Which Is Better for UK businesses choosing between two FSCS-protected app-first accounts?
For UK businesses choosing between two FSCS-protected app-first accounts, our view is that Monzo wins for GBP-only operations and Revolut wins for anything touching foreign currency. Same regulatory floor now, but the two are built differently. Pick by workflow.
Monzo is built like a bank, because it’s one. PRA-licensed since 2017, FSCS-protected to £120,000, free unlimited UK transfers, pots for ring-fencing tax. The Pro tier at £5/month adds tax pots and automated cashflow forecasting.
Revolut leans the other way. 25+ currency wallets, interbank FX inside Basic allowance, paid Grow (£25/mo) and Scale (£100/mo) tiers for higher volume. A Berlin client pays you in euros, a Toronto one in Canadian dollars. You hold both.
We confirmed Monzo is GBP-only at every tier from its published product pages in May 2026.
Revolut vs Monzo Fees and Charges
Monzo Business is £0 a month on the standard tier. Sole trader and limited company accounts both sit at £0/month with unlimited free UK transfers. Pro adds tax pots and automated cashflow forecasting for £5/month, the only paid tier Monzo runs on business.
Revolut Basic is £10 a month, no minimum balance. Grow is £25, Scale is £100, paid tiers buy bigger FX allowances and more free transfers. On Basic, beyond the £10, the fee you’ll see is FX once the allowance is gone.
On FX, the gap is structural, and we rate it the single biggest cost difference between the two. Revolut converts at interbank inside plan allowance with a small markup once exhausted.
Monzo handles international payments via the Mastercard rate, which sits a wider margin above interbank. For a business converting £1,000+ a month, that difference shows up on every payment run.
Cash deposits via PayPoint on Monzo carry a small per-deposit fee. Revolut doesn’t offer a comparable cash deposit channel for UK businesses.
Neither account handles physical cash like a high-street branch. If you take cash daily, you’re pairing either of these with a Lloyds or Barclays account, not replacing it.
Entry costs now differ: Monzo is free, Revolut Basic is £10 a month. Otherwise cost depends on FX volume and tax-pot needs. Domestic sole trader on Monzo? £0, or £5/month for Pro. International SME on Revolut Basic? The £10 plus a small FX spread once the allowance runs out.
| Cost | Revolut Basic | Revolut Grow (£25/mo) | Monzo Standard | Monzo Pro (£5/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | £10 | £25 | £0 | £5 |
| Domestic transfers | Free within allowance | Free within allowance | Free (unlimited) | Free (unlimited) |
| FX rate | Interbank within allowance | Higher FX allowance | Mastercard rate (wider margin) | Mastercard rate (wider margin) |
| Multi-currency wallets | Yes (25+) | Yes (25+) | No | No |
| Pots / tax ring-fencing | No | No | Pots included | Pots + named tax pots with auto-sweep |
| FSCS protection | Yes for new accounts from 11 Mar 2026 | Yes for new accounts from 11 Mar 2026 | Yes (since 2017) | Yes (since 2017) |
Revolut vs Monzo Features and Tools
Beyond pricing, the two accounts diverge most on what the app does for you. Monzo leans on domestic banking, pots, tax pots on Pro, automated cashflow forecasting, integrations with Xero and FreeAgent.
Revolut leans on fintech: team cards with spend rules, currency wallets, batch payments, API access.
Monzo pots are the operational tool people actually use. A client payment lands Monday morning, you drag 20% straight into a VAT pot before lunch. Pro adds named tax pots that auto-sweep a fixed percentage. For a sole trader handling self-assessment alone, that’s the workflow saving that matters.
Revolut has nothing equivalent on its business accounts. No envelope budgeting, no auto-sweep tax pots.
The Revolut play is at the team spend level, virtual and physical cards with per-employee spending limits, real-time expense review, batch payroll on the paid tiers. Monzo Business doesn’t match that depth.
Both connect to Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent. Neither integrates natively with Sage. If you bill clients, you need separate invoicing software regardless of which account you choose, neither provider offers native invoicing inside the bank app.
API access at Revolut allows your business to automate payment workflows, useful for e-commerce or subscription businesses with recurring programmatic payment needs.
Monzo doesn’t offer API access for payment automation on business accounts. We verified this against both providers’ developer documentation in May 2026.
Revolut vs Monzo International Payments
Invoice in euros on Monday and the payment lands Thursday lunchtime; Revolut lets you hold the EUR rather than convert at whatever rate the day throws up. 25+ currency wallets, near-interbank rates inside allowance. Monzo can’t do any of that.
Monzo Business is GBP-only at every plan tier. No currency wallets, no foreign-currency invoicing.
International payments go out via SWIFT at the Mastercard rate, which sits a wider margin above interbank than Revolut’s plan allowance. Fine for the occasional overseas supplier; expensive for anyone billing abroad regularly.
For an SME converting £8,000 a month, we put the FX gap at roughly five times. Revolut at about 0.4% above interbank inside allowance gives you around £32. Monzo at a typical ~2% Mastercard margin puts you at around £160 for the same volume. That difference compounds every payment run.
The point isn’t that Monzo is worse at multi-currency. Monzo isn’t in that game. If your business touches a foreign currency more than once or twice a year, Revolut isn’t a nice-to-have: it’s a different product category.
On protection, both are now PRA-authorised UK banks with FSCS cover to £120,000. Monzo since 2017. Revolut for new accounts from 11 March 2026 under its new PRA licence. The old “Revolut is e-money, Monzo is a bank” gap has closed for new Revolut customers.
Existing Revolut e-money customers migrate in phases. If you’ve held Revolut Business for years, check your account status before relying on FSCS cover for the balance.
Revolut vs Monzo Customer Reviews and Reputation
When we checked Trustpilot in May 2026, Revolut Business sat at around 4.2 stars across 200,000+ reviews. Monzo sat at around 4.4 stars across 50,000+ reviews. Neither score is a red flag, both reflect large, active customer bases.
The themes diverge. Revolut customers praise the FX, app polish, and breadth of features for the price. Complaints cluster around account freezes during compliance reviews, a known fintech onboarding issue where a flagged transaction can lock the account for days while support catches up.
Monzo reviews skew toward the clean app experience and the speed of in-app chat.
Complaints lean toward account closures with limited explanation under the bank’s risk policies, and slower business account onboarding compared to the personal app. Less account-freeze volatility than Revolut, but not zero.
On support, we rate Revolut’s 24/7 in-app chat as the stronger setup on paper, and review themes point to fast responses on routine queries.
Monzo offers in-app chat with response times that vary by query complexity, usually fast for simple things, slower for compliance-related questions. Both beat a typical high-street bank’s phone queue.
Revolut vs Monzo for Domestic Simplicity vs Multi-Currency Capability
This is the page’s defining trade-off. Monzo gives you the simplest, cleanest UK-only banking app on the market, pots, tax pots on Pro, automated cashflow forecasting, free unlimited UK transfers. For a GBP-only business, nothing else comes close on workflow simplicity.
Revolut gives you multi-currency capability that no UK-only account matches. 25+ currency wallets, interbank FX, the ability to hold and spend in foreign currencies without converting on every transaction.
For a business invoicing or paying in more than one currency, that capability isn’t optional: it’s the product.
The decision isn’t which is better in the abstract. It’s which factor matches your business. Sole trader doing UK self-assessment alone? Monzo Pro at £5/month with the tax pot does it. Ecommerce seller invoicing US and EU clients? Revolut Grow at £25/month and the currency wallets do it.
A pragmatic dual setup covers both. Monzo as the primary GBP account, the tax pots, the FSCS-covered cash reserves. Revolut alongside for cross-border invoicing and supplier payments.
You reconcile two accounts at month-end. For most internationally-facing SMEs, that pairing beats forcing one account to do both jobs.
Downsides of Revolut and Monzo
Monzo Business has no overdraft. If your cash flow dips into the red at month-end, you’ll need a separate credit line. Revolut doesn’t offer an overdraft either; neither provider replaces a traditional bank for working capital lending.
Monzo’s account closure policy is the persistent complaint. Closures happen under the bank’s risk and compliance policies with limited explanation, and reopening takes weeks if it happens at all. For a business running weekly bills through the account, that’s a real operational risk to plan around.
Revolut’s biggest weakness is the account freeze risk. The compliance engine flags transactions and the account can lock for 24-72 hours.
For a freelancer waiting on an invoice, that’s survivable. For an SME running payroll through the account, it’s a real operational risk worth pairing with a high-street account.
Existing Revolut Business customers on the old e-money arrangement are still mid-migration to the new PRA bank entity. FSCS cover applies to new accounts from 11 March 2026. If you opened Revolut before that, check whether your account has migrated before relying on FSCS protection for the balance.
Neither provider replaces a high-street business bank. No physical branches, no relationship managers, limited cash handling (Monzo via PayPoint with a fee; Revolut via partners only).
If your business needs branch access or daily cash deposits, pair either account with a Lloyds, Barclays, or NatWest current account.
Alternatives to Revolut and Monzo
Both Revolut and Monzo are worth considering, but they’re not the only options. Here are the four alternatives we’d weigh first depending on your priorities:
- Starling Business, UK-only, PRA-licensed since 2018, FSCS-protected to £120,000, with overdraft on application and free FreeAgent for sole traders. Pick this if you want a conservative banking relationship with credit access and better accounting integration than Monzo offers free.
- Tide, free UK business account with invoicing tools, expense cards, and accounting integrations built in. Pick this for a UK-focused SME that wants invoicing inside the bank app rather than via separate software.
- Mettle by NatWest, free sole-trader and limited company account from a high-street bank. FSCS-protected. Pick this if you want NatWest’s backing without the legacy bank fees.
- Wise Business, multi-currency account specialist with the tightest published FX margins on the market. Pick this over Revolut if international payments are the primary use case and you don’t need a UK primary current account.
Final Verdict: Revolut or Monzo?
For UK-only businesses billing in pounds, Monzo wins on workflow simplicity and tax-pot automation. For multi-currency businesses or anyone needing currency wallets, Revolut wins on FX capability.
We weighed both against the same FSCS-protected regulatory floor, and the decision splits cleanly on one question: do you touch a foreign currency or not?
Choose Revolut if your business trades in more than one currency, full stop. 25+ currency wallets, interbank FX inside the Basic plan allowance. Monzo isn’t playing on this field. The same logic applies if you bill overseas clients, contract for foreign companies, or import stock.
Or choose Revolut if you need team expense cards with spend controls. Virtual and physical cards on the paid tiers with per-employee spending limits, real-time expense review, batch payroll.
Monzo doesn’t offer this depth at any tier. If four people all need expense cards, Revolut is the practical choice.
Need API access for payment automation? Revolut. The published developer API supports automated supplier payments, batch processing, reconciliation workflows. Useful for e-commerce or SaaS businesses with recurring programmatic payment needs. Monzo Business has no equivalent at any tier.
Choose Monzo if your business is UK-only. Free unlimited UK transfers at any volume, pots for ring-fencing VAT and tax, and the cleanest GBP-only app on the market. Pro at £5/month adds tax pots and automated cashflow forecasting.
Choose Monzo if tax-pot ring-fencing matters. Setting aside 20% of every payment into a VAT pot, or auto-sweeping a fixed percentage to a tax pot on Pro, means the money is visible and not accidentally spent before the quarterly bill arrives. Revolut has no equivalent.
Or choose Monzo if you want the most established UK challenger banking relationship for a primary account. PRA-licensed since 2017, FSCS-protected from day one, with a track record longer than Revolut’s bank licence. For a primary GBP current account, that operational track record matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I have both a Revolut and a Monzo Business account at the same time?
Yes. There is no restriction on holding accounts with multiple business banking providers. A common dual setup is Monzo as the primary GBP current account, for the pots, the FSCS-protected cash reserves, and the free unlimited UK transfers, with Revolut alongside for cross-border invoicing and supplier payments. Monzo is free on its base plan and Revolut Basic is £10 a month, so the only real cost of running both is deciding which better fits your main needs.
Is Revolut or Monzo better for a sole trader?
Both accept sole traders. Monzo is the stronger default for sole traders who want the simplest free account with no transfer fees, pots for separating tax reserves, and Pro at £5/month adding tax pots with auto-sweep and automated cashflow forecasting. Revolut is the better choice for sole traders who work with international clients and want to hold or receive payments in foreign currencies without converting on every transaction. If you transact only in GBP, Monzo is simpler and the Pro tier still costs less than Revolut Grow.
Does Monzo Business support multi-currency accounts?
No. Monzo Business doesn’t offer multi-currency accounts at any plan tier. All balances are held in GBP. International payments are converted at the Mastercard rate, which sits a wider margin above interbank than Revolut’s plan allowance pricing. Confirmed from Monzo’s business account documentation in May 2026. If you regularly send or receive payments in foreign currencies, Revolut is the more cost-effective option.
Is Revolut Business FSCS-protected?
Revolut now holds a UK banking licence (PRA-authorised since 11 March 2026). New accounts opened from that date are FSCS-protected up to £120,000 per eligible depositor. Existing Revolut Business customers may still be on the e-money arrangement until their account migrates to the bank entity. Check your account status before relying on FSCS cover for the balance.
Monzo Business holds a full UK banking licence and has been FSCS-protected since 2017. Eligible deposits are covered up to £120,000 per depositor (limit raised from £85,000 on 1 December 2025).
What are Monzo pots and can Revolut match them?
Monzo pots are named sub-balances inside your Monzo Business account. You can move money into a pot instantly and it sits visibly separate from your available balance. Businesses commonly use pots to ring-fence VAT or corporation tax. Monzo Pro at £5/month adds named tax pots that auto-sweep a fixed percentage of incoming payments. Revolut doesn’t offer equivalent envelope budgeting on its business accounts, confirmed from Revolut’s product documentation in May 2026. If tax reserve ring-fencing matters to your workflow, Monzo is the provider that delivers it.
How we reviewed Revolut vs Monzo
Ranking criteria. We compared Revolut and Monzo on pricing, fees, feature set, eligibility, and contract terms. We also verified regulatory status and deposit protection where applicable.
Data sources. Every provider’s pricing page, terms, and product docs were checked directly in May 2026. No comparison sites, no press releases, no affiliate material. FCA register cross-checked for regulatory status.
Update cadence. We re-verify every provider on this page regularly, and whenever a provider changes pricing, eligibility, or terms. The verification date on the page reflects the most recent full review. Some links on this page are affiliate links, see our editorial policy.
Related Pages
Looking for more comparison pages? We have head-to-head comparisons across digital and high-street business accounts.
- Tide vs Monzo, invoicing tools vs clean app experience
- Revolut vs Starling, digital business accounts compared
- Revolut vs Airwallex, two multi-currency accounts compared
- Wise vs Revolut, international payment specialists head to head
- Best business bank accounts, full comparison of 15 UK providers