Top Five Best Business Bank Accounts in 2023

5. Capital One Business Bank Account

Today, let’s look at the top five best business bank accounts in 2023, including the product that I use to manage the finances of this website, starting with Capital One business banking products. As I’ve said about this before in my blog post, I do not like these large national banking corporations, but as I’ve said before, I think Capital One has done the best job of adapting to the rapidly changing world of banking, and it is a fantastic option for individuals who are still warming up to the concept of online banking and want the ability to go into a physical brick and mortar location if needed.

We’ve discussed their personal 360 banking products at length before on this website, but the business banking side of things is just as good, and they have the same checking and savings options as well as lending, merchant services, and escrow services for your business. 

On the checking side of things, you’ve got basic checking accounts and unlimited checking accounts, which both give you free overdraft protection, free additional debit cards for each of your team members, the ability to bank on the go using their fairly well-designed mobile application, online bill payment features, and all of the basic functionality that you need to manage your business’s finances on the go.

The savings account is largely the same, and while the Capital One business account wouldn’t be my first choice personally, again, I think it is the best blend of an online and brick-and-mortar experience, which is why it is number five on our list. But leaving the traditional banking world behind, we’ve got four of the most modern and powerful business banking accounts yet to come, and I should remind you at this point that you don’t need to have a large, established business in order to open a business bank account or have a business credit card, for that matter.

If you are running a small side hustle of any kind, then you are a business, and it is really important that you separate your business and personal finances, whether it’s just you running something out of your house or a rapidly growing business with dozens of employees.

4. Lili Bank Account

So just keep that in mind, but coming in at number four is a platform that we looked at, and that is Lili. Lili is actually a great segue from what I was just talking about since one of my favorite features of Lili is the ability to instantly categorize your transactions into personal or business expenses by swiping left or right using the really well-designed Lili app.

Lili has no minimum balance requirements, no hidden fees of any kind, free ATM withdrawals at over 38,000 locations, a decent 1.5% APY on your savings currently, fee-free overdraft protection, cashback rewards with your Lili Visa debit card, not to mention the countless financial management tools that they offer for accounting, categorizing your expenses, managing your receipts, taxes, and everything in between. 

They do have a premium account called Lili Pro, which is what the debit card is for, but most of the features are completely free, and they have the cleanest app design that we’ll look at today.

3. North One Bank Account

Coming in at number three is a more robust business banking tool, and that is North One. Again, you’ve got all of those service-level features that we’ve come to expect with any online banking tool, but the key differentiator with North One is the smart integrations with everything from Airbnb to PayPal, QuickBooks, and everything in between, as well as the Envelopes tool, which allows you to automate your business’s budget and set aside either a percentage or fixed dollar amount each time you get paid, whether that’s for rent, taxes, payroll, or anything like that.

Their customer service is another big differentiator in my experience, but the biggest con for me with North One is that they currently charge a $10 monthly fee. Now, there is nothing wrong with investing in your business, especially if that means getting access to the software and tools that you need, but even just $10 per month is a hard pill to swallow when there are other options on the market currently that offer 90% of these features for completely free.

So this one is really going to depend on the functionality and features that you need out of your business banking tool, and the integrations with third-party platforms could save you hours with North One. But you’ll definitely want to figure out if that $10 monthly fee is worth it, but otherwise North One is a fantastic option.

So you can’t go wrong with those first three choices, but if I’m being completely honest with you, these next two platforms are miles ahead of the competition for a number of reasons, and I made a lengthy pros and cons list to decide which one should be at number 1, and honestly, it really depends on where you are at with your business.

2. Relay Bank Account

But coming in at number 2 for the best business banking platform in 2023 is Relay. This is by far the most robust business banking tool on the market right now. Relay has no hidden account fees, no overdraft fees, or minimum balance requirements, and it allows you to open up to 20 individual checking accounts and have 50 virtual or physical Visa debit cards, plus easy ACH and wire transfers, free cash deposits at the all point network of ATMs, and integrations with accounting platforms like QuickBooks and Zero, just to name a few. But that is just scratching the surface of what Relay can do for your business. But by far the best thing about this platform is the ability to customize it to meet your needs.

From creating different sub-accounts with their own individual account numbers for different expense categories to issuing custom debit cards to different employees and team members, setting up custom payment approval processes, utilizing their smart integration tools, and having the ability to collaborate with your team members under one account while still having control over who is able to see what information, Somehow Relay is able to accomplish all of that while still maintaining a pretty high level of simplicity packaged into a beautiful app design.

The standard version of Relay, which comes with most of the features that I just mentioned, is $0 per month, but they do offer Relay Pro, which is $30 per month and gives you a few additional features like faster transfer options, automatic importing of bills from QuickBooks or Zero, the customs bill payment approvals dashboard, and several others as well.

So if Relay is so great, then why is it at number two on today’s list? That is a fair question, and the simple answer is that for me and my blog and YouTube side hustle, the abundance of tools that Relay has is honestly overkill for what I personally need, and again, that’s part of the reason why I went back and forth so much on which of these platforms should be at number one.

1. Novo Bank Account

But coming in at number one for the best business bank account in 2023, and the platform that I use to run the finances for this website and YouTube channel is Novo. I’ll get into the best features of Novo and why I love this platform so much in a second, but I will say from the start that Novo is definitely way more simple than Relay, which is why it’s a good fit for me. This is something that you’ll want to keep in mind when making your decision.

Also, as you’ve probably noticed throughout the video, I have the debit cards for all of these accounts, and that’s because I have personally used them myself, so I’m not just reading off of a website and giving you information, I have actual real-world experience with all of these, and they have a reason for being on today’s list.

Getting back to Novo, as expected, Novo has no hidden fees or monthly fees of any kind, free and fast transfers, including ACH, mail checks, and incoming wires, refunds at all ATMs worldwide, which is just absolutely insane, and of course all of the surface-level features that each of today’s platforms also has.

Again, you’ve got integrations with several third-party tools like QuickBooks, Shopify, and Stripe, just to name a few, plus the ability to create your own custom and professional-looking invoices from both the well-designed and simple mobile app or the equally simple desktop platform.

They also have a feature called Novo Reserves, which is similar to the envelopes feature that we talked about earlier with Lily, and this again allows you to set money aside for taxes, payroll, or any of that kind of stuff, and for me, I love this feature since all of my income from this website and my YouTube channel is freelance contracted work.

Their customer service is also fantastic in my experience, and the learning curve is much shorter than other platforms, large thanks to the thoughtfully designed mobile app. And while I do occasionally log into the desktop platform for certain purposes, honestly, you’re really able to do everything right from your smartphone, including creating and sending invoices, paying bills, and everything like that.

Now you’re not going to have the ability to open a ton of different individual checking accounts or have dozens of different debit cards for different team members, or multi-level access for different team members, or all of the other complexities that we talked about with Relay. Plus, there is no paid version or upgrade for the premium features or anything like that. Everything is completely free across the board with Novo. So really, there’s no downside here.

Really, you can’t go wrong with any of these five platforms, but what I’ll say is that if you are a slightly larger business or one that is growing rapidly, then Relay is probably your best bet for those more robust financial tools, whereas if you’re just getting started with a smaller side hustle, then Novo is definitely going to be the better choice for you. But I’d love to know what you think of these platforms down in the comments section and what you’re currently using to run your small business or side hustle.