10 Best Banks for Small Business in 2023

• You want all the products and services offered by a traditional bank
• You need a bank with physical locations in addition to online access
• You want one bank to handle both your personal and business accounts, which can scale as your business grows

With three outstanding business checking options, a variety of business loans, and a wide range of business support services, Chase is our best bank for small businesses. It offers one of the best small business checking accounts, with three excellent checking account options available.

Which Chase checking account is best for your business will depend on your average monthly balance, number of transactions, and cash deposits each month. If you can waive the $95 monthly fee, the Chase Platinum Business Checking account is the best premium checking product on the market.

In addition to its outstanding checking and savings products, it has industry-leading lending products, including credit cards and lines of credit. Through J.P. Morgan, Chase provides commercial lending solutions, including commercial real estate loans, payment services, cash flow management, commercial credit cards, and merchant services. It also offers excellent POS and software solutions.

Whether your business is just starting or is in a rapid growth stage, Chase has banking products to help your company thrive.

• You want a traditional brick-and-mortar bank that offers a full suite of business banking services
• You need more free transactions out of your basic checking, as Bank of America’s Fundamentals Business Checking offers up to 200 free each month
• You want to earn rewards from your checking account in addition to $500 in bonuses with qualifying actions

Bank of America is another outstanding traditional brick-and-mortar business banking option. It’s practically even with Chase and choosing between the two may come down to which bank is closer to your business. You can compare Bank of America vs Chase to determine which is best.

Bank of America has two business checking accounts with easily waivable monthly fees. With assistance from your business banking advisor, you can go from one account to the other as your business needs change. You get up to $7,500 in cash deposits per month for free before the bank charges fees. If you advance to the higher-tier Business Advantage Relationship Banking, you get up to $20,000 a month in free cash deposits. The bank charges 30 cents for every $100 you exceed either threshold.

Another area Bank of America stands out is ongoing rewards. Besides potentially earning $500 with qualifying actions, it grants rewards for cash back and travel through the company’s business credit cards. With the company’s preferred rewards for business, you can earn 25% to 75% bonus rewards on credit cards and get a 5% to 20% higher interest rate on business advantage savings accounts.

Growing businesses can also take advantage of its outstanding business savings, CDs, lending products, and financial analysis through Merrill financial advisor. In addition, it allows you to access your Dun & Bradstreet business credit score through the app. Bank of America provides everything your business needs as it changes.

• You don’t need a physical banking location as Bluevine is digital-only
• Your company wants to earn interest on its checking account and meets one of the two requirements set aside by Bluevine to earn interest
• You need a line of credit as Bluevine is our best small business lines of credit

While Bluevine doesn’t have all the banking products as some of its competitors on this list, it features the best business line of credit products and an outstanding interest-earning business checking product. You can earn 2.0% APY with its business checking as long as you either spend $500 a month with the debit card or receive $2,500 in customer payments in a month. It also provides two free checkbook orders per year.

There are no monthly fees or transaction fees, and it requires no minimum opening deposit or minimum balance. Bluevine also provides great software integrations.

Cash deposits will cost you $4.95 per transaction and can only be done at a Green Dot retail location. Also, Bluevine charges $2.50 for out-of-network ATM withdrawals in addition to third-party fees.

• You may need access to physical locations as well as online access
• You live in one of the 26 states eligible for a business checking account
• You want a full-service traditional bank offering a variety of business banking products

U.S. Bank is another full-service banking option for your small business. We like it because of its multiple checking options and business banking products, including business loans and lines of credit, SBA loans, equipment financing, practice financing, and McDonald’s franchise financing. However, its biggest drawback is its geographic limitation. You must be in one of the 26 states listed above to be eligible for an account.

There is no monthly fee with the basic business checking account, known as Silver Business Checking. While Gold and Platinum Business Checking accounts have fees, both allow more free transactions along with other perks.

U.S. Bank offers business savings accounts and CDs, money market accounts, and business credit cards. There is also cash management, payroll services, fraud protection, gift card management for businesses, and merchant services.

You can even earn a $400 bonus when you open a new, eligible U.S. Bank business checking account (promo code: AF49ZCB) and complete qualifying activities, subject to certain terms and limitations; offer valid through Jan. 30, 2023.

• Your business is near a Capital One branch
• Your business does many transactions
• You require the ability to make large cash deposits.

With unlimited free monthly transactions, Capital One is an outstanding choice for a bank for small business. It would be a better choice if it weren’t so geographically limited. You must open an account in a branch, and those are only located in six states and Washington, D.C.

The biggest advantage Capital One has over the other brick-and-mortar banks in this guide is it doesn’t charge fees for everyday account transactions. You get unlimited deposits, withdrawals, and transfers, excluding international wires, cashier’s checks, and other services. If your business makes a lot of cash deposits, you’ll have to pay $1 for every $1,000 after depositing $5,000 in a month.

The monthly fee of $15 is waivable easily. You need a $2,000 30- or 90-day balance average to waive the fee. For businesses with higher balances, Capital One offers Unlimited Business Checking.

Another area where the bank shines is its business credit cards and lending products. It offers business credit cards that can help your business with small and recurring expenses. It also has real estate term loans, lines of credit, and SBA loans and other business support services, including merchant services, escrow fund management, commercial banking, and business-to-business (B2B) credit programs.

• Your business is located in a state where Huntington Bank operates
• Your business might be interested in a smaller SBA 7(a) loan as Huntington is one of the top SBA lenders
• You want multiple options for business checking as Huntington offers four different business checking options with no monthly fees or waivable fees

As one of the biggest SBA 7(a) lenders in the nation, Huntington Bank is one of the best banks for small business. Despite being geographically limited to 11 states, it is one of the leading SBA lenders. It was the No. 2 SBA lender in 2021, with almost 3,000 SBA loans for approximately $600 million. As of Oct. 14, 2022, Huntington had issued more than 5,600 SBA loans in 2022 for slightly less than $1 billion, according to SBA.gov.

It seems to focus on the quantity of SBA loans rather than large SBA loan amounts. According to SBA Lenders, the average SBA loan given by Huntington was $204,755 in 2021. The minimum loan was $1,500, with the maximum being $5 million.

As your business grows from the startup stage to a large, thriving business, Huntington has a business checking product that can fit your needs. It offers three business checking products for businesses of any size with waivable monthly fees. It also has business analyzed checking for larger companies.

• Business owners who don’t need their business bank to have a physical location
• Companies that don’t need to deposit cash
• Businesses looking for capital or venture debt products

For incorporated startups and tech companies, Mercury is an excellent choice. The digital-only company offers free checking and savings accounts with no minimum deposit or balance requirements. It now offers Mercury Treasury, which is an interest-earning account. Customers can request once they have at least $250,000 in funds in Mercury accounts. Currently, it is earning up to 2.574% APY, although the bank expects that to increase as the prime rate increases.

You can also get a $200 cash back bonus if you spend $2,000 on your debit or credit card within the first 90 days of account opening. Mercury recently added a credit card product that offers 1.5% cash back and unlimited virtual cards.

Its software integrations are top-notch, and its perks page allows you to advertise deals for your business on its website. Most businesses incorporated in the United States are eligible for an account, except sole proprietorships and trusts.

The bank also offers capital and venture debt products to go with its new credit card. However, it doesn’t have any other types of lending. It is a superb choice for a digital-only bank with great software integrations and unique lending and interest-earning account products.

• Your business doesn’t need more than a business checking account as Novo doesn’t offer savings or lending products
• Your business withdraws cash from ATMs frequently
• You need easy integration with third-party apps for accounting and e-commerce

While Novo doesn’t have the full-service business banking products offered by many other options on this list, it’s a great choice if your business wants quicker access to funds and the ability to send and receive payments faster. The company offers Novo Boost, which allows your business, if you accept payments from Stripe, to receive payments sent from your Stripe account faster than other providers.

In addition, Novo offers Express ACH, which enables you to accept or send same-day ACH payments. The combination of Novo Boost and Express ACH allows you access to your money faster than other digital-only providers.

Novo refunds all ATM fees at the end of each month, which is great if your business regularly withdraws cash from an ATM. This bank also excels in digital integrations, with unlimited invoicing and excellent accounting and payment software integrations. You can also get up to 10 reserve accounts. While you cannot order checks, you can send paper checks from the app.

It doesn’t charge for cash deposits, but you must purchase a money order and deposit it through the app. You can buy money orders from US Postal Service (USPS) locations for up to $1.95 for up to $1,000 money orders.

• You want to use a bank specifically designed to serve startup businesses
• You want a bank with no minimum balance requirements
• You’d like to take advantage of tech startup resources to help grow your business

For startups looking for the best bank with the tools to support their businesses, Silicon Valley Bank is a terrific choice. It offers resources and guidance for startups through networking events, hiring workshops, fundraising tips and tools, and opportunities to meet founders and investors. It also provides discounts for over 50 different software and services, such as Salesforce, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Zendesk.

It’s a good fit for businesses needing mostly online banking as it has limited branches in 16 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

One downside to SVB is its fees. While the basic account SVB Edge is free to start, it goes up to $50 a month after three years, which is very high. The higher tier, SVB ScaleUp, includes $500 in monthly credits that can be applied to service fees. If your business can grow into that account in three years, SVB makes sense for your business.

It also offers business credit cards and some lending products, including venture debt, growth, and working capital. Startups could find SVB’s resources invaluable, while more established businesses looking for a full-service digital bank will be better off with First Internet Bank.