Revolut Business Review

Since being founded in 2015, fintech company Revolut has gone from strength to strength.

As well as offering personal accounts, Revolut also offers business accounts, giving the company even greater appeal.

We take a detailed look at these business accounts in this review.

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Quick Look — Pros & Cons

Here's a quick overview of the pros and cons of having a Revolut business account.

Pros

✔️ Quick and easy to get set up.

✔️ A range of price points, allowing you to choose a service that’s right for you.

✔️ A handy mobile app that’s packed full of features for helping you manage your money.

✔️ Competitive rates on international currencies and transfers.

Cons

❌ Most of the essential features only come with the paid-for accounts. The Basic one is limited.

❌ ATM transactions incur a fee.

❌ The account doesn’t accept cash deposits.

Overall, there are plenty of positives that we liked about the service. The negatives really depend on the type of business transactions that you make.

What is Revolut for Business?

Revolut is a fintech firm founded in July 2015. It's grown to become one of the biggest startups in this sector, with over 25 million customers worldwide.

It offers financial services as well as currency exchange, both of which use the Revolut app. The company has brought innovation to the financial industry, providing quick and easy ways to get started with a business or personal account.

Revolut for Business is a ‘business account platform for domestic and international payments, designed to save you time and money.’ 

How does Revolut Business work?

Revolut business accounts are designed for freelancers, sole traders and limited companies. There are several plan types to choose from.

Revolut offers four different plan types for companies. The Basic plan has no monthly fee. Which plan you choose will partly depend on how many currency exchanges and bank transfers you need to make per month, as fee-free allowances will vary.

Sign up is typically a fairly straightforward process. You need a business email address and details of your company, and you can sign up in minutes using the app. There’s no contract, and you can cancel at any time.

The app has several functions that allow you to manage your money. This includes account overviews, including your balance across 25+ different currencies. You can also view employee spending across Revolut’s prepaid cards.

What features does Revolut Business have?

There are a lot of features you can potentially benefit from with a Revolut business account.

The ones you’ll get largely depend on how much you pay for the service. However, there are some basic features that are common to all tiers Revolut offers:

• Free payments to Revolut accounts. You can make unlimited, free payments to other Revolut accounts. This applies to all plans.
• Additional team members. You can invite unlimited team members.
• Free local transfers. You'll get a set number of fee-free local transfers per month, usually ranging from 5 to 1,000 depending on the plan.
• Receive, hold and exchange currencies. You can select from 25+ currencies, and have local accounts in both GBP and EUR.
• Access to prepaid debit cards. These can be used for business expenses and ATM withdrawals.

Higher, paid tiers of the service also benefit from the following:

• 24/7 priority support. You can get dedicated support at any time of the day.
• Free international transfers. The number you can carry out per month will be limited depending on your plan.
• An allowance on fee-free foreign exchange. Get the same rate the banks do, but your fee-free allowance will depend on the plan.

All of these features, and more, aim to make your accounting and financial affairs quick and easy.

What are the fees for using Revolut Business?

Like most services in this sector, the better features come at a cost. However, the basic accounts for businesses still provide a good level of services for those just starting out. Once your business is more established, you might want to opt for a paid-for account so you can access more features.

The current price structure for company business accounts is as follows:

• Basic Account. This has no monthly fee but has limited features.
• Grow Account. The first paid tier costs from £19 per month and provides considerably more features than the basic offering.
• Scale Account. For more established companies, the £79 monthly fee provides a lot of scale for growth.
• Enterprise Account. For larger companies, a custom monthly fee gives you access to all the best features Revolut has to offer.

Other fees also apply once you go above the threshold of your monthly allowance:

• Local transfers cost £0.20 per transaction.
• International transactions cost £5.
• Foreign exchange transactions cost 0.5% of the transaction, or 1% outside market hours.

Who is Revolut Business for?

The beauty of the Revolut for Business account is that it scales based on the size of your company. The four tiers offer a diverse set of features to match the budgets of startups and small and medium-sized enterprises. Set up Payroll in a few clicks and save time with automated expenses.

Currently, it’s not quite the complete package, as features like business loans or overdrafts have yet to be added. However, all of these functions are on the roadmap for the future.

What are the drawbacks of using Revolut Business?

Good as it is, Revolut’s service isn’t perfect. There are, like with any fintech provider, a few problems. The extent to which they affect you depends somewhat on what you plan on using the account for.

One of our biggest issues is that the basic account doesn’t really give you much when it comes to transaction thresholds. Five free local transfers with the Basic plan seems quite limiting, particularly with a £0.20 charge on every subsequent one.

If you plan to make international transfers, then things are even worse. Even for the £19 per month option, you only get five free transfers each month (a £5 fee applies outside the monthly allowance).

There’s also no option to deposit cash into your account. Again, cash-based businesses will likely want to look elsewhere for their business accounts.

How safe is Revolut Business?

Safety is a top priority for Revolut, whether it’s for its business or personal accounts. Its website is secure and encrypted, and the app uses all of the security features we’ve come to expect from such technology.

In the UK, Revolut is not a bank but an e-money institution, authorised under the UK Electronic Money Regulations. This means, in particular, that FSCS protection does not apply to the e-money or payment services Revolut provides. Revolut keeps funds in ring-fenced accounts at Lloyds and Barclays. This means your capital is safe at all times.

Revolut Business Account Review Verdict

Overall, we’re very impressed with what Revolut has to offer on the business side of things.

Particularly with the addition of the no monthly fee accounts, it now seems to cater to just about every startup and SME.

The app is simple to use and is full of features and tools, and we particularly like how quickly you can get set up.

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It’s not quite perfect — some of the limitations on free transactions mean that it could be expensive, particularly if you deal with overseas clients a lot. However, if you can overlook these issues, then there are few better accounts on the market right now.