Revolut vs Mettle Business: Which Is Better?

Which Is Better for UK businesses choosing between free PRA-licensed UK banking with FreeAgent and multi-currency fintech with team card programmes?

If you run a UK-only business and want the cleanest free PRA-licensed banking with FreeAgent included, choose Mettle. We rate Mettle as the cheapest route to a full-featured MTD setup for sole traders.

If you need 25+ multi-currency wallets, team cards with spend controls, or API access for programmatic payments, choose Revolut Business. We rate Revolut Grow at £30/month as the entry point for international invoicing.

When you’re a sole trader with simple UK invoicing and want everything free, Mettle is structurally cheaper than Revolut Basic at £10/month.

If your structure is a partnership, LLP, charity or limited company with 3+ owners, Mettle excludes you. Revolut Business accepts broader structures including LLPs.

Revolut vs Mettle Fees and Charges

You pay nothing for Mettle on the monthly fee, nothing on UK Faster Payments in or out, and FreeAgent accounting software comes bundled free provided you make at least one transaction per month.

You pay £10/month for Revolut Basic with up to 10 local transfers and 1 international transfer included. Above the allowance, international transfers cost £5 each.

Choose Revolut Grow at £30/month for 5 free international transfers and higher FX allowances. The cost catch is the £25 monthly fee against Mettle’s £0.

On cash deposits, neither account offers free UK cash channels. Mettle doesn’t support cash deposits at all. Revolut routes cash via partner channels with limits and fees.

You won’t pay ATM fees at Mettle in the UK. Revolut Business ATM withdrawals carry plan-specific limits and fees above the allowance, confirm against the published Revolut Business tariff.

For card spending overseas, Revolut charges interbank FX within plan allowance. Mettle’s overseas card fee follows NatWest’s published debit card tariff, confirm rates with Mettle.

For high-volume FX above £10,000/month, pair either account with Wise Business at mid-market from 0.33%. Neither Revolut nor Mettle beats Wise on sustained currency volume.

Revolut vs Mettle Features and Tools

You should weigh feature depth carefully. Revolut Business ships team cards with per-employee spend controls, expense capture, crypto access on paid tiers, and a published developer API.

You get FreeAgent included free with Mettle, saves up to £150/year. We rate this as the cleanest MTD-compliant setup for UK sole traders, particularly with NatWest’s ownership of FreeAgent giving deep integration.

When your team needs spend controls across 5-50 employees, Revolut Business has the deeper per-employee card programme. Mettle doesn’t support multi-user team card programmes at the same depth.

If you bill UK clients regularly, Mettle’s built-in invoicing inside FreeAgent integrates tightly with the account. Revolut Business has no equivalent native invoicing across plan tiers.

For payment infrastructure, Revolut offers a published API for programmatic supplier payments, batch processing and ledger sync. Mettle doesn’t offer a public business API.

You get crypto access at Revolut Business on paid tiers, no equivalent at Mettle. For businesses that need crypto rails, Revolut is the only option of the two.

Revolut vs Mettle International Payments

If you invoice in foreign currency, Revolut Business wins outright. You hold 25+ currency wallets at near-interbank rates within plan allowance.

You can’t hold foreign currency at Mettle natively, it’s a GBP-only account. International payments route through NatWest’s standard SWIFT/FX infrastructure with NatWest fees.

When you convert £50,000 EUR a month at Revolut Grow, the free allowance covers it; above the cap, FX steps to 0.4-0.6%. At Mettle, international conversion follows NatWest’s high-street card-and-FX tariff.

For receiving foreign currency, Revolut Business provides local multi-currency wallets across 25+ currencies. Mettle has no native multi-currency support.

You should weigh the FSCS protection identically at both providers, both PRA-licensed banks with direct FSCS to £120,000. There’s no protection-level differentiation here.

For sustained cross-border FX, pair either account with Wise Business. Wise mid-market FX from 0.33% beats both Revolut and Mettle on currency conversion volume.

Revolut vs Mettle Customer Reviews and Reputation

On scale, the two are not comparable. Revolut Business serves 13+ million UK customers across personal and business accounts; Mettle serves a smaller, dedicated sole-trader and small-Ltd base.

Mettle reviews praise the genuinely free model, the FreeAgent integration and the NatWest-backed licence. The complaints land on eligibility: sole traders and Ltds with two owners max. That narrow door is the catch.

Revolut complaints, by contrast, cluster around compliance freezes during onboarding, the familiar fintech pattern where a flagged transaction can hold an account for 24-72 hours.

When your bookkeeper urgently needs a supplier paid on Friday afternoon, both providers’ Faster Payments rails clear in seconds. The operational reliability is comparable.

Support model splits sharply. Revolut offers 24/7 in-app chat to business customers. Mettle offers in-app and email support during business hours, plus phone for verification.

Revolut vs Mettle for Free GBP Banking with FreeAgent vs Multi-Currency Wallets and Team Cards

For free PRA-licensed UK banking with FreeAgent included, Mettle wins outright. We rate Mettle as the cleanest cheapest route to FSCS-protected MTD-compliant sole-trader banking.

For 25+ multi-currency wallets, team card programmes and API access, Revolut Business wins. The plan-tiered pricing pays for itself fast at meaningful cross-border or team-spend volumes.

When you’re a partnership, LLP, charity or Ltd with 3+ owners, Mettle excludes you. Revolut Business accepts these structures (subject to compliance).

You can’t hold foreign currency at Mettle. If you receive in EUR, USD or any non-GBP currency, Revolut Business is the only real choice of the two.

Downsides of Revolut and Mettle

Eligibility is Mettle’s hard wall: no partnerships, LLPs, charities, CICs or limited companies with more than two owners. It takes sole traders and Ltds with 1-2 owners only.

Currency is the next gap. Mettle is GBP-only, so for any non-GBP invoicing it is simply the wrong account.

There are no team card programmes, no API and no crypto rails at Mettle either. Its whole positioning is simple free GBP banking, not a full fintech platform.

Revolut has its own limits. Basic includes only one international transfer a month, and the £5-per-transfer charge bites fast on a cross-border-heavy business.

Balance caps apply too: £500k on Grow, £1m on Scale, £2m on Enterprise, with Mettle also capped at £1m. Hold more than that and you are into a multi-account setup.

And the compliance hold risk is real at Revolut: a flagged transaction can lock an account for 24-72 hours. For a business with payroll due, that is the catch.

Alternatives to Revolut and Mettle

You don’t have to choose between Revolut and Mettle alone. We compared several adjacent UK business accounts that solve specific problems better than either.

Want free PRA-licensed banking with overdraft access and broader eligibility (LLPs accepted)? Starling Business is the pick, and we rate it the strongest free FSCS-protected challenger.

For a full PRA bank with cashback and interest on deposits, Allica Business Rewards goes further, with up to 1.5% cashback and 4.08% AER for £50k+ deposit businesses.

Need mid-market FX from 0.33%? Wise Business is the cheapest cross-border option for UK SMEs.

And for 38 multi-currency IBANs with vertical industry support, Equals Money runs deeper. It is an FCA EMI rather than an FSCS bank, but the currency depth beats Revolut.

Final Verdict: Revolut or Mettle?

Choose Mettle if you’re a UK sole trader or small Ltd with 1-2 owners and want free PRA-licensed banking with FreeAgent included. We rate Mettle as the cleanest free FSCS-protected setup for the smallest UK businesses.

Choose Revolut Business if you need 25+ multi-currency wallets, team card programmes, API access, or you operate as an LLP, partnership, or larger limited company. We rate Revolut Grow at £30/month as the value pick.

When your business is GBP-only and structurally simple, Mettle wins on cost. When you need international or team-spend features, Revolut wins on capability.

You should pair either account with Wise Business if you sustain £10,000+/month in FX. Wise mid-market from 0.33% beats both on currency volume.

Frequently Asked Questions