For large businesses and startups that have received equity investments, the Brex Business Account is an excellent business checking product. Your funds can earn a high-interest yield and are protected with up to $6 million in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) insurance through a cash sweep policy using Brex’s multiple partner banks. In addition, you get access to the Brex Card, a unique and powerful business card.
Your business must meet one of the following criteria to qualify for a Brex Business Account:
- Have received an equity investment of any amount, such as from an accelerator, an angel investor, or a venture capitalist (VC)—or plan to in the near future
- Have more than $1 million a year in revenue
- Have more than 50 employees
- Have above $400,000 in cash (for mid-market and enterprise companies) or $50,000 for startups
- Are a tech startup that is on a path to meeting the criteria above and is referred by an existing customer or partner
If you don’t meet these, you can contact Brex to see if your business qualifies, as businesses that might soon meet one of the criteria may still be eligible for an account. You can also check out our list of the best Brex Business Account alternatives.
Pros
- No minimum balance or opening deposit requirement
- No monthly maintenance fees
- All automated clearing house (ACH) and wire transfers are free
- Fee-free Brex Card comes with all Brex business accounts
Cons
- No ATM card option and cash deposits
- No physical locations
- Not open to sole proprietors, unincorporated partnerships, and companies organized and/or registered outside the US
- Stringent requirements may make it difficult for some businesses to qualify
Features
- No fees on money transfers, including ACH, checks, and wire transfers, both domestic and international The recipient's financial institution may collect a fee upon receiving the wire.
- Uncapped rewards and 10x to 20x higher limits on Brex Mastercard with no personal guarantee
- Spend management for accounting automation and accuracy
- Partner perks with businesses, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apple, QuickBooks, and UPS
- Powerful mobile app with expense tracking and integrations with popular financial and business software
- Deposits can be spread among multiple partner banks that are FDIC-insured for a maximum of $6 million
- Brex Empower, spend management program
- Financial modeling tools through Brex Pry
- Automated bill pay
- Customized user permissions
- 24/7 customer support
How Brex Business Account Stacks Up With Its Competitors
Annual Percentage Yield (APY) | Cash Deposit Fee | ATM Fee | FDIC Insurance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Business Account | No cash deposits | No ATM card available | Up to $6 million | |
Visit Brex
Brex is a fintech platform backed and FDIC-insured by multiple supporting bank partnerships.
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 Business Checking | No cash deposits | None at Allpoint ATMs | Up to $3 million | |
Visit Mercury
Mercury is a fintech platform backed and FDIC-insured by a supporting bank partnership with Evolve Bank & Trust and Choice Financial Group.
| ||||
 Business Checking | 2.0% on balances of $250,000 or less | $4.95 per deposit at Green Dot | None at MoneyPass ATMs | Up to $250,000 |
Visit Bluevine
Bluevine is a fintech platform backed and FDIC-insured by a supporting bank partnership with Coastal Community Bank.
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Compared to Mercury and Bluevine, Brex offers the highest FDIC insurance protection at up to $6 million through its multiple bank partnerships. Brex’s business funds placed in money market can gain up to 4.94% The figure is based on an average seven-day yield as of Nov. 16, 2023, and is subject to change at any time. , and Mercury and Bluevine also provide high APYs.
Similar to Mercury, Brex does not allow cash deposits while Bluevine lets users deposit cash for a fee. However, unlike Mercury and Bluevine, Brex does not issue an ATM card, which limits ATM access for its users.
When Brex Is a Good Fit
- You have more than $250,000 and want it insured: Using its multiple partner banks, Brex can insure your business funds through the FDIC for up to $6 million.
- You make frequent money transfers: If you need to transfer money frequently, Brex is an excellent choice, as all ACH, check, and wire transfers are free.
- You don’t need to deposit cash: If your business doesn’t deal with cash regularly, Brex is ideal because it does not accept cash deposits.
- You don’t need to withdraw cash: If your business doesn’t need to withdraw cash from an ATM, Brex is a good choice because the Brex Card does not allow you to withdraw at an ATM.
- You have an advanced startup or a scaling business: Because of Brex’s new qualification requirements, if you have an advanced startup (with at least $1 million in annual revenue) or a scaling business, Brex is a good fit.
When To Consider Brex Alternatives
- Your business needs to deposit cash regularly: Brex does not allow you to deposit cash. If you are depositing cash constantly, you might consider a bank with a physical location, such as Bank of America. We have a Bank of America business checking review that details both its account options.
- You need to withdraw cash from your account for your business: The Brex Card does not allow you to withdraw cash at all. Novo is a good digital banking alternative because it refunds all ATM fees at the end of each month. See our review of Novo business checking for more information.
- You want access to commercial real estate (CRE) loans and lines of credit: Brex does not offer CRE loans and lines of credit. We recommend Chase as our best overall CRE multifamily lender in our guide to the top banks for small business loans. The bank’s CRE loan amounts start at $50,000 while its business line of credit extends up to $500,000 financing.
For more alternatives to a Brex Business Account, check out our list of the best small business checking accounts.
Brex Business Account Overview
Brex Business Account Requirements
Your business must meet the following Brex Business Account requirements to qualify for an account.
For more information on how to open a business checking account, check out our guide on how to open a business bank account, which includes a convenient checklist to help you through the process.
Brex Business Account Features
Brex’s business account has excellent features that can benefit your startup or scaling business.
Brex Business Checking
A Brex Business Account serves as a business checking account. It has no opening deposit and minimum balance requirement, no transaction limit, and no monthly fees. All incoming and outgoing wires and ACHs are free, domestic and international The recipient's financial institution may collect a fee upon receiving the wire. .
Brex also allows you to invest extra funds in a money market, which currently earns up to 4.94% APY The figure is based on an average 7-day yield as of Nov. 16, 2023, and is subject to change at any time. . You cannot order physical checkbooks, but you can send checks from the app. While you cannot deposit or withdraw cash with Brex, you can issue an unlimited number of Brex Cards for free.
A significant advantage the company provides is spreading your funds across multiple banks. This allows your funds to be insured by the FDIC for up to $6 million instead of the standard $250,000.
Brex Card
The Brex Card, which you can learn more about through our detailed Brex Card review, is one of the biggest perks of Brex. It combines the credit-building benefits of a business card with the access to your business account of a debit card.
You can choose the daily or monthly payment option with the Brex Card. Daily payment comes with every Brex Business Account while monthly requires an application. Both are fee-free, with no personal guarantee required, and report to credit bureaus, just like other business credit cards.
The terms, benefits, and qualifications of each card are listed in the table below.
Paid Daily | Paid Monthly | |
|---|---|---|
Qualification | Comes with every Brex account | Companies that meet certain size and revenue requirements; requires application |
Limits | 100% of Brex Business Account’s available balance | 5 to 20% of aggregate bank balance or 30% of Brex Business Account’s balance |
How Card Is Paid | Paid daily from Brex Business Account balance | Billed monthly and can be paid from any account |
Rewards | Earn up to 8x rewards points on all card spend | Earn up to 7x rewards points on all card spend |
Rewards Redemption | Cash back, gift cards, travel, and transfer to miles | Cash back (requires a Brex Business Account), statement credit, gift cards, travel, and transfer to miles |
Fees | None | None |
Personal Guarantee | None | None |
The Brex Card offers 7x points on rideshares, 4x on Brex travel, 3x on restaurants and eligible Apple purchases, 2x on recurring software, and 1x on all other spending. You can issue unlimited cards with custom limits and track team expenses. It comes with Mastercard Zero Liability Protection to protect your users from fraud. There are also partner perks of more than $180,000 with Brex Card and custom cash back rebates based on your business.
One downside is your company must be organized with an EIN to qualify. It is unavailable to sole proprietors and other unregistered businesses.
Brex Empower
Brex’s latest product is its spend management program called Brex Empower. It allows you to control and monitor several aspects of your business finances. Brex Cards are also controlled through Empower. Empower features include:
- Global corporate cards: Cards with chip and PIN are accepted in more than 100 countries, with 24/7 customer support
- Built-in spend controls: You can set up pre-approved spend via budgets, with expense policies that the system will enforce.
- Automatic general ledger (GL) sync: You can sync your transactions to your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system with custom categorization, allowing you to close the books in real time.
- Auto-generated receipts: As long as the receipt is IRS-compliant, it will be added automatically to expenses from major merchants with no action needed.
- Fast reimbursements globally: You can pay employees back in their local currency and bank account in two days or less.
Brex Customized User Permissions
You can customize account permissions for each team member according to their designated roles, such as account admin, card admin, bookkeeper, accounts payable (A/P) clerk, employee, or employee-reimbursement only. Viewing of account transactions, downloading of statements and transaction reports, and conducting payments are limited for different role types.
Brex Integrations
Outside of Brex Empower, the company offers dozens of integrations with companies in ERP/procurement, human resources information system (HRIS), workflow automation, and comms/authentication. Visit Brex’s integration page for the list of available tools.
Brex Rewards
In addition to the Brex Card rewards, you can use Brex points to purchase Billboard advertising, executive coaching, team off-sites, and more. You can even earn extra Brex points by purchasing those items with cash on the Brex Card.
Brex also offers partner rewards of more than $180,000. Companies offering those rewards include AWS, Apple, QuickBooks, UPS, Gusto, Slack, Vouch, Experian, and Freshworks. You can also earn 4x on travel, redeeming points for miles with Aeromexico, Air France KLM, Avianca, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Asia Miles, and Qantas.
Brex Expenses
You can text or email receipts to Brex, and it will match them to expenses. You can sync expense data across systems to automate reconciliation. Custom spend reports that find ways to save your company money are also available.
Spending can be tracked in real-time on the app. Unique Brex Cards can be created for free with custom limits for each subscription, vendor, and employee.
For business travel, you can control booking and expenses through a pre-approved system of spend limits. You can create a shared budget, which allows you to monitor all travel-related costs for specific categories, such as flights, transportation, and meals.
You can also customize policies for individuals and teams and allow employees to exceed the set spend limit without additional approval when needed. Memos are auto-generated, so categorizing the transactions is automatically done.
Brex Bill Pay
You can manage all bills in one place and automate invoice entries, custom approvals and controls, global payments, and reconciliation. The invoices can be paid by forwarding an email, and you won’t pay transaction fees.
You can send payments by wire, ACH, or check for free, even internationally. You can also auto-sync with Xero or QuickBooks.
Brex Mobile App
Brex has designed a powerful mobile app that will allow you to make online payments or even connect your card through Apple Pay for in-person transactions. Through the app, you can add receipts and memos by uploading photos of receipts into the app, check limits and transactions, track cash flow, and get live tech support 24/7.
What’s more, you can deposit checks or use your account and routing number to receive ACH or wire transfers. You can also send free ACH and wire transfers from your app.
The Brex reviews for its app are good. It has 4.9 out of 5 stars on the App Store[1] from about 3,300 reviews and 4.4 out of 5 stars from around 980 reviews on Google Play[2]. Users praised the app’s smooth interface and convenience in tracking their expenses. However, some reported that the app is buggy and that they had trouble logging in. Others also complained they experienced sudden account closure without receiving a notice.
Brex Pry
Brex offers Pry, a platform that helps founders manage budgets, hiring plans, financial models, and runways. It lets you get accurate financial forecasts in real time and create scenarios to plan for different possible financial scenarios. Interactive dashboards show you real-time financial data to help display your current financial picture.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| No minimum balance or opening deposit requirement | No ATM card option and cash deposits |
| No monthly fees | No physical locations |
| All ACH and wire transfers are free | Not open to sole proprietors or unregistered businesses |
| Fee-free Brex Card comes with all Brex accounts | Recently tightened qualifications may leave some businesses unable to qualify |
Brex Business Account Reviews From Users
On Trustpilot[3], Brex shows a rating of 3.1 out of 5 from around 560 reviews. Users who left a Brex Business Account review gave positive feedback on the platform’s convenience in simplifying bill payments and card transactions. They also appreciated the integration of the QuickBooks software, which made account reconciliation easy.
Others stated that the app saves a lot of time and provides an excellent online user experience (UX). Some also praised Brex’s efficient customer support and the benefits provided by the cards, such as card control and expense tracking, which resolved a lot of issues.
However, negative feedback was also written by reviewers whose applications were declined and whose accounts were closed or frozen since their linked bank accounts did not meet the required balances.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
No, Brex is a fintech platform offering a business bank account that provides FDIC insurance coverage of up to $6 million through its partnership with multiple banks. It also allows you to place your cash in a government money market fund to earn a high yield.
You can fund your Brex Business account through ACH, check, and wire transfer.
No, Brex does not offer a debit card with ATM access and has no physical location for in-person withdrawals.
Yes, Brex provides up to $6 million in FDIC insurance by spreading your deposits among its multiple bank partners.
Any business size can qualify for a Brex Business Account, as long as one of its conditions are met—such as receive an equity investment, earn an annual revenue of more than a million dollars, employ more than 50 staff, have cash reserves of $400,000 for mid-market and enterprise companies or $50,000 for startups, or be a tech startup on its way to meeting the criteria list and referred by an existing customer or partner. Still, other businesses may be eligible outside these set parameters. You can contact Brex for an assessment.
Bottom Line
Brex is a great choice for businesses looking for a high annual yield and transaction savings. It stands out from other providers with an excellent cash sweep policy, allowing for additional FDIC insurance for your business.
Thanks to extra FDIC protection, robust integrations and perks, 24/7 global customer support, and Brex cost-free business accounts, this provider is an outstanding choice for your large company.
User review resources:
[1]App Store
[2]Google Play
[3]Trustpilot
