Tide vs Starling Business Account for a UK Limited Company

Starling holds your money itself as a bank and charges no monthly or UK transfer fees. Tide runs the app while ClearBank holds the current account, and it sells four plans with a transfer allowance, then 20p per transfer. Starling is stricter on who can apply; Tide has more paid extras built in.

Figures are as listed on each provider's UK pages on 15 November 2026. Starling fees come from its business account schedule that applies from 27 April 2026. Tide's pricing page does not say whether VAT is added to plan prices, so check at sign up. Fees change; read the current pages before you decide.

Tide says it is not a bank. Its current and savings accounts are powered by ClearBank, a bank authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority, and Tide says eligible deposits are FSCS protected up to £120,000 per depositor across all accounts with ClearBank. Starling is a bank itself and states the same £120,000 cover.

• Tide Platform Limited says it is authorised by the FCA under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011, firm reference number 900843, to issue e money.
• ClearBank Ltd, firm reference number 754568, is the bank behind Tide current and savings accounts.
• Some Tide members hold e money accounts, sort code 23 69 72, powered by PrePay Technologies Limited, firm reference number 900010. Tide says PrePay keeps an equal amount in a safeguarding account. The FSCS does not cover these.
• Starling Bank says it is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA under registration number 730166.

The numbers above are as each firm states them, so search them on the FCA Register yourself. The FSCS says its limit rose to £120,000 on 1 December 2025, per eligible depositor and per authorised firm. The Tide limit is shared across every account you hold that sits with ClearBank, so count those together.

If you already bank with Tide, check your sort code and statement to see which kind of account you hold. For how the two kinds of protection differ, read bank vs electronic money account.

Starling charges no fee to open or run the business account, and Faster Payments in and out are free. Tide has a free plan called Lite and three paid plans: Smart at £12.49, Pro at £27.49 and Max at £69.99 a month. On Tide you also pay 20p for each bank transfer beyond your plan allowance.

Tide says the 20p applies to bank transfers in or out, so money you receive counts too. Payments between Tide accounts are free, and so are card payments in pounds. On Lite, 40 transfers in a month means 35 paid transfers, or £7. The same month at Starling costs nothing in transfer fees.

• Tide: invoicing is limited to 3 a month on Lite, Smart and Pro.
• Tide: cash withdrawals in pounds cost £1 each.
• Tide: card payments in a foreign currency cost 2.75% on the free plan and nothing extra on Smart, Pro and Max.
• Starling: CHAPS £20 per payment, optional Bulk Payments £7 a month, replacement debit card £5.
• Starling: euro business account £2 a month, and a 0.4% conversion fee on international payments.

At Starling, cash paid in at the Post Office costs 0.7% of the deposit or £3, whichever is higher, and cheques are free by freepost or in the app. At Tide, a Post Office deposit of up to £500 costs £2.50, PayPoint costs 3% of the deposit, and each cheque costs 90p.

• Tide, Post Office deposits over £500: 0.99% of the total on the free plan, 0.5% on Smart, Pro or Max.
• Tide, PayPoint: 3% of the total deposit value.
• Tide, cheques: 90p per cheque on any plan, which Tide explains as 70p plus its standard 20p transfer fee.
• Starling: the minimum single cash deposit is £3.01.
• Starling: its eligibility page excludes businesses that regularly make significant cash deposits.

A worked example with these rates: paying in £1,000 at the Post Office costs £7 at Starling, £9.90 on the Tide free plan and £5 on a paid Tide plan. Paying in £200 costs £3 at Starling and £2.50 at Tide. If your business handles cash every week, run your own amounts.

Starling: no. Its eligibility page says all directors with access to the account and all people with significant control must be residents of the United Kingdom. Tide: its eligibility page says directors of limited companies must have a valid home address in the UK or overseas, but every applicant needs a UK mobile number.

• Tide: you must be at least 18, have a valid UK mobile phone number and a device registered to the UK App Store or Google Play store.
• Tide: the company must be registered with Companies House, and its current account page asks for a UK based business, photo ID and a selfie.
• Tide: it does not serve, or restricts, shell companies, crypto, CBD, money service businesses, gambling, charities, used car sales and several other sectors.
• Starling: PSCs must be individuals, the applicant must be both a director and a PSC, and holding companies are not accepted.
• Starling: it lists excluded industries too, including financial services and businesses that hold client money.

If nobody in the company lives in the UK, plan for a second route as well. UK business bank account for non residents lists providers that state no residence rule, and Starling vs Airwallex compares one of them with a bank.

Both connect to the common UK packages. Starling says its business account integrates with Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent. Tide lists Xero, Sage, FreeAgent, QuickBooks, KashFlow, Crunch, Clearbooks, Coconut and Reckon, and says the links other than Xero work through Open Banking. Tide also sells its own accounting tools inside the higher plans.

Check the Xero cost on Tide before you rely on it. Its pricing table shows the Xero Connector as included from the Smart plan, while its integrations page says the Xero Connector costs £6.99 plus VAT a month. Tide Accounting is listed on Pro, and Max adds payroll software.

Whichever you pick, connect it from the first month so your records are ready for annual accounts and corporation tax. Ask an accountant which package suits your business.

Choose Starling if every director with access and every PSC lives in the UK and you want a bank with no monthly fee and free transfers. Choose Tide if you want team cards, plan based extras or built in accounting, if you make few transfers, or if a director lives abroad and Starling is closed to you.

1. 1

   Check who lives where

   One director with access or one PSC outside the UK rules out Starling under its current page.

2. 2

   Count your transfers

   Add up payments in and out for a normal month. Beyond the Tide allowance each one costs 20p.

3. 3

   Check cash and cheques

   Use the deposit rates above with your real amounts.

4. 4

   Check the extras you would pay for

   Team cards, CHAPS, invoicing and accounting tools are where the paid Tide plans earn their fee.

5. 5

   Apply with matching details

   Company name, address, people and SIC code must match Companies House.

For Monzo, Mettle, Revolut and others next to these two, see UK digital business banks compared.