Revolut Business Review: is it the best business account?

Revolut was launched in 2015 by business partners Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatensko as a pre-paid card. It has since developed to offer numerous products including a business account. In this article, we look at what features are on offer with a Revolut Business account including the different types of accounts, Revolut Business fees and how it compares to other business bank accounts such as Starling*. For more information on Revolut's personal account, read our Revolut review.

What is Revolut Business?

Revolut launched a business account in a bid to shake up business banking and tackle the high charges associated with traditional banks when sending money abroad. Revolut describes itself as a 'digital alternative to the big banks' and accounts can be set up online without the need to set up an appointment or visit a branch.

Is my business eligible?

To open a Revolut Business account your business must be registered with a physical presence in the following countries, most are within the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland:

• Aland Islands
• Austria, Australia
• Belgium, Bulgaria
• Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland, France
• Germany, Guernsey, Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy
• Jersey
• Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg
• Mayotte
• Netherlands, Norway
• Poland, Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States

If your business operates outside of these areas you can register your interest with Revolut to be notified when they plan to expand to that country.

Revolut Business supports companies that are:

• Private Limited Company (LTD)
• Public Limited Company (PLC)
• Partnerships
• Limited liability partnership (LLP)
• Limited Partnership

It cannot yet support charities, public sector companies, foundations and cooperatives but Revolut says it is looking to do that in the future. For more information on the types of businesses that are not accepted at Revolut, you can head to Revolut's website.

Revolut Business does not support freelancers or sole traders anymore. However, Revolut Pro is available to self-employed individuals. We explore this account below.

Revolut Business account features

With the Revolut Business account, you benefit from the following features:

• Multiple currencies - The ability to send, receive and exchange 25+ currencies
• Local accounts - local accounts in GBP, EUR and USD
• Prepaid debit cards - business expense cards for your team members. They can be used to make card payments as well as withdraw cash for a 2% fee.
• Virtual cards - for secure online transactions
• Direct debits - Revolut business accounts in the UK can set up direct debits in GBP and EUR under the 'Home' section, by clicking the three dots and 'Details'
• Mobile app - card owners have a mobile app that they can use to track their business spending
• Link to business applications - link to applications such as Xero, FreeAgent and Zapier to help keep you connected
• 24/7 support - For all business users
• Permissions - the ability to set user permissions to control who can see what
• Payment and expense approval - get notifications to approve transactions (only available for paid business plans)
• Bulk payments - create a bulk file to allow multiple payments at the same time (only available for paid business plans)
• Rewards - paid business plan users can gain access to additional perks with some of the following companies, Zipcar, Shopify, Fiverr Business, Slack, Bitdefender
• Expense management - manage receipts and expenses on the go, add members for £5 per month
• Payroll - manage the payroll for your workforce with simple tools, add members for £3 per month
• Accept payments - accept customer payments via your website with the Revolut widget and plugin (fees apply) or accept card payments in the store or on the go with a Revolut Reader

How does Revolut Business work?

To sign up to Revolut Business you need to fill in an online application that should take around 10 minutes. The application is then reviewed by Revolut who may need to contact you further. The application process normally takes around 1-7 business days to complete but can take a bit longer.

With Revolut business you can open a range of different accounts depending on your needs.

What are the requirements to open a Revolut Business company account?

• Name, address, ID photo and a selfie for an identity check
• Business name, address and incorporation details
• A summary of the company's location and what the business does
• Basic information regarding the company directors/shareholders - defined as someone who owns more than 25% in the business - (an identity check for these is also required, this can be submitted on their behalf or completed by them)

How much does Revolut Business cost?

More than 500,000 companies have signed up to Revolut Business and the number is steadily growing. In fact, Revolut's Business page claims it attracts 10,000 new businesses every month. The fees for Revolut Business are charged monthly and the cost varies depending on the type of business account you have opened.

What is the cost of the Revolut Business company account?

Plan	Free	Grow	Scale	Enterprise
Monthly Cost	£0	£19	£79	Contact Revolut
Free metal cards	0	1	2	Custom
Free payments to existing Revolut accounts	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Unlimited team members
Number of free local transfers (£0.20 fee applies outside of free allowance and excludes incoming transfers in USD, GBP, EUR and CHF, they are always free)	5	100	1,000	Custom
Number of free International payments (£3 fee applies per payment outside of free allowance)	0	5	25	Custom
Currency exchange at interbank rate^ (0.6% fee outside of free allowance and 1% fee outside market hours)	£1,000	£10,000	£50,000	Custom
ATM withdrawals	2% fee	2% fee	2% fee	2% fee
Hold and exchange 25+ currencies
Payment acceptance fees	From 0.8% + £0.02	From 0.8% + £0.02	From 0.8% + £0.02	Custom
Management of recurring payments
Manage expenses
Payroll
Team member permissions
Expense & payment approval
Bulk payments
Rewards
Savings		2.25% AER/Gross (variable) up to £0.5m	2.75% AER/Gross (variable) up to £1m	3.51% AER/Gross (variable) up to £3m
24/7 support

Revolut Business limits

Below is a summary of the limits applied to a Revolut Business account. Any ATM withdrawal is subject to a 2% fee and any international transfer over the free limit will be treated as a SWIFT payment and will be charged a £5 international fee.

	Account
ATM withdrawal limit^	£3,000 per day
Transfer in limit	No limit (transfers over a set amount may need extra information)
Individual transfer limit	£250,000
Total Daily Transfer out limit	£30million
Total weekly transfer out limit	£100million

^Any ATM withdrawal is charged a 2% fee regardless of the amount

Is Revolut Business safe?

With no bank branches and everything based online, it can be hard to completely trust an 'app-only bank'. Revolut recently received its UK banking licence and is currently authorised "with restrictions" to operate as a bank in the UK. During its transition period, Revolut will continue to operate as an e-money institution and your money is therefore not protected by the FSCS.

That said, Revolutsays it is committed to 'safeguard' money it receives from its customers in an account with a tier-one UK Bank. It is therefore protected by FCA requirements and in the event of the bank going bust, you would be entitled to claim your money back through those guidelines.

Any transactions made with a Revolut card are protected by Mastercard or Visa rules.

Revolut Business customer reviews

Revolut is rated as Excellent on Trustpilot with 4.1 out of 5 stars from over 157,000 reviews. 74% of users rate it as 'Excellent' and 11% of users rate Revolut as 'Bad'. There is no separate account for Revolut Business on Trustpilot but some customers have commented on problems with setting up Revolut Business accounts and how difficult it is to communicate via chat to resolve problems. Others, however, were pleased with how reliable and fast the app is and how easy it is to deal with different currencies.

What is Revolut Pro?

Revolut Business isn't available to freelancers anymore. Instead, freelancers can open a Revolut Pro account via the personal Revolut app. The account is free to open, but operates a pay-as-you-go model meaning there are fees and charges associated with it. In addition, you will benefit from additional perks, including enhanced cashback, if you have a paid Revolut personal account as the two are linked.

In the table below, we've summed up the key features of this account.

Feature	Revolut Pro
Monthly cost	£0
Revolut Pro Debit Card
Personalised business branding
Cashback	Between 0.4% to 1.2% depending on your Revolut Personal plan
Taking card payments with Revolut Reader	1.5% for Visa and Mastercard
Taking payments with Tap to Pay on iPhone	1.7% for all card types
Taking online payment (Revolut invoices, QR codes, payment links)	1.0% to 2.8% + £0.20 depending on card type

Other limits and fees depend on the personal account you hold with Revolut already. You can choose between the Standard, Plus, Premium, Metal, and Ultra accounts and they all come with their own monthly fees and limits. We explore these in detail within our independent Revolut review.

How to open a Revolut Pro account

To open a Revolut Pro account, you need to:

• Already hold a personal Revolut account
• Be self-employed (not a company)
• Only use your Revolut Pro account for business purposes
• Pass Revolut's onboarding checks

If you meet this eligibility criteria, you can apply for a Pro account via the Revolut app. The Revolut team will then review your application and decide whether you are suitable for this account.

Alternatives to Revolut Business

Revolut's closest competitors when it comes to business banking are Monzo and Starling*. So how does it compare to its competitors? In the below table, we summarise the differences between the free Revolut, Starling and Monzo business bank accounts. For more information on the Monzo and Starling business accounts read our reviews:

• Monzo Business account review
• Starling Bank Business account review

Revolut Business vs Monzo Business vs Starling Bank Business

	Revolut	Starling Bank*	Monzo
Cost	FREE	FREE	FREE
Deposit cash
Free local transfers	limits apply
Categorised spending
Integrated accounting software			(not with the free account)
FSCS protection
Direct debit
Overdraft
Free Cash withdrawal			(limits ap\ly)

Pros and cons of Revolut Business

We've summed up the key pros and cons of a Revolut Business Account below.

Pros of a Revolut Business account

• Flexible account options
• Mobile app
• Competitive exchange rate
• Freeze card if lost or stolen

Cons of a Revolut Business account

• Does not accept cheque deposits
• Daily £3,000 ATM withdrawal limit
• 2% fee on cash withdrawal
• Your money is not protected by the FSCS yet, but this is due to change as Revolut now has a UK banking licence 

Summary

Overall, Revolut Business has a range of business accounts to suit most business types and you can benefit from its free basic account or enhance the features on offer with its premium accounts. Revolut Business may be worth considering if your company deals in a range of currencies as its multi-currency account allows you to hold money in up to 25 currencies and easily make payments worldwide. Revolut Pro could be a good option for freelancers looking for a pay-as-you-go account too.

However, if you need to make regular cash or cheque deposits to your business account then you may wish to consider its competitors such as Starling* or Monzo, as this is not something that Revolut offers. Another thing to consider is that you are not yet able to benefit from FSCS protection but this will likely change soon as Revolut now has a banking licence in the UK.

 

 

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