or Unique Taxpayer Reference, photo ID for every director with significant control, details of expected turnover and the nature of the business, and sometimes proof of address. A mismatch between your registered address and your actual trading address is one of the most common reasons an application stalls.
Accounting links and tax reporting
Quarterly digital reporting has made the data feed between bank and software far more important than it used to be. Starling, Tide, Mettle and Monzo all connect to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreeAgent, and Mettle includes FreeAgent access for eligible customers. ANNA bundles invoice chasing and tax reminders into the app, which suits a sole trader who would otherwise be doing it at 11pm.
The practical test is simple: ask your accountant which format they want and pick a provider that produces it natively.
Setting up without losing a week
- Decide your main payment route: UK transfers, card takings, cash, or foreign invoices. The dominant route chooses the provider.
- Check the deposit fee and the daily limit against your real weekly takings, not a typical month.
- Gather ID, company details, and your latest set of accounts or a short business description before you start.
- Run the new account alongside the old one for a full billing cycle so direct debits and standing orders can be moved without missed payments.
- Connect accounting software on day one, and switch on receipt capture while the habit is fresh.
- Set a review date six months out and compare what you actually paid in fees against the headline monthly cost.
Local help is easier to find than most people expect. Growth Hubs in England, Business Gateway in Scotland, Business Wales and Invest NI all offer free guidance on starting and running a company. The Federation of Small Businesses runs local networking groups, and Business Debtline gives free advice if cash flow tightens. Post Office counters handle cash deposits for several providers, which matters if the nearest branch closed years ago.
A final check worth doing: open your last three statements and add up every charge, including transfer fees, cash handling, and card machine settlement. That total, not the monthly headline, is what the account really costs you. Then compare two providers against it, and move only if the gap is worth the admin.
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