Mercury vs Relay: Best Business Checking for Startups in 2026
Mercury and Relay are the two free business checking accounts startups actually open — both have $0 monthly fees and no minimum balances. But they diverge fast once you look at wires, cash, savings interest, and how your deposits are insured. Here's the breakdown.
| Mercury | Relay | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 — no minimums, no monthly fees | $0 Starter plan; paid tiers Grow ($30/mo) and Scale ($120/mo regular, currently $90/mo on a limited-time discount) add features |
| Domestic wires | Free to send and receive | Outgoing $8 (Starter) / $5 (Grow & Scale); incoming free |
| ATM access | No Mercury fee for US ATM withdrawals; operators may add surcharges | No Relay fee; surcharge-free at Allpoint ATMs; non-Allpoint operators typically add ~$3 |
| Cash deposits | Not supported | Supported at Allpoint+ ATMs and Green Dot retailers (retailers may charge their own fee) |
| Savings APY | None published on checking or savings; Mercury Treasury (separate product, $250k+ balances) advertises up to 3.91% yield | 1.19% (Starter) / 1.87% (Grow) / 3.21% (Scale) — variable, as of 9/17/2026 |
| FDIC coverage | Up to $5M via sweep network (partner banks: Choice Financial Group, Column N.A.) | Up to $3M via insured cash sweep (deposits held by Thread Bank, Member FDIC) |
| Checks | Check payments sent free from the dashboard and mailed by Mercury; mobile check deposit supported | No per-check fee on any plan; checks mailed next business day; mobile check deposit supported |
| Multiple accounts | Checking + savings; not built for many sub-accounts | Up to 20 checking accounts (50 on Scale) and up to 50 debit cards — built for envelope-style budgeting |
Mercury: best for digital-first startups
Mercury is the default bank account for tech startups, and the pricing is genuinely simple: free checking and savings, free USD wires (including free international wires via SHA, or $15 for OUR), free ACH and check payments, no minimums. Deposits sweep across a network of banks for up to $5M in FDIC coverage — far above the standard $250k. International founders can open accounts, and the dashboard, API, and integrations (accounting, cards) are built for companies that live online.
The catch: there is no way to deposit cash, period — Mercury says so plainly and suggests it's not the best fit for cash-heavy businesses. There's also no published interest rate on checking or savings; yield requires the separate Mercury Treasury product, which needs $250,000+ across your accounts.
Pick Mercury if: you're a SaaS, ecommerce, agency, or remote team that never touches physical cash and wants free wires plus high FDIC coverage.
Relay: best for organized, multi-account finances
Relay's pitch is organization: up to 20 separate checking accounts on the free Starter plan, each with its own debit cards, plus percentage-based auto-transfer rules — it's built for Profit First–style envelope budgeting (taxes here, payroll there, operating expenses there). The Starter plan is free with no time limit; savings accounts pay real APY that scales with your plan tier. Cash deposits work at Allpoint+ ATMs and Green Dot retail locations, which Mercury can't match.
The catch: outgoing domestic wires cost $8 on Starter ($5 on paid tiers) — if you wire money often, that adds up fast against Mercury's free wires. And the genuinely useful savings rates sit behind the $30/mo Grow or $120/mo Scale plans; Starter's 1.19% is modest.
Pick Relay if: you want many separate accounts for budgeting, you handle cash, or you want your savings to earn interest without a $250k balance.
A note on affiliate availability
This page contains no affiliate links. We've applied to affiliate programs, but approvals are still pending, so we earn nothing from this comparison — full policy. The comparison is here because it's genuinely useful — that's exactly why you can trust this verdict.
Sources
- Mercury fees, wires, FDIC sweep, Treasury, cash deposits — mercury.com/faq
- Relay subscription plans, wire fees, savings APY (as of 9/17/2026) — Relay Help Center: subscription plans
- Relay free business checking overview — relayfi.com/blog/free-business-checking
- Relay vs Wise comparison (wires, balances, cash deposits) — relayfi.com/blog/relay-vs-wise
- Mercury ATM network context (third-party) — creditdonkey.com/promotions/mercury