Monzo Business vs Mettle: two app-based accounts compared

The short verdict

Choose Mettle if you are a sole trader or a one-person company that already uses, or wants to use, FreeAgent. You get a free bank account, free invoicing and a FreeAgent subscription that would otherwise cost you money, all for making one transaction a month.

Choose Monzo Business if you pay in cash, need to send money abroad, want more than one person using the account, or might need an overdraft. Mettle does none of those well: cash costs more, outbound international payments are not offered, only one owner can access the account and there is no overdraft.

For a limited company that wants tax pots and team features, Monzo is the more complete account. For a freelancer happy in FreeAgent, Mettle is very good value.

Side by side

Monzo figures are from Monzo’s fee sheet and plan pages. Mettle figures are from Mettle’s website and its fee information document, checked on 9 October 2026. Where we have no verified Mettle figure, the cell says to check with Mettle.

Eligibility criteria apply. The £50 is for people who have never had a Monzo account and complete the steps within 30 days.

Both backed by banks

Yes, both are FSCS-protected for new customers. Mettle is provided by National Westminster Bank plc, trading as Mettle, so new Mettle accounts are covered by the FSCS up to £120,000. Monzo Business is held with Monzo Bank Limited (FRN 730427), with the same limit per eligible depositor.

Two details are worth knowing. First, Mettle notes that older Mettle accounts were e-money accounts from a different provider and are not FSCS-protected, so if you opened Mettle some years ago, check which kind you hold. Second, because Mettle is a trading name of NatWest, money held with NatWest under the same banking licence is likely to count towards the same £120,000 limit. If you also bank with NatWest, check how the limit applies to you.

Mettle also sets a cap on the main account: main account balance limit £1 million. Our guide to FSCS protection for business accounts explains how the limit works.

Mettle’s FreeAgent deal

This is Mettle’s strongest card. Mettle includes FreeAgent, the accounting software, with its free account. The condition is light: at least one transaction a month. Mettle says it saves at least £150 a year on FreeAgent’s lowest tariff.

FreeAgent handles bookkeeping, invoicing, expenses and tax returns. Getting it free, with a bank account built around it, is a genuinely good deal. If you would be paying for FreeAgent anyway, Mettle’s free account more than covers its own cost.

Monzo Business connects to Xero, FreeAgent, Sage and QuickBooks on Pro and Team, syncing every few hours, every single day. You pay for the accounting software separately, on top of the Monzo plan. The one partner deal Monzo offers is 6 months' free Xero with Pro, 8 months with Team (new Xero customers, until 31 May 2027). A business committed to Xero gets something from Monzo; a business committed to FreeAgent gets more from Mettle.

Monzo Lite, the free plan, has no accounting integration at all, so the fair comparison for a FreeAgent user is Mettle free against Monzo Pro at £9 a month plus a FreeAgent subscription.

Plans and what you pay

Mettle’s core account is free and includes free UK transfers, invoicing with auto-matching, a Tax Pot and FreeAgent. Mettle+ costs £4 a month and adds quotes that convert to invoices.

Monzo Lite is also free, with the core account, payments, card acceptance, savings pots and 24/7 support. Pro adds Tax Pots, invoicing, accounting integrations, virtual cards, connected accounts and custom categories. Team adds expense cards, payment approvals, bulk payments and a bigger team. Over a year, Monzo Pro costs £108 and Mettle+ £48.

Mettle includes more on its free plan than Monzo Lite does. Monzo’s paid plans go much further than Mettle’s, particularly for companies with staff. Our page on Monzo Business Lite vs Pro vs Team shows what each tier unlocks.

Cash deposits

Monzo is cheaper and has more places to pay in. Monzo charges £1 per deposit at any PayPoint or Post Office. Mettle charges Post Office, £2.75 per deposit.

Monzo’s monthly limits are £10,000 a month (limited companies) and £3,000 a month (sole traders). If you take cash every week, as many tradespeople and market traders do, Monzo is the cheaper of the two. Read how Monzo Business cash deposits work for the details.

International payments and travel

Monzo can send money abroad; Mettle cannot yet. Mettle’s international payments page covers receiving only: £4 + 1.5% conversion over £10. Its help pages say outbound international payments are not offered.

Monzo Business sends international payments on every plan. Until 31 October 2026 it charges a fixed fee of up to £9 plus 0% to 1.8%; from 1 November 2026, under £0.80 for most currencies, up to £11 in some cases, with a margin in the exchange rate. Receiving other currencies costs a 1% conversion fee on incoming euros and other currencies, capped at £1,000. See Monzo Business international payments for the change.

For card spending abroad, both are good. Monzo charges no fee on card spending abroad. Mettle charges no fee of its own and uses the Mastercard exchange rate, though it charges £1 per cash withdrawal, including abroad. Monzo’s cash withdrawals are free in the UK and EEA, and free up to £200 every 30 days outside the EEA, then 3%.

Tax tools and invoicing

Tax

Both help you put tax money aside. Mettle offers a tax pot plus tax estimate powered by FreeAgent, so the estimate is based on your actual bookkeeping. Monzo’s Tax Pots, on Pro and Team, take a percentage of every incoming payment, moved automatically, with up to 3 Tax Pots. A limited company can name them VAT and Corporation Tax and pay HMRC directly from them.

For Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, Monzo includes, on every plan, free Making Tax Digital for Income Tax software, built on Sage. With Mettle, FreeAgent is the MTD-compatible software. Either covers a sole trader. See how Monzo Business Tax Pots work.

Invoicing

Mettle offers free invoicing with auto-matching on its free account, which is a real advantage over Monzo Lite. Monzo’s invoicing is on Pro and Team: invoices and quotes in the app or on the web, with automatic matching and a pay-by-card link. Card payments on Monzo invoices go through Stripe at £0.20 + 1.5% for standard UK cards on invoices and payment links. We have no verified figure for Mettle card acceptance, so check with Mettle if you need to take card payments.

Eligibility and team access

Mettle is built for one person; Monzo scales to a team.

Mettle’s eligibility page accepts sole traders and limited companies, but not partnerships, LLPs or charities. It also says: limited companies with up to two owners; only one owner can access the account.

Monzo is open to sole traders and private limited companies (limited by shares), and also excludes partnerships, LLPs, PLCs, charities, CICs, companies limited by guarantee, trusts and funds. Within that, it is far more flexible on people. Sole traders can have a team of 3 (you plus 2). On Team, limited companies get the first 6 team members included, then £5 a month per extra team member, up to 15 people in total with 3 admins, plus 5 expense cardholders as standard and spend and transfer limits per person, with admin approval above them.

A company with two directors who both need to see and use the account cannot do that on Mettle. Monzo’s rules are in our Monzo Business eligibility guide.

Overdrafts, savings and opening

Overdrafts and loans

Mettle does not offer an overdraft, according to its service information. Monzo offers sole traders an overdraft up to £3,000 at a representative 39.0% EAR (variable), and loans. For limited companies, Monzo’s own pages conflict on overdrafts, and loans go through partner iwoca: £500 to £35,000 at a representative 33.1% APR. Check the app for what you are offered; lending is subject to status.

Savings

Mettle’s savings: Savings pot 0.95% AER (variable). Monzo shows up to 3.25% AER (variable) on its savings page and 1.30% AER (variable) on its features page. The rate depends on your plan, so check the app.

Opening an account

Mettle’s service information reports account opening times of 19.5% same day; 99% within 37 days. Monzo says most accounts open the same day. Both are app-based applications, with no branch visit.

Two worked examples

A sole trader who uses FreeAgent

A freelance designer invoices a handful of clients a month, never handles cash and keeps the books in FreeAgent. On Mettle, the account and FreeAgent cost nothing, provided there is at least one transaction a month. On Monzo, accounting sync needs Pro: £108 a year, plus a FreeAgent subscription that Mettle says costs at least £150 a year on its lowest tariff. That is roughly £258 or more a year in Mettle’s favour. Mettle wins clearly.

A trade business that takes cash

A plumber operating as a limited company with one other director pays in cash 4 times a month and occasionally buys parts from a supplier in Europe. On Mettle, the deposits alone cost £132 a year, the second director cannot use the account, and the European supplier cannot be paid from it. On Monzo Lite, the deposits cost £48, international payments are available, and Monzo’s plans allow more than one person on the account (check which plan you need). Monzo wins, even before tax pots and team features come in.

Most businesses sit somewhere between these two. Our business bank account cost calculator lets you put in your own numbers.

Who should choose which

Choose Mettle if

• you are a sole trader or a company with one owner who will use the account alone
• you use FreeAgent, or are happy to start, and want it free
• you want free invoicing without paying for a plan
• you rarely pay in cash and never send money abroad

Choose Monzo Business if

• you pay in cash and want to pay £1 per deposit
• you need to send international payments
• more than one person needs access, or you want expense cards and approvals
• you use Xero, Sage or QuickBooks, or want the option of an overdraft as a sole trader

If you have never had a Monzo account, opening through our link and completing the four steps within 30 days gets you £50; the Monzo Business referral page explains the rules. For more options, see the best UK business bank accounts.