Incard vs Tide: which UK business account suits you?

At a glance

The biggest difference: bank vs e-money

Tide is not a bank itself, but its current accounts are provided by ClearBank, which is. Tide's site says eligible deposits are protected up to £120,000 per depositor by the FSCS, across all your accounts with ClearBank. It also says some members still hold e-money accounts (sort code 23-69-72) with PrePay Technologies, which are safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected. Check which one you have in the app.

Incard is an e-money institution. Your money is safeguarded: kept separate from Incard's own funds at authorised banks and not lent out. Incard states that funds are not protected by the FSCS. Our e-money vs bank account guide explains what that means if a provider fails.

Monthly fees and plans

Tide

Outside the allowance, Tide charges 20p per bank transfer in or out. Payments between Tide accounts are free. Tide also offers annual billing; we've quoted the monthly prices.

Incard

Free costs £0 a month, Grow £49 and Plus from £199 (from £169 billed yearly). Free includes 100 local transfers, then £0.30 each, and £5,000 a month of currency exchange at the interbank rate. The Incard profile lists the rest.

Cashback: only one of these is built around it

Incard pays cashback on eligible card purchases on every plan. On Free it is 1% on advertising, recurring software and travel and 0.5% on everything else; Grow raises those to 1.25% and 1%. Tide lists 0.5% cashback, capped at £200 a month, on its £69.99 Max plan only. Its pricing page doesn't say which spending qualifies.

A quick sense-check (simple arithmetic, not a forecast):

• £5,000 a month of advertising and software on Incard Free returns about £50 a month, with no plan fee.
• The same £5,000 on Tide Max, if it all qualified, would return about £25 a month against a £69.99 plan fee.
• At £500 a month of card spend, Incard Free returns between £2.50 and £5. That won't matter next to the rest of your banking.

Try your own figures in the cashback calculator.

Spending in other currencies

Tide Lite charges 2.75% on card payments and ATM withdrawals in foreign currencies, and on GBP card payments made outside the UK. Smart, Pro and Max don't charge this fee. Incard charges 1.8% on foreign-currency card payments on Free and 1.5% on Grow and Plus.

So if most of your spending abroad is on the card, a paid Tide plan avoids the FX fee entirely, while Incard's cashback partly offsets its fee. Incard has the edge if you get paid in euros or dollars, because it gives you EUR and USD IBANs and £5,000 a month of conversions at the interbank rate on Free.

Cash and cheques

Tide lets you pay in cash at the Post Office (£2.50 for deposits up to £500; above that, 0.99% on Lite or 0.5% on other plans) or at PayPoint (3%), and cheques for 90p each. Post Office deposits are capped at £25,000 a month and £300,000 a year. Incard's pricing page doesn't list cash or cheque deposits. If you take cash, Tide is the practical choice.

Who can open each account

Tide accepts sole traders, freelancers and directors of limited companies aged 18 or over with a UK mobile number. Sole traders need a UK home address registered with HMRC and can't be in a partnership. Tide's bank account terms list UK-registered limited companies and sole traders, so if you're an LLP, check with Tide first.

Incard accepts UK limited companies, LLPs and registered sole traders and freelancers, plus Swiss GmbH, AG and sole traders. EEA onboarding is paused until an expected restart in 2027. Charities, cooperatives, foundations, trusts and public bodies aren't accepted, and there's a long list of restricted industries. Our Incard profile sets out the full rules.

Our verdict

Incard is the better fit if your business spends heavily on advertising, software or travel: that spending earns 1% cashback on the £0 Free plan, against Tide's 0.5% on its £69.99 Max plan only. It also suits you if you need EUR and USD IBANs, or are an LLP or Swiss business. The trade-off is safeguarding instead of FSCS cover, and stricter industry rules. Some businesses use both: a bank account for reserves and cash, and Incard for card spending.

Tide is the better fit if you want a free account with FSCS cover, take cash, or don't put much through a card. Its paid plans make sense if you often spend abroad on the card.