Digitial Banks For Business: Revolut, Starling & Tide Accounts Compared

Assuming you’re set up as an official company rather than operating as a sole trader (more on the benefits of that in a separate article) then you’re going to need a business bank account.

As anyone who’s gone through this process will know, setting up a business account with one of the big high street chains is a long and tedious process often requiring multiple visits to see a business manager and many pointless discussions on business plans and projections – when all you really want to do is get cracking on your sites.

“You want me to actually come into the branch??”

This holds true for even the more modern brands such as Metro Bank who, despite appearing young and trendy, are just as old fashioned and time wasting as the rest of them (and, on a side note, probably the worst bank I’ve ever dealt with).

At the same time a number of digital challenger banks have started to crop up, offering quick sign ups (we’re talking minutes) and no trundling off to see your bank manager every other day. Many are totally free to use as well.

But how to they stack up against the traditional banks, and are they safe?

Digital Business Bank Accounts Compared

Like many of the guides on this site, this table first started out when looking for a digital bank to try out for a new business venture.  It’s a simple comparison of the legal status, fees and features of each of the major players in the digital bank scene.

Last updated: February 2019

Bank:	Revolut	Starling	Transferwise	Tide
Access	Web	App	Web	App
Banking License	In Progress	Yes	No	No
Multiple Users	Yes	No – Only one person of significant control allowed	Not yet	Not yet but offers cards for multiple users and read only access for business partners and accountants
Currencies	25	GBP	40+	GBP
Physical Cards	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Virtual Cards	Yes	No	No	No
International Payments	Yes	Yes – GBP and EUR Only	Yes	No
Monthly Fee	From £25/month	Free	Free	Free
Send Fee	Free	UK – Free / International – 0.4%	50p	20p
Receive Fee	Free	Free	Free	20p
Cash Withdrawals	2%	Free from ATMs / £0.5 Post Office	<£200 30 Days – Free / 2% thereafter	£1
Cash Deposits	n/a	£3	n/a	£1

Notes

• Banking License – Does the account provider hold a full banking license? As well as having different rules to operate by, this also means that your money is protected if the bank goes bust, up to £85,000.
• Currencies – Revolut and Transferwise both allow you to send, receive and maintain balances in multiple currencies. You can also exchange between them at very competitive rates.
• Multi User Access – How many people can access and administer the account. Many accounts are set up with one user in mind. Starling goes one step further and only allows accounts for business with only one person of significant control.

What About Monzo?

They don’t currently offer business accounts.

What is the Best Digital Business Account?

Like many things in life, it comes down to what you need – each of the accounts listed in the table are angled towards slightly different people:

Freelancers & Companies With One Director

These are aimed at sole traders, freelancers and companies with only one director. They’re lacking in currencies and international transfer options but make up for it in other ways.

Of the two, Starling kicks Tide’s butt on paper:

1. It has a banking license, Tide doesn’t
2. It’s free to send and receive transfers in the UK (Tide is 20p)
3. It can send and receive international payments (Tide can’t)

The main benefit Tide seems to have over Starling is the ability to add team cards for employees to use, plus the fact that Starling doesn’t allow companies with more than one director to sign up – so no good if you’re in a partnership.

Companies With Multiple People

We’ve already mentioned that if you’ve got more than one director, Starling is out. But what are the other options?

Revolut

The only account to offer full muti-user access is Revolut, which allows you to add users and set permissions:

They also allow you to create both physical and digital cards for employees:

On top of this Revolut have just had their banking license accepted and, whilst they’re not a full bank yet, they’re well on the way.

So what’s the catch? They’re relatively expensive. Unlike the other banks they come with a month fee that starts at £25 which is probably not ideal for new starts or smaller companies. Although chances are if you need the features it offers you’re probably able to afford the fees.

Tide

The other option is Tide which only allows one user access, but does have a few features that could appeal to multi-director companies:

1. Team Cards – You can order up to 35 cards for members of your team that are linked to the main tide account.
2. Read Only Access – Whilst only the account holder can send payments, other users can be added with read only access. So they can see what’s been going on, they just can’t do anything on the account.

Realistically the combination of team cards and multi user access (albeit in a limited way) is likely sufficient for most new starts.

Tide have also stated their intention to launch full team access at some point in the future.

The one major downside to Tide is the lack of international payments. So if you’re dealing with affiliate networks who operate outside of the UK and require an IBAN, you’re going to be SOL.

Companies That Need to Send/Receive Internationally

For international payments you’re going to want to look at either Transferwise or Revolut. Both offer multi currency accounts and international account details – so the people sending the money do it to a local bank, making it faster and saving them money.

You also get much better exchange rates when converting between your accounts – you’ll be surprised how much money you can save by receiving in the senders currency and converting at a more favourable rate rather than using a traditional banks exchange rate or ewallet (I’ll add some comparisons on exactly how much cheaper it is at some point, but it’s significant).

Both accounts are free to receive in all currencies. The difference comes from sending and monthly fees – Revolut don’t charge to send but there is a monthly fee that starts at £25 whilst Transferwise has no fee but charges 50p per outbound transfer.

Picking between them will come down to which currencies you need (Transferwise has a few more than Revolut) and what other features you’re interested in – only Revolut offers multi-user access and a banking license, but will be more expensive unless you make a lot of outbound transfers in a month.