As of 2026-10-06, Axos Bank, Bluevine, Found, Lili, Mercury, Novo and Relay each offer a business checking tier with a $0 monthly fee. Novo advertises no monthly fee at all, while the others keep $0 on a base tier and charge on upgraded tiers. Axos Bank's Business Interest Checking is the one listed account where the fee is waived on a condition, a $5,000 minimum average daily balance. Deposit insurance is a separate question, because the $250,000 FDIC limit applies only where the money sits in an insured bank.

Which banks have no monthly fees for small business checking?

The providers below have a base account with a $0 monthly fee. They are listed alphabetically, which is not a ranking. All prices were checked at each provider's own pricing page on 2026-10-06 and may have changed since.

"No monthly fee" can mean three different things. The first is a base tier with no fee and no stated condition. The second is a paid tier whose fee is waived if a balance or activity condition is met. The third is a promotional discount, which is not a waiver at all. Keeping these apart matters more than the headline price.

What is the difference between no fee and a waived fee?

A genuinely free account charges nothing each month regardless of balance or activity. Axos Basic Business Checking, Novo, Found Free, Lili Core, Mercury's base account, Relay Starter and Bluevine Standard all fall in this group at their base level.

A waivable fee is a different arrangement. The fee exists, and the account holder avoids it by meeting a condition. Axos Business Interest Checking is the clearest example: $10 a month, waived with a $5,000 minimum average daily balance. Bluevine says the fees on its Plus and Premier plans can be waived, and Bluevine sets out the conditions on its own site, so read them there before relying on a waiver.

A promotional rate is the third case, and it is the one most likely to mislead. Lili advertises roughly 40% off for three months on its paid tiers. That is an introductory discount, and it is not the ongoing price.

Axos Bank

Axos Bank offers two business checking accounts relevant here. Basic Business Checking is $0 a month, with no minimum balance and no maintenance fee. Business Interest Checking is $10 a month, waived with a $5,000 minimum average daily balance, and it takes a $100 opening deposit.

Best for: a business that wants a base account with no balance requirement, and that may later hold enough cash to make the interest-bearing account worth its waiver condition. The trade-off is that the waiver depends on keeping a daily balance, so a business with uneven cash flow may end up paying the $10.

Bluevine

Bluevine has three plans: Standard at $0 a month, Plus at $30 a month and Premier at $95 a month. The APY is 1.3% on Standard, subject to a monthly activity goal, 1.75% on Plus and 3.0% on Premier. The Plus and Premier fees are waivable.

Best for: a business that wants interest on its balance and is willing to meet the activity goal. The interest is the catch. A $0 monthly fee on Standard does not mean the 1.3% APY is unconditional, and Bluevine sets out the activity goal itself on its own site.

Found

Found has a Free plan at $0, a Plus plan at $35 a month or $315 a year, and a Pro plan at $80 a month or $720 a year. The annual prices work out to less than twelve months of the monthly price, so a business that expects to stay on a paid tier will pay less by committing for the year.

Best for: a sole operator who wants to start at no cost and move up only if the paid features earn their keep. What each tier includes is set out on Found's pricing page, and this page does not restate it.

Lili

Lili lists four tiers: Core at $0, Pro at $15 a month, Smart at $35 a month and Premium at $55 a month. The paid tiers are often advertised at roughly 40% off for the first three months. That is promotional, and the ongoing prices are the ones above.

Best for: a business that needs only the free tier. Anyone eyeing a paid tier should budget at the ongoing price, because the discount lasts three months.

Mercury

Mercury has a $0 monthly base account, a Plus plan at $29.90 a month and a Pro plan at $299 a month. The gap between Plus and Pro is large, which makes the base account the practical starting point for a small business.

Best for: a business comfortable with an online-only account at the base level. The Pro tier is priced for much larger operations, and the pricing page, not this article, is the place to confirm what separates it from Plus.

Novo

Novo lists $0 a month with no monthly fee. It is the only provider here that presents a single account at no monthly charge, with no paid tiers to upgrade into on its published pricing as of October 6, 2026.

Best for: a business that wants the simplest fee picture. Fewer tiers means fewer ways to drift into a charge, though other fees can still apply.

Relay

Relay has three plans: Starter at $0 a month, Grow at $30 a month and Scale at $90 a month. The fee ladder is similar in shape to Bluevine's, with a free entry tier and two paid tiers above it.

Best for: a business that expects to add accounts or users and wants a clear path upward from a free start. The paid tiers cost real money, so the free tier should be judged on whether it covers current needs.

What fees remain on a no-monthly-fee account?

The monthly fee is only one line on a fee schedule. Wires, cash deposits, out-of-network ATM use and expedited card delivery are commonly priced separately, and a $0 monthly fee says nothing about them. A business that sends international wires or deposits cash weekly can pay more in transaction charges than a flat monthly fee would have cost.

The amounts differ by provider, and each one is set out on the provider's own fee schedule: wire fees, cash deposit fees, out-of-network ATM fees and expedited card fees. Where a provider does not publish one of these, that is itself a finding worth knowing before applying.

Is the money insured if the provider is not a bank?

This is the part of the category that fee comparisons usually skip. The FDIC says the deposit accounts of a corporation, partnership or unincorporated association are insured up to $250,000. It also says all accounts held by the same entity at one insured bank are combined, so separate accounts for different divisions or purposes do not each get their own coverage.

Many online business accounts are offered by companies that are not banks. The FDIC states that nonbank companies are never themselves FDIC-insured. In its guidance on banking with third-party apps, it adds that funds sent to a nonbank company are not eligible for FDIC insurance until the company deposits them in an FDIC-insured bank and other conditions are met.

The failure case matters as much as the insurance limit. The FDIC says deposit insurance does not protect against the insolvency or bankruptcy of a nonbank company, and that recovery then runs through an insolvency or bankruptcy proceeding that may take some time. Axos Bank is itself a bank. For each of the other providers, confirm on its own site whether it is a bank or a nonbank, and which insured bank holds the funds.

Why a separate business account matters

The Small Business Administration says that to keep personal and business funds completely separate, a business must have two different bank accounts. It frames separation as a liability question as well as a tidiness one: failing to separate risks forfeiting the legal protections that entity structures offer, and keeping the two apart is pivotal for protecting a person's own assets and credit.

The Internal Revenue Service makes the same point from the tax side. In Publication 583, it says one of the first things to do when starting a business is open a business checking account, and to keep it separate from the personal checking account. A free account removes the cost objection, which leaves timing as the only reason to wait.

What does a bank ask for when opening a business account?

Requirements vary by bank. Bank of America, for example, asks for the business name and address, the state of formation, an EIN or SSN, and the date the business was established. It also asks for personal details, including SSN and date of birth, for everyone on the application, including those with at least 25% ownership. It may request the Articles of Organization or an equivalent, and trade name documentation where the business operates under a different name.

Bank of America does not list an operating agreement as required, so it would be wrong to assume every bank wants one. The fintechs on this page have their own application requirements, which this page does not reproduce, so check each before starting.

For a business that does not yet exist as an entity, the order of operations matters. The entity, the EIN and the paperwork come first, then the account, then the books. That is the part of the process where ZenBusiness accounting fits: ZenBusiness does not offer business banking, but it sells entity formation, the EIN, registered agent service and related compliance support, which are the documents a bank asks for. It also offers a free accounting consultation to customers who form with it, which covers the step after the account is open.

How to choose among the free options

Start with the fee that is certain and then work outward to the ones that are not. If the goal is the plainest possible fee picture, Novo and Axos Basic Business Checking are the least complicated on their published pricing. If interest on the balance matters, Bluevine and Axos Business Interest Checking are the two interest-bearing routes, each with a condition attached.

If the business expects to grow into added features, Found, Lili, Mercury and Relay each offer a free entry tier and paid tiers above it. In that case the useful question is what the free tier leaves out, since that is what will eventually push the account upward in price. Whichever provider wins, confirm the insurance structure and the transaction fees before moving money in.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a business checking account with truly no fees? Not in the sense of zero charges of any kind. A $0 monthly fee describes one line on the fee schedule, and wires, cash deposits, out-of-network ATMs and expedited cards can carry their own charges.

Can a business hold more than $250,000 with insurance? The FDIC aggregates all accounts one entity holds at the same insured bank, so opening several accounts there does not raise the limit for that entity. Coverage for balances above $250,000 is a question for the bank and the FDIC.

Does a free account need to be a separate account from personal checking? Yes. The SBA says two different bank accounts are needed to keep personal and business funds completely separate.

Sources

This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.