Best Business Checking Accounts in January 2025

. . .

Best for Small Businesses: Wells Fargo Initiate Business Checking® Account

. . .

Wells Fargo’s Initiate Business Checking Account isn’t flashy. There’s no welcome offer, it doesn’t earn any interest, and it doesn’t stand out for fancy features. 

But it’s the most well-rounded basic business checking account of the bunch, and that makes it a practical fit for new small business owners who aren’t yet sure what their banking needs will be.

A key benefit of working with a major bank like Wells Fargo is that you’ll have easy access to both in-person and digital banking. Wells Fargo has a big footprint — the bank claims its ATMs and branches are located within two miles of most U.S. households and small businesses. 

You’re allowed 100 basic transactions per month for free, which includes deposits, withdrawals, and transfers. Debit purchases are unlimited. Monthly cash deposits up to $5,000 are also free. 

Once your business outgrows those caps, you can upgrade to one of Wells Fargo’s less restrictive accounts. 

Best for No Fees: Novo

. . .

Although no checking account is 100% free, the Novo Business Checking fee structure is at least very affordable. 

It doesn’t charge a monthly service fee no matter what your account balance is, and it doesn’t penalize for things that its competitors nickel-and-dime for, like incoming or outgoing ACH transfers, incoming domestic or foreign wires, or replacing a debit card.

Novo does not have its own ATM network or partner ATM network, but it will reimburse up to $7 for each ATM fee you incur. Most financial institutions charge at least a couple of dollars for out-of-network ATM withdrawals.

Novo also has several free small business features, including: 

• Unlimited invoicing via Novo’s special software
• Novo Boost, which fast-tracks customer payments into your checking account two to four days sooner
• Novo Reserves, a budgeting feature that automates money transfers into a special sinking fund you can use for anticipated expenses, like quarterly taxes or payroll

Best for a Big Welcome Bonus: Chase Business Complete Checking®

. . .

The welcome bonus on Chase Business Complete Checking® is both generous and fairly easy to qualify for. To get the bonus, you need to deposit at least $2,000 into your account within 30 days of enrollment and then maintain a $2,000 minimum balance for 60 days. 

Within 90 days of enrollment, you must also complete five qualifying transactions, like debit purchases, mobile deposits, ACH transfers, or bill payments.

You can get the $15 monthly fee waived by:

• Maintaining a $2,000 minimum daily balance;
• Making at least $2,000 worth of mobile deposits each month; or
• Using a Chase Ink® Business Card to make at least $2,000 in monthly purchases. 

The fee is also waived for members of the U.S. armed forces.

Finally, Chase offers some additional advantages, like its point-of-sale app and card reader hardware, which can reduce the number of vendors your business works with and potentially cut down on operating expenses as well.

Best for Earning Interest: Bluevine Premier Business Checking

. . .

Most business checking accounts pay little to no interest on their balances. So, if your business is earning more revenue than you need to cover daily operations, you might consider depositing some of those excess funds into a savings or money market account. 

But Bluevine may eliminate the need to open multiple bank accounts for your business. 

The 4.25% APY offered by the Bluevine Premier Business Checking account is equal to or better than the APY for most high-yield business savings accounts. And that APY applies up to a very high $3 million balance, which would yield $127,500 in annual interest!

Granted, the account’s very high monthly fee might be a deal-breaker if you’re a small business. But it can be waived if you maintain an average daily account balance of $100,000 or more and make at least $5,000 in monthly purchases with the account’s debit card. 

If that’s unrealistic for your business, Bluevine’s standard business checking account has no monthly fee and pays a very respectable 1.5% APY on balances up to $250,000 — provided you make $500 or more in monthly debit purchases or ​​receive at least $2,500 per month in customer payments to your account.

From now until December 31, 2024, Bluevine is offering a sign-up bonus of $300 when you use referral code CA300.

To earn the bonus, you must fund the account within 30 days, then meet at least one of the following eligibility requirements every 30 days for the next 90 days:

• Deposit at least $5,000 from eligible merchant services to your Bluevine account
• Make at least $5,000 of outbound payroll payments from your Bluevine account using eligible payroll providers
• Spend at least $2,000 with your Bluevine Business Debit Mastercard and/or Bluevine Business Cashback Mastercard

Best for No Minimum Balance: American Express Business Checking Account

. . .

The Amex Business Checking Account has no minimum deposit or balance requirement. 

But if you can deposit $5,000 or more within 30 days of opening your account, you’ll earn 30,000 Membership Rewards® points — provided you can maintain that $5,000 balance and make five qualifying transactions (e.g., mobile deposits, bill payments, ACH transfers, etc.) during a 60-day period. 

Points are typically worth anywhere from $0.006 to $0.01 each, so the bonus generally has a value ranging from $180 to $300.

Day-to-day debit card purchases are also rewarded with one point for every $2 spent. This isn’t as strong as what you’ll get from top business credit cards, but it’s a very unusual feature for a business checking account. 

And because balances up to $500,000 earn an APY of 1.3%, you’ll ultimately earn back whether you spend the money in your account or hold onto it.

Best Credit Union Business Checking Account: Navy Federal Credit Union Business Premium Checking

. . .

U.S. military veterans, active-duty service members, reservists, and their family members can join Navy Federal Credit Union — by far the largest credit union in the U.S. — and apply for any of its three business checking accounts. 

Our favorite of Navy Federal’s business checking accounts is the Business Premium Checking. It has affordable fees and is suitable for developed small businesses. 

For example, there’s no limit to the number of authorized signers that can be added to the account, which allows business owners to offload routine banking duties onto trusted employees. 

The account’s first 100 monthly banking transactions are free; subsequent transactions are only $0.25 each — which is less than what you’ll pay with most comparable accounts offered by banks. 

There are no cash deposit processing fees, and you can make free withdrawals from Navy Federal’s own ATMs or at one of the 30,000+ ATMs in the Co-op shared ATM network, which can be accessed in each U.S. state and 11 foreign countries. 

You’ll be charged a $1 fee if you need to make a withdrawal outside that network.

The Bottom Line

It’s important to shop around and compare the different offers for different accounts. 

If you’re a small business just starting out, you might not want an account that requires a high monthly balance. Or, if you’re an established entrepreneur, maybe you want an account that comes with lots of extras like payroll features and authorized users.  

The important thing is to keep your business banking separate from your personal banking — it’ll save you a lot of hassle come tax time and, depending on your business structure, it might even be the law.

. . .