Tide Business Current Account

Tide Business Current Account

Tide is a free business account built specifically for sole traders, freelancers and small limited companies — the people who want proper business banking without paying monthly fees.

You get a UK sort code and account number, a business debit card, invoicing tools built in, expense categorisation, and integrations with Xero and QuickBooks if you want to add bookkeeping later. Setup takes minutes and everything runs through the app.

There are no monthly fees on the base plan and no minimum balance requirements. Paid tiers exist if you want extra features like priority support or more transactions — but most sole traders never need to pay a penny.

Tide is an e-money institution rather than a full UK bank, which is worth knowing — your money isn’t protected by the FSCS scheme the same way it would be with Mettle or Starling. In practice this rarely matters for typical balances, but it’s the honest trade-off for a free business account with the features Tide gives you.

Best for: Sole traders and small businesses who want a free UK business account with genuinely good invoicing and expense tools built in.

The deal: Open a free Tide business current account through The Self Employed Club and get £20 cashback once you’ve funded and spent £100 through the account within your first 30 days. No monthly fees on the base plan.

Standard Tide terms apply. Cashback paid on completion of qualifying activity.