The 14 Best Business Checking Accounts In 2021

There are specific things you should look for when choosing a business checking account. Be sure to check out the fees, minimum balance requirements, and your need for in-person services.

If you want an online account take a look at Radius Bank or the Small Business Bank. Chase and Wells Fargo are among a long list of brick and mortar banks you can for your small business checking account.

Luckily, there are many free and low-cost business checking accounts that can meet your checking needs and your budget.

Why It’s Important To Separate Business Checking From Your Personal Checking

You might be tempted to combine your business transactions right with your personal checking account transactions to make life easier. However, there are a few reasons why having a separate business checking account is a smart idea.

Keeping Proper Records

As a business owner, keeping good records is important. Organized record keeping helps make tax time much easier, as you know exactly how much money is brought in and distributed from your business.

In other words, you’ll know exactly how much money your business is–or isn’t–earning. Having a separate business checking account will help you more easily track business income and expenses. And it’ll help you better gauge your company’s success too.

Making Tax Time Easier

With proper records–income and expenses that are easily recognizable with a separate business checking account–you will make tax time much easier on yourself or whoever does your taxes.

If you’re meshing your business transactions with your personal checking account, you’ll need to spend hours separating business transactions from personal transactions for your accountant.

Instead, make tax time easier by keeping your business transactions completely separate from your personal transactions. Having a separate checking account for your business is simply smart business.

How To Find The Best Business Checking Account

As you determine what type of business checking account is best for you, keep each account option’s features and benefits in mind, such as:

What the monthly and individual fees are
What the minimum balance requirement is
How much you’ll pay for checks and/or payroll services– if you need them
Access to ATM/debit cards
Customer service availability
Availability of overdraft lines of credit
Online accessibility and services
Your need for in-person services

What Are Some Of The Best Business Checking Account Options?

Luckily, in today’s competitive world there are many business checking options. We’ve organized some of the best business checking accounts in designated categories to help make your search easier.

We’ll start by sharing checking account options from banks that operate primarily or solely online. Then we’ll share a list of checking account options from banks that have a brick-and-mortar presence as well.

Best Online Business Checking Accounts

There are many online-only checking accounts–or primarily online checking accounts–for business owners these days. Look over this list of online business checking accounts to see if any appeal to you.

Radius Bank Tailored Business Checking Account

Radius Bank is an online-focused bank that was founded in 1987. The company does have two branch locations in New York, and a headquarters location in Massachusetts, but its primary focus is online banking. Their Tailored Business checking account offers attractive features such as:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $100
Monthly service fee: $10 (waived with $5,000 minimum balance)
Maximum free transactions per month: unlimited
Business debit cards available

Another attractive feature of this account is that it will pay you interest on balances over $5,000. If you’re a fan of online banking, Radius Bank has one of the most attractive business checking options in the industry.

This account is best suited to businesses that keep quite a bit of cash on hand. Otherwise, you’ll get hit with a $10 service fee. You do get unlimited free transactions so this is suitable for high volume companies.

Axos Basic Business Checking

The Axos Basic Business Checking account was created for business owners with modest banking needs. Their Basic Business Checking account includes the following features:

Minimum balance requirement: $1,000
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month: 200
Business debit cards available

Axos Bank was founded in 1999 and has other business checking and savings account options as well. Bonus: Axos Bank offers unlimited ATM fee reimbursements from ATMs located in the U.S.

This account is best suited for those who have limited transactions, as you can only do 200 transactions per month for free–that works out to about 6 per day. However, you don’t have to maintain a minimum balance to avoid fees.

Small Business Bank Free Business Checking

The Small Business Bank is a seasoned bank (they opened in 1984) that offers great features for small businesses and sole proprietors. Although they operate primarily online, they do have a branch location in Lenexa, Kansas. Some of their features include:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $5
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month: unlimited
Business debit cards available

If you’re looking for basic online business checking that’s easy to sign up for and use, this could be a great option for you. Note: Check out their MicroPayment card feature when you visit their website.

Approved customers can use the MicroPayment card feature as an interest-free loan for business purchases. Payment in full is due when your statement arrives.

With unlimited free transactions and no minimum balance requirements to avoid fees any business can get this free business checking account. Just keep in mind this is a very small bank, so if you are looking for services a large bank can offer this might not be your best choice.

First Internet Bank Small Business Checking

First Internet Bank was the first bank to operate entirely online. The bank opened nearly 20 years ago with the goal of making online banking a reality. Their small business checking account has some attractive features, such as:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month: unlimited
Business debit cards available

This account also pays interest on balances above $10,000. And they’ll reimburse you up to $10 per month for ATM fees charged by other banks.

Their unlimited free transactions, no minimum balance requirements, and interest on balances over $10,000 makes this a solid choice for a business checking account. If you don’t mind having a fully online bank this account is worth looking into.

Azlo Bank

Azlo Bank is an online bank that’s geared toward entrepreneurs, contractors, non-profit organizations, and small businesses. Their business checking account offers attractive features such as:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month: unlimited
Business debit cards available

Azlo Bank won’t charge overdraft fees or any other types of fees. And Azlo lets you pay vendors and contractors for free with their bill pay feature. Although Azlo Bank is a somewhat new bank (it launched in 2018), the company offers great features for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Now let’s look at some options for business checking accounts that have an abundance of branch locations for in-person banking. Note that all of these companies let you bank online as well.

Best In-Person Checking Accounts

Depending on your business needs and banking preferences, you might prefer a bank that has brick-and-mortar locations. For banks with that personal touch, check out these options.

Chase Total Business Checking

Chase Bank was founded in 1799 and has comprehensive online banking abilities as well as over 5,000 branch locations. Their Total Business Checking account offers the following features for business checking customers:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $15 (waived with $1,500 balance)
Maximum free transactions per month: 100
Business debit cards available

If you’re a military member, ask Chase about their military banking benefits.

This account is best for smaller businesses. With only 100 free transactions per month, a high volume business will likely be charged extra fees. However, the low minimum balance requirement of $1,500 might be perfect for a smaller business.

Wells Fargo Simple Business Checking Account

Wells Fargo was founded in 1852 and has a few business checking account options. Here are two of their most popular. The Simple Business Checking account is meant for a smaller business that doesn’t do a ton of banking transactions. Features of this account include:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $25
Monthly service fee: $10 (waived with $500 balance)
Maximum free transactions per month: 50
Business debit cards available

With over 5,000 locations in the U.S., you’ll be able to walk into a Wells Fargo Bank to do your business checking transactions no matter where you are.

Any business that has daily transactions is going to have trouble staying under the 50 free transaction limit. But that pairs with the easily waived monthly service fee with only a $500 minimum balance. So this could be a good choice for very small businesses.

Wells Fargo Choice Business Checking Account

This account is best if your business is more established and has a higher number of transactions each month. Features of this account include:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $25
Monthly service fee: $14 (waived with $7,500 balance)
Maximum free transactions per month: 200
Business debit cards available

Wells Fargo has other business checking account options available for larger businesses as well.

US Bank Silver Business Checking Account

US Bank was founded in 1968 and has a Silver Business Checking account that is designed for smaller businesses. Here are some of the account’s features:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month: 125
Business debit cards available

US Bank has over 3,000 branch locations nationwide for your banking needs. They also have a large network of ATM machines.

The no minimum balance requirement makes this account very attractive to new and small businesses but watch those transaction numbers. 125 transactions per month can go quickly.

US Bank Gold Business Checking Account

If your business is a little bit larger, consider the US Bank Gold Business Checking account. Some of the features of this account include:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $20 (waived with $10,000 balance)
Maximum free transactions per month: 300
Business debit cards available

If your business is larger than what we’ve talked about here, US Bank has additional business checking options too.

This account has a generous 300 free transactions but requires a hefty $10,000 balance to waive the monthly service fee. These factors make it suitable for a larger small business.

Citizens Bank Clearly Better Business Checking

Citizens Bank was founded in 1828 and has over 1,200 branch locations in the U.S. Some of the Clearly Better Business Checking account features include:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month: 200
Business debit cards available

The no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirements make Citizens bank a great choice for both in-person and online business checking customers.

BBVA USA Bank Business Connect Checking

BBVA USA Bank was founded in 1964 and has over 600 branches located throughout the southern U.S. Interestingly, the BBVA USA Bank website says they were the first bank to start being open on Saturdays.

Their Business Connect Checking account offers great features for small business owners.

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $100
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month: unlimited
Business debit cards available

The one potential downfall to this checking account is that your in-branch transactions are limited to five in-branch withdrawals or checks and two in-branch deposits. Other than that, the BBVA Business Connect Checking account has a lot to offer.

If you go into the bank a lot, say to deposit your cash payments for the day, then this is not the account for you since you are limited to only two in-branch deposits per month. However, the unlimited transactions and no minimum balance requirements might be perfect for a business that doesn’t accept cash.

Huntington National Bank Business Checking 100

The Huntington National Bank Business Checking 100 account might suit your small business as well. They’ve been around since 1866 and have over 900 branch locations in the Midwestern and Southeastern states. Their Business Checking 100 account offers:

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month: 100
Business debit cards available

This is a great account for in-person banking, but they offer thorough online banking services as well.

Another great account for businesses that don’t keep large balances and have very few transactions each month. However, if you are a high volume business, look elsewhere.

Navy Federal Credit Union Business Checking

If you’re a military member or veteran, you might want to consider the Navy Federal Credit Union Business Checking account. This credit union has been serving military members and their families since 1933. Here’s a summary of some of their more important business account features.

Minimum balance requirement: $0
Minimum opening deposit requirement: $0
Monthly service fee: $0
Maximum free transactions per month 30
Business debit cards available

Note that the number of free transactions for this account is somewhat low, so it’s definitely a better account for a business that can survive on minimal bank interaction. However, one extra plus for this account is that it pays interest on your checking balances.

Navy Federal Credit Union’s Business Choice Checking and Business Premier Checking offer more free transactions per month. However, they do come with higher minimum balance requirements if you want to avoid the monthly fees.

Summary

No matter what the size of your business, there are dozens of business checking account options to fit your needs. Choosing the best business checking account for your needs can help your business run more smoothly, while at the same time being budget-friendly.

The Best Business Checking Accounts In 2021