Who this plan is for
Max is aimed at established businesses with high and regular transfer volumes, several cardholders across a team, and — often the deciding factor — meaningful international payment activity where FX terms move the needle. It's the plan you grow into after Pro's allowance stops comfortably covering a normal month, not a starting point for a new business.
What you get versus Pro
Over Pro, Max increases the monthly transfer allowance again, extends the team card allocation further, and offers the best FX margin available on any Tide plan. The underlying account features are identical across every tier — invoicing, receipt capture, accounting sync, Instant Saver — so Max is entirely about how much of your volume sits inside the included allowance before per-item charges apply.
There is no plan above Max, so the comparison that matters is whether your business's actual volumes justify the jump from Pro rather than whether something better exists further up.
Where costs still apply even on Max
- Transfers beyond Max's allowance — larger than Pro's, but still finite — revert to per-item fees.
- Cash deposits carry the largest allowance of any plan but remain chargeable per deposit once exceeded.
- Cheque deposits are charged per item on every tier, Max included.
- Extra team cards beyond Max's inclusion still cost per card.
- FX margin still applies to international payments — the best rate on the Tide ladder, but still worth comparing against a specialist for very high international volumes.
Working out if Max actually pays off
Same method as every other tier: count your real monthly transfers, cash deposits, cheque deposits, cardholders and international payments. Subtract Max's included allowances, multiply anything left over by the current per-item fees, and add that to Max's monthly membership fee. Then run the identical calculation for Pro. If the difference between the two totals is smaller than the gap between their monthly fees, you're paying for headroom rather than usage — a sign Pro is the better fit even if Max looks more impressive on paper.
When Max is genuinely worth it
Regular international payments at volume, where the FX margin difference between Pro and Max outweighs the extra monthly fee. A larger team where cardholder numbers exceed Pro's inclusion by enough to make per-card charges add up. Or a transfer count that consistently and substantially clears Pro's allowance, month after month, not just in an occasional busy period.
When to step back down
If a busy season passes and volumes settle back to Pro-level, downgrade rather than staying on Max out of inertia. The same recount-and-compare arithmetic applies in reverse: if Max's allowance is regularly under-used, the monthly fee difference against Pro is money spent on capacity you're not consuming.
How REFER200 fits with Max
Max is not a prerequisite for the REFER200 cashback. Businesses large enough to be considering Max will typically already qualify for the offer through ordinary card spend and, if relevant, an Instant Saver deposit — the plan tier doesn't change eligibility unless the current terms state otherwise, so check the terms page rather than assuming a link between the two.
Setting up Max properly
- Confirm the current monthly fee, transfer allowance, cash deposit allowance, included team cards and FX margin for Max on our plans and fees page before switching — don't rely on marketing copy alone.
- Move any existing team cardholders and their spend limits across if you're upgrading from Pro, rather than recreating them from scratch.
- If international payments are the main driver, run a handful of typical payments through Max's FX rate and compare the total cost against your last month on Pro or against a specialist FX provider.
- Set a recurring quarterly reminder to recheck your actual volumes against Max's allowances — the plan you needed when you upgraded isn't guaranteed to be the plan you need a year later.
A worked scenario
An established import business with six staff cards and weekly supplier payments in euros moves from Pro to Max once a quarter's data shows FX costs on Pro were larger than the gap between Pro's and Max's monthly fees. On Max, the improved FX margin claws back more than the extra membership fee within the first month, and the larger transfer allowance also removes a recurring pattern of overage charges. A year later, a slower trading quarter with fewer euro payments prompts a recheck — the numbers still favour Max because the team card count alone justifies it, so they stay put rather than downgrading prematurely.
Who Max suits, and who it doesn't
Max suits businesses with high, sustained transfer volumes, several team cardholders and real international payment activity where the FX margin materially affects the bottom line. It doesn't suit a business that occasionally has a busy month but otherwise sits comfortably inside Pro's allowance — that pattern is better served by staying on Pro and accepting the occasional overage fee than paying Max's higher fee every month for headroom used rarely.
Alternatives within Tide
Pro is the natural comparison point below Max — recheck the arithmetic there before committing. For businesses whose only reason for considering Max is heavy international payment volume, it's also worth comparing Max's FX margin against a dedicated currency specialist rather than assuming Tide is automatically the cheapest route once volumes are large enough (see our international payments page).