Try Tide as an alternative to Coconut
- Award-winning, smart, simple business account
- The hassle-free account for your business
- Get your sort code and account number in minutes
Updated . What changed?
Coconut is a fresh face in the financial technology market, hoping to make money management easier. Coconut is all about providing a useful and innovative tool for tracking business finances.
Coconut aims to make your business finances easier, and by doing so it will “free you up to do more of the work you love”. It does this by relieving you of some of the stress that comes with your tax returns and expenses – estimating the tax you’ll owe, documenting paid or unpaid invoices and tracking expenses.
Alongside these features Coconut works as a business current account, giving you control over the money you earn through your trade.
Apart from the card you are sent in the post after you register, Coconut works through an app on your phone.
Rather than relying on bells and whistles, Coconut delivers an app which works to make things as simple as possible for the user. Displaying your earnings front-and-centre on the introductory screen, Coconut encourages you to explore the app from there.
The Coconut app provides a number of features including:
Coconut offers a free or pay-monthly account:
![]() Coconut Start | |
Account fee | Free |
FSCS protected | |
UK ATM charge | £1 |
Account software integration | |
Requires credit check | |
Credit check | |
Key benefits | Get £10 when you open an account by October 31st |
Overdraft | |
Freeze card from app or online banking | |
Instant notifications | |
Interest rate | 0% |
Current account switch guarantee |
![]() Coconut Start | |
Overseas transaction charge | 2% currency conversion fee |
Overseas ATM charge | £1 |
International transfer charge | 2% foreign currency exchange fee |
Coconut is registered with the FCA and security is high on its priority list. Your account is kept behind a two-step authentication process and your password is encrypted using industry standard encryption. Coconut says it also regularly scans for threats and backs up data to make sure it’s always safe.
Tide is another self-employed budgeting app, which provides an online-only business current account.
Just like with Coconut, this app will assist you with your invoices, taxes and business expenses. There’s a range of charts and graphs to help you get to grips with your financial position.
There are no extra charges applied when you use your Tide account overseas. However, you will face a 20p charge on all transfers in and out of your Tide account. Card transactions cost nothing. ATM withdrawals will cost you £1.
You can apply for a business loan of up to £1,500 through Tide.
ANNA is a similar budgeting app, which can be used for employees or self-employed individuals.
It comes with a business current account. You can also use the app to make use of invoice tracking, spending reports and budgeting.
On top of that, you can pull together your bank accounts, credit cards and investments and view them all in one place.
ANNA offers 1% cashback on a range of business expenses too.
For a premium ANNA account, you’ll either pay £4.90, £9.90 or £24.90 per month depending on your business income.
Amaiz is another digital-only current account for sole traders and company owners. It’s packed with useful features to help self-employed people manage their finances easier.
On top of that, you can connect your Amaiz account to professional accounting software.
If you upgrade to a premium version for £9.99 a month, you’ll be able to access advice from ACCA-certified accountants. There’s a one-month trial, so you can see for yourself whether this service is useful to you.
CashPlus might be a particularly attractive option for self-employed people with a poor credit history.
It doesn’t require a credit check to open a CashPlus mobile-only business current account. It also has a credit-builder feature, where it “lends” you your monthly account fee, then treats this fee as a loan repayment, helping you build your credit score.
There are three accounts available: Flexiplus (free), Activeplus (£5.95), Deluxe (£9.95). The main difference between the accounts is the fees charged on payments and ATM withdrawals. If you’re using the account a lot, you’ll get the most benefit from a premium account.
You can apply for an arranged overdraft on your account too.
Coconut is a strong digital-only proposition, and particularly suited to smaller businesses and sole traders. It’s easy to use all of its services through the app, and the invoicing tool and tax calculation feature are particularly eye-catching. Although the basic account is free to open and use (apart from a £1 ATM fee), you may find you need the paid-for version for the full range of services, or you may prefer an account with one of the more traditional banking providers if you have more complex business banking needs.
Best for
Small businesses
Best for
Integrated accounting software
Best for
Beginners
Best for
Poor or no credit history
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.
Find out all about the Legal & General pension, including the funds available, the ready made portfolios and the fees involved.
We’ve put together some tips and information on how to open a business bank account in the UK as a non-resident.
Contractors usually need a business bank account, so we’ve put together a guide on how to find one that works for you.
Business overdrafts can be a useful safety net, but be aware of fees and charges.
Revolut Plus is the latest current account to be offered by digital banking brand Revolut – we take a look at its features and fees.
Should you get a current account, a savings account, or both? What about joint accounts and premium accounts? Banking can be messy if you don’t know the jargon. This guide looks at the main types of bank accounts and what services they offer to help you figure out what you need exactly.
Opening a business bank account can seem like a stressful process, but in fact there are now a number of banks and providers that will let you do it quickly and easily online. Here’s where to look and what to expect.
Opening a current account for your club, community organisation, sporting society or charity can take a bit of time, but is a fundamental step in setting up your organisation. This guide covers the basics you need to get started.
How can you make sure that your money is not being use to support companies that are unethical or harm the environment? You can choose an ethical bank.