The 9 Best Bank Accounts For Freelancers, Independent Contractors, & The Self-Employed

You won’t find any fees with the basic Found banking plan, including monthly fees and hidden fees. This plan includes Found’s freelance-specific accounting and tax tools, a checking account, unlimited invoices, and more.

The Found Plus account costs $19.99/month and gets freelancers 1.5% in APY on balances up to $20k.

There are no minimum balance requirements with a Found account.

Found offers “smart banking” to help freelancers auto-categorize expenses, find tax deductions, and automatically save for self-employment taxes. Found also offers invoicing, budgeting, and reporting. Found Plus customers get access to 1.5% APY and additional bookkeeping perks like custom bookkeeping categories and time-saving automations.

Although Found does not accept cash or check deposits, you can link your Found account to Venmo, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, and ACH transfers are free.

Square Banking has no monthly fees, no ATM fees, no wire transfer fees, and no minimums. The only fees you’ll find are 1% ACH fees and traditional Square payment processing fees for payments accepted through the Square app.

One of the biggest perks of Square Banking is the integration of the entire Square ecosystem, including Square payments, POS, and invoices. But when it comes to Square Banking specifically, you’ll also find some noteworthy features including 1.75% APY, almost instant access to funds, a discount when purchasing from other Square sellers, and access to Square loans.

• Need a business checking account and a savings account
• Already use Square’s other products or who plan on using Square payment processing
• Want to earn APY
• Want a business bank account that provides loan options
• Need an easy-to-qualify-for bank account that doesn’t require income verification or credit checks

Lili charges almost no fees for its basic bank account. That means no account fees, no overdraft fees, no ATM fees, no fees for mobile check deposits, and no foreign transaction fees. The only fee we could uncover was a $4.95 charge for cash deposits via the GreenDot network.

Lili also offers three types of paid accounts: Lili Pro ($9/month). Lili Smart ($20/month), and Lili Premium (($35/month). The paid plans come with additional accounting and finance tools.

There are no minimum balance requirements with a Lili bank account.

The two biggest draws of Lili are the accounting tools it offers and its rewards. Lili Bank offers 4.15% APY on balances up to $100,000 with its savings accounts and cash-back with its checking accounts. This savings return is almost unmatched with freelance bank accounts except for Live Oak Bank and LendingClub, and very few companies offer both rewards checking and savings in one platform (often you need two separate banks to maximize these types of rewards).

Lili supports invoicing, wire transfers, unlimited ACH payments, cash app integrations, and accounting integrations.

Lili is also one of the only banks we’ve seen that offers $200 overdraft coverage.

A Live Oak account comes with almost no fees. That means no ongoing monthly account fees and no fees for in-network ATM transactions, ACH transfers, check deposits, or debit transactions.

While incoming wire transfers are free, expect to pay $19 for outgoing domestic wire transfers. Live Oak also has 3% foreign transaction fees, so it is not ideal for international business.

Live Oak does not have minimum balance requirements, so you won’t have to worry about triggering fees if your account balance dips down.

Live Oak sets itself apart with 4.00% APY on savings accounts and up to 5.40% APY on CDs.  Live Oak regularly offers sign-on bonuses.

Live Oak offers lending options as well, including SBA loans, USDA loans, and commercial small business loans.

Live Oak currently doesn’t offer savings accounts, though the company says that this offering is coming soon.

LendingClub’s Tailored Checking account charges customers a $10 monthly account maintenance fee that can be waived if you maintain a minimum balance of $500 in your account.

The only other common banking fees charged by LendingClub banking are for wire transfers. Expect to pay $18 for an outgoing domestic wire and $40 for each outgoing international wire.

Lending Club’s checking account offers 1.5% APY and 1% cash-back, and its savings account offers 4.65% cashback. Other perks include unlimited automatic ATM fee rebates, accounting integrations, and an Autobooks connection for sending digital invoices and processing payments.

Relay charges almost no fees. You won’t find monthly account fees, overdraft fees, or ACH transfer fees. If you plan to send outgoing wires, you’ll encounter fees of $5 for each domestic payment and $10 for each international payment. Relay also charges a 1% exchange rate fee for international wire payments. ATM transactions are free at AllPoint ATMs.

Although Relay offers a generous free account, you’ll also find a paid account, Relay Pro, with fees starting at $30/month/business. The main benefits of the paid account are free wire payments, approval rules for bill payments, and auto-import with QuickBooks Online and Xero.

Most freelancers and independent contractors will be more than satisfied with the free plan, but the Pro plan will always be there if your business growth requires it.

There is no minimum balance requirement with a Relay bank account.

Relay’s big appeal is it’s scalability for growing businesses or multiple businesses. Relay offers up to 20 checking accounts and 50 debit cards. Relay also offers 1% – 3% APY.

You’ll find FDIC-insurance and 24/7 support, as well as accounting, payroll, and payment processing integrations.

Grasshopper’s Innovator Business Checking account comes with no monthly fees. You can use your Grasshopper debit card fee-free at MoneyPass and SUM ATMs nationwide. You’ll be able to make unlimited free transactions via ACH and enjoy free incoming wires. Outgoing domestic wires cost $10 and outgoing international wires cost $25. International wire transfers cost $5 each.

There are some additional fees for unusual transactions, such as $5 for lost debit cards and $5 for inactive accounts.

Notably, Grasshopper pays its users via an unlimited 1% cash-back reward on online and signature-based purchases. This reward is redeemed each month automatically as a credit to your account.

Although Grasshopper requires a $100 opening deposit, you’ll find no ongoing minimum account balance requirements.

Grasshopper’s biggest perks are the 2.5% APY and 1% cash-back with its business checking account.

Because of a partnership with the corporate card Ramp, Grasshopper offers another unusual perk: access to one of the top-rated corporate cards available. Although your business may not be big enough right now to require a corporate card, it’s nice to know you’ll have access to Ramp’s top-tier tools and perks.

Grasshopper also offers access to SBA loans, venture capital, and private equity lending. So if your small business goals include big growth, Grasshopper is worth taking a look at.

You won’t find too many fees with Novo banking. That means no monthly, minimum balance, transaction, or hidden fees. Novo also has $0 foreign transaction fees and ATM fees. The only fees you might encounter with Novo are uncommon ones, such as $27 for overdrafts or returned payments or express ACH fees of 1.5% (0% for non-express).

Novo does not have any minimum balance requirements. However, you must make a $50 deposit to open your account.

Novo doesn’t offer traditional banking perks like APY or cash-back. Instead, you’ll get access to many business software integrations with significant discounts.

For example, Novo users get $5k waived in Stripe processing fees, three months free with Gusto, 20% off at LegalZoom, 6% cash-back on travel booked through Booking.com, $3,000 in Google Cloud credits, and more.

NorthOne’s monthly fees range from $0 – $20/month. The free NorthOne standard plan includes 1.5% fees on ACH, $0.50/digital bill payments, $1/physical check, and $20/wire transfer.

The $20 NorthOne Plus plan waives all of those fees minus the wire transfers which drop to $15 for outgoing wires and remains at $20 for incoming wires.

NorthOne does not have any minimum balance requirements. A minimum $50 funding deposit is required and must be paid through Plaid.

NorthOne’s biggest perks are its eCommerce integrations, though you will also find accounting integrations, bill pay, envelope budgeting, and real-time payment options for fast access to funds.

Much like Novo, NorthOne’s perks include integration discounts like 30% off QuickBooks, six months free with Gusto, up to $20k in free Stripe processing, and more.

Cash deposits are also available.