Tide Business Account Review: all you need to know about features, fees and alternatives

Tide is an electronic money institution which offers business banking services to small businesses, freelancers, sole traders and registered limited companies in the UK. Unlike high street banks, Tide doesn’t have branches - instead, you’ll be able to manage your Tide business account online¹.

You can open an account for free, and get a Tide card for yourself as a business owner, as well as expense cards for your employees². Tide bank offers a wide range of banking services for businesses in the UK, and in this article we'll review features and costs for the Tide Business account, alongside some pros and cons for this provider.

But is the Tide business account right for you and your company? Find out below in our comprehensive Tide business account review, where we’ll run through features, fees, pros and cons, info on Tide cards, and much more.

We will also look at an alternative - the Wise Business account, ideal for UK businesses that need to send or receive money from overseas, a feature which is currently missing for Tide's customers, but more on that later.

If you're a business sending more than 100,000 GBP (or equivalent) monthly across different currencies, get in touch with the Wise Business sales team to discuss the best solutions for your needs.

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Tide business account review

Let's start with a quick overview of Tide Business Account features and pricing.

Tide business account review

Tide is currently rated 3.9 stars on Trustpilot, from over 24,000 reviews.³ From customer reviews, we’ve summarised a few pros and cons.³

Tide is also a good option for businesses who struggle to open traditional business accounts due to a poor credit history, as it doesn’t do credit checks (it will still run electronic checks to verify your identity and comply with UK anti-money laundering regulations).⁴ It's mostly app based which makes it convenient for a lot of users, but it also offers a desktop version for easier view and navigation.

It also provides an open banking API that can be integrated into your systems to have access to automated payments and other features.

💡 Read more: Tide vs Revolut Business: Comparison for UK Businesses

Tide Business Account Features

The Tide Business account offers the following features⁵:

• Integration with accounting apps such as Xero and Sage, or upgrade to Tide Accounting
• Integration with accounting apps such as Xero and Sage
• Spending control with employee expense cards
• Apply for business loans
• Access to Tide Instant Saver Account to earn variable interest
• Multiple ways to accept payments, including invoicing, payment links, card reader and Tap to Pay on iPhone
• Send and receive EUR payments
• Auto-categorisation of income and spending, for easier accounting
• Discounts and offers with Member Perks, plus access to additional Mastercard-led discounts and cashback
• Cashflow insights and forecasts

Although Tide has a good selection of features to help UK businesses, there are some limitations. For example, enhanced multi user access is only available on paid plans - the free plan only allows for read-only access.

Another serious disadvantage of Tide Business Account is the lack of international transactions beyond SEPA EUR payments to Europe, specially to UK businesses trading overseas. The account doesn't allow businesses to send SWIFT payments overseas, and can only receive them in GBP.²

If you do business abroad and need to pay or get paid in other currencies, such as US Dollars (USD) for example, a multi-currency account like Wise Business may be a better option.

Wise is a great alternative to international business banking. The Wise Business account has all the features your company needs to grow overseas, including the ability to hold and convert between 40+ currencies and send payments to 140+ countries.

You can also open local accounts in 8+ currencies, so your clients can pay you in their own currency without any extra costs. And there are international Wise cards for you and your team, to cover expenses all over the world.

Tide pricing

If you’re thinking of opening a Tide business account, you’ll need to know what fees are involved. It’s worth thinking about how you might use your account, and what services are important to you, before you select a business account as the fees will vary according to the services you’ll use.

Tide offers a free current account, along with paid subscription plans which offer more services, features and increased limits in exchange for a monthly fee.

Tide pricing - Free account plan¹

Tide pricing - Smart account plan¹

Tide pricing - Pro account plan¹

Tide pricing - Max account plan¹

If you’re wondering how much alternatives cost compared to Tide, you can check our head to head comparison between Starling Bank and Tide.

Tide Card

When signing up for Tide free account or subscribing for one of the paid plans you’ll be able to order a free Tide Card for your use. Your business card will be linked to your Tide business account and offers free payments at home and abroad - although ATM withdrawals cost £1.¹

If you use your Tide card overseas, you’ll pay foreign transaction fees of 1.75% on the free plan. There are no FX fees for the paid plans.¹

You can also create virtual cards, and order up to 50 employee expense cards (fees apply).⁶ These can be given to your team to cover business expenses, and are managed by the account holder. This means you can retain full control of employees’ spending, and issue, limit or cancel cards as needed from your Tide app.

Tide customer services

If you’re a Tide customer already, the easiest way to get in touch with the customer support team is through the in-app support. You’ll just need to tap ‘Support’ and then ‘Messages’.

You can also send inquiries to Tide by email on the address: hello@tide.co.⁷

Tide contact number

You can seek support over the phone in case of fraud and lost or stolen cards. If you’re in the UK, simply call 159.⁷

If you need help closing your Tide Business Account you can check our step-by-step guide.

Alternative to Tide Bank: Wise Business account

If your company does or plans to do business overseas, whether it’s customers, workers or suppliers, Tide may not necessarily be the best option. This is mainly because it only allows SEPA EUR payments, which isn’t ideal for companies that operate worldwide.

This is why the Wise Business account is the perfect alternative. It’s quick and easy to open online, and gives you a powerful platform for sending, receiving and managing your business finances in over 40+ currencies.

You can easily pay suppliers and workers all over the world, for low fees and the mid-market exchange rate. Save time with easy bulk payments, or automate processes with the Wise API. And best of all, you can get paid for your products or services quickly and easily, accepting payments in 9 major currencies.

Need a solution for expenses? You can get Wise Business expense cards for each team member who needs one. They work in 150+ countries, and charges no foreign currency transaction fees. There’s even 0.5% cashback on spending.

You can also link your Wise Business account with your favourite accounting tools, such as Xero or Quickbooks. This makes keeping track of your company’s finances a breeze.

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Choosing the right banking services for your business is a big deal. Get the right account for your needs, and you can protect your profitability, and get on with running your business without worrying about the costs of banking. By doing some research before choosing a business account, you’ll be able to find the right service for your needs - so you can focus on what really matters.

Sources used for this article:

Sources last checked on 13 May, 2025