Relay

Relay's difference is that it hands you twenty checking accounts rather than one, which is what makes envelope budgeting work on a business rather than on a spreadsheet beside it. Income splits on arrival: tax here, contractors there, what is left is yours. It also issues a stack of cards and connects to the usual bookkeeping tools. The free plan is a real account rather than a trial.

Starter costs nothing and is a complete account: 20 checking accounts, 50 cards, invoicing, accounting integrations, unlimited users, savings at 0.91% APY and 1 percent cash back on credit cards. Grow at $30 a month raises savings to 1.55% APY and cash back to 1.25 percent, and adds multi-step approval rules, recurring invoices and bookkeeping automations. Scale is listed at $90 against a standing $120, with savings at 3.00% APY, 1.5 percent cash back and 50 checking accounts per business. Both paid tiers offer a 14 day trial. Relay states no minimum balance, no hidden fees and no overdraft fees, and claims up to 50 percent off competitors on wires and same-day ACH.

A creator business that has outgrown one account and keeps discovering that the money for tax was also the money for the new camera. The many-accounts approach suits anybody running a profit-first or envelope system deliberately. A single person with predictable income and a bookkeeper will find twenty accounts is nineteen more than the problem calls for.