Tide and Monzo are both good business accounts worth considering, though they have slightly different fee structures and inclusions. Our guide shows you what each is good for so you can make a choice based on the needs of your business.
We compare Tide’s free account with the Monzo Lite business account, which is also free. Both have paid options that you can upgrade to as your business grows.
Both these accounts are digital only, so there’s no branch access available. They come with Mastercard debit cards and offer free spending overseas. You’re able to open a linked savings account with each one and Tide offers a higher rate of interest on its linked account.
While both offer business accounts, Tide isn’t actually a bank. It’s a business financial platform regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and offers e-money accounts and business bank accounts. If you open the linked savings account then you do get FSCS protection on deposits paid in there and interest paid on that too.
Monzo is a bank so has full FSCS protection and is regulated by FCA and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
Tide and Monzo offer cash deposits, extra cards for employees and the ability to freeze or unfreeze cards in the app. Monzo lets you cash cheques by post and in the app but Tide only allows in-app cheque deposits. Monzo also lets you send money abroad through its partnership with Wise, while Tide allows international payments via SEPA.
If you want integrated accounting, Tide is the only one that offers it for free. To get it with Monzo you need to upgrade to the Pro account.
Winner: Tide. Both have similar features, but having accounting software integration included is a bonus with a free account.
Round 2: Account costs
Monthly account charge
Free
Free
Fee for cash deposits
£2.50 for deposits up to £500, 0.50% for deposits over £500 (at Post Offices), 3% (at PayPoints)
£1 per deposit to pay in cash at any PayPoint or Post Office branch
Both come with no monthly fees, though you can upgrade to a premium account for more features.
Monzo offers more in terms of free stuff, with payments in or out and direct debits not costing you a thing. With Tide you’ll have to pay 20p for each transaction. Depending on your usage you’d need to calculate how expensive that could be for you.
It’s also free to deposit a cheque with Monzo, while with Tide it costs 70p plus the 20p transaction fee, so 90p overall.
You can deposit cash at any PayPoint or Post Office branch with Monzo for a flat rate of £1. You can only deposit between £5 and £300 each time, with a limit of £1,000 every 6 months. Tide charges £2.50 for every deposit at the Post Office up to £500 and 0.5% for anything over that. You can deposit up to £25,000 a month or £300,000 a year, depending on the branch transaction limits. At a PayPoint Tide charges 3% and you can deposit £10–£500 a day.
Winner: Monzo, but only just. With no transaction or deposit fees, Monzo is a better offering overall than Tide, even though Tide has higher deposit limits.
It won’t cost you anything to spend money in the UK with either account and you can also use contactless payments. The contactless limit for both is the UK standard of £100.
If you want to withdraw cash from an ATM, Tide charges £1 each time, while it’s free with Monzo.
Winner: Monzo wins here with its free ATM withdrawals.
Round 4: Using the card abroad
Free foreign transactions
No, 1.75% fee on foreign transactions
Unlimited
Free foreign ATM withdrawals
No, £1 each plus 1.75% foreign transaction fee
Unlimited within EEA. £200 in any rolling 30-day period outside EEA. 3% fee after.
If you’re going abroad or need to do some business spending online from an international seller, Monzo wins here with it’s unlimited foreign spending.
Tide charges £1 for overseas ATM withdrawals, plus 1.75% on top of that, which could make it quite pricey to take money out when you’re travelling.
Monzo has free unlimited ATM withdrawals inside the EEA, but outside the EEA you can only take out £200 every 30 days. After that there’s a flat 3% charge, which is even higher than Tide.
Winner: It’s a tie here. Inside the EEA Monzo is better with unlimited free withdrawals but if you’re travelling further afield Tide will cost less if you need to withdraw larger amounts of money.
Round 5: Signing up
Apply through the app
Quick application
Credit check
Card delivery fee
Free
Free
Card delivery timescale
2-5 working days
2-5 working days
Replacement card fee
Free
2 free replacement Monzo cards per account per year for any reason then charged £5
You can apply for both accounts quickly through the app. There’s no credit check for either.
Cards are delivered in 2–5 working days. Tide offers free replacement cards, whereas Monzo only offers 2 free replacement cards each year, then charges £5 for any other ones after that. That could add up if you’re always losing your wallet.
Winner: Tide shades this section on account of it not having a limit on replacement cards.
Tide and Monzo have business account offerings with an ethos on delivering a good product for customers. ”
If you wanted to switch account, both of these are signed up to the Current Account Switch Service.
Tide offers in-app and email support, as well as a 24/7 emergency assistance with its Fraud Rapid Response team.
Monzo has 24/7 support in-app, via email or telephone.
Winner: Another tie.
Round 7: Customer reviews
On Trustpilot, Tide scored 4.0 from 21K reviews. We couldn’t find a dedicated page for business reviews for Monzo, but overall it scored 4.3 from almost 39K reviews. We checked these scores in October 2024.
Customers were happy about Tide for the most part, but some people found customer support lacking.
Some customers praised the convenience of the Monzo app, but a few complained that their account had been frozen while the bank carried out checks, or closed with no reason given.
Winner: Monzo has a higher score from a larger number of reviews.
Overall winner: Is Tide better than Monzo?
These accounts are very evenly matched in our head-to-head battle, with Monzo shading it 3-2.
Monzo doesn’t charge for basic transactions and the fees it does charge are much simpler than Tide. That said, Tide has higher deposit limits and accounting software integrations. Which account is better for you really depends on the needs of your business.
As free account options they’re both good offerings in the market, though you will have to pay for a premium account to get more features.
Monzo does just win overall though because it is a bank, not just a financial platform, so it comes with FSCS protection and is regulated by the FCA and PRA.
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables has the source: Moneyfacts Group PLC. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
Jason is a writer and editor. He worked as a senior subeditor for Finder for 5 years and in that time became familiar with a wide range of financial products and services. Before that, he worked for Australian Associated Press. He has a BA from Macquarie University in Australia. Jason loves to help other people find new ways to save money. See full bio
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