Tide vs Starling Business

Bank licence and FSCS: the most-asked question

Starling is a fully licensed UK bank, supervised by the PRA and FCA. Every eligible Starling Business deposit is FSCS-protected up to £85,000 per depositor on the main account, automatically. Tide is not a bank: depending on the product you receive a business bank account issued via ClearBank (a licensed clearing bank, FSCS-eligible) or a Tide-issued e-money account (safeguarded under e-money rules, but not FSCS-protected).

For balances comfortably under £85,000, the practical difference is small — both route payments via Faster Payments, both give you a sort code and account number, both let you receive card payments and pay HMRC. For balances at or above £85,000, the cleaner answer is Starling or splitting funds across providers.

Fees and plan structure

Starling is famously simple: free for sole traders, £7/month for a limited company account, free UK transfers, free UK ATM withdrawals and no monthly cap on the basic feature set. Tide is tiered: Free is genuinely free with a capped transfer allowance; Smart, Pro and Max add more included transfers, expense cards and enhanced invoicing for monthly fees. If your volume is low, both work out cheaply. If you make hundreds of UK transfers a month and don't need Tide's tooling, Starling has the simpler bill. If you do want Tide's invoicing, expense categorisation and integrations, the paid plans usually justify themselves.

Built-in tooling

This is Tide's strongest argument. Invoicing is more capable, expense categorisation is more aggressive, and integrations with Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent are first-class. Starling has improved here — Spaces, Bills Manager, basic invoicing — but it remains closer to a clean banking app than a finance ops platform.

International payments

Neither is the right primary tool for heavy international payers — that's Wise or Revolut Business. Of the two, Starling is stronger thanks to its multi-currency add-on. Tide's international payments are functional but not the cheapest at volume.

Cash, ATMs and support

Starling wins on free UK ATM withdrawals. Both charge for cash deposits via the Post Office (Tide also via PayPoint). Starling offers 24/7 phone support; Tide is in-app chat. If you need a human on the phone outside business hours, Starling is the answer.

The sign-up offer

Starling does not run a structured sign-up cashback offer. Tide currently runs REFER200 — up to £200 cashback when you complete £100 of card spend in 30 days (£75) and deposit £5,000 into Tide Instant Saver within 7 days, holding for 30 days (£125). That's the single biggest tie-breaker in 2026 for anyone whose decision is genuinely close.

Pick Tide if…

You're opening your first business account, you want integrated invoicing and accounting tools out of the box, you'd benefit from integrated company formation, and the £200 REFER200 cashback materially helps your early cash flow. Tide is also the simpler answer if you want one app for banking, invoices and expense data without bolting on a separate tool.

Pick Starling if…

You want a fully licensed UK bank with full FSCS on the main account, you make a lot of UK transfers or ATM withdrawals, you'd value 24/7 phone support, or you need multi-currency for European trade. Starling is also the cleaner answer for established businesses that already have separate accounting software they're happy with.

Can you use both?

Yes — and many UK businesses do. A common pattern is Tide as the operational account (invoicing, expenses, REFER200 cashback) and Starling as a secondary account holding larger balances for FSCS coverage. There's no requirement to choose only one provider.

Cards, ATMs and spending controls

Starling issues a Mastercard debit on every Business account with free UK ATM withdrawals (a meaningful saving for any business that withdraws cash regularly), free contactless and chip-and-PIN at home and abroad, and instant card freeze in the app. Tide issues a Mastercard debit on Free and adds Expense Cards on paid tiers — physical and virtual cards for staff with categorisation, per-card limits and receipt capture. For a single-director business that doesn't withdraw much cash, Starling's free UK ATMs are nice but not decisive. For a small team that needs multiple cards under control, Tide's Expense Cards on Smart or Pro is the cleaner answer.

Savings, interest and retained cash

Starling offers a Business Savings Account (variable rate) and fixed-term business deposits via partners, with rates published in-app and FSCS coverage on top of the main account up to the £85,000 per depositor limit. Tide offers Tide Instant Saver, a single instant-access business savings account paying a market-leading variable rate at the time of writing (rates change). Tide Instant Saver also doubles as one half of the REFER200 reward — a £5,000 deposit held for 30 days is what triggers the £125 saver bonus. For retained earnings above the FSCS limit, neither alone is the right answer; both serve as one tier of a multi-provider treasury setup.

Cash deposits and counter services

Starling accepts cash via the Post Office only, with a percentage fee and a monthly cap. Tide accepts cash via the Post Office and PayPoint, which gives slightly broader geographic coverage but the same kind of fee structure. Neither is suitable for high cash volume — businesses regularly taking more than a few hundred pounds in notes per week should look at Cashplus, HSBC Kinetic or a traditional high-street account. Cheque deposits are limited at both digital providers; if you receive cheques, check the current process in-app before committing.

Support — Starling's 24/7 phone line

Starling's UK-based 24/7 phone support is a genuine differentiator. For any business owner who has tried to resolve a payment block at 9pm on a Sunday, the difference between "the chat queue will reply when an agent is free" and "a human picks up the phone" is real. Tide's in-app chat is generally well-staffed during business hours, but out-of-hours response times stretch. If your business runs evenings or weekends and depends on payments clearing in real time, Starling's support model is a meaningful advantage.

For specific business types

Sole traders: Starling is free with no monthly fee; Tide Free is free with the REFER200 cashback. Either works. Limited companies: Starling charges £7/month for the Ltd account; Tide Free is £0 with the cashback. For pure cost in year one, Tide wins; for ongoing simplicity at a small flat fee, Starling wins. Freelancers and contractors: Tide's invoicing on Free is the deciding factor for many. Established businesses with retained cash: Starling's FSCS clarity and 24/7 support tend to win. Cash-handling businesses: neither is ideal — Cashplus or a high-street bank is the answer.

Switching and running both

Most UK business accounts are not yet covered by the Current Account Switch Service, so moving between Tide, Starling and other providers is manual — re-pointing Direct Debits, standing orders and HMRC details. Both providers make this straightforward in-app. A surprising number of UK SMEs end up running both indefinitely — Tide for operations and the REFER200 cashback, Starling for FSCS comfort on retained earnings and the 24/7 phone line. There's no fee at either to keep the account dormant.