In recent years, the UK has seen a significant rise in challenger business bank accounts, driven by the evolving needs of modern businesses. Unlike traditional banks, challenger banks offer a streamlined, digital-first approach that appeals to entrepreneurs and SMEs alike. Businesses opt for these innovative banking solutions due to the quick and hassle-free account opening process, often completed within minutes. Additionally the well design mobile apps provide intuitive and efficient financial management tools, enabling business owners to handle their banking needs on the go. The convenience, speed, and advanced technology offered by challenger banks make them an increasingly popular choice for businesses seeking business accounts and Tide and Starling are two of the most popular options.

Tide vs Starling Business Accounts

This guide focuses primarily on comparing Tide vs Starling business accounts. Since Tide only offers business accounts, it’s likely that you're interested in comparing Tide's business accounts with Starling Bank's business accounts. There is no Tide personal account to compare with Starling's personal accounts. We evaluate both options from a general business perspective to address the needs of most businesses. However, it's always worth exploring all available options to find the best solution for your specific needs.

As  two of the most popular options in the UK it’s no surprise that when it comes to opening an account for your business uk the UK many end up looking at Tide vs Starling business account options. 

The good news is this guide is focused on Starling vs Tide, we don’t include other banks to confuse you, we simply let you compare the offerings so you can choose the right option for your business needs.

We cover fees and costs, the app/web access, customer service, sign up offers, tools, deposit protection and reviews, showing you the main differences as well as similarities so you can make an informed choice

Tide vs Starling- Features

At their core both Tide and Starling both offer very similar features, we’ve popped these all into an easy to read table below so you can quickly look and compare.

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It’s no surprise that they both offer everything most businesses would expect from a business account, this includes a current business account, business debit cards, ATM use,international payments/transfers, access via an app as well as via their website and a good level of customer service.

Additionally smaller but equally as useful features both have include the option to freeze and unfreeze your card within the app if you lose or have your card stolen, option to schedule payments, ability to use your business cards on Apple pay and adding additional cards for other members of your team to use.

Great I hear you say but that doesn’t help you make a choice, so let's look at the features that differ from each. 

One of the key differences is the ability to cash cheques, with Starling you can do this via the mobile app by simply taking a photo of the cheque, this works for cheques below £1,000 in value, for those higher you can send them to a freepost address and they will be credited to your account. Tide on the other hand have no option to accept cheques, therefore you’ll have to return any cheques that people or businesses pay you and request a different payment method. 

In today’s age this isn’t a big issue as it's rare for cheques to be used but if you are in an ‘old school’ industry where cheques are still used this may sway your decision.

Both businesses now offer free business invoice software, with Tide you’ll get access to create professional invoices from templates and customise them to your business from within the Tide app. You can then send these via email or SMS/Whatsapp. A similar option is available in Starling for you to use. 

If you plan on wanting a business overdraft then you may want to look into Starling over Tide as they offer you the ability to have an overdraft (this will come with a fee if you use it) where as Tide currently do not offer the ability to have an overdraft. 

Tide vs Starling - Ease of opening

Both offer a fast and efficient sign up process and with either you should be able to in most cases open an account in under 10 minutes, this can all be done via the apps but will require some ID to prove who you are and may require a few other additional bits of information.

Tide currently have an offer which gives you £50 free when you open an account using code: FOUNDERPASS and deposit £50 within the first 3 months.

Starling currently do not have any similar offers.

Tide vs Starling - Who are they designed for

Both Starling and Tide are designed as an option for those in the UK looking for business bank accounts, however there are some slight differences which may affect your decision for which to go for.

Tide’s whole business is focused on businesses including startups, they don’t offer other products for consumers and so this comes with the advantage of having a very focused product and one that businesses really seem to love. 

Starling on the other hand offer personal banking and joint accounts which means that they focus isn’t purely on businesses like Tide. This doesn’t necessarily mean their business option is worse, it just highlights what each company has to think about when designing features.

Picking either will in 99% of cases be a great fit for your business but for some businesses who may require that extra help a company that only offers business accounts may be a better option.

Tide vs Starling - Fees

One factor that often sways people is to consider the fees and costs associated with a business bank account, this includes if there is a cost to open, monthly fees, every day transaction fees, ATM fees and any sign up offers.

You’ll find a table below for you to quickly compare the different fees that Starling bank and Tide offer: 

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As you’ll be able to note, both offer similar fees and monthly options and the best option in terms of fees will depend on how your business uses an account, for example if you are transaction heavy or need to do lots of international transfers this will affect which may work out cheaper.

Don’t forget that there is also a £50 sign up offer available for Tide using code: FOUNDERPASS and this will give you £50 when you sign up and deposit £50 within 3 months. 

Tide vs Starling - Business Savings Accounts

Currently Tide offer an instant access business saving account offering one of the leading rates for this type of account in the UK. This means you can access this at any time and is one of many reasons that people choose to use Tide, you read more about this in our Tide

Starling do not currently offer a business savings account.

For customers paying in cash and cheques

If you’re a business that needs to pay in cash then both Tide and Starling bank offer the option to pay this in via a Post Office, Tide additionally allows you to do this via Paypoints. 

Fees vary for Tide depending how much you deposit, for sums over £500 it is 0.5% compared to Starling’s 0.7% and for sums under £500 Tide charge £2.50. Note that Starling have a min fee of £3. 

Tide do not have any option to accept cheques, Starling on the other hand allow you to take a photo in the app for cheques under £1,000 and for those over you can post them in to a free post address. 

Tide vs Starling - Security

The good news is that both Tide and Starling have FSCS protection, this protection covers eligible money up to £85,000 per person per institution if the unlikely event that the company fails, liquidates or collapses.

In terms of security both businesses have various security measures in place to ensure your personal and business security. These include two factor authentication, Face ID login, the option to freeze and unfreeze cards as well as notifications in real time so you can see if any unusual activity happens on your card.

Neither Starling or Tide stand out in terms of these and so both cover you in a very similar way. 

Tide vs Starling - Usability

There is nothing more frustrating than using a badly designed mobile app or website, the positive news is that both Starling and Tide both have well designed apps, which is the best is open to debate and will rely on your personal preferences but with either choice you’ll get a good experience. 

Tide vs Starling - Customer service

Both companies have great customer service based on the reviews across various platforms, additionally you’ll find that both companies offer live chat within their apps as well as email support. Phone support is available on certain plans for those who prefer to talk to someone this way.

These three core ways give you various options to get in touch with customer service when needed, of course as these are both digital based business accounts you won’t have the option to go into any kind of branch as neither have physical locations.

Tide vs Starling - Reviews

We try to give you fair, honest and impartial information so you can make an informed decision but it’s always wise to look into the reviews that each of these companies have on review platforms to give yourself an idea of the type of experience their existing customers have had. 

Remember that the below reviews are from all types of customers, so for Tide these will all be business customers whereas from Starling it will be a mix of personal banking, joint account holders and business customers. 

Tide has an average rating of 4.1 out of 5 from over 20,000 reviews, a great score and from these 20,000 reviews over 70% give them 5 out 5 stars. 

Starling bank has an average of 4.3 out of 5 from over 40,000 reviews and over 75% give them 5 out of 5 stars.

Below you'll find some of the more recent Tide business reviews, you'll also find our full Tide business account review we've written:

You'll then see a range of Starling bank reviews below:

In terms of negative reviews, Tide has 18% of reviews giving 1 out of 5 stars, with some negative reviews mentioning issues with customer service, slow sign up for some customers who require additional checks and times when the account has been warned they may pause it unless certain documents are uploaded.

Starling have 11% of reviews rated 1 star, with customers mentioning withdrawal limits, issues with transfers, issues getting fast responses from customer service and issues removing a director from the account when they’re out of the business.

Remember that it can be worth exploring all of the different reviews to get an overall understanding of customer experience. As with any business there will customers who have fantastic experiences and those that have bad ones.

Summary of Tide vs Starling

So you’ve checked out all of the features, fees, usability, reviews and customer service but still a little undecided of which to go for, this can often be the case as they are very similar in lots of areas.

In general, customers tend to pick Tide if they are a business customer who want to go for a company that purely focuses on business accounts, those that open Starling tend to be those who have a current account or may want to open one at the same time.

Additionally, the Tide referral code of £50 when you use code: FOUNDERPASS and deposit £50 within 3 months is often a factor that sways some to use Tide business over Starling bank. You can also check out any Starling bank sign up bonus offers that may be available for personal customers.

It’s key to remember however that either option will give you a great business account so we recommend going for the one that you think is most suited to your needs.