Our Verdict
For a GBP-only business that pays suppliers by transfer and wants statutory deposit protection, I’d put Monzo’s free Lite plan near the top of the shortlist: FSCS cover to £120,000, £0 transfers at any volume, and pots to ring-fence tax. Little else free matches that combination.
The catch is the paid tier. Every live accounting feed, Xero, FreeAgent, Sage and QuickBooks alike, sits behind Pro at £9 a month, and so does invoicing. On Lite you export and re-upload by hand, so Pro is worth it only if it retires a tool you already fund.
Open a Monzo Business account →Everything below explains the trade-offs in full.
Monzo Business Account at a Glance
Best for GBP-only businesses that pay suppliers by transfer, want FSCS protection on their operating balance, and keep the books in Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent. Pots ring-fence VAT and tax inside the account.
Not ideal for businesses banking more than a few thousand pounds of cash a month, limited liability partnerships and partnerships, or anyone needing a sizeable credit line. The last two are refused outright; the first is capped and Monzo will not lift the cap.
Lite: £0/month, free UK transfers, FSCS cover. Pro: £9/month, £108 a year, adding invoicing and accounting feeds. Team from £25/month. We confirmed pricing at monzo.com on 14 July 2026.
FSCS-protected up to £120,000 under a full UK banking licence (Monzo Bank Limited, FCA register 730427). That statutory guarantee is the structural edge over e-money rivals, and it shapes how much you can safely hold here.
What Is Monzo Business Account and How Does It Work?
How the account works. Monzo Business is a UK current account run inside the same Monzo app you may already use personally, with a separate business profile and a Mastercard debit card. You bank, set up pots, and pay suppliers from one screen.
Pots are sub-accounts inside your main balance, one for VAT, one for corporation tax, one for a quarterly insurance bill. You move money in and out manually on Lite. On Pro and Team, Tax Pots automate that allocation by percentage of incoming payments.
Who it is designed for. If you bank serious volumes of cash or need a large credit line, Monzo is not built for your workflow. The product targets service businesses invoicing in GBP: contractors, freelancers, online sellers, agencies.
If you’re a contractor paying eight subcontractors at month-end, Tide costs £1.60 in transfer fees. At Monzo, it’s zero. A meaningful gap at high volume.
How to open an account. You apply through the Monzo app. Sole traders need photo ID and a selfie. Limited companies need the Companies House number and director identity confirmation. Straightforward applications typically complete within one business day.
Two things the shortlist above misses hold applications up more than anything else: your unique tax reference, and identification for every person with significant control in the company, unless they already bank with Monzo. Monzo publishes the full list, checked 7 August 2026.
Once the account is open you can set up your VAT pot immediately and start ring-fencing tax from your first client payment.
Account Plans and Pricing
You pay nothing on Lite. The only real cost decision is Pro at £9/month, £108 a year, which adds invoicing, accounting feeds (Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent), virtual cards, multi-user access, and Tax Pots. Team plans start from £25/month.
Monzo raised Pro from £5 to £9, so the annual bill went from £60 to £108. Nobody sends you an invoice for that; it simply keeps leaving your account.
Run the test before you upgrade. If Pro lets you cancel an invoicing tool that costs more than £9 a month, you are ahead. If not, you are paying £108 a year to keep invoicing in the same app as your balance. That is a preference, not a saving.
| Plan | Monthly Fee | Key Inclusions |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | £0 | Core account, pots, free UK transfers, free card spending, FSCS protection |
| Pro | £9 | Everything in Lite, plus invoicing, Xero/QuickBooks/FreeAgent feeds, virtual cards, multi-user, Tax Pots |
| Team | From £25 | Pro features plus team cards and expanded multi-user management |
| Plan details verified from Monzo’s published pricing page (https://monzo.com/business-banking/plans-pricing), 14 July 2026. | ||
Monthly fees. Lite stays free with no balance threshold and no setup fee. Some “free” challenger accounts apply a balance or volume condition that quietly tips you onto a fee; Monzo Lite does not. We verified this at monzo.com in April 2026.
Transaction and transfer fees. Outgoing UK transfers cost £0 at any volume, not 20p like Tide. At 50 outgoing payments monthly, that saves £10. At 100, it saves £20. We confirmed this from monzo.com in April 2026.
Where that saving goes is the question. If your accountant works in Sage, the feed exists at Monzo but only from Pro upwards, so the £108 a year comes back out of it.
Tide includes the same connection on its free plan. Factor invoicing and accounting needs in before comparing per-transfer fees.
Cash, ATM and card charges. You can pay cash in, at £1 a deposit at any UK PayPoint or Post Office branch. Card spending in the UK is free.
What stops a cash-heavy business is the ceiling, not the charge: £3,000 a calendar month on a sole trader account and £10,000 on a limited company account, and Monzo says it cannot raise either, even temporarily.
Spending abroad costs nothing either: Monzo charges £0 on debit card payments in a foreign currency.
Cash withdrawals are free in the UK and across the European Economic Area, and outside it the first £200 in any rolling 30 days is free, with 3% after that. Fee information version 1.15, checked 7 August 2026.
| Transaction | Fee (Lite Plan) |
|---|---|
| Monthly account fee | £0 |
| Incoming UK faster payment | Free |
| Outgoing UK faster payment | Free |
| Card spending (UK) | Free |
| Cash deposit | £1 per deposit at PayPoint or the Post Office |
| Overseas card spending | £0 |
| Monthly fee and domestic transfer costs verified from Monzo’s published pricing (https://monzo.com/business-banking/plans-pricing), April 2026. Cash deposit and card-abroad charges from Monzo’s Fee information, version 1.15, checked 7 August 2026. | |
Banking Features
Payments, transfers and direct debits. UK faster payments cost £0 at any volume, in or out. Direct debits and standing orders are supported on all plans at no extra cost. Bulk payments are available on Pro and Team.
For a contractor paying eight subcontractors at month-end on a Friday, that’s zero per-transfer cost, the most concrete advantage Monzo holds over Tide’s 20p model.
Cards. All plans include a Mastercard debit card. Pro adds virtual cards for online subscriptions and recurring software payments. Team adds employee cards with spending controls, useful if staff make purchases on the company account.
Accounting integrations. On Pro, you connect to Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent via live bank feeds. Transactions sync without manual export or re-upload. We confirmed the integrations from Monzo’s docs and the Open Banking directory in April 2026.
When your bookkeeper opens Xero on a Monday morning to chase a missing invoice and finds yesterday’s supplier payment already reconciled in the feed, that’s the workflow Pro buys you for £9/month. Whether an hour less reconciling is worth £108 a year is your call.
Monzo’s own integrated accounting page lists Xero, FreeAgent, Sage and QuickBooks, and all four sit on Pro and Team rather than Lite. On Lite you export and re-upload by hand every month.
Tide includes the Sage connection on its free plan, which is the sharper comparison now.
What the paid tiers add. Lite is single-user with manual pots. Pro and Team bring the tools a growing team leans on, so the upgrade decision comes down to whether you need any of these:
- Pro (£9/month): invoicing, live Xero/QuickBooks/FreeAgent feeds, virtual cards, multi-user access, and percentage-automated Tax Pots
- Team (from £25/month): everything in Pro, plus employee cards with spending limits and category restrictions
- Lite (£0): single-user account, manual pots, free UK transfers, free UK card spending, FSCS protection
Multi-user access matters more than it looks: Lite is fine for a sole trader, but the moment your bookkeeper or business partner needs visibility, you are on Pro.
Savings and credit. Standard pots pay no interest. We checked monzo.com in July 2026 and Monzo actually runs two separate overdrafts, not one: sole traders can be offered up to £3,000 at 29% or 39% EAR depending on credit score.
Limited companies get a distinct facility instead: £500 to £5,000 at 19% to 35.9% EAR, plus an annual fee. The catch is the personal guarantee, so the director’s own credit sits on the line too, not just the company’s.
Business loans run up to £25,000, and all three depend on eligibility. For a larger or faster credit line, add a provider such as Capital on Tap.
International Features
Treat Monzo as a GBP-only account for anything cross-border. You can send international payments, but specialist providers, Wise Business, Revolut Business, Airwallex, typically beat Monzo on FX rates and per-transfer cost.
Monzo publishes the numbers, and they are better than that framing suggests. The charge is a fixed part of no more than £9.00 plus a variable part of between 0% and 1.80%, depending on where the money goes and in what currency.
That sits on a third-party rate which is usually the mid-market rate, and the app shows both the rate and the exact charge before you confirm. Where Monzo cannot support a currency at all, it points you at Wise. Fee information version 1.15, checked 7 August 2026.
Receiving payments. Only GBP is supported natively. There is no multi-currency sub-account, so euros and dollars convert to sterling on receipt at Monzo’s rate. Monzo accepts the payment, but your client’s currency does not hold.
If most of your client payments arrive from overseas in their local currency, Wise Business or Revolut Business avoid the conversion drag.
FX and currency support. Card spending overseas is free. The cost lands on the way in instead: a 1% conversion fee, capped at £1,000, on euros and other non-sterling payments received and converted to sterling.
There is still no euro account number and no dollar account number, so compare against Wise or Revolut Business if most of your invoices are paid from abroad.
Eligibility and Account Limits
Who can apply. If you are an LLP, partnership, or trust, you are excluded: Monzo Business accepts sole traders and UK limited companies only. Both directors and sole owners go through identity verification in the app. We confirmed eligibility from monzo.com in April 2026.
The excluded list is wider than Tide’s or Starling’s: LLPs, partnerships, trusts, charities, CICs, PLCs and companies limited by guarantee are all hard blocks. If you’re a partnership or charity, Monzo is out before you compare features.
Deposits are FSCS-protected up to £120,000: a statutory guarantee that comes with a full banking licence, not a contractual arrangement. If you hold significant operating balances, this removes a risk that e-money safeguarding doesn’t cover.
Account limits. Cash deposits do exist, at £1 a time at any UK PayPoint or Post Office branch.
The binding constraint is the monthly ceiling: £3,000 a calendar month for a sole trader account and £10,000 for a limited company, and Monzo states it cannot lift either, even temporarily. A shop banking a week’s takings runs into that long before the £1 charge matters.
Standard transaction limits apply for faster payments and card spending. The industry exclusions are published in full, and the list is long.
Currency exchange and money services, gambling and betting, defence and weapons, consumer credit and lending, dating and escort services, and precious metals and stones are all refused.
So are probate and estate management, unlicensed scrap metal, unregistered waste management, cannabidiol products, used vehicles, and any regulated or unregulated financial, investment, loan or foreign exchange business.
Your business also has to be UK-based, UK-registered and UK tax resident, and you cannot apply over a virtual private network. Checked 7 August 2026.
App, Online Banking and User Experience
Mobile app. The primary interface is the Monzo app, rated for transaction tagging and real-time push notifications on every transaction. Pots sit on the home screen; tax allocation is one tap away.
If you already use Monzo personally, the business profile lives in the same app, so context switching is trivial. That’s a real workflow benefit if your business and personal admin happen on the same phone.
Web and desktop. A web dashboard is available for business customers, useful for reconciliation work, bulk payments, and sharing access with your bookkeeper. Less feature-rich than the app, but adequate for desk-based admin.
Day-to-day. Admin, paying a supplier, moving money to a tax pot, adding a transaction note, is fast in the app. Transaction tagging and merchant categorisation work well for end-of-year reporting.
We rate it ahead of Tide for tagging speed, which matters if your end-of-year reporting depends on accurate merchant categorisation, and comparable to Starling for overall clarity.
Customer Reviews and Reputation
What customers like. If you value fast onboarding and app-driven budgeting, feedback is broadly positive: account opening speed, app quality, and the pots system are praised most consistently, with real-time notifications and easy tagging as recurring wins.
Pro used to get credit from customers who had been paying separately for a basic invoicing tool. At £9 a month that goodwill is thinner: the plan has to beat what you already pay elsewhere, not merely exist.
Common complaints. The recurring ones are the absence of telephone support and the risk of account pauses during compliance checks. Reviews can pause an account for several days, a pattern across all challenger banks, not just Monzo.
When a compliance review pauses your account and a supplier payment is due, that’s immediate pressure. Worth knowing before you commit your operating account.
Monzo scores 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 70,608 reviews, checked 27 July 2026. Figures repeated across comparison sites are often months behind that, so work from the dated one.
Customer Support and Service
Channels. If you need telephone support for a routine query, skip Monzo: there is no general telephone number. Support is in-app chat and email only. Response times vary; urgent payment issues usually get faster attention than account-setup queries.
Self-service. The help centre at monzo.com/help covers setup, plan upgrades, and integration walkthroughs, but it is limited for incident-specific problems where you need a human to respond quickly.
Security, Regulation and FSCS Protection
Regulation and authorisation. Deposits are covered by a full UK banking licence: Monzo Bank Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and PRA, Financial Services Register number 730427. Confirmed against the FCA register in April 2026.
That distinction matters for your deposits if the bank fails: a full UK banking licence means statutory FSCS protection, not contractual e-money safeguarding.
FSCS Protection or Safeguarding
Monzo Business deposits are FSCS-protected up to £120,000 per eligible depositor. That’s a statutory guarantee from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the same protection any licensed UK bank gives you.
If you hold significant balances, the detail matters: Revolut Business and ANNA rely on safeguarding rather than FSCS coverage. Tide routes new accounts through ClearBank, so those deposits carry FSCS cover to £120,000, the same statutory limit Monzo gives directly as a licensed bank.
Security features. The account includes biometric login (Face ID, Touch ID), instant card freeze in the app, real-time push notifications on every transaction, and chip-and-PIN on the physical card. Standard challenger-bank controls with no notable gaps.
Security controls match what Starling and Tide offer: biometric login, instant card freeze, and real-time push notifications. We confirmed this against monzo.com and the FCA register in April 2026.
Who Monzo Business Account Is Best For
Monzo suits you if you run a GBP service business, pay suppliers regularly, need FSCS protection, and can manage VAT manually in pots. At zero monthly cost and zero per-transfer charges, the economics work for that profile.
For an agency, contractor, or freelance consultant billing in GBP, pots replace a separate tax spreadsheet and £0 transfer cost matters once payment volume climbs.
When to consider alternatives. If your accountant uses Sage and you want to stay on a free plan, Monzo is the wrong shape: the Sage feed exists, but only from Pro at £9 a month upwards. Tide gives you the same connection for nothing.
Look elsewhere for a multi-currency account, from Revolut Business or Wise, which Monzo does not offer at any tier, and for heavy cash banking, which Monzo takes but caps. Monzo does lend, though its overdrafts and loans stay modest and eligibility-gated.
Monzo Business Account vs Alternatives
Monzo vs Starling
The trade-off between Monzo and Starling is narrow: both offer FSCS protection, £0 domestic transfer fees, and overdrafts subject to status. Starling adds Euro and USD sub-accounts; Monzo adds pots and Pro-tier Tax Pots automation.
Pick Starling if you hold balances in EUR or USD. Pick Monzo if pots discipline and tax-side automation matter more.
Full comparison: our Starling vs Monzo guide.
Monzo vs Tide
The choice between Monzo and Tide is accounting fit versus transfer cost: Tide includes invoicing and Sage on the free plan; Monzo charges £0 per transfer versus Tide’s 20p. At 100 monthly outgoing payments, that is a £20/month gap in Monzo’s favour.
The bigger trade-off: Tide is e-money safeguarded through ClearBank, not FSCS-protected. If you hold significant operating balances, Monzo’s £120,000 FSCS coverage is the safer choice.
Monzo vs Revolut
Revolut Business is built around multi-currency holdings, FX, and international payments, a different product profile from Monzo’s GBP-only domestic focus. Revolut isn’t a UK bank; deposits are safeguarded, not FSCS-protected.
Pick Revolut Business if you trade across currencies. Pick Monzo if you operate GBP-only and value FSCS protection over FX features.
For a full market comparison, see our best business bank accounts guide.
Final Verdict: Is Monzo Business Account Worth It?
Monzo Business Lite suits businesses that operate in GBP, need FSCS protection, and use Xero, QuickBooks, or FreeAgent. The free plan is what we would take. Pro adds invoicing and live accounting feeds for £9 a month, and that is the part to think twice about.
At £108 a year, Pro is worth it only if it kills a subscription you already pay for. Upgrade for the tidiness of one app and you are handing over real money for a feeling, so we would stay on Lite until invoicing genuinely hurts.
The real constraint is cash. A pound a deposit is cheap, but £3,000 a month for a sole trader and £10,000 for a limited company is a ceiling Monzo will not move. Credit exists but stays modest, with sole-trader overdrafts to £3,000 and loans to £25,000, subject to eligibility.
Outside that, we rate Monzo Business one of the strongest free FSCS-protected options on the UK market in April 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Monzo Business FSCS protected?
Yes. Monzo Bank Limited holds a full UK banking licence and is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and PRA (Financial Services Register number: 730427). Customer deposits are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £120,000 per eligible depositor. This is the same statutory protection that applies at any licensed UK bank. We confirmed this from the FCA register in April 2026.
Does Monzo Business have an overdraft?
Yes, subject to eligibility, and it is not one overdraft but two, a distinction most reviews flatten into a single line. Sole traders can apply for an arranged overdraft up to £3,000, priced at 29% or 39% EAR depending on your TransUnion credit score, with no separate facility fee. Limited companies apply for a different facility, sized £500 to £5,000, priced at 19%, 29%, or 35.9% EAR depending on your business credit score, with an annual fee of £20, £50, or £100 by limit band. The catch is the personal guarantee required from the applying director, so it is their own credit on the line, not just the company’s. Monzo also offers business loans up to £25,000, assessed separately. We checked the rates and fees at monzo.com in July 2026. None of these are guaranteed; all depend on a credit assessment. If you need a larger facility, compare Starling Bank or a dedicated business lender.
What is the difference between the Monzo Lite and Pro plans?
The Lite plan has no monthly fee and includes core banking: account and pots, free UK transfers, free card spending, and FSCS deposit protection. Invoicing, accounting integrations (Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent), virtual cards, multi-user access, and Tax Pots are all Pro features at £9/month, which is £108 a year. If you invoice clients through the app or need a live accounting software feed, you need Pro. If you pay suppliers and ring-fence VAT manually in pots, Lite covers the core requirements and costs you nothing. We confirmed the £9 Pro price from monzo.com on 14 July 2026.
Does Monzo Business connect to Sage?
Yes. Monzo’s own integrated accounting page lists Sage alongside Xero, FreeAgent and QuickBooks, and all four sit on the Pro and Team plans, which start at £9 a month. Lite carries no accounting feed at all, so on the free plan you export and re-upload by hand. Tide includes the Sage connection on its free plan, though it charges 20p per outgoing UK transfer. Checked 7 August 2026.
Can I deposit cash into a Monzo Business account?
Yes. Monzo charges £1 per deposit at any UK PayPoint or Post Office branch, within a ceiling of £3,000 a calendar month on a sole trader account and £10,000 on a limited company account. Starling takes cash at the Post Office too, at 0.7% of the deposit with a £3 minimum. So Monzo is cheaper per deposit but capped monthly; Starling costs more per deposit and is not capped the same way. Bank a few hundred pounds a week and Monzo wins on cost; bank thousands and the Monzo ceiling decides it. Checked 7 August 2026.
How we reviewed Monzo
What we assessed. We evaluated Monzo on pricing, contract terms, features, and eligibility. These are the factors that matter most to UK small businesses considering this provider.
Data sources. Monzo’s pricing page, terms, and product docs were checked directly in April 2026. No comparison sites, no press releases, no affiliate material. FCA register cross-checked for regulatory status.
Update cadence. We re-verify this page regularly and whenever a provider changes pricing, eligibility, or terms. The verification date on the page reflects the most recent full review. We have no affiliate relationship with Monzo, see our editorial policy.