Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
Our recommendation for most people is Bluevine because it’s convenient and affordable. Open a Bluevine account in minutes with no monthly fees.
Every business needs a bank account. In today’s digital world, many organizations are turning to online banks. Whether you run a startup or a multi-million dollar corporation, one of these eight online business banking solutions is sure to fit your needs.
Top 8 Online Business Banking Accounts For 2022
- Bluevine — Best for small business
- Novo — Best for entrepreneurs and ecommerce
- Lili – Best for people who run their own business
- NorthOne — Best for fully mobile business banking
- Axos Bank — Best way to treat your employees
- Chase Business Complete BankingSM — Best for branch access
- BankProv — Best checking accounts with full deposit insurance
- Mercury — Best for payment automation
- LendingClub Bank — Best for businesses with tons of transactions
Below I highlight the type of online accounts each bank offers, including prices, benefits, and other online banking solutions they provide.
Then you’ll find a brief guide with the methodology I used to select the best online business banking solutions and how you can use the same criteria to find the one for your business needs.
The Best Online Business Banking Reviews
Bluevine — Best for Small Business
- 1.5% interest
- No monthly fees or minimum deposits
- Unlimited free transactions
- Live professional support
Bluevine is an online banking service that’s tailor-made for small businesses.
Their business checking is one of the best ones we’ve seen on the market. In fact, it even earned them a spot on our best business checking accounts list.
With no monthly maintenance fees, no minimum deposits or account balance, and no “insufficient funds” fees, it’s an entrepreneur-friendly solution for small business owners looking to save money and avoid being nickel-and-dimed by their bank.
Bluevine also offers a full 1.5% APY for business checking account owners on your balance up to and including $100,000. That’s more than 50 times the national average! If you’re a business owner who wants to protect your money from being diminished by fees and have it grow as it sits in your account, BlueVine is a great option.
They also have an ATM network of 38,000 locations that have no surcharge through a partnership with MoneyPass. The downside is if there isn’t an in-network ATM near you, you’ll get hit with an ATM fee.
In addition to a great business checking account, Bluevine now allows customers to add up to five sub-accounts to any business checking account. These sub-accounts allow users to manage their money better and give them more flexibility than ever.
Overall, I highly recommend Bluevine to any small business owner who needs a loan or business checking account. The 1.5% APY on balances of $100,000 or less is hard to beat and that doesn’t even account for all of the other features, such as contactless payments and no incoming wire transfer fees.
Novo — Best for Entrepreneurs and Ecommerce
- No monthly fees
- ATM fee refunds
- No minimum balance
- Integrations w/ third-party software
Novo is our top choice for entrepreneurs and ecommerce. It’s built for the pace of commerce today, with a mobile app that lets you make payments, send invoices, transfer funds, scan checks, and other common banking tasks. Nothing takes more than a few swipes.
We love Novo for entrepreneurs because of the wide array of integrations to help slot it into your business’s current infrastructure.
That includes integration with Quickbooks and Xero for your accounting and bookkeeping needs, Zapier for your CRM, email, or marketing, Shopify and eBay if you have an ecommerce presence, and Stripe for payment processing.
There’s no hidden fees and it takes about 10 minutes to get set up. That’s because Novo is a financial technology company offering modern online banking (powered by Middlesex Federal Savings F.A.) solutions with features and tools to help entrepreneurs grow and maintain their businesses.
Novo offers many features and benefits, including:
- No monthly service fees
- Refunds at all ATMs
- Free incoming and outgoing ACH transfers
- Free domestic and foreign wires
- Free mailed bank checks
- No minimum balance requirement
You’ll also benefit from discounts on business tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk, Google Cloud, and Stripe. And Novo even offers a great mobile app that lets you handle all of your business financial needs from your phone.
It takes less than ten minutes to apply for a Novo checking account. The minimum to open one is $50, a relatively low amount when compared to others.
Overall, Novo offers a basic, online-only small business checking for business owners seeking simplicity. If you’re a business owner who only needs a checking account, Novo is a great solution. However, if your needs extend beyond that, you should consider another option on our list.
Lili – Best for People Who Run Their Own Business
- No minimum balance or hidden fees
- Built-in tax accounting tools
- Visa business debit card
- FDIC insured
Lili is an online banking app that delivers a ton of value for very small businesses. Sole proprietors and single-member LLCs will be hard pressed to find a better way to bank.
Like our other recommendations, Lili is flexible, modern, and free of hidden fees. Where it steps apart are the built-in tools for expense management and invoicing.
Instead of having to hook up two or three apps, you can get everything done in Lili. It’s easy to scan receipts, categorize expenses, and set aside money for taxes throughout the year. Come tax time, Lili will actually pre-fill your 1040 Schedule C if everything is ready to go.
It’s just so simple to stay on track with Lili. Create, send, and store every invoice directly in the app. There are no limits to the number of invoices you can send, and you can customize them by adding your business’s logo.
Lili doesn’t have a deep set of integrations with other software. But you can do a lot more within the app itself than many other business banking solutions. This can be a huge advantage for small business owners who don’t want to rely on multiple apps just to complete simple transactions.
If you are just starting out, Lili Basic may have all that you need. There are no fees and no minimum balance required. You’ll get a Visa business debit card with no ATM fees at more than 38,000 locations nationwide.
Upgrading to Lili Pro costs $4.99 per month, and gives you access to a savings account with 1% APY, overdraft protection up to $200, and a Visa premium debit card with cashback rewards.
All Lili accounts are FDIC insured.
This is a sleek and simple online banking app. Lili is not designed for large organizations, but if you are the owner of a small business, it is definitely worth looking into.
It only takes a few minutes to sign up. Find out more and apply for a Lili account today.
NorthOne — Best for Fully Mobile Business Banking
- Fully mobile-first banking
- Wide array of software integrations
- Apply in minutes
- Flat $10/month fee
Modern business runs 24/7, and you can’t wait on “banker’s hours” to solve issues that arise. That’s exactly why NorthOne made my list.
It takes a little as three minutes to open an account. There is no minimum balance and you can cancel at any time.
Say goodbye to red tape, paperwork, and trips to your local branch. Everything can be done through NorthOne’s mobile web portal or mobile app, giving you round-the-clock banking access.
Send ACH or wire payments, deposit checks with your phone camera, create and send invoices with NorthOne’s separate free app, and even handle money management by labeling funds with the Envelopes feature.
Small business owners, startups, freelancers, and folks with multiple independent revenue streams can all enjoy the benefits of NorthOne’s branch-free banking.
You also get a NorthOne debit Mastercard for purchases and ATM withdrawals. You can freeze lost cards and order new ones through the mobile app, as well.
NorthOne also integrates seamlessly with a wide variety of other software. From accounting tools like QuickBooks and payment processors like PayPal and Stripe to the arenas where your business happens like Amazon, Shopify, or even Etsy—you can rest assured there won’t be any hiccups with weaving NorthOne into your business suite of technology.
Pricing for NorthOne business banking is fantastically simple. It’s just $10 per month with no extra fees for deposits, purchases, integrations, or ACH payments. The only thing to be aware of is the $15 charge for sending or receiving a domestic wire transfer. That’s it—other than that, it’s a steady $10 each month with no surprises.
Get your first month free with NorthOne. There are no commitments, just the opportunity to make banking easier.
Axos Bank — Best Way to Treat Your Employees
- Excellent business interest checking account
- Minimum $100 to open
- Great merchant services
- No monthly maintenance fee
Axos Bank offers a suite of great banking solutions, including business checking, interest checking, business savings, CDs, and CDARs.
At first blush, their accounts don’t stand out all that much— until you look at the offers after you open an account.
Their Workplace Banking product is one of these standout offerings.
This service allows you to provide banking solutions to all of your employees. You’ll be able to provide them Axos no-fee checking accounts with unlimited ATM fee reimbursement and low interest rates for home, auto, and personal loans.
They’ll also provide your business with a financial literacy portal that includes nearly 200 tutorials and videos to guide your employees to financial success.
It’s a versatile benefit to offer your employees that can work for a lot of different companies. Be it access to no-stress checking accounts, better-than-average access to loan options, or just tools to get better at managing money, a benefit like this is a great addition to your incentive package to help you recruit and retain great talent.
When it comes to account specifics, here are a few key offerings of Axos’ Business Interest Checking account:
- Earn up to 1.01% APY
- $100 minimum opening deposit
- Pay no monthly maintenance fee with an average daily balance of at least $5,000
- Unlimited domestic ATM fee reimbursements
- Up to 100 free transactions per month, $0.50 per item thereafter (includes debits, credit, and deposited items)
- Up to 60 items per month for Remote Deposit Anywhere (includes monthly per item processing limitation)
- Cash deposits via MoneyPass and AllPoint networks
- No annual fees
Axos also offers promotional perks, such as a $200 bonus for new business owners who open an account (use code NEWBIZ200) and a $100 bonus for all other new Axos Bank customers (promo code NEWAXOSBIZ). Plus, Axos clients receive four months of free subscription to ADP payroll services.
This is a good choice if you need a solid suite of business banking options, combined with a way to help your employees with their banking needs.
You can apply online today at Axos Bank’s website.
Chase Business Complete BankingSM — Best Branch Access
- 16,000 ATMs and 4,700+ branches
- Earn $300 by opening business checking account
- Unlimited deposits
- Very scalable
A Chase Business Complete Banking account is a great choice for those who need both an online and in-person bank.
For example, if your business frequently deals in cash or international currency, Chase can be good for you because you can go to an actual teller when you need to.
Yes, other banks have online and physical locations—but no one holds a candle to Chase’s accounts offerings.
They offer some of the best benefits and features in the banking industry.
Here’s a quick overview of the Chase Business Complete Banking, which can be opened and managed online:
- Earn $300 when you open a new Chase Business Complete Checking account. For new Chase business checking customers with qualifying activities.
- Multiple ways to waive the Monthly Service Fee, including maintaining a minimum daily balance or purchases on your Chase Ink® Business credit card.
- Built-in card acceptance. Accept card payments anytime, anywhere in the U.S., and get transparent pricing with Chase QuickAcceptSM.
- Same-day deposits with QuickAcceptSM. Free up the cash you need to keep your business moving forward with same-day deposits at no additional cost.
- Alerts to help you stay on top of your account activity.
- Easy account management through Chase Business Online and the Chase Mobile® app.
- Unlimited electronic deposits, ACH, and Chase Quick DepositSM.
- Convenient access to 16,000 ATMs and more than 4,700 branches.
While there are fees, they give you several ways to waive your monthly service fee like maintaining a minimum daily balance or making purchases on your Chase Ink Business credit card.
In addition to checking accounts, Chase also has some of the best business credit cards on the market today. You’ll also benefit from merchant services and online business lending solutions if you need them.
Overall, if you’re looking for a good online banking experience that’s complemented with in-person physical locations, it’s hard to find a better service than Chase.
BankProv — Best Checking Accounts with Full Deposit Insurance
- FDIC and DIF deposit protection
- Custom solutions for industries
- Wide range of plans
- No monthly fee on basic plan
It’s something we take for granted—when you put money into your account, you expect nothing to go wrong. And especially in business checking, you never want to deal with the headaches and resolution process if something does go awry with your deposits.
BankProv business account holders have their deposits insured by the FDIC up to $250,000. There is also the Depositors Insurance Fund (DIF) to protect every penny beyond that.
This level of protection is not something many other online business checking accounts offer. All DIF member banks are FDIC insured, but not necessarily vice versa.
What does all this mean for you? Every deposit you make into a BankProv business checking account is fully insured, no matter what.
After all, you’re in business to make serious money, so why cap protection at only $250,000. You want a bank that will protect you once your account grows beyond a quarter of a million dollars.
If you’re a startup in serious fundraising mode, BankProv’s DIF insurance is all the more important. You can secure capital to raise your bank account well above $250,000 and not worry about the protection for any of your deposits, regardless of your bank balance.
BankProv offers five business checking packages that work for a range of entity sizes.
The Classic Business and Small Business tiers have no minimum deposit requirement, with the former having no monthly fee and up to 50 free deposited items.
Small Business checking has a monthly fee of $50 but unlimited free deposited items. You can also halve or waive the monthly fee entirely by keeping a balance of $100,000 or $250,000, respectively.
BankProv also offers three higher octane plans for larger organizations, with minimum deposit requirements of $25,000, $500,000, and over $1 million. Each unlocks wider benefits, such as free incoming wire transfers, corporate data reporting (only available on the two highest-tier plans), and higher thresholds for free ACH payments.
If you’re want to blow past the quarter-million mark without worry, go with BankProv. They’ll protect all of your deposits while also offering lending expertise in emergent industries like cryptocurrency and green technology.
Mercury — Best for Payment Automation
- No overdraft or monthly fees
- No minimum balance requirement
- Non-US residents can apply
- 100% online banking
Mercury is my top choice for startups and smaller ecommerce operations.
Through its partner banks, Mercury provides FDIC-insured US bank accounts to global businesses.
With Mercury, you can create virtual debit cards and track your cash flow. You can also easily manage Shopify, Stripe, Amazon, and PayPal integrations.
Think of it as a traditional banking* backbone with a modern front end designed for today’s companies. Integrations and open API access mean you can tie your bank into the rest of your business.
Move money around with ease, issue physical and digital cards to your employees, and capture every transaction in clear reports:
Mercury also offers zero monthly fees and zero minimum balance requirements along with other key offerings, like:
- Zero fees for higher tier “Tea Room” customers
- 100% online banking, never set foot in a bank branch again
- Sign up in minutes from anywhere in the world (non-US residents welcome)
- Create checking & savings accounts
- Create virtual & physical debit cards
- Link seamlessly with Stripe, Paypal, Shopify, Amazon, and other payment processors
- Integrate with Pilot, Xero, Quickbooks, etc.
- Intuitive payments (wire, check, ACH)
- Easily searchable transactions
- Custom user permissions
Get started by opening a Mercury account today for free.
*Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. All banking services provided by Evolve Bank & Trust®, Member FDIC.
LendingClub Bank — Best for Businesses with Tons of Transactions
- Unlimited transactions
- No minimum balance
- 0.75% APY for $5,000+ balances
- Apply online in 10 minutes
LendingClub Bank offers four banking solution options, making it a fantastic solution for scaling and growing with your business.
The four accounts they offer are Tailored Checking, Relationship Checking, Account Analysis Checking, and Interest Checking.
The last three are built for large to massive organizations, so I’m focusing on their Tailored Checking account as it’s the best for the vast majority of high-volume small businesses.
However, it is reassuring to know that their big league offerings are there if and when your company begins to really grow.
Tailored Checking accounts come with:
- Unlimited transactions
- 0.75% APY for balances above $5,000
- $10 monthly fee (waived with balances over $5,000)
- No minimum balance requirements ($100 to open)
- Free worldwide ATM network
What I love about this bank most of all is their allowance of unlimited transactions. Most banks require you to pay some fee after a certain amount of transactions each month.
For example, Axos bank only allows you to have 200 transactions each month before you need to start paying a fee of $0.30 per transaction. Some banks even charge as high as $25 per transaction! That can add up quickly for many businesses.
Not LendingClub Bank. They’ll let you run as many transactions as you need without penalizing you. That’s great for businesses that handle a high volume of transactions each month or have high-octane growth as a top priority.
Tailored Checking also comes with 1%+ cash back on online and signature-based credit transactions made with your debit card.
It’s also worth noting they’ll give you 0.75% APY on balances more than $5,000. Though it’s easy to point at BlueVine and say that their 1% is better, this is actually more lucrative for big businesses since LendingClub Bank doesn’t cap their balance requirements for interest. That means you can have $5,000 or $1,000,000 in their checking account and you’ll still be earning 0.75% APY.
One potential downside is that they require a $10 monthly fee along with $100 to open. However, the monthly maintenance fee is waived if you have a balance of more than $5,000.
You can apply online in less than ten minutes without uploading any documents. If this sounds like the right solution for your business, apply with LendingClub Bank today.
How to Find the Best Online Business Bank Account for You
Not all of the online banks on our list will be a viable solution for your business. You’ll need to narrow down your options based on certain factors—but which ones?
Here are the factors we believe are the most important when choosing an online bank for your business.
Fees and Balance Requirements
Monthly fees and minimum balance requirements are common when it comes to business banking accounts.
Some banks offer accounts devoid of fees, while others let you waive the monthly fee by maintaining a minimum daily balance.
Unlike personal checking accounts, business accounts typically come with monthly transaction limits (more on those later). You might have to pay a fee if you exceed those limits. And the fees can add up if you’re not careful—especially once you get past promotional pricing some banks offer.
Our suggestion: Find a good online bank that imposes no monthly fees or “non-sufficient funds” fees, if you can.
For example, BlueVine is a great bank to choose if you want to save as much money as possible with your business banking. They don’t charge any fees or require minimum deposits.
Novo and Axos are a few other great banks that don’t require a monthly service fee.
Some banks require minimum balances to be maintained in your account, else they’ll hit you with a fee. Chase is a good example of this. Though they do charge a monthly fee, they’ll waive it with a minimum daily balance.
Minimum balances aren’t typically a huge issue since most of them are pretty low. But still, it’s a consideration when looking at banks—especially if you’re a newer business.
Interest Rates
Your annual percentage yield (APY) is another factor you should consider when choosing an online business bank. This is how much interest your account will accrue from the money you have sitting in there.
Some banks offer higher APY than others. BlueVine, for one, offers 1% interest on your balance up to $100,000. That might not seem like much but it’s actually more than 20x higher than the national average (per FDIC).
That can mean you’re passively earning a few hundred more dollars each year.
Axos Bank has a variety of small business checking and savings accounts. The higher your average daily balance, the higher the APY of your checking account.
For example, with an average daily balance of $5,000, you can earn up to 0.81% APY with an Axos Business Interest Checking account.
While interest rates should play a factor in your online business banking search, there is one thing we recommend: Don’t rate chase. That means don’t make interest rates the BIGGEST factor that plays into your bank choice.
It’s very easy to do that when banks float impressive sounding interest rates. But, you have to remember that interest rates are only one ingredient in the bigger recipe of a good business bank.
Transaction Limits
Many business banks impose transactional limits for their business checking accounts. If you exceed that limit, you might have to pay up to $0.50 per transaction. Banks do this because they need to have money in reserve to fulfill all of their customers’ needs.
For example, Axos Financial gives you 200 free transactions per month. If you exceed that, they’ll charge you up to $0.30 per transaction.
This could potentially add up over the year, especially if you’re a business that requires frequent transactions.
If you’re a larger company, you’ll need higher transaction limits as you’ll be conducting more transfers, withdrawals, and deposits. You’ll want to be aware of fees incurred by heavy usage, and should keep an eye on the limits each banking provider gives you along with their APYs.
Luckily, banks like BlueVine and LendingClub Bank let you do unlimited transactions per month at no extra cost to you.
Custom Solutions and Support
The structure of your organization and the industry it inhabits are both going to have a lot of say in the banking partner that’s right for you.
Some online banking accounts are geared towards startups, sole proprietors, and freelancers. A few, such as LendingClub Bank, have offerings specifically for industries such as nonprofits.
Novo is targeted towards entrepreneurs and freelancers of all stripes with their handy software integrations with Quickbooks and Stripe along with their personalized banking services. Radios offers escrow services in case your business requires more intensive money distributive needs.
Square is a great service to turn to if you’re looking for hands-on merchant services like a POS system.
If you’re interested in small business loans or real estate loans, you’ll want to see what these different banks offer along those lines too.
In-Person Banking Availability
This isn’t the biggest deal breaker—which is why it’s last on the methodology list. However, we understand it can be very important to some readers to have a bank that they can actually go to.
While online banking offers a wide variety of benefits, physical banks have their upsides too. With physical stores, you’ll have a much easier time depositing and withdrawing cash. You’ll also be able to talk to an actual human about your needs and issues.
If you’re a business that deals a lot with international currency, you’ll definitely want an in-person bank you can go to in order to exchange currencies at a fair rate.
Businesses that offer tax guidance are another one that may need to lean on brick-and-mortar branches, because of all the receipts, invoices, and documentation involved.
Chase is an obvious standout for this consideration, with over 5,000 physical locations in the United States. Just verify that there is a branch in your area if this is important to you.
It might also be important to you that there are plenty of ATMs available for you to choose from with no extra fees required. See if the bank you’re researching offers a wide ATM network in your area or if they reimburse you for ATM fees.
The Best Online Business Banking in Summary
Every great bank needs to have online services for business customers. Some banks offer online-only access, while others provide online banking services mixed with physical branches.
If your business takes cash, you’ll need a bank that accepts in-person deposits. Otherwise, online-only banking can accommodate the needs of most companies, even ones that accept checks and sell products online.
https://www.quicksprout.com/best-online-business-banking/
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