Erika’s Picks for Best Business Checking Accounts
- Best for small businesses:
Wells Fargo Initiate Business Checking® Account - Best for no fees:
Novo Business Checking - Best for earning interest:
Bluevine Business Checking - Best for no minimum balance:
American Express Business Checking Account - Best credit union business checking account:
Navy Federal Credit Union’s Business Premium Checking
Best for Small Businesses: Wells Fargo Initiate Business Checking® Account
- Welcome offer: Earn up to $825 when you complete qualifying requirements (offer ends November 10, 2026)
- Monthly fee: $15
- Minimum balance to waive monthly fee: $2,000
- Maximum APY: N/A
Wells Fargo’s Initiate Business Checking Account isn’t flashy. 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, with more than 11,000 ATMs across the country plus a nationwide branch network.
The bonus is tiered: $400 with a $2,500 deposit, $550 with $10,000, and $825 with $25,000, plus five qualifying transactions in your first 60 days.
You’re allowed 100 basic transactions per fee period 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
- Welcome offer: None
- Monthly fee: $0
- Minimum balance to waive monthly fee: N/A
- Maximum APY: N/A
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 doesn’t charge ATM fees, offers free access at partner banks, and reimburses up to $7 in third-party ATM fees each month. 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 eligible customer payments into your checking account up to 2 business days earlier
- 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 Earning Interest: Bluevine Premier Business Checking
- Welcome offer: Get a $500 cash bonus with referral code CA500 and qualifying activities (offer expires January 31, 2027)
- Monthly fee: $95
- Minimum balance to waive monthly fee: $20,000 (Plus) or $100,000 (Premier), plus monthly debit card spending
- Maximum APY: 3.0%
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 Business Checking may eliminate the need to open multiple bank accounts for your business.
The 3.0% APY offered by Bluevine’s Premier business checking account is competitive with many high-yield business savings accounts. And that APY applies on all balances with no cap.
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 spend at least $5,000 each billing period with your Bluevine Business Debit Mastercard®.
If that’s unrealistic for your business, Bluevine has two other options:
- The Plus business checking account pays 1.75% APY on balances up to $250,000, and has a lower monthly fee of $30 (waivable with an average daily balance of at least $20,000 and spend of at least $2,000 each billing period with your Bluevine Business Debit Mastercard®).
- The Standard business checking account has no monthly fee, and pays 1.3% APY on balances up to $250,000, provided you make $500 or more in monthly debit card purchases or receive at least $2,500 per month in customer payments to your account.
Best for No Minimum Balance: American Express Business Checking Account
- Welcome offer: Earn 35,000 Membership Rewards® points with qualifying activities
- Monthly fee: $0
- Minimum balance to waive monthly fee: N/A
- Maximum APY: 1.00% on balances up to $500,000
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 35,000 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 $210 to $350.
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 a variable APY (1.00% as of October 2026), you’ll earn something back whether you spend the money in your account or hold onto it.
Best Credit Union Account: Navy Federal Credit Union Business Premium Checking
- Welcome offer: None
- Monthly fee: $20
- Minimum balance to waive monthly fee: $5,000
- Maximum APY: 0.45% for balances of $25,000+
U.S. military veterans, active-duty service members, reservists, Department of Defense personnel, and their family members can join Navy Federal Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in the country, 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 non-electronic transactions (like checks and in-branch deposits and withdrawals) are free, and electronic transactions don’t carry a fee. After the first 100, non-electronic 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 you can use across the U.S. and Canada.
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.
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