Tide and Starling each offer free business accounts that you can access and use through a mobile banking app. They both come with payment cards, they both integrate with various accounting software, and they are both set up and managed digitally. The 2 providers have also been featured on our guide about the best business accounts on the market right now. So which might be best for you? We examine their different features to find out.
Tide's cashback offer for new accounts
Tide is currently offering new users who open a business account a £100 cashback reward, making it a strong sign-up incentive compared with any other provider. To get this offer, you'll need to use the code BCA100 when opening a new account. T&Cs apply.
The free Tide and Starling business accounts are both managed digitally, as neither provider has a branch network. These accounts both come with a contactless card – Starling’s one and only business card is black, while Tide’s free business account plan comes with a blue card. You can use these cards for free to spend money in the UK, but only Starling offers fee-free transactions abroad. Neither provider offers interest on your account balance when you’re in credit, and while you can apply for an overdraft with Starling, overdrafts are not available with Tide.
Starling has a UK banking licence, so it’s covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which protects individual customer funds up to the value of £120,000. Tide’s accounts are provided by Clearbank, so its FSCS protection comes from there.
If you need to deposit cash into your Tide account, you can pay in up to £500 a day via a Post Office or a PayPoint, although Tide doesn’t accept cheques at all, either physically or digitally. You can make international transfers with this account, but only in EUR via SEPA.
The free Tide business account can only be accessed by the named account holder, who also gets an accompanying bank card. However, up to 50 Expense Cards can be ordered per account, which allows named employees to make purchases related to business expenses (which you can then track in the account). Each Expense Card costs £5+VAT per month to operate with the free account. Alternatively, you can pay to upgrade your account and get a set number of free expense cards as well as add extra team members to your account.
The Tide account also offers integrations with 7 accounting software packages: Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Crunch, Kashflow, ClearBooks and Sage.
Over at Starling, you can also deposit cash into your business account at any Post Office branch, up to £5,000 per day. For cheques, you can deposit these for free using the cheque imaging function in the Starling banking app, as long as the value of each cheque doesn’t exceed £1,000. For anything over this you can send the cheques directly to Starling by Freepost. International transfers are also possible from this account.
At Starling, payment cards are only available to each person who has access to the business account, which at the moment is limited to company directors or sole traders themselves. So you can’t get any additional cards for employees. Business account holders at Starling can connect to accountancy software packages QuickBooks, Xero and FreeAgent through the Starling “Marketplace”. The Marketplace also offers link-ups with other Starling partners, who offer services such as insurance or pensions.
Winner: Tie. Tide’s Team Cards feature and 7 accountancy software integrations beat Starling’s 3. However, if you do need to make international transfers or deposit cheques, then Starling is better.
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)
Tide doesn’t charge a monthly fee for its basic business account. Transfers between Tide accounts are free, and there is a charge of £2.50 or 0.50% at a Post Office, or 3% at a PayPoint, to deposit cash. It costs 20p to receive or send UK payments from your account, and 20p plus a 0.50% FX fee to send money to a foreign bank account (euros only).
With the Starling business account there is no monthly fee, and Starling won’t make charges for electronic payments (such as direct debits and standing orders), or for domestic transfers and cheque deposits. There is a 0.7% fee (with a minimum charge of £3) for depositing cash at a Post Office, and a 0.4% fee to make an international payment direct from your account.
Winner: It’s close, but Starling edges it. Neither provider charges a monthly account fee and both have small fees for cash deposits. But Tide’s 20p fee for each transfer in and out of your account could soon add up.
You can use your Tide card aboard to spend at places like retailers and restaurants, but you’ll be charged a fee. Withdrawing cash at a foreign ATM also incurs a fee (the same as for using your Tide card at a UK ATM).
You can enjoy limitless free international spending on your Starling card, at the Mastercard exchange rate with no extra fees. Unusually, taking money out of foreign ATMs is also free from Starling’s end – it doesn’t make any charges or impose any free allowance limits, wherever you are in the world.
Winner: Starling. While Tide’s offering is still very competitive compared to most other bank cards, it’s hard to beat totally free.
To set up a Tide business account you’ll need to download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store, and provide a form of ID: a driving licence, passport or European National ID card. Tide may also ask you to provide evidence that your business is established, such as: your business website or social media profiles, invoices, bank statements, signed contracts, qualifications or an HMRC registration. Tide says 53% of new business customers open their accounts in under 10 minutes, 70% in under 60 minutes and 81% within 48 hours. Tide doesn’t conduct a hard credit check and it’s free to receive your accompanying bank card, as well as free to order a replacement.
To set up a Starling business account, you’ll need to download the Starling app and provide at least one of the following documents to verify your identity: a passport, EU/EEA ID card, UK residence card or UK photo driving licence (full or provisional). To confirm the nature of your business you may also be asked for: invoices, bank statements, accountant letters, signed contracts, qualifications or payslips. If you have all your documentation to hand, Starling says the application itself can take as little as 10 minutes, and 93% of its new business banking customers will get their account number on the same day. Starling doesn’t conduct a hard credit check, and the account’s accompanying bank card is free to receive and costs £5 to replace in the UK.
Winner: A draw. Both providers ask for similar information in the application process, and both business accounts can be up and running quickly once that application process is complete.
Account holders can message Tide through their app, or send Tide an email with their contact number to request a call back from the customer support team during working hours. There is also an automated telephone service to report a lost or stolen card.
Over at Starling, there is 24/7 support available from customer service advisers, through the in-app chat, over email and via telephone.
You already have a business account with another bank, you can use the Current Account Switch Service (CASS) to move it to either of these.
Winner: Starling, for having 24/7 customer support. Although in terms of communication channels, both providers can be contacted in the app or by email, both can be reached by phone (although not directly in Tide’s case) and both have a number where you can report lost or stolen cards.
Round 7: Customer reviews
On Trustpilot, Tide has a score 3.9 from more than 24,000 reviews. Starling doesn’t have a dedicated reviews page for its business account, though its overall score is 4.3 out of 5, from more than 44,000 reviews (updated May 2025).
Reviews about Tide were positive for the most part, though some people said customer service could be better.
Some customers talked about how they like Starling’s Business Toolkit, but others that said they had issues with customer service.
Winner: Starling, because its score is higher and comes from double the amount of reviews.
Overall winner: Is Tide better than Starling?
Both the Starling and Tide business accounts have a lot to offer, but if we had to pick just one it would probably be Starling, as it wins out in a higher number of our rounds than Tide does. Starling’s fee-free account and free overseas card use are very competitive aspects of its offering, and overall, it’s a comprehensive digital-only business account which you can still pay cash and cheques into. But it’s worth noting that Tide does integrate with a larger number of software packages than Starling at present, plus if additional cards for your employees is what you’re after, then Tide might be the better option for you.
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 is provided by Defaqto. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
Michelle Stevens is a deputy editor at Finder, specialising in banking, credit, loans and mortgages. She has a journalism degree from the University of Sheffield and has been a journalist for 15 years, writing on topics including fintech, payment systems and retail. In her spare time, Michelle likes to travel, explore new foodie experiences and attempt to improve her own culinary skills.
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