Monzo Business app features: the ones we actually use, and the rest

A business account used to mean a sort code, a chequebook and a statement in the post. Monzo Business is closer to a small finance department in an app: it takes card payments, sends invoices, sets tax aside, pays staff expenses and feeds your accounting software. Not every feature is on every plan, and not every feature is worth paying for. This guide sorts them by the job they do.

Plan details come from Monzo’s plans page and fee information. Monzo notes that plan benefits are confirmed in the app at sign-up, so check the app for anything you are relying on.

Features by plan, at a glance

Lite covers the essentials, Pro adds the admin tools, Team adds controls for staff. Lite is free, Pro is £9 a month and Team is from £25 a month.

For prices, team allowances and which plan to choose, see our Lite vs Pro vs Team comparison.

What we actually use

Our company is on the Team plan, and the features we lean on are savings pots, Tax Pots and the app itself. We are a private limited company and have banked with Monzo Business for a few years.

Everything else on this page is described from Monzo’s own documentation. Where we have not used a feature ourselves, we say what it does and who it suits rather than how it feels.

Getting paid

Tap to Pay

Every plan can take contactless card payments on a phone, with no card reader. Monzo offers Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android, no card reader. It is powered by Stripe, which charges £0.20 + 1.4% for UK and European cards; non-European cards cost more. Monzo says it adds nothing on top, though Stripe pays Monzo a commission.

You need an iPhone Xs or later on iOS 16.7 or newer, or an Android phone on Android 13 or newer with NFC. For a tradesperson finishing a job or a stallholder on a market, that can replace a separate card reader and its monthly fee. For a business taking hundreds of card payments a day, a dedicated payments provider with negotiated rates may work out cheaper.

Payment links and QR codes

All plans include reusable payment links and QR codes. Send a link by email or message, or display a QR code, and the customer pays by card or bank transfer. Card payments cost £0.20 + 1.5% for standard UK cards on invoices and payment links; easy bank transfers and QR payments are free. If your customers are happy to pay by bank transfer, steering them that way keeps the fee at zero.

Invoicing

Pro and Team include invoices and quotes in the app or on the web, with automatic matching and a pay-by-card link. You create the invoice in the app or on the web, send it, and when the payment lands Monzo matches it to the invoice and marks it paid. The pay-by-card link uses the same Stripe pricing as payment links.

For a business sending a handful of invoices a month, built-in invoicing can replace a separate invoicing tool. If you already invoice from Xero, FreeAgent or QuickBooks, you may not need it at all, because those packages already create invoices and the accounting feed matches the payments. Our Monzo Business invoicing guide covers how it works in practice.

Cash and cheques

Every plan can pay in cash and cheques, but cash costs £1 per deposit. Cash goes in at PayPoint or the Post Office, with monthly limits of £10,000 a month (limited companies) and £3,000 a month (sole traders). There are no branches. This is the weakest part of the feature set for cash-heavy businesses.

International payments

Every plan can send and receive money abroad, and the pricing changes on 1 November 2026. Today, sending costs a fixed fee of up to £9 plus 0% to 1.8% (until 31 October 2026). After that it is under £0.80 for most currencies, up to £11 in some cases, with a margin in the exchange rate (from 1 November 2026). Receiving euros and other currencies carries a 1% conversion fee on incoming euros and other currencies, capped at £1,000.

For a UK business with the occasional overseas supplier, that is fine. For one invoicing overseas clients every month, the incoming conversion fee is the number to watch, because it applies to money you earn rather than money you spend. Card spending abroad is a different matter: there is no fee on card spending abroad, which suits directors who travel or pay for software billed in dollars.

Managing money

Pots

Pots are separate balances inside the account, and they are the feature most Monzo users build their routine around. Use them for a cash buffer, a planned purchase, a quarterly bill, or anything you want visible but separate from the money you spend day to day.

Tax Pots

On Pro and Team, Tax Pots move a percentage of every incoming payment, moved automatically. You can have up to 3 Tax Pots per account, and you name them: a limited company might run one for VAT and one for Corporation Tax. Direct Debits can be paid from a Tax Pot, so HMRC can collect straight from the money set aside for it.

Monzo says customers have set aside nearly £7 billion in Tax Pots. They do not work out what you owe; they move the percentage you choose. Our Tax Pots guide shows how sole traders and companies tend to set them up.

Savings pots

Instant Access Savings Pots are on every plan, and the rate depends on your plan. Monzo’s savings page advertises up to 3.25% AER (variable); its general features page shows 1.30% AER (variable). Monzo does not publish the rate per plan, so check the app. Interest is paid monthly, there is no minimum deposit and there is a £1,000,000 maximum balance.

Scheduled payments

All plans can schedule one-off and recurring payments. Rent, a monthly contractor, a director’s salary: set them once and they go out on the day. The guide to paying yourself from a limited company explains why a regular, documented salary payment helps at year end.

Insights

Insights, on every plan, breaks down money in and money out so you can see where it goes. It is a quick view rather than a management report, useful for spotting a creeping subscription or a client who has stopped paying on time.

Connected accounts

On Pro and Team, connected accounts let you see other bank and card accounts in the Monzo app via Open Banking. If the company also has an old high-street account or a business credit card, you can see their balances alongside Monzo. Access is read-only and must be renewed every 90 days.

Custom categories

Pro and Team let you create your own spending categories. Name them after your accounting codes (Software, Subcontractors, Travel) and the categories carry through to Xero, which makes the accounting feed far more useful.

Team and spending controls

Team is the plan for businesses where more than one person spends. Limited companies on Team can have up to 15 people and 3 admins; the first six are included and each extra member is £5 a month per extra team member. Sole traders can have a team of 3 (you plus 2).

• Access levels (Pro and Team). Give a colleague or your accountant a view of the account, or more, without sharing your login.
• Virtual cards (Pro and Team). 5 active virtual cards at once (9 a month, 100 a year). Handy for separating subscriptions or online suppliers, and for freezing one card without touching the rest.
• Expense cards (Team). 5 expense cardholders as standard, with extra cards at additional cost. Staff spend on a card with its own limit, rather than on their own card and claiming it back.
• Payment approvals (Team). spend and transfer limits per person, with admin approval above them.
• Bulk payments (Team). up to 200 payments at once from a CSV. Upload one file to pay a month of freelancers or suppliers.

Our Team plan page looks at the cost per person and when Pro is enough.

Admin and accounting

Accounting sync and auto-exports

Pro and Team sync with Xero, FreeAgent, Sage and QuickBooks. Transactions flow into your accounting software every few hours. With Xero, receipts and categories go across too. Auto-exports send statements to Google Sheets, Google Drive or OneDrive on a schedule, which helps if your bookkeeper works from spreadsheets.

There is also a partner offer: 6 months' free Xero with Pro, 8 months with Team (new Xero customers, until 31 May 2027).

Receipts

All plans let you attach a photo of a receipt to a transaction. On Pro and Team with Xero, the receipt travels with the transaction into your books. On Lite, receipts stay in Monzo, which is still better than a shoebox.

Making Tax Digital software

Monzo offers free Making Tax Digital for Income Tax software, built on Sage, for sole traders and landlords only. Monzo’s own page says: “Have a limited company? This one's not for you.” It does not handle VAT or Corporation Tax. If you are a sole trader facing Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, our Monzo MTD guide explains what it does and does not cover.

Web app

Every plan includes a web app for payments, pots, invoices, statements and team members. It is not a replacement for the phone app, but it helps for the jobs that are easier on a bigger screen: building a batch of invoices, checking statements against your books, or adding team members.

Security

Every plan includes instant notifications, card freeze, biometric login and a 'Monzo calling?' check.

• Instant notifications for every card payment and transfer, so unexpected activity is visible in seconds.
• Card freeze from the app: freeze a card you have misplaced and unfreeze it when it turns up.
• “Monzo calling?” lets you check in the app whether someone on the phone really is from Monzo. It is a simple defence against impersonation scams, which often target small businesses.

Behind the features, Monzo Bank Limited is a regulated bank and eligible deposits are protected by the FSCS up to £120,000. The is Monzo Business safe? page covers the detail.

Switching to Monzo

Monzo Business supports 7 working days via the Current Account Switch Service. CASS moves your balance, Direct Debits and standing orders, and redirects payments sent to your old account details. You choose the switch date. For a business with lots of regular payments, that is much less work than moving each one by hand.

Which features to switch on first

Most businesses only need four or five of these features. Which ones depends on how you work.

A sole trader or freelancer

Start with pots and payment links on Lite. If you find yourself moving tax money by hand every month, or forgetting to, that is the signal for Pro and a single Tax Pot. If you will be in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, look at Monzo’s built-in software before paying for another package; our guide for freelancers covers the wider choice.

A limited company without staff

Pro is the natural fit: Tax Pots for VAT and Corporation Tax, the accounting feed into whichever package your accountant uses, and virtual cards for subscriptions. Invoicing is worth trying if you do not already invoice from your accounting software. Scheduled payments handle the director’s salary and regular bills.

A limited company with a team

Team adds the people features: expense cards, approvals and bulk payments. Set limits per person from day one rather than after the first surprise, and give your bookkeeper their own access instead of sharing a login. Connected accounts are useful if the company still has an older bank account or a credit card on another provider.

A business that takes card payments in person

Tap to Pay on a phone may be all you need, on any plan. Compare Stripe’s fees with what you pay now, and keep in mind that payments by bank transfer or QR code are free.

Features you can probably skip

Not every feature earns its place, and a few duplicate tools you may already have.

• Monzo invoicing, if you already invoice from accounting software. Xero, FreeAgent, QuickBooks and Sage all create invoices, and the accounting feed matches the payments. Running two invoicing systems invites mistakes.
• Auto-exports, if you have a live accounting feed. Exports to Sheets or Drive are useful for spreadsheet-based bookkeeping; with a feed into Xero they are a second copy of the same data.
• Connected accounts, if Monzo is your only account. The feature is for seeing other providers in one place. If everything is already in Monzo, there is nothing to connect.
• Expense cards for a team of directors. If the only people spending are the directors, their own Monzo Business cards and virtual cards may be enough without expense cards and approvals.
• The MTD software, if you are a limited company. It is not for you, and Monzo says so.

The point is not that these features are poor, only that a plan should be chosen for the features you will use. If the only Pro feature you would touch is one on this list, Lite may be the better choice.

What is missing

A few things are absent, and they matter for some businesses.

• Multi-currency balances. Monzo can send and receive international payments, but receiving euros and other currencies carries a 1% conversion fee on incoming euros and other currencies, capped at £1,000. A business paid mainly in foreign currencies may prefer a multi-currency account.
• Branches. There are none, and cash costs £1 per deposit per deposit.
• VAT and Corporation Tax filing. The MTD software is for Income Tax only. Companies need separate software.
• Lending for limited companies. Monzo’s pages conflict on whether it offers company overdrafts; loans go through a partner.

If any of those rule Monzo out, the full Monzo Business review sets out who should pick something else.

Getting the bonus

New Monzo customers who open a business account through a referral link get £50, on any Monzo Business plan, including free Lite. It only pays if you have never opened a Monzo account before, including a personal account, and you download the app, apply, add money and make a first card payment within 30 days. The full rules are on the Monzo Business referral page.