Provider review
Mettle by NatWest
Free, FSCS-protected, and it hands you a FreeAgent subscription worth more than most rivals' entire paid tiers. The catch is everything it refuses to do.
Who holds your money
National Westminster Bank plc, trading as Mettle. It is not a separate bank — it is a NatWest product with its own app and brand.
Eligible deposits protected up to £120,000. Critically, that limit is shared with every other NatWest Group account you hold, including NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank.
Verify the firm reference number on the FCA Financial Services Register before relying on this.
Scorecard
Seven criteria, each weighted. Every score below says what drove it.
3rd for online and mobile business banking at 84%, above every high-street bank.
A full FreeAgent subscription free, but the narrowest feature set of the free accounts — no cheques, no international, no lending.
FSCS to £120,000, but the limit is shared with NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank rather than being additional.
Free permanently, and the bundled FreeAgent subscription removes a cost most rivals leave you to pay.
1.46% AER with no plan fee to reach it, worth about £365 a year on £25,000.
Post Office cash, but no cheques and no international payments at all.
Restricts owner numbers and is aimed at single-director businesses, which narrows it considerably.
Weighted total 3.9 / 5. Weightings published on how we rate.
Service quality evidence
| Overall service quality | 3rd, 82% |
| Online and mobile banking | 3rd, 84% |
| Relationship management | 2nd, 77% |
Independent survey of around 1,200 SME customers a year per provider, conducted by BVA BDRC (now part of Ipsos) and published by the CMA in August 2026. All 17 surveyed providers are ranked; a provider shows as not ranked only where it does not offer the service or fewer than 100 of its customers gave an eligible score.
Interest on balances
Verified from provider site| Rate on the free tier | 1.46% |
| Best sustainable rate | 1.46% |
| Extra cost to reach it | None |
| Access | Instant access |
| Net on £25,000 | £365 |
Savings pots pay 1.46% AER / 1.45% gross (variable) on balances from £10, with instant access and no plan fee — Mettle has only one plan. Interest is calculated daily and paid monthly. One savings pot per account, capped at £1m, and only savings pots earn interest: regular pots do not. Verified against mettle.co.uk, 4 August 2026.
Affiliate note
Where we hold a commercial arrangement with a provider, this box says so and every link on the page is marked. Commission never affects the score or the ranking.
Fees are checked against the provider’s published tariff. If a page has not been re-checked within 60 days, it says so at the top.
The verdict
Mettle is the most straightforward value proposition in UK business banking. There is one plan. It costs nothing. There is no upsell, no premium tier, and no introductory period that quietly ends. If you make at least one transaction a month, you also get a FreeAgent subscription free — a product that otherwise costs meaningful money each year and handles Making Tax Digital properly.
For a freelancer or consultant who invoices clients and needs their books in order for Self Assessment, that combination is difficult to beat on price. Because Mettle and FreeAgent are both NatWest Group products, transactions flow between them natively rather than through a third-party Open Banking connection that needs re-authorising every few months.
The reason it isn't ranked first is what's missing. No cheque deposits at all. No international payments, sending or receiving. No overdraft. Cash goes in via the Post Office only. And eligibility is narrow: sole traders and small limited companies, with restrictions on how many owners a company can have.
Read those as a deliberate product decision rather than an oversight. NatWest has built a tightly-scoped account with a tightly-controlled risk profile, and it excludes a meaningful slice of the market on purpose. If you're inside the box, it's excellent. If you're outside it, no amount of wanting it will help.
Who it suits
- Freelancers and consultants paid by UK bank transfer who file their own tax return.
- Anyone currently paying for accounting software — the FreeAgent inclusion often exceeds the value of a rival's paid tier.
- Small limited companies with UK-resident directors and simple ownership.
Who should look elsewhere
- Anyone paid by cheque. Not supported at all, at any value.
- Businesses with overseas clients or suppliers. No international payments in either direction.
- Businesses needing credit. No overdraft, no lending.
- Larger or complex ownership structures. Eligibility is deliberately narrow.
Every tier, priced
What each plan includes, and what the step up actually costs over a year.
| Plan | Monthly | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Mettle Business AccountEverything Mettle offers. UK sort code and account number, Mastercard debit card, money pots with automatic tax rules, in-app tax estimate, free FreeAgent subscription (with one transaction a month), Post Office cash deposits, Xero and QuickBooks integrations. | £0 | £0 |
Pricing must be verified against the provider's own site before publication. Providers reprice without notice.
The fees that are not in the headline
The monthly fee is what gets advertised. These are the charges that decide what you actually pay.
| Charge | Cost | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly account fee | £0 | Everyone. There is no paid tier. |
| Electronic payments in and out | Free | Everyone. |
| Paying in cash | Post Office only | Occasional cash handlers. No branch deposits despite the NatWest ownership. |
| Cheque deposits | Not supported | Rules out construction, care and other cheque-heavy sectors entirely. |
| International payments | Not supported | Rules out any business with overseas clients or suppliers. |
| Overdraft | Not offered | Businesses needing a working-capital buffer. |
Applying
Application is in-app. You provide your legal name, date of birth, home address and National Insurance number, then verify identity with a photo of your passport or driving licence and a short selfie video.
Most straightforward applications produce a sort code and account number within one working day. The account has no minimum opening deposit, no notice period and no closure fee.
Where applications fail
- Non-UK residents — applicants must be UK resident.
- Ineligible business types — only sole traders and small limited companies; charities, CICs and partnerships are generally outside scope.
- Too many owners — companies with more than a small number of owners fall outside eligibility.
- Higher-risk sectors — NatWest applies group-level appetite rules.
Alternatives worth costing
- Starling Business — Also free and FSCS-protected, but adds cheques, international payments and an overdraft.
- Monzo Business — Better app, MTD on every tier, but integrations cost £9 a month.
- NatWest Business — The full-service sibling: branches, lending and cash handling, for a fee.
Mettle questions
Is Mettle FSCS protected?
Yes. Mettle is a trading name of National Westminster Bank plc, so eligible deposits are protected up to £120,000. That limit is shared with any other NatWest Group accounts you hold rather than being additional to them.
Is Mettle really completely free?
Yes. There is one plan, it costs nothing, and there is no paid upgrade. The trade-off is what the account does not do — no cheques, no international payments, no overdraft.
How do I get the free FreeAgent subscription?
It comes with the account provided you make at least one transaction a month. If you stop transacting, or close the Mettle account and keep using FreeAgent, normal subscription fees apply.
Can I pay cheques into Mettle?
No. Cheque deposits are not supported at any value. If you are paid by cheque even occasionally, Mettle is the wrong account.
Can a limited company open a Mettle account?
Yes, if it is registered at Companies House, the directors are UK resident, and the ownership structure is simple. Companies with more than a small number of owners fall outside eligibility.