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Choosing a business banking platform is one of the first real financial decisions you make as a solopreneur or small business owner, and one of the most rewarding to get right. The right account gives you clean records, fee-free banking, and tools that quietly handle the accounting groundwork for you, so tax season stops being a scramble.
We researched and evaluated the leading online business banking platforms built for a business of one or a small team, and narrowed the field to six that stand out for low or no fees, fast online setup, and features that help you run the money side of your business. Below you will find a side-by-side comparison, what each platform does best, and a plain walkthrough of what you need to open an account, whether you are a sole proprietor with just an SSN or a registered LLC with an EIN.
Use the table of contents to jump straight to any platform or section.
- Why a dedicated business banking account matters
- How we evaluated these business banking platforms
- Best business banking platforms for solopreneurs and small business at a glance
- Novo: the best free business checking for simple, everyday banking
- Lili: best for freelancers who want tax and bookkeeping built in
- Bluevine: best for earning interest on your business checking
- Relay: best for Profit First and multi-account budgeting
- Baselane: best for landlords and real estate investors
- Found: best all-in-one account for the self-employed
- Sole proprietor, LLC, or EIN: what you actually need to open an account
- How to choose the right business banking platform
- Frequently asked questions
- The bottom line
Why a dedicated business banking account matters
Even if you are a single-member business with no employees, separating your business money from your personal money is worth doing on day one. It keeps your bookkeeping clean, it protects the “corporate veil” if you later form an LLC, and it makes tax season far easier because every business transaction lives in one place. It also looks more professional when a client pays your business name instead of your personal checking.
All six providers on this list are financial technology (fintech) companies and banking platforms that partner with FDIC-insured institutions to hold your deposits. That setup is completely normal in 2026, and it means your deposits are insured through the partner institution rather than the app you log in to. For the details on how that protection works, the FDIC’s deposit insurance resources are the authoritative source. We note the partner institution for each platform below.
How we evaluated these business banking platforms
We compared each platform on the things that matter when there is no finance department behind you: the real monthly cost, whether a sole proprietor can open an account without an EIN, how fast you can get up and running, and the quality of the built-in money tools, such as invoicing, expense tracking, tax buckets, and sub-accounts. We also looked at practical details like cash deposit support and branch access. Our evaluation is based on research and review of each provider’s published terms and features, and every detail we mention comes from the provider’s own disclosures.
Best business banking platforms for solopreneurs and small business at a glance
Here is how the six platforms compare on the headline numbers. Pricing lives in this table so it is always in one place and easy to scan. Full details are in each review below.
| Platform | Best for | Monthly cost | Stand-out feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novo novo.co |
Simple free everyday banking | $0 | Reserves + integrations |
| Lili lili.co |
Freelancers who want tax help | $0 (Core); paid tiers add tools | Tax buckets + bookkeeping |
| Bluevine bluevine.com |
Earning interest on your balance | $0 (Standard); paid tiers for higher APY | Competitive APY on checking |
| Relay relayfi.com |
Profit First and multi-account budgeting | $0 (Starter); paid tiers add features | Up to 20 checking accounts |
| Baselane baselane.com |
Landlords and real estate | $0 | Per-property virtual accounts |
| Found found.com |
All-in-one for the self-employed | $0 (free); optional paid plan | Built-in tax + bookkeeping |
Baselane is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. The other providers above are also fintech banking platforms; each one’s partner institution is noted in its section below.
Novo: the best free business checking for simple, everyday banking
Best for: solopreneurs and small businesses that want genuinely free, no-nonsense business checking with modern integrations.
Novo is one of the most popular free business checking accounts for a reason: there are no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirement, and setup is fast and fully online. Banking services are provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC. Novo leans into the “run your business from your phone” experience, with free ACH transfers, wires, and support for FedNow instant payments.
Novo shines with the extras a small business actually uses. Novo Reserves lets you divide your balance into labeled buckets, so you can automatically set aside money for taxes, quarterly estimates, or a big upcoming expense without opening a second account. It also includes invoicing, expense tracking, and a deep list of integrations with tools like QuickBooks, Stripe, and Shopify, which keeps your whole stack connected.
Good to know: Novo is designed for digital payments, so direct cash deposits are not supported and there are no physical branches. It is built for everyday spending and transfers rather than earning interest. For a service business, freelancer, or online seller, it is one of the best values available.
Lili: best for freelancers who want tax and bookkeeping built in
Best for: freelancers and 1099 earners who want their banking, taxes, and books in one app.
Lili is built specifically for self-employed people, and it shows. The free Core plan gives you a business checking account with a Visa debit card, ACH, check and wire payments, and access to a high-yield savings feature, with FDIC insurance through Lili’s partner institution and sweep network. The paid tiers add the tools that usually cost a separate subscription: automatic sorting of expenses into tax categories, a tax savings bucket, receipt capture, quarterly and annual expense reports, and on higher tiers, AI-powered bookkeeping, unlimited invoicing, and profit-and-loss reporting.
For a freelancer who dreads tax season, the value is clear. Instead of exporting transactions into a separate accounting tool, Lili categorizes everything for Schedule C as you go and sets aside a percentage of every deposit for taxes.
Good to know: Lili’s tax and bookkeeping features live on the paid tiers, so it works best if you think of it as banking plus a financial toolkit. Like most fintech platforms, it is built for digital deposits rather than cash.
Bluevine: best for earning interest on your business checking
Best for: solo and small businesses that keep a meaningful balance and want it to earn.
Most business checking accounts pay nothing on your balance. Bluevine is the standout exception. Its free Standard plan pays a competitive APY on your balance up to a generous cap, with no monthly fee, unlimited transactions, free standard ACH, and built-in invoicing. Banking services are provided by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC, with expanded insurance coverage available through a sweep program. For a business holding operating cash or a tax reserve, earning a real yield on money that would otherwise sit idle is a genuine advantage.
Bluevine also offers paid tiers that raise the APY, add more sub-accounts, discount payment fees, and include perks like free mailed checks and six months of Xero, giving you room to grow into the platform as your balances increase.
Good to know: the highest advertised yields come with the paid plans, which make the most sense once you hold a larger balance. For a newer business, the free Standard plan is a great starting point and one of the strongest free options on this list.
Relay: best for Profit First and multi-account budgeting
Best for: owners who budget with the envelope or Profit First method and want many accounts.
Relay is a business banking platform designed around dividing your money by purpose. On the free Starter plan you can open up to 20 individual checking accounts and issue up to 50 debit cards, with no minimum balance. If you follow the Profit First system, or simply like separate accounts for taxes, payroll, owner’s pay, and operating expenses, Relay makes that effortless. Banking services are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC.
Relay also works well with bookkeepers and accountants, with clean permissions and integrations, which makes it a favorite for small businesses that work with a financial pro. Paid tiers add a higher savings APY, free same-day ACH, and payment-fee savings.
Good to know: Relay focuses on organizing and moving money, and it pairs easily with your favorite invoicing or bookkeeping tool. For methodical, cash-flow-focused owners, the multi-account structure is a real advantage.
Baselane: best for landlords and real estate investors
Best for: landlords and real estate investors, from a single rental to a growing portfolio.
If your small business is real estate, Baselane, a financial and banking platform built for landlords, is purpose-built for you. It offers free banking with no monthly account maintenance fees or minimums, and its signature feature is unlimited property-specific virtual accounts, so the money for each unit or property stays cleanly separated. Baselane collects rent with automatic invoices and reminders, and its AI bookkeeping tags every transaction to the right property, entity, and tax category, then generates tax packages with ledgers and statements. Your balances also earn interest and your debit spend earns cash back, with current rates published on Baselane’s site.
Baselane is built around rental property, so its standout features, like rent collection and property-level bookkeeping, work best for landlords and real estate investors. If that’s your business, it’s one of the most complete options on this list.
Baselane is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC.
We may earn a commission if you open a Baselane account through our link, at no extra cost to you.
Found: best all-in-one account for the self-employed
Best for: sole proprietors and 1099 workers who want banking, bookkeeping, and taxes in one free app.
Found rounds out the list as an all-in-one platform built for the self-employed. The free plan combines business checking with automatic expense categorization, receipt scanning, unlimited invoicing, real-time tax estimates, an automatic tax savings pocket, mileage tracking, and Schedule C support, plus contractor payments with 1099 e-filing. Banking services are provided by Lead Bank, Member FDIC. For a sole proprietor who wants to skip stitching together a checking account, a bookkeeping app, and a tax tool, Found delivers a lot in one place at no cost, with an optional paid plan that adds in-app quarterly federal tax payments and a higher savings rate.
Good to know: like the other platforms here, Found is fully digital with no branch access, and its tax estimates are a helpful guide to use alongside your tax professional. Check its current terms directly before opening.
Sole proprietor, LLC, or EIN: what you actually need to open an account
One of the most common questions from new owners is whether you need to register an LLC or get an EIN before opening a business banking account. For most of the platforms above, the answer is no. As a sole proprietor, you can typically open an account with your Social Security Number and personal details, because legally you and your business are the same entity. If you have formed an LLC or corporation, you will usually need your Employer Identification Number (EIN) and your formation documents.
Speaking from our own experience running a small business, the practical move is to open a dedicated business account as early as possible, even as a sole proprietor, so your money is separated from day one, then update the account details once you formalize into an LLC. Getting an EIN from the IRS is free and takes only a few minutes online, and many owners get one before forming an entity so they can avoid putting their SSN on every form.
How to choose the right business banking platform
With six strong options, the choice comes down to what your business actually does with money:
- Want simple, free, everyday banking? Start with Novo.
- Want taxes and books handled for you? Lili or Found.
- Hold a real balance and want it to earn? Bluevine.
- Budget by dividing money into buckets? Relay.
- Run rental property? Baselane.
There is also no rule that says you can only have one account. Many small businesses pair a free everyday account with a separate high-yield or tax-reserve account. Because every platform on this list is free to open at the entry level, you can try one without risk and switch if it does not fit.
Frequently asked questions
Can I open a business banking account as a sole proprietor?
Yes. Most of the platforms above let a sole proprietor open an account with a Social Security Number, no LLC or EIN required. Registering an entity later is easy to layer on top.
Are these accounts FDIC insured?
Your deposits are FDIC insured through each provider’s partner institution, subject to FDIC limits and conditions. We list the partner institution in each review, and several providers offer expanded coverage through sweep programs.
Do these online accounts accept cash deposits?
Most fintech business accounts are built for digital deposits, and cash support is limited or unavailable. If your business regularly handles cash, confirm the current policy with the provider or pair your account with a local branch-based account.
Is a business banking account really necessary if I am just starting out?
It is one of the highest-value early moves you can make. Separating business and personal money keeps your bookkeeping clean, simplifies taxes, and protects your liability position if you form an LLC. Since these platforms are free to open, there is little reason to wait.
The bottom line
The best business banking platform for you depends on how your business handles money, and any platform on this list is a big step up from mixing business income into your personal checking. Want simple and free? Novo. Want tax and bookkeeping built in? Lili or Found. Want your balance to earn? Bluevine. Budget in buckets? Relay. Own rental property? Baselane. Whichever you choose, opening a dedicated account is a foundational step toward running your business finances like a business.
SoloMoneyStack is educational and informational only and does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Account terms, fees, and rates change frequently; verify all current details directly with each provider before opening an account.