8 Best Brex Cash Management Account Alternatives 2023

For incorporated startups and tech companies who are looking for a new business bank, Mercury is our top choice for the best Brex CMA alternative. Tech companies will enjoy its third-party software integrations, which are among the best in the industry. It also offers a perks page, allowing you to advertise deals for your business on its website.

Its checking and savings accounts are free with no minimum deposit or balance requirements, which is great for startup businesses looking for fee-free banking.

If you spend $2,000 in the first 90 days on your debit card, you will receive $300 in cash back. In addition, Mercury offers an interest-bearing Treasury account. You can access that account by request once you have at least $250,000 in funds in your Mercury accounts. Currently, it is earning up to 4.40% APY, although the bank expects that to increase as the prime rate increases.

Most businesses incorporated in the United States are eligible for an account, except sole proprietorships and trusts.

If you are a business that lost its Brex account due to the lack of venture capital funding, Mercury offers both capital and venture debt products that can help your business grow. However, it doesn’t offer any other types of lending. Nevertheless, it is a great choice for a digital-only bank with great software integrations and interest-earning account products.

If you want to move your business funds to a business checking account with a high-interest yield, Bluevine is a great option. It provides an interest-bearing checking account, earning 2.0% APY on balances up to $250,000. You qualify for the APY as long as you either spend $500 a month with the debit card or receive $2,500 in customer payments monthly.

Bluevine has no monthly fees, transaction fees, minimum opening deposit, and minimum balance requirement. It also offers two free checkbook orders each year. In addition to its outstanding business checking product, it has the best business line of credit products and 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.

If you are looking for a digital-only, fee-free business banking experience to replace Brex, Novo may be the right choice for your business. Not only does it have no monthly fees, minimum deposit or balance requirements, and transaction limits, but it refunds all ATM fees at the end of each month.

In addition, its Novo Boost and Express ACH products allow you to receive and make payments faster than with other online banks. Novo Boost enables you to receive payments from your Stripe account quicker than other providers, whereas Express ACH allows you to accept or send same-day ACH payments.

It excels in digital integrations, with unlimited invoicing and excellent accounting and payment software integrations. With Novo, you can get up to five reserve accounts, and though you cannot order checks, you can send paper checks from its app.

One drawback is with cash deposits. Novo doesn’t charge for cash deposits, but you must purchase a money order and deposit it through the app, which you must buy. Many places sell money orders, including your local US Postal Service (USPS) location, for up to $1.95 for up to $1,000 money orders.

As long as you aren’t interested in getting lending or savings products from your checking account provider, Novo is a great option, especially for businesses with frequent ATM withdrawals.

For freelancers and creatives looking for an alternative to Brex or Nearside, Oxygen is a great choice. It is one of the few fintechs that provides personal and business banking options. For businesses that use a debit card frequently, it is a great option for a business bank account since it offers 5% cash back rewards on all debit card purchases.

For businesses considering becoming limited liability companies (LLCs), Oxygen offers nationwide LLC creation in the Oxygen app powered by CorpNet, Inc. There are fees involved, which is one of the few services with a fee.

Oxygen was awarded the 2021 Best Overall FinTech Mobile App by the FinTech Breakthrough Awards, beating several other fintechs in this guide.

It also has a business bank account with no monthly fees, minimum balance requirements, and transaction limits. Deposits can be made through Green Dot locations for $4.95 per transaction and by in-app mobile check capture, via ACH or Plaid, from an outside account.

You can even open a business savings account, which earns 1% APY on balances up to $20,000. However, it has no outgoing and international wire transfers, and you cannot set up multiple users in the app. It’s only open to a single sign-on (SSO) per account, which puts it behind many other fintechs listed here.

Another fintech pushing hard for former Brex customers is Lili. Its biggest perk is its tax optimizer. Through its app, it allows you to track potential tax write-offs, set aside money in a tax bucket, scan receipts, complete your schedule C automatically, and produce quarterly and annual expense reports. It’s a powerful tool, especially for small businesses that don’t have huge financial advising departments.

It even offers a solid business checking account with no monthly fees, transaction limits, minimum balance, or deposit requirements. It has two checking options: Lili Basic, which is free, and Lili Pro, which is $4.99 a month.

Both provide you with a debit card, the option to get paid faster with direct deposit two days early, built-in expense tracking, and no hidden fees. Lili Pro also gives you cash back rewards of 1% on all purchases, fee-free overdrafts up to $200, a savings account with a 1% APY, and the ability to create and send unlimited invoices.

You can now access your Lili account via browser login, in addition to the Lili app. The company is also finalizing allowing multimember LLCs to sign up for an account. This feature was expected to go live before the end of 2022.

The biggest drawback to Lili is the inability to send or receive wire transfers. Also, physical checks are unavailable. You can deposit cash, but it must be done through Green Dot retail locations for $4.95 a transaction.

For former Brex customers looking for an interest-bearing checking account with great software integrations and some unique lending options, Grasshopper is another excellent option to consider. It is another digital-only bank with a full range of banking products.

On its business checking product, it offers 1.51% APY on all balances. It also offers 1% cash back on all debit card online and in-person purchases. While Grasshopper has no minimum and no cap on APY earnings, you must have a minimum average balance of $10,000 and no NSF items over the previous 12 months to earn the cashback bonus.

In addition to its excellent business checking product, it provides SBA lending, commercial real estate lending, yacht lending, venture capital, and private equity lending. It also allows unlimited transfers, including free wire transfers, both domestic and international. There are no monthly fees and no transaction limits.

Not only does Grasshopper integrate with QuickBooks, but the company provides Autobooks to each customer free of charge. Its drawbacks include requiring a $100 opening deposit and not accepting cash deposits.

Switching to Relay is an excellent choice if your small business needs multiple accounts to separate business finances. You can get up to 20 checking accounts, which allows you to use accounts to set aside reserves for different expenses.

Relay is also a great choice if you send wire transfers frequently. With its basic business checking level, Relay Standard, the most you will pay for wire transfers is $10. If you upgrade to Relay Pro, they are entirely free. Neither checking product has transaction limits or minimum balance requirements, and you can open up to 20 checking accounts and issue up to 50 Mastercard debit cards for your team.

While Relay Standard is free, Relay Pro costs $30 per month—and the fee’s not waivable. However, the premium tier comes with a wide variety of business tools, including:

• Accounts payable support (including auto-imports from QuickBooks Online and Xero)
• Multi-step approval rules for bill payments
• Batch payments for bills
• One-click reconciliation of bills
• Same-day ACH delivery
• Free wire transfers

There are some drawbacks to Relay. It doesn’t accept cash deposits and currently does not offer lending products. And the fee for Relay Pro is not waivable, unlike premium accounts from other banking providers.

If you want to move from a digital cash management account to a full-service, online-only bank, First Internet Bank is an excellent choice. It offers interest-bearing checking and savings accounts, with a 0.50% APY on checking balances of more than $10,000 in your account with no maximum limit. It has a business savings that earns 0.90% APY and a money market that earns up to 4.39% APY. Both come with waivable monthly fees once you pass an average daily balance threshold.

For businesses with frequent ATM withdrawals, First Internet Bank refunds up to $10 in ATM fees each month. In addition to great bank accounts, it offers business CDs and various business lending products, including SBA loans, commercial real estate, commercial lending, and public finance. There is also software integration with QuickBooks.

First Internet Bank doesn’t accept cash deposits, and a $100 minimum opening deposit is required. Overall, it’s a great option if you’re looking to move from Brex to a full-service bank that matches what a traditional brick-and-mortar bank provides.