Tide company formation review: what you actually get for free
Tide’s free company formation is one of the more genuinely useful offers in this space, so it’s worth being specific about what “free” actually covers before you sign up.
What’s included
Your Companies House filing fee is covered, your company gets registered properly with all the standard information, directors, shareholders, registered office, SIC code, and you get a Tide business account set up alongside it. The whole process is done through the app and is usually approved quickly.
What isn’t automatically included
A registered office address isn’t bundled by default, you’ll need your own address (home or otherwise) for that unless you arrange a separate service. Ongoing Companies House filings, like your annual confirmation statement, remain your responsibility afterward, formation covers the initial registration, not everything that follows.
Why it’s genuinely free
Tide covers the small filing fee because winning you as an ongoing banking customer is worth more to them than that upfront cost. There’s no catch beyond that, you’re not locked into anything beyond having opened the account.
The honest verdict
If Tide’s account otherwise suits how you want to bank, this is a genuinely convenient way to get formed without paying the filing fee separately. If you’re choosing your bank purely on other features, don’t let free formation alone be the deciding factor, it’s a nice bonus, not a reason on its own.
Some links here are referral links, if you sign up we may earn a fee at no cost to you, it never changes the order we list things in. Fees and terms change, always check Companies House and the provider’s own site for the current numbers. This is information, not legal advice.