Tide vs Monzo business: Which is the best business account?

Tide and Monzo both offer business bank accounts, with free and premium versions. But which is best for you? We examine the different features of these two mobile-only business bank accounts to find out.

Best for paying in cash and cheques

With Tide, you can deposit cash at Post Office branches, with a fee of £2.50 for deposits up to £500. For deposits over £500, there is a fee of 0.5% of the total amount deposited. There is monthly cash deposit limit of £25,000 and a yearly limit of up to £300,000. These limits are subject to the limits controlled by Post Office branches. You can also deposit between £10 and £500 at PayPoint locations, although a 3% fee applies here. Tide doesn’t allow cheque deposits.

With Monzo, you can make deposits at PayPoints, but only up to £300 per day and £1,000 every 6 months. There is a £1 fee associated with cash deposits. You can post cheques to Monzo and there is no fee for this service.

Our verdict: Tide. There is a larger overall limit for cash deposits. Monzo’s limit is lower, which could prove to be troublesome for some business owners, even if Monzo does allow cheque deposits.

Best for overseas spending

Tide lets you use your card overseas with no additional fees. You’ll be charged the Mastercard exchange rate. When withdrawing cash at an overseas ATM, a £1 fee applies each time.

Monzo also offers the Mastercard exchange rate and no fees when spending all over the world. ATM withdrawals are fee-free in the European Economic Area (EEA) for customers that use Monzo like a bank. Customers that use their Monzo facility as more of a spending card will be able to enjoy a £250 fee-free buffer every 30 days, after which they will be charged a 3% fee. Outside the EEA, you can withdraw up to £200 every 30 days for free. After that, a 3% charge applies.

Our verdict: Tide. If you’re using Monzo outside the EEA, the fees can add up when withdrawing cash from an ATM. In comparison, Tide’s ATM fees are unlikely to make a dent no matter where you are.

Best for multiple cards

Tide offers the main account holder a card, plus up to 35 Team Cards for your colleagues. Each Team Card costs £5+VAT per month with a free account, but with a paid account (starting at £9.99 +VAT a month), 1 or 2 Team Cards are free, depending on your membership tier.

Monzo accounts offer free payment cards for up to two other people (limited companies only).

Our verdict: Tide. A clear winner here, especially if you have a large business and want to give cards to several employees.

Best for accountancy software integration

Tide offers integrations with nine accounting software packages: FreeAgent, Coconut, Crunch, Clearbooks, Kashflow, QuickBooks, ReckonOne, Sage and Xero.

Monzo lets you integrate with FreeAgent, QuickBooks and Xero.

Our verdict: Tide. It offers integration with more than double the amount of accounting software packages compared to Monzo.

Best for customer support

Tide lets you message its customer service team through its app, via email. Alternatively, you can request a callback.

Monzo allows access to its customer services through in-app chat, email or telephone.

Our verdict: Monzo. A slight win here for Monzo, because it allows you to get through to its team over the phone without waiting for a callback.

Best for switching

Monzo is part of the Current Account Switch Service (CASS), allowing for seamless switches. Tide isn’t part of this scheme.

Our verdict: Monzo. The only bank out of the two that is part of the CASS scheme.

Best for set-up

You’ll set up a Tide business account via the app, and will have to provide a form of ID and business details, potentially including invoices, bank statements or an HMRC registration. According to the company’s own data, some 53% of business customers can open an account in under 10 minutes, 70% in under 60 minutes. Around 81% can get set up within 48 hours.

Monzo asks for similar information, although there is no information available about the speed of set up.

Our verdict: Draw.

Best value for money

Tide doesn’t charge a monthly fee for its basic business account. With this free account, it costs 20p to receive or send UK payments. Its premium accounts come with monthly fees of £9.99 and £18.99. Tide’s cashback account offers 0.5% cashback on purchases and a range of other features with a monthly fee of £49.99. All Premium accounts waive payment fees. Transfers between Tide accounts are always free.

Monzo has a free basic account. Its premium account costs £5 month and you can move money between UK accounts for free.

Although Monzo has a few flaws in comparison to Tide, there’s a good chance these won’t prove to be major issues for a lot of business owners.

Our verdict: It’s close, but Monzo edges it. Tide has more impressive features, but its premium accounts have a larger monthly fee and its free account includes a 20p charge for every payment you make.

Verdict: Is Tide better than Monzo for business banking?

It’s a close one, but Monzo takes the prize. Tide certainly has some impressive features, but a Monzo business account offers better value, as its free account allows fee-free payments between UK accounts, something that its Tide counterpart doesn’t offer.

Monzo is also the better account for switching as it is signed up to the Current Account Switching Service. Monzo also edges the competition in its customer service features, allowing customers to get through to an agent without having to request a callback.

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