Best business bank account UK: our actual pick, by situation
Ask ten people for “the best business account” and you’ll get ten different answers, mostly because they’re each answering for their own situation without saying so. Let’s fix that.
If you want simple and free
Starling and Mettle are the two names that come up most, and for good reason. Both are genuinely free, no monthly fee, and both handle the basics well. Starling is a fully licensed bank, so you get FSCS protection on eligible balances. Mettle is backed by NatWest and leans harder into built-in bookkeeping tools. We earn nothing from either of these, and we’d point you there anyway.
If you want formation and banking sorted in one go
Tide bundles free company formation with the account, which is genuinely convenient if you haven’t registered yet. It’s an e-money account rather than a licensed bank, so the protection works slightly differently to Starling, but the onboarding is fast and invoicing is built in.
If you deal in more than one currency
Wise and Revolut both do this well, letting you hold and convert currencies at rates that beat most high street banks by a wide margin. If most of your customers or suppliers are overseas, this is where the real saving is.
What we’d actually tell a friend
Start with what you’ll use most: pure UK trading in pounds, go free (Starling or Mettle). Need formation done too, Tide. Regularly moving money across borders, Wise or Revolut. Nobody needs all four, and switching later is easier than people assume.
Some links here are referral links, if you sign up with a partner we may earn a fee at no cost to you. It never changes what we recommend or the order we list it, and where the free option is genuinely the best one, that’s what we’ll say. Details change, always check current terms on the provider’s own site. This is information, not financial advice.