Need business banking for your LLC? If so, you've come to the right place—in this article, we've compiled a shortlist of the eight best business bank accounts for LLC owners.
This article is written by our friends at Relay Financial.
One of the best features of limited liability company (LLC) ownership is liability protection—but to preserve it, you need to keep your personal and business expenses separate. If your LLC ever goes bankrupt or gets sued, you can use this separation to make sure your personal assets are off-limits.
Establishing a business bank account can also help you build a credit profile for your business. A small business bank account will allow you to apply for business credit cards, lines of credit, loans, or mortgages in the business's name, instead of in your own.
Not all business bank accounts are created equal, though. The options are endless, and you have both digital banks (also known as "neobanks") and traditional financial institutions to choose from. At Accracy, we work with thousands of small businesses—and we see the common pain points they face daily. To save you some time, we narrowed down the eight best business bank accounts for LLCs. Let's get started!
We broke down our top picks into two main categories: online business banking platforms and traditional brick-and-mortar banks, with four options to choose from in each category.
Let's start with your options for online banking:
Online banking platforms are designed for day-to-day business operations. As the name implies, all banking here is done online, without any physical branches. These types of platforms usually partner with existing financial institutions to deliver basic banking services.
Since online banks are built to help businesses manage daily spending, they typically offer more features and flexibility than traditional brick-and-mortar banks. For example, online banks often allow you to open multiple checking accounts, manage expenses with virtual cards, and take advantage of advanced automation—all with no or very few fees. Here are our top picks in this category:
Relay is a no-fee, online business banking and money management platform designed to give you clearer visibility into your operating expenses and help you manage your cash flow.
Want to allocate cash for things like taxes or payroll across multiple checking accounts? With Relay, you can open up to 20 individual checking accounts to compartmentalize your expenses. Need better tools to track and control team spending? Relay lets you issue up to 50 physical or virtual debit cards with spending limits to your team. Prefer more clarity on your transactions? Relay provides you with detailed data about every deposit, payment, and card transaction.
Relay is also a great option for easy collaboration with your team. You can avoid tons of back-and-forth by giving secure, read-only banking access to your bookkeeper, lawyer, or anyone else.
And for businesses that want to take that extra step, Relay Pro—an accounts payable upgrade—allows small businesses to review, approve, and pay bills directly in their banking dashboard.
Pros
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Applicable banking fees
TrustPilot Score: 4.4/5
Relay is the perfect business banking platform for businesses that are super serious about taking control of their cash flow. If you're looking for modern business banking for your LLC, Relay's free checking accounts, debit cards, and payment options make it an easy choice.
In collaboration with Accracy, Relay is offering small businesses a $50 sign-on bonus when they open a new Relay account using our link! Open a Relay Account Now
Mercury has built an online banking solution for growing, digital-first technology startups. They offer all the basic banking features you'd need to scale your business, a savings account, and even their own venture debt program.
The idea behind Mercury is a banking platform full of features—in Mercury's own words—designed for "hockey sticks" or high-growth startups.
In addition to providing business banking essentials, Mercury also gives founders access to community resources. This includes things like "Investor DB," a curated list of some of the best startup investors, and "Raise," a connector program that puts founders in touch with investors for seed, series A, and DTC funding. Finally, Mercury also provides funded startups with additional access to more capital through its venture debt product.
Pros
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TrustPilot Score: 4.0/5
Mercury is the best for startups looking for basic banking features and access to a founder community. They have a ton of bells and whistles geared towards startups looking to scale, including opportunities to network with investors, an investor database, technology discounts, and access to capital.
NorthOne is built to help make managing money easy so you can focus on running your business. Its basic banking features and low fees make it the perfect business banking platform for solopreneurs and side hustles.
They provide small businesses with streamlined access to managing their finances—with a heavy focus on managing finances through a mobile app. The platform promises to put financial management on autopilot, with features like automatic categorization of expenses and the ability to manage receipts from one place.
With NorthOne, you can open one checking account with unlimited envelopes to automatically budget money for rent, payroll, taxes, and other budget categories. Traditionally, envelope budgeting was done with paper envelopes, but online banks have adapted digital envelopes to help businesses get better clarity into how they're spending their money.
Pros
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Applicable banking fees
TrustPilot Rating: 3.7/5
NorthOne offers the best business bank account for solopreneurs and side hustlers that are just starting their businesses. It offers the perfect banking mix for most small businesses, but the lack of international wires and check deposits could be a big gap for some small businesses.
BlueVine is an online banking platform for small businesses that combines interest-bearing checking accounts, lending, and accounts payable features all into one product. If you're looking to scale your business, they offer flexible funding solutions like a revolving line of credit so you can borrow, repay and access more funds as you grow.
Pros
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Applicable banking fees
TrustPilot Rating: 4.4/5
With an interest-bearing checking account and a line of credit, BlueVine is the best business banking solution for business lending. The line of credit offers business owners up to $250,000 of debt that can be used at any time, and payback periods are more generous than charge cards (six to 12 months). In addition, the interest-bearing checking account rate is actually quite high (up to $1,200 in yield per year).
In contrast to online banking platforms, traditional banks have physical branches and provide you with face-to-face customer service. Not many online banking platforms offer interest-bearing savings accounts, so you'll need to look for a traditional institution if you need one of those.
Traditional banks are also a good source of financing and offer lower interest rates, but you will usually pay higher fees compared to online banking alternatives. Our picks are:
If you don't make many monthly deposits or other transactions but prefer the security of a large network of ATMs and storefronts, Chase Bank is a good choice for a new business bank account.
With Chase Business Complete Banking, you can enjoy a cash sign-on bonus, make unlimited electronic deposits, and manage multiple employee debit cards.
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The Chase Business Complete Checking account is the most comprehensive traditional banking account for LLCs. It's built to cover the essentials but offers premium tools and services to take your business to the next level.
Learn more about Chase Business Complete Checking
If your small business makes many monthly transactions, you'll need a bank account that doesn't penny-pinch you every time you write a check or make a deposit. Many banks offer limited free transactions per month, but Capital One's Unlimited Checking offers truly unlimited transactions every month without any additional transaction fees.
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Applicable banking fees
Capital One's Unlimited Checking account is best for transaction-heavy businesses that require more money movement.
Learn more about Capital One Unlimited Business Checking
Bank of America's Business Advantage Fundamentals Banking package includes a large number of deposits and access to thousands of storefront locations and ATMs nationwide.
Qualifying members also have access to a wide range of Preferred Rewards For Business, including rewards bonuses on eligible credit cards, interest rate discounts on loans, payroll services cash backs, and professional advice.
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Bank of America is the best fit for mature LLCs that want to get rewarded for doing business. The combined three-month average balance of $20,000 to qualify is hefty, but if your business falls into this category, you get access to a wide range of valuable rewards, benefits, and savings.
Learn more about Bank of America Business Advantage Fundamentalsâ„¢
If you prefer conducting your business banking in person, then Wells Fargo's Initiate Business Checking account is for you. With over 5,000 branch locations, they have the most brick-and-mortar locations of any bank in the U.S., making this a convenient option, no matter which state you live in.
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Applicable banking fees
Wells Fargo's Initiate Business Checking account is perfect for businesses that still want to conduct their banking in person, with real people. It covers all the most common business banking needs with the most convenient access to in-person branch support.
Learn more about Wells Fargo Initiate Business Checking Account
For full steps, check out our blog on how to open a business bank account.
Further reading: What Do I Need to Open a Business Bank Account (Checklist)
Now that you know more about business bank accounts for LLCs, take what you've learned and evaluate which option fits your business best. As you choose, look for a business account that will empower you and your team with financial clarity and help you focus on growing your business.
We are offering free 1 Month Basic Bookkeeping to all new customers so you can experience Accracy's seemless and professional services.
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