Feature spotlights
The tools inside UK business accounts, reviewed
Every provider advertises features. Few are worth switching for. We score each one twice: how useful it actually is, and how hard it is to get somewhere else — because a brilliant feature three rivals also offer free is not a reason to pay.
All spotlights
Ordered by combined usefulness and rarity.
ANNA tax tools
A live running estimate of what you owe HMRC, updating as money moves. The best implementation of this idea in UK business banking — attached to an account with the weakest protection.
Useful 5/5 · Unique 4.5/5 →Allica interest and cashback
The best net return of any business account we track, on an account that costs nothing to hold. The constraint is who is allowed to have it.
Useful 5/5 · Unique 4.5/5 →Lloyds cash: machine vs counter
Lloyds charges two different rates for banking the same money, depending on whether you use a machine or a counter. Almost nobody notices when choosing an account, and for a cash business it is worth hundreds of pounds a year.
Useful 4/5 · Unique 5/5 →Mettle and free FreeAgent
A complete accounting package, free, with a free bank account. There is a catch, and it is not the price.
Useful 5/5 · Unique 4/5 →OakNorth notice accounts
The highest business deposit rates in the UK, and a threshold beneath which they pay literally nothing. Not a reduced rate. Nothing.
Useful 4/5 · Unique 5/5 →Revolut multi-currency accounts
Hold balances in multiple currencies, get local account details in several markets, and convert at interbank rates within an allowance. The strongest multi-currency tooling in UK business banking.
Useful 4.5/5 · Unique 4.5/5 →Tide’s free plan limits
Tide has no monthly fee, which is not the same as being free. The free plan includes five transfers a month. Rent, wages, one supplier and an HMRC payment will use them before you have paid anybody else.
Useful 4.5/5 · Unique 4.5/5 →Monzo cash deposits
A flat fee per deposit rather than a percentage of the amount. That single structural choice makes Monzo the cheapest cash option in the market for some businesses and the dearest for others.
Useful 4/5 · Unique 4.5/5 →Zempler for declined applicants
Most providers competing for hard-to-bank customers are e-money firms, where your money is safeguarded rather than guaranteed. Zempler holds a full UK banking licence. That single fact is why it is worth knowing about.
Useful 4/5 · Unique 4.5/5 →Monzo business loans and overdrafts
Most app-based business accounts do not lend at all. Monzo does — in minutes, from the app, to sole traders and companies. The pricing is the catch.
Useful 4/5 · Unique 4/5 →Starling accounting integrations
Not a clever feature. Just the ordinary thing, included free, where competitors charge £108 a year for it.
Useful 4.5/5 · Unique 3.5/5 →Starling cheque imaging
Photograph a cheque in the app and it clears without a branch. Unremarkable in 2026 — except that most digital business accounts still cannot take a cheque at any value.
Useful 4/5 · Unique 4/5 →Tide invoicing
Create, send, match and chase invoices from inside the bank account, on the free plan. For a lot of sole traders that removes a subscription entirely.
Useful 4/5 · Unique 4/5 →Virgin Money 25 months free
Twice as long as Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest or HSBC offer. Which raises the only question that matters: is two years of free banking worth more than free banking forever?
Useful 3.5/5 · Unique 4.5/5 →Monzo Tax Pots
Automatically siphons a percentage of every payment you receive into a separate pot, so the VAT and tax money is out of reach before you can spend it.
Useful 4.5/5 · Unique 3/5 →Monzo Team Expense Cards
Give staff a card, set a limit, and stop chasing receipts. The question is whether you have enough staff to justify £300 a year.
Useful 4/5 · Unique 2.5/5 →Scored side by side
| Feature | Provider | Available on | Useful | Unique |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AANNA tax tools | ANNA Money | Free on Pay As You Go | 5 | 4.5 |
| AlAllica interest and cashback | Allica Bank | Business Rewards Account, free, eligibility applies | 5 | 4.5 |
| LLloyds cash: machine vs counter | Lloyds | Business current account | 4 | 5 |
| MMettle and free FreeAgent | Mettle | Included free, one transaction a month required | 5 | 4 |
| OnOakNorth notice accounts | OakNorth | £50,000 minimum — below that the rate is 0.00% | 4 | 5 |
| RRevolut multi-currency accounts | Revolut | All plans, from Basic (£10/mth) | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| TTide’s free plan limits | Tide | Free plan | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| MoMonzo cash deposits | Monzo | All tiers, including free Lite | 4 | 4.5 |
| ZZempler for declined applicants | Zempler | Business account | 4 | 4.5 |
| MoMonzo business loans and overdrafts | Monzo | Any tier, subject to eligibility | 4 | 4 |
| SStarling accounting integrations | Starling | Free on the standard Business account | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| SStarling cheque imaging | Starling | Free, on the standard Business account | 4 | 4 |
| TTide invoicing | Tide | Free plan | 4 | 4 |
| VVirgin Money 25 months free | Virgin Money | Business Current Account, new switchers and start-ups | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| MoMonzo Tax Pots | Monzo | Business Pro (£9/mth) and Team (£25/mth) | 4.5 | 3 |
| MoMonzo Team Expense Cards | Monzo | Business Team only (£25/mth) | 4 | 2.5 |
How to read these scores
Usefulness asks a simple question: does this solve a real problem, well? A feature can be technically impressive and pointless.
Uniqueness asks how hard it is to get elsewhere. This is the score that saves you money. Starling’s accounting integrations score 4.5 for usefulness — but they are also free at Tide and bundled more generously at Mettle, so they are not a reason to switch on their own.
The combination matters more than either figure. High usefulness with low uniqueness means get this, but do not pay extra for it. High on both — ANNA’s tax tooling, Allica’s interest, Revolut’s currency handling — means the feature is genuinely a reason to choose that provider.
Where a feature is only available on a paid tier, we say what that tier costs and whether it makes sense on its own. Usually it does not — the honest reason to upgrade is normally interest or headcount, with the features arriving as a by-product.
Common questions
Are business account features worth paying for?
Sometimes, but rarely on their own. Most paid tiers are worth it for one specific reason — usually a higher savings rate or genuine multi-user need — and the features bundled alongside are a bonus rather than the argument. Work out the annual cost and ask what it saves you in hours or earns you in interest.
Which business account has the best tools?
It depends what you need. ANNA has the best tax tooling, Tide the best invoicing on a free plan, Mettle the best software deal through free FreeAgent, Revolut the best multi-currency handling, and Allica the best return on your balance.
How do you score these features?
Two axes. Usefulness asks whether it solves a real problem well. Uniqueness asks how hard it is to get elsewhere. A feature can be extremely useful and completely ordinary — free accounting integrations, for instance — and that combination is worth knowing about.