Why the headline monthly fee is the wrong number to compare
Providers compete hard on the visible monthly price because it's the number people compare first. But two accounts with identical monthly fees can differ enormously in annual cost once you factor in how you actually use the account. Model your real transaction volumes against each provider's schedule rather than ranking by subscription price alone.
Tide example: Tide lists its Free plan with no plan fee; its published monthly prices for Smart, Pro and Max are £12.49, £27.49 and £69.99 respectively. A £0 plan fee does not mean that every type of account use is free.
How to read a fee schedule properly
- Check whether fees are per transaction, tiered by volume, or capped with a fair-use limit.
- Look for a free monthly allowance before a fee kicks in, and check what happens once you exceed it.
- Note whether fees differ for domestic versus international transactions, and by currency.
- Check for account closure or account switching fees, which some providers still apply.
- Read the date the schedule was last updated — fees change, and we source ours from providers' current pages for exactly this reason.
- Tide example: Tide’s Free plan includes five bank transfers a month in its published pricing table; compare the allowance and the charge after it before treating a plan as low-cost.
Transfers and payments
Faster Payments transfers are free or low-cost with most digital-first providers, but bulk payment runs, same-day CHAPS payments and international transfers are priced very differently. If you pay several suppliers or contractors regularly, check whether bulk or scheduled payments are included or charged individually.
Tide example: Tide’s published account-cost guidance lists bank transfers at 20p outside the relevant allowance. Its Free plan currently shows five transfers a month, while Smart shows 30 and Pro and Max show unlimited transfers.
Cash and cheque deposits
This is the cost most digital-first account holders underestimate. Depositing cash through a Post Office or PayPoint network, or paying in a cheque, is frequently charged per deposit and sometimes as a percentage of the amount, because the provider is paying a third party to process it. If your business takes meaningful cash — a shop, market trader, tradesperson paid on the day — this fee alone can outweigh the benefit of an otherwise cheap account.
Tide example: Tide currently lists Post Office cash deposits at £2.50 up to £500, then 0.99% above £500 on Free or 0.5% above £500 on Smart, Pro and Max. PayPoint deposits are listed at 3% of the deposited value, and cheque deposits at 90p per cheque.
FX markup on international payments
The advertised transfer fee for an international payment is rarely the whole cost. Most providers apply a markup on the exchange rate itself, which doesn't appear as a line-item fee but is baked into the rate you're given. Over regular overseas payments to suppliers, this markup usually costs more than the transfer fee. Compare the actual exchange rate offered against a mid-market rate, not just the stated transfer charge.
Tide example: Tide’s pricing table currently shows a 2.75% FX fee on international card payments for the Free plan, while Smart, Pro and Max show 0% FX fees. Check the applicable rate and transfer terms for the account you actually hold.
Card fees and ATM withdrawals
Card reader and payment link fees (often a percentage per transaction) matter most to businesses taking card payments directly from customers, and rates can vary by card type and whether the card is present. ATM withdrawals are usually free up to a monthly allowance and then charged per withdrawal or as a percentage — relevant mainly if you regularly draw cash out of the account rather than pay it in.
Tide example: Tide’s account-cost guidance currently lists GBP card transactions as free and GBP cash withdrawals at £1. Its Free plan guidance also lists a 2.75% fee for card payments or ATM withdrawals in foreign currencies, while Smart, Pro and Max show 0% FX fees.
Building your own real cost estimate
Take a typical month: how many transfers, how much cash or cheque paid in, how many card transactions taken, any international payments, and any ATM use. Apply each provider's actual fee schedule to that pattern rather than comparing subscription prices. If you want a shortcut, our comparison tool lays out these categories side by side, but always check the provider's current page before deciding, since schedules do change.
Tide example: If you make ten bank transfers on Tide’s Free plan and the current five-transfer allowance applies, five are within the allowance and the remaining five would be 20p each under Tide’s published account-cost guidance — £1 for that category before considering other use.
A checklist for reading any fee schedule properly
- Identify every fee category separately: subscription, per-transfer, cash deposit, cheque deposit, FX markup, card processing, ATM withdrawal, account closure.
- For each category, note whether it's flat, tiered, percentage-based, or capped with a fair-use allowance.
- Apply your own realistic monthly volume in each category, not an average or a provider's suggested example.
- Total the result and compare that total, not the subscription price, across providers.
- Tide example: Include Tide’s plan fee, if any, alongside transfer, cash-deposit, cheque-deposit, ATM and FX charges. Free has no plan fee, but those separate usage costs can still matter.
Comparison criteria, in words, across the categories that matter most
Cash-heavy business: weight cash and cheque deposit fees most heavily; they can dominate total cost even on a nominally free plan. Card-terminal business: weight card processing percentage and settlement speed most heavily. Transfer-heavy business (paying multiple suppliers or contractors weekly): weight per-transfer fees and any bulk-payment allowance most heavily. Internationally trading business: weight FX markup on the actual rate offered, not the advertised transfer fee, most heavily.
Tide example: A cash-heavy Tide Free user should model the 0.99% Post Office rate above £500 or 3% PayPoint rate, whereas a transfer-heavy user should model the five-transfer allowance and 20p charge outside it. The meaningful fee depends on the operating pattern.
Honest caveat on comparing fee schedules across providers
Fee schedules are genuinely a moving target — providers revise pricing periodically, sometimes with notice and sometimes without much fanfare. Treat any fee figure on this site, including on our own Tide plans and fees page, as accurate as of when it was last checked, and confirm the current figure directly with the provider before making a decision based on it.
Tide example: The Tide figures on this page were checked against Tide’s official pricing and account-cost guidance on 27 August 2026. They are examples for comparison, not a substitute for Tide’s current terms.