Business Bank Account Fees at a Glance
You pay in six places, not one: the monthly charge, each transaction, every cash deposit, international payments, the overdraft, and a tail of small fees no provider headlines. An account marketed as free rarely fails on all six. It fails on the one that happens to be yours.
Starling is the only provider below that charges you nothing on all four lines that matter: monthly fee, transactions, cash deposits, and international payments. We checked every figure here against the provider’s own pricing in May 2026.
| Provider | Monthly fee | UK transactions | Cash deposits | International | FSCS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starling | £0 | Free, unlimited | Free (Post Office) | Free + mid-market rate | Yes |
| Zempler Go | £0 | 3 free, then £0.35 | £1 + 0.5% at Post Office | £10 + FX margin | Yes |
| Monzo Lite | £0 | Free, unlimited | Not available | 1% FX fee | Yes |
| ANNA PAYG | £0 | Free outgoing; 0.95% on inbound | 0.95% on deposited cash | Not available | No |
| Tide (free) | £0 | 20p per transfer | £1 at PayPoint | £0 + 0.5% FX | Via ClearBank |
| Revolut Basic | £10 | 10 free, then 20p | Not available | Free (interbank rate) | Yes |
| Mettle | £0 | Free, unlimited | Free (Post Office) | Not available | Via NatWest |
| Barclays (yr 1) | £0 intro | Included | 0.70% + £0.43/item | £25 + FX margin | Yes |
| NatWest (yr 1–2) | £0 intro | Included | 0.70% + £0.35/item | £20 + FX margin | Yes |
Business Bank Account Monthly Fees
You can hold a business account for £0 a month at Starling, Mettle, Zempler Go, Monzo Lite, and on ANNA’s PAYG plan. The monthly line is the easiest one for a provider to zero out. It’s also the easiest one for you to mistake for the whole price.
Revolut Business asks £10/month for Basic, which buys you 10 free local transfers, and £35/month for Grow (£30/month if billed annually), which buys 100 free transfers, dual authorisation and multi-currency. Tide’s free account is genuinely free on the monthly line, then charges £0.20 per transfer.
Tide Smart at £12.49/month buys you 30 free transfers a month. Monzo Pro at £9/month adds the accounting integrations the free Lite plan leaves out.
If your accountant works in Xero or QuickBooks and you bank with Monzo, that £9 isn’t really a choice. We count it as part of the monthly fee. That £9 matters at year-end.
Open with a high-street bank and you get a free banking period first, a tariff afterwards. What switches on at the end of it, and how quickly, is set out further down this page.
Business Bank Account Transaction Fees
Every time you send or receive a UK payment, some providers take a slice and some take nothing. At 50 payments a month, that choice is the difference between £0 a year at Starling and £197.40 at Zempler Go, for identical banking.
Free, unlimited: Starling and Mettle charge you nothing per domestic transfer, in or out, on their standard accounts. Send 200 payments a month and it costs exactly what sending two costs.
Per-payment charges: Tide charges you £0.20 every time you move money on the free account, after the first five transfers each month.
On transfer fees alone, Tide Smart never undercuts the free plan: it charges the same 20p above its 30-transfer allowance, so its £12.49 fee never pays for itself. Pay 50 suppliers on the free tier and it runs to around £9.
Threshold models: Zempler Go gives you 3 free payments a month, then charges £0.35 each. Revolut Basic gives you 10 free local transfers, then £0.20.
If you clear those thresholds most months, these aren’t free accounts. They are cheap accounts with a meter running, and we don’t score them as free.
Inbound percentage fees: ANNA’s PAYG plan takes 0.95% of every payment that lands in your account. That’s a charge for getting paid, not for spending. The catch is the 0.95% on everything inbound.
A client pays you £10,000 and £95 of it never reaches you. At £20,000 inbound a month, ANNA takes £2,280 a year, and not a penny of it shows up on the monthly-fee line that comparison tables print.
Business Bank Account Cash Deposit Fees
If you take cash, your bank can charge you for the privilege of handing it back to them, and the market trader pays most of all.
A percentage fee on cash is a fee on your turnover. The better your Saturday, the more it costs you to bank it on Monday. We rate it the least defensible charge in business banking.
Starling: you pay £0 to deposit cash at the Post Office. No percentage, no per-item fee, no monthly limit. We confirmed that against Starling’s published terms in May 2026.
Mettle: you deposit free at the Post Office as well, through NatWest’s arrangement. On cash, it’s a straight swap for Starling.
Tide: you hand over £1 per deposit at PayPoint, flat, with no percentage on top. For frequent small deposits, a flat fee beats a percentage model.
Traditional banks: Barclays takes 0.70% plus £0.43 an item at the branch or Post Office, NatWest 0.70% plus £0.35. Bank £2,000 of takings and you’re stung £14.43 at Barclays and £14.35 at NatWest. Every time. It’s a fee for being paid in cash.
Monzo: £1 a deposit at PayPoint or the Post Office, but capped at £3,000 a month for sole traders, £10,000 for limited companies. Fine for the odd bag of notes; too tight for a shop, a stall, or a taxi taking cash daily.
ANNA: cash paid in at PayPoint is charged at the same 0.95% inbound rate, so banking £500 of takings costs you £4.75. The percentage doesn’t care that the money was already yours.
International Payment Fees for Business Bank Accounts
You get charged twice on an international payment: once by the flat sending fee, once by the FX margin buried in the exchange rate you’re quoted.
It’s the margin that costs you, not the fee: it scales with the size of the transfer and never shows up as a line item. The margin is the real cost. We would fix that before worrying about the transfer fee.
Traditional banks charge £15–£25 per international transfer plus an FX margin of 2–3.5% on the converted amount. If you pay a European supplier £5,000 every month, up to £175 of each transfer is fee. Over a year that’s more than £2,000, on one supplier.
Starling routes international transfers through Wise, so you pay a small sending fee and get a rate close to mid-market. If you have regular foreign-currency outgoings, this is among the cheapest options available.
Revolut gives you the interbank FX rate on weekdays with no markup on the Grow plan. Basic, at £10/month, gets the same rate, though transfer limits apply outside working hours when rates are frozen.
Tide takes 0.5% on international payments and charges no flat transfer fee. On smaller transfers, that leaves you better off than a traditional bank would.
Business Bank Account Overdraft Fees
Only PRA-authorised banks can give you an overdraft. An e-money account can’t, whatever else it offers. If your cash flow lurches around and you need a buffer under it, that single fact settles the choice. We treat overdraft access as the line between a bank and an e-money account.
Starling will lend you from £250 up to £150,000 if you’re a limited company. Interest is 5%, 10%, or 15% EAR (variable) depending on Starling’s assessment of you; the representative rate is 15% EAR.
An annual fee of 1.5% of the agreed limit (minimum £50) also applies, charged when you accept the facility and on each anniversary. No separate monthly overdraft fee: interest accrues only on the balance you actually draw, each day.
Monzo will only consider you for an overdraft on the Pro and Team plans; the free Lite account isn’t eligible. Your rate and limit depend on your business profile.
Barclays and NatWest will arrange an overdraft for you at a rate that varies with your business profile. Both charge you an arrangement fee to establish the facility, before any interest on the drawn balance.
You can’t get a traditional overdraft from ANNA or Tide. Zempler is the exception among the app-first accounts: it offers one up to £10,000, though a limited company can apply as it opens the account while a sole trader only qualifies after three months.
Revolut does offer a revenue-based advance on some plans, but that’s a separate product on separate terms. It isn’t a buffer you can dip into when the month turns awkward.
Other Business Bank Account Fees Worth Checking
None of the fees below will decide your account on its own, but they are the ones you only meet after you have signed up, when moving again is a chore. Check them now, not in month three.
Card Fees
You get one free debit card, and after that you pay: additional cards and replacements cost cost £5–£10 each. Revolut includes multiple employee cards on its paid plans. Tide charges for additional team cards.
Inactivity Fees
Some e-money accounts charge you a monthly fee for not using them. That’s a fee for doing nothing at all, and it’s hard to read as anything other than a penalty for a quiet quarter.
If your trade goes quiet for a season, this is the charge that finds you: the landscaper billing nothing in January, the seaside trader shut until Easter. Prepaid-style business accounts are the usual culprits, so confirm the inactivity policy before you open one, not after.
Chargeback and Dispute Fees
Dispute a transaction at a traditional bank and you may be charged £10–£15 for the investigation. Digital banks typically handle disputes without a charge. If you take card payments and see the odd chargeback, check whether your bank charges you separately from your card terminal provider.
CHAPS and Same-Day Transfer Fees
You’ll almost never pay for a Faster Payment: the system (FPS) covers most UK transfers up to £1 million and is free at most providers.
CHAPS is the one that will cost you. It settles the same day, which is what a property completion needs, and traditional banks charge £17–£25 for it. Starling and Monzo include it without a surcharge.
Business Bank Account Free Banking Periods
The free banking periods at NatWest, Barclays, HSBC, and Lloyds are real: you pay no monthly fee and most transaction charges are waived. The question worth asking isn’t whether the offer is genuine. It’s what you’re moved onto the day it ends.
How Long They Last
NatWest: you get 24 months free as a new business turning over under £1 million. After month 24 the standard Business Current Account tariff applies: no fixed monthly fee, but £0.35 per automated payment and 0.70% on cash. We verified that against NatWest’s terms in May 2026.
Barclays: 12 months free, then you’re on Business Banking Essentials at £8.50/month plus transaction charges. The real cost starts in month 13.
HSBC Kinetic: 12 months free, then you pay £6.50/month as standard.
Lloyds: 12 months free for a new business, then the Business Current Account charges you £10/month.
What Switches On After the Period
Nobody rings you when the free period ends. The monthly fee simply restarts, with no opt-in step, and cash deposit fees, international transfer charges and over-limit transaction fees all land at the standard tariff from day one.
If your year-end or VAT registration date falls near the end of the introductory period, put a reminder in the diary and look at the account before that date.
Bide your time, switch in the right week, and you skip a full year of high-street fees on transactions a free digital account would have carried for nothing.
What Your Business Bank Account Actually Costs Over 12 Months
The same banking costs you £0 a year at Starling and £386.40 at NatWest once its free period ends. We ran the same month through every tariff: at 50 payments a month, £2,000 of cash deposited, no international transfers, no overdraft, on figures verified in May 2026.
| Provider | Monthly fees (12 months) | Transactions (50/month) | Cash deposits (£2k/month) | 12-month total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starling | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Mettle | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Tide (free) | £0 | £120 | £12 | £132 |
| Zempler Go | £0 | £197.40 | £144 | £341.40 |
| Revolut Basic | £120 | £96 | n/a | £216+ |
| ANNA PAYG | £0 | 0.95% on inbound | 0.95% on cash | Depends on inbound volume |
| Barclays (yr 2+) | £102 | Included | £178.32 | £280.32+ |
| NatWest (yr 3+) | £0 | £210 | £176.40 | £386.40+ |
Zempler’s cash deposit fee in this model (0.5% on £2,000/month = £12, plus £1 per item, assuming 2 deposits/month = £24/year = £144 total) and its transaction fees put it £341.40 adrift of Starling at the same volume.
Revolut Basic won’t take your cash at all, so if you handle notes and coins you need a second account running alongside it. That’s £120 a year for an account that can’t do the one thing a cash business needs.
How to Choose a Business Bank Account Based on Fees
Three factors whittle the list down to the account that is cheapest for you, and none of them are about the provider’s marketing. We look at cash first, because it cuts the shortlist fastest.
Cash handling: if you take cash regularly and need to bank it, your shortlist is Starling, Mettle and Tide. Starling is free; Tide charges £1 per deposit. Traditional banks charge a percentage, which costs more than Tide above around £80 per deposit, and more than Starling at every level.
If your clients pay exclusively by bank transfer or card, cash deposit capability is irrelevant and the full range of accounts is open to you.
Monthly payment volume: below 10 payments a month, most accounts cover you inside their free allowance, Revolut Basic included. Between 10 and 50, the per-transaction pricing at Tide or Zempler starts to bite. Starling stays free at any volume.
If you pay 50 or more suppliers, staff or contractors each month, unlimited-transfer accounts (Starling, Mettle) are the cheapest option on transaction fees alone.
International payments: if you pay foreign suppliers, take payment in other currencies, or convert money regularly, the FX margin matters more than the monthly fee. A £10/month account on interbank rates costs you less than a free account with a 2.5% margin on £5,000 of monthly foreign payments.
Revolut on any paid plan, and Starling through Wise, are the cheapest routes for regular currency conversion. Traditional banks are the dearest by a wide margin, and it’s the margin, not the transfer fee, that does the damage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which UK business bank account has the lowest fees?
Starling Bank has the lowest fees for most businesses: no monthly fee, no per-transaction charge for UK payments, and free cash deposits at the Post Office. Mettle (powered by NatWest) matches Starling on these three metrics. Both are FSCS-protected. The right choice between them usually comes down to whether you need FreeAgent (bundled with Mettle) or accounting integrations beyond FreeAgent.
Are traditional bank free banking periods worth it?
For the introductory period, yes, especially if you’re a new business building a banking relationship for future credit applications. The watch-out is what happens after: Barclays charges £8.50/month plus cash deposit fees from month 13. For businesses without credit needs, a free digital account like Starling is cheaper over three years even without any introductory period.
What is the cheapest business bank account for cash-based businesses?
Starling: free deposits at the Post Office with no percentage charge. Mettle offers the same. Tide charges £1 per deposit at PayPoint, which is manageable for low-frequency deposits. Traditional banks charge 0.70% or more per deposit. On £5,000/month in cash, that’s £35 a month in deposit fees before you count a single transaction.
Does ANNA Money charge for business account transactions?
On the PAYG plan, ANNA charges 0.95% on every payment received, including cash deposits. Outgoing payments are free. At high inbound volumes this becomes significant: £20,000 received per month costs £190 in inbound fees. ANNA also offers fixed monthly plans (£22.90/month + VAT for the Business plan, £59.90/month + VAT for Big Business) that replace the percentage fee with a flat charge.
Are Faster Payments free for business bank accounts?
At most UK business banks, yes. Faster Payments (FPS) handles the vast majority of UK transfers up to £1 million. Starling, Mettle, Monzo, and ANNA include FPS at no charge. Some providers, including Tide on the free plan, charge per-transfer regardless of payment type. CHAPS, which settles the same day above the FPS limit, costs £17–£25 at traditional banks; Starling and Monzo include it without a surcharge.
Do I pay more in fees as a sole trader vs a limited company?
The fee structures are the same. The practical difference is in FSCS aggregation: as a sole trader, your personal and business accounts at the same bank share a single £120,000 FSCS limit. That doesn’t affect transaction fees, but it may influence which bank you choose to hold reserves at. Limited companies get a separate £120,000 limit independent of director personal accounts.
How We Reviewed Business Bank Account Fees
Data sources. We verified every fee directly from each provider’s published pricing in May 2026. Where a tariff document rather than the main pricing page carried the fee, we used the tariff, and cross-checked ambiguous figures against the provider’s help centre.
Cost model assumptions. We modelled 50 outgoing UK transfers/month, £2,000 cash in 2 deposits/month, no international transfers and no overdraft, representative of a small service or retail business. Higher-volume or international businesses should recalculate against live tariffs.
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