Tide vs Mettle: is NatWest's free account worth the narrower eligibility?

Mettle occupies an unusual spot in UK business banking: it is owned by one of the country's biggest high-street banking groups, NatWest, yet it operates as a stripped-back, mobile-only account with no monthly fee and a genuinely useful free perk in FreeAgent accounting software. On paper that sounds like it should beat almost anything, including Tide's own free plan. In practice, the deciding factor for most people is not price at all — it's whether Mettle will accept their business in the first place.

The fair summary is: Mettle is an excellent, no-cost option if your business is a sole trader or a two-owner limited company in an industry Mettle supports, and you want a fully paid-for accounting subscription thrown in. Tide is the better option if your business structure or industry falls outside Mettle's rules, if you want invoicing and expense tools built into the banking app itself, or if you want a joining bonus. We earn a commission from Tide links here and nothing from Mettle, which is worth bearing in mind alongside the case we make below.

Two free accounts, compared properly

Eligibility is the real gatekeeper

Mettle is explicit that it can't support every business. It's built for sole traders and limited companies with no more than two owners, only one of whom needs to access the account, and it excludes certain business activities and industries outright.

That narrower net is a deliberate choice, not an oversight — it lets Mettle keep onboarding fast and its risk profile tight. But it means a three-partner consultancy, a business in an industry Mettle treats as higher-risk, or a director who wants every co-owner to have account access, can be turned away before pricing ever becomes relevant. Tide's eligibility is broader by design: it supports sole traders, ordinary partnerships and limited companies with multiple directors and shareholders, and if the company doesn't exist yet, Tide will form it for £14.99, Companies House fee included, and open the account in the same application. If you've been declined or hesitant to apply to Mettle because of its ownership rules, that alone may settle the choice.

The FreeAgent question

FreeAgent is well-regarded accounting software, and getting it free for as long as you bank with Mettle is a real, quantifiable perk — a paid FreeAgent subscription typically runs well over £150 a year, so a business that would have bought it anyway effectively banks that saving every year it stays with Mettle. For a limited company doing its own bookkeeping and self-assessment or Corporation Tax prep, that is a meaningful reason to choose Mettle over an account with no accounting software at all.

Tide's answer is different rather than worse: invoicing, automatic payment matching, expense categorisation with receipt capture and MTD-ready VAT tools are built into the banking app itself on every plan, including Free. It is not a full accounting package in the way FreeAgent is — you may still want a dedicated bookkeeping tool for year-end accounts and Corporation Tax computations — but for the everyday job of tracking what's been invoiced, what's been paid and what counts as a deductible expense, it removes the need for separate software entirely for many sole traders. Whether Mettle's full FreeAgent licence or Tide's built-in tools serve you better depends on how much accounting complexity your business actually has: simpler businesses often need nothing beyond what Tide already includes, while a company preparing statutory accounts benefits more from full FreeAgent access.

Cash, transfers and the everyday running cost

As a mobile-only account with no branch network of its own, Mettle's options for depositing cash are limited, which matters if your business ever takes notes and coins even occasionally. Tide's Post Office route (£2.50 up to £500, then 0.99% on Free or 0.5% on paid plans above that) and PayPoint at 3% are not cheap, but they exist and are documented. Neither account is the right primary home for a genuinely cash-heavy business, but between the two, Tide gives you somewhere to put the cash without opening a third account.

On everyday transfers, both are workable for low-to-moderate volumes at no monthly cost. A sole trader sending a dozen payments a month should expect either account's free tier to cover ordinary use; check the fine print of Mettle's own fee schedule for anything beyond core transfers, since Mettle states plainly that "other fees may apply" outside the headline free account.

Regulation and deposit protection

Mettle sits within NatWest Group, one of the UK's largest banking groups, which for many customers is itself a source of comfort. Even so, it's worth confirming directly with Mettle exactly how eligible balances are protected and whether that protection aggregates with other NatWest Group accounts you might hold elsewhere, since FSCS protection limits apply per banking licence rather than per brand.

Tide's current accounts are provided by ClearBank, a UK-authorised bank, under sort code 04-06-05, and eligible deposits held there can attract FSCS protection up to £120,000, subject to eligibility rules and aggregation with any other balances you hold at ClearBank. Our guide to Tide and FSCS protection sets out exactly what qualifies, and either firm's permissions can be checked on the FCA Register.

Three businesses, worked through in pounds

A sole trader hairdresser, working alone and eligible for Mettle, takes card payments and the occasional bank transfer, with no complicated bookkeeping needs. On Mettle, the account is £0 a month, and if she was already planning to pay for accounting software, the free FreeAgent licence — normally well over £150 a year — is a straightforward saving. On Tide Free, the account is also £0 (assuming she stays under five transfers or pays 20p each beyond that), plus built-in invoicing and expense tagging she'd otherwise need FreeAgent or a similar tool for anyway. For this exact profile, if she was never going to buy accounting software, Tide's bundled tools save her more than Mettle's FreeAgent perk is worth; if she was already resigned to paying for FreeAgent, Mettle wins outright.

A three-director consultancy cannot open a Mettle account at all — Mettle supports only sole traders and limited companies with up to two owners, and only one of those owners can access the account. That rules Mettle out immediately regardless of price, tools or FreeAgent, and Tide becomes the only workable option between the two, supporting multiple directors with their own access on paid plans.

A newly formed one-owner limited company in an eligible industry, not yet incorporated, wants to combine formation and banking in one step. Tide will incorporate the company for £14.99, Companies House fee included, and open the business account in the same application — commonly done and paid for in under an hour. Mettle requires the company to already exist at Companies House before applying, so this business would need to incorporate separately first (typically £50–£100 through a formation agent, or £50 directly with Companies House) and then apply to Mettle afterwards. For a business that hasn't incorporated yet, Tide's combined flow is both quicker and, after accounting for a separate formation fee, usually cheaper.

What Mettle's eligibility rules mean in practice

Mettle publishes a list of business activities and industries it can't support, alongside its core rule of sole traders and limited companies with no more than two owners, where only one owner accesses the account. In practice this tends to catch higher-risk sectors (certain financial services, gambling-adjacent businesses, some import/export or high-cash-value trades), businesses with more than two shareholders or directors needing account access, and companies that aren't yet registered and trading in the UK. Mettle also requires a UK phone number, UK residency and an iOS or Android device — reasonable requirements for a mobile-only account, but worth checking against your own circumstances before you start an application, since eligibility is assessed early in the flow.

Tide's eligibility net is wider: sole traders, ordinary partnerships and limited companies with multiple directors and shareholders are all supported, and Tide doesn't publish the same kind of industry exclusion list, though — like any regulated provider — it still applies its own risk-based checks during onboarding. If you've read Mettle's eligibility page and found your business structure or industry on the excluded side, there's a reasonable chance Tide will still take you on; there's no harm starting a Tide application to find out before assuming you're locked out of app-based banking altogether.

Multi-user access and sub-accounts

This is one of Mettle's clearest structural limits: even where a company has two eligible owners, only one of them gets to access the account. There's no multi-user login, no separate team cards and no way to give a co-director or bookkeeper their own restricted view without sharing a single login — not ideal practice from a security standpoint. Tide, from its Smart plan upward, adds additional team members with their own logins and spending limits, plus extra labelled business sub-accounts for ringfencing tax or project money — even Free gives a single user full functionality, but a growing two-person business that wants both people to have proper account access will outgrow Mettle's model faster than it outgrows Tide's.

Support experience

Mettle offers in-app chat support and benefits from being backed by NatWest Group's broader infrastructure, though it operates and is staffed as a distinct, mobile-only brand rather than routing you into a NatWest branch or call centre. Tide's support is similarly chat-first, with phone support unlocked on paid plans, and deals exclusively with Tide's own business customer base. Both get broadly positive feedback for everyday queries; neither offers in-person support, which is worth remembering if you value being able to speak to someone face to face about a banking problem.

Savings and lending

Tide's Instant Saver pays a published AER scaling from 2% on Free to 3.25% on Max, and Tide introduces credit — invoice finance, loans and cash advances — through lending partners. Mettle's savings options and rates are worth checking directly on its own site since they can change independently of this article, and as a relatively young mobile-only proposition, Mettle does not have the same established direct-lending track record as its parent NatWest's branch network — for material borrowing, most Mettle customers would in practice be looking to NatWest itself, or another commercial lender, rather than the mobile app.

Switching between Tide and Mettle

Because Mettle includes the free FreeAgent licence "for as long as you hold the account," switching away has a specific cost to weigh: you lose that licence the day you close Mettle, so budget for a FreeAgent subscription (or an alternative bookkeeping tool) if you move your banking to Tide and still want the same accounting software. Beyond that, switching is the usual process — redirect payments to the new Tide sort code and account number, wait a full billing cycle, then close the old account. There's nothing stopping you keeping Mettle open purely for the FreeAgent access while running Tide as your main trading account, provided you're comfortable with the admin of two accounts.

The REFER200 partner code

Mettle has no meaningful joining bonus beyond the free FreeAgent licence. Tide's standard customers get an ordinary refer-a-friend route, but REFER200 is a partner code paying materially more: up to £200 in total, made up of £75 for opening the account and spending £100 on the card within 30 days, plus £125 for putting at least £5,000 into Tide Instant Saver within seven days and keeping it there for a month. It shouldn't be the reason you choose Tide over Mettle, but if Tide already suits your eligibility and needs, it is money you would otherwise leave on the table. Offer terms checked 29 August 2026.

The verdict

Choose Mettle if you're a sole trader or a two-owner limited company in an eligible industry, you want a genuinely free account, and a free FreeAgent subscription would otherwise be a cost you'd happily pay.

Choose Tide if your business structure or industry sits outside Mettle's eligibility rules, you want invoicing and expense tools built into the banking app rather than a separate accounting subscription, you're incorporating a new company as part of opening the account, or you want the REFER200 bonus on top. That covers a wider slice of UK sole traders, freelancers and small limited companies than Mettle's rules allow for, which is why Tide is our overall recommendation — disclosed commission included.

Tide vs Mettle FAQs