Relay vs Found Business Checking 2023: Which Is Best?

Digital banking platforms Relay and Found both offer affordable business checking accounts and useful bookkeeping tools. Although the two seem similar at first glance, each has a very different target customer.

Relay aims to serve organizations with teams of two or more. It makes collaboration easier by not only letting you create multiple subaccounts and debit cards but also giving you the option to customize account permission and set strict spending limits to ensure that your team uses your funds responsibly.

Meanwhile, Found was designed with the one-person team in mind. By providing streamlined tax and bookkeeping assistance, Found helps you save time and effort on the usual business paperwork.

Here is a summary of what each provider is best for:

Relay* is best for businesses that need multiple accounts and debit cards
Found* is best for freelancers, solopreneurs, and self-employed individuals

*Providers are financial technology (fintech) platforms backed by and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)-insured through a supporting bank partnership (Evolve Bank & Trust for Relay and Piermont Bank for Found).

	Relay Standard	Found
Required Opening Deposit	$0
Required Balance Minimum	$0
Transaction Limit Before Fees	N/A
Automated Clearing House (ACH) Fees	$0
Domestic Wire Transfer Fees	$0 for incoming $5 for outgoing	$0 for incoming Outgoing not supported
International Wire Transfer Fees	$0 for incoming $10 for outgoing	N/A
ATM Fees	None*
Cash Deposit Fees	Free when depositing through Allpoint ATMs	N/A
	Read our Relay Business Checking review	Read our Found Business Checking review

*Third-party operator fees may apply.

	Relay Standard	Found
Debit Card	Up to 50 Visa Debit Cards (physical or virtual)	Mastercard Business Debit Card (physical and virtual)
Reserve Accounts	Up to 20 accounts*	Dedicated tax bucket
Accounting Software Integrations	QuickBooks and Xero	QuickBooks
Business Software Integrations	Gusto, Plaid, and Yodlee	Cash App, eBay, Lyft, PayPal, Square, Stripe, Uber, and Venmo
Customer Service	Phone: (888) 205-9304 Chat and email	Email
Invoicing Products	N/A	Unlimited free invoicing
Other Products Available	Relay Pro	Found Plus
	Read our Relay Business Checking review	Read our Found Business Checking review

*Sole proprietors can only create up to 10 accounts.

When To Use

You work with a team of two or more people: Relay lets you invite team members to your account. You can also issue up to 50 debit cards and customize spending rules and limits per card. Meanwhile, Found does not offer any collaboration tools.
You need support for cash deposits: There is no way to deposit cash directly into your Found account, whereas Relay lets you deposit cash through Allpoint ATMs.
You send and receive wire transfers regularly: Found does not accommodate international wire transfers and provides no means of sending domestic wire transfers. Meanwhile, Relay offers free incoming wire transfers and charges low fees for outgoing wire transfers.

You are a freelancer, solopreneur, or self-employed individual: In our list of the best small business checking accounts, we named Found the best digital-only provider for self-employed professionals. Although businesses of any entity type can apply for Found, the platform was primarily designed for individuals wanting to save time on business-related paperwork. Relay’s features are better suited for large teams.
You want help with tax preparation: Found uses your banking data to provide accurate tax estimates and also gives you the option to set aside income for tax automatically. Relay does not offer tax assistance services.
You want to send invoices directly from your banking platform: Found lets you send unlimited free invoices, whereas Relay does not have any invoicing tools.

You rely on in-person banking: Neither Relay nor Found has brick-and-mortar bank branches. If you want to do your banking in person, consider Chase, which has branches in all 48 mainland states. Read our Chase business checking review to determine which account best suits your business.
You want to earn interest on checking deposits: Relay does not provide interest-earning accounts, while Found offers annual percentage yield (APY) to Found Plus subscribers—but the subscription costs $14.99 per month or $95.88 per year. We recommend Bluevine, which has no monthly fee and offers 2.00% APY on balances of $250,000 and less if you can meet its monthly activity requirements. Our review of Bluevine’s business checking provides more information.
You seek to extend your FDIC insurance: Deposits under Relay and Found are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000. If you need to protect larger amounts, consider Mercury, which provides FDIC insurance of up to $5 million through sweep networks and money market funds. Learn more about the provider through our Mercury business checking review.

Relay vs Found Business Checking Account

Relay and Found both offer two types of business checking accounts. Neither account has monthly maintenance fees and minimum balance requirements.

Collaboration Tools

By letting you provide team members, including accountants and bookkeepers, access to your account, Relay gives you the ability to divide business banking responsibilities across your team. You can customize each member’s level of account access to ensure that your money and banking data stay protected.

Additionally, Relay lets you issue up to 50 physical or virtual debit cards. You can also customize spending limits and rules to make sure each card will be used responsibly. On the other hand, Found lacks collaboration tools.

Reserve Accounts

Through Relay, you can create up to 20 checking accounts under a single ID (10 if you are a sole proprietor). Meanwhile, Found gives you one main account and one subaccount for taxes.

Bookkeeping Tools

Relay categorizes and provides detailed transaction data automatically for all card purchases. It syncs your data with QuickBooks Online or Xero to help you reconcile transactions with ease.

Found also offers automatic expense categorization. It uses your account data to create expense, income, profit, and loss reports.

Tax Preparation

Relay does not offer tax preparation assistance. Meanwhile, through Found, you can use the following tax preparation features:

Set aside a percentage of your income into a dedicated tax bucket automatically
Generate real-time estimates of how much you owe in tax
Track tax write-offs
Auto-fill your Schedule C Form

Invoicing

Relay does not offer invoicing tools, whereas with Found, you can create and send an unlimited number of invoices. The platform accepts a wide range of payment options, including Cash App, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, credit card, debit card, and direct deposit. Found will also notify you when your invoices are viewed or paid, and it sends payment reminders to your clients automatically.

Premium Versions

Both Relay and Found offer premium subscription services that add useful features to their standard platform. Relay’s premium service is called Relay Pro. It costs $30 per month and provides the following benefits:

Fee-free outgoing wires
Same-day ACH
Automatic bill imports from QuickBooks and Xero
One-click reconciliation for paid bills in QuickBooks and Xero
Automated, multistep bill approval rules
Consolidated payments to a vendor into one transaction
Singular dashboard for reviewing, paying, and approving bills

This service is best for businesses needing more robust accounting integrations. Additionally, if you send wire transfers frequently, upgrading to Relay Pro can help you save.

On the other hand, Found’s premium service is called Found Plus. It has a $14.99 monthly fee and offers the following features:

Priority customer service
Unlimited category rules
Custom bookkeeping categories and transaction tags
Photo receipt capture
APY of 1.50% on balances up to $20,000
Pay taxes directly through Found
Export bookkeeping data

This is ideal for businesses requiring more streamlined bookkeeping features. It is also useful for those wanting to earn interest on small balances.

Relay vs Found User Reviews


Trustpilot Rating	4.3 out of 5	4.6 out of 5
Users Like	Ability to make multiple accounts Good customer service	Useful tax preparation and bookkeeping tools User-friendly
Users Dislike	Intrusive application process Slow check-clearing times	No cash or mobile check deposit options

Relay has a Trustpilot¹ rating of 4.3 stars, based on 700-plus reviews, whereas Found has a Trustpilot² rating of 4.6 stars, based on 100-plus reviews. Both received praise for their unique features: Relay for its collaboration tools and Found for its tax preparation and bookkeeping assistance services. Found users, in particular, like that the platform was intuitive and easy to navigate.

Many of Relay’s negative reviews came from unsuccessful applicants who said that they were uncomfortable with the amount of information Relay was requesting and that they did not trust the company with their data. Other complaints centered on the provider’s check-clearing times. Many customers disliked the long hold time for check deposits and money transfers.

Meanwhile, Found received very few negative reviews, save for a handful of customers who complained about a lack of support for cash and mobile check deposits.

Once you’ve selected a provider, refer to our guide on how to open a business bank account for application preparation tips.

Bottom Line

The choice between Relay and Found is a matter of team size. If you lead a team of two or more people, Relay is the better choice. By letting you create up to 20 checking accounts and issue up to 50 debit cards, Relay helps large teams manage the same accounts with ease. Meanwhile, freelancers, self-employed individuals, and solopreneurs are best suited to Found. Its bookkeeping and tax preparation features help individuals save time on day-to-day business paperwork.

User review references

¹Trustpilot | Relay
²Trustpilot | Found