Relay's pitch is a free business account built around sub-accounts: one login, a main checking account, and as many separate accounts underneath it as the plan allows, each with its own account number and card. For a side hustle, that is the mechanism behind every profit-first system people recommend and rarely explain how to run.
Everything below was read from Relay's pricing page on September 27, 2026, and the sources are listed at the end.
The Three Plans, Priced
| Plan | Price | Savings APY | Card cash back | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0/mo | 1.19% | 1% | 20 checking accounts, invoice creation and tracking, QuickBooks and Xero, unlimited users |
| Grow | $30/mo | 1.87% | 1.25% | Recurring invoices, approval requests, batch vendor payments, bookkeeping automation, surcharging |
| Scale | $90/mo, listed at $120 | 3.21% | 1.5% | 50 checking accounts per business, no fee for same-day ACH |
Two notes on the prices. The savings rates are printed with an as-of date of September 17, 2026 and are described as variable, tied to the Federal Funds target range, so the 1.19% on Starter is not a promise for the year. And the Scale discount from $120 to $90 is labelled a limited-time discount, which means the tier can revert to $120 without any other change to the plan.
The Sub-Accounts, Which Are the Product
The reason people choose Relay over a bank with a nicer app is the account structure. Starter carries 20 checking accounts, each a real account with its own number, and the plan includes invoice creation with payment links, automated follow ups, and direct integrations with QuickBooks and Xero.
That combination is what makes a tax set-aside work without discipline: the money for quarterly taxes moves into an account that the operating card cannot reach. The mechanism is boring, and it is the entire difference between a freelancer who owes the IRS in April and one who has the money sitting in a separate account.
It Is Not a Bank, and It Says So
Relay prints the disclosure plainly: "Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank." Deposits are placed at Thread Bank, and the page states up to $3,000,000 in FDIC coverage when Thread Bank places funds through a sweep network. The standard limit is $250,000 per depositor at one bank, inclusive of other deposits you already hold there, so the larger figure depends on the sweep and is a feature of the paid tiers rather than something the free account carries.
None of that is unusual in this category: Mercury, Bluevine and Novo are all fintechs using partner banks. It matters for one practical reason, which is what happens when a fintech has a bad quarter. The FDIC protects the deposit; it does not keep the interface running while the partner arrangement changes.
The Fee That Is Not Printed
The pricing page carries a line that reads "save up to 50% over competitors on wire & same-day ACH", followed by "additional transaction fees apply" and a pointer to details below. There is no table of wire or ACH prices in the page, and this review could not find one: what the page offers instead is a calculator that estimates transaction costs per plan from a preset spending profile.
That is the one place Relay's pricing stops being checkable. Every other number on this page, including the three plan prices and the three savings rates, is printed. If wires or same-day ACH are part of how you get paid, the fee that decides the comparison is somewhere you have to go and look.
Who Should Skip It
Skip it if you need to deposit cash. Relay is built for card and transfer money. A business that takes cash weekly needs a bank with branches or a retail deposit network, and this is not that.
Skip it if you want interest on your operating balance. The APYs above are on savings accounts. The checking side is where your money sits while it waits to be spent, and the rate there is a different question.
Skip the paid tiers unless the math is obvious. Grow costs $360 a year for a higher savings rate and team workflow. On a $10,000 savings balance the difference between 1.19% and 1.87% is about $68 a year, so the tier pays for itself only if the workflow features are worth the rest.
Skip it if the wire fee question decides your choice. Price the wires first. If they are a real part of your month, the unprinted schedule is the thing to resolve before opening an account.
Who It Fits
A side hustle that needs the money separated. The free tier does the job that matters: sub-accounts for tax, operating and owner pay, invoicing with payment links, and the accounting integration that keeps the books current without a monthly reconciliation ritual.
A freelancer who already runs QuickBooks or Xero. The integration is on the free plan rather than behind an upgrade, which is not true of every account in this category.
Someone scaling into a small team. Unlimited users on Starter, approval routing and batch payments on Grow. The tier exists for the moment a second person needs to spend money without being handed the password.
How This Score Works
The criteria below were written before this product was scored, and they are the same five on every review here. Each one takes only inputs you can check yourself on a vendor page: what a plan includes, where it caps you, what processing costs, what is sold separately, and what is printed versus quoted. Nothing in the score depends on how the software feels to use, because that is not something this page can evidence.
| Criterion | 2 points | 1 point | 0 points |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the entry plan includes | The cheapest paid plan does the product’s core job without an upgrade, and nothing a solo user needs monthly sits a tier up | Core job works, but at least one routine monthly need is only on a higher tier | The cheapest paid plan cannot do the core job without an upgrade or a paid add-on |
| Where the caps bite | No hard cap a one-person business would hit in a year | A cap exists but sits above ordinary solo use | A cap sits inside ordinary solo use |
| Cost of getting paid | Processing rates published, and a bank transfer path under 1.5% or capped | Rates published, but card only or the bank path is 1.5% or higher | Rates not published anywhere public |
| Add-on load | Nothing routine is sold separately; add-ons are genuinely optional | One routine need is priced as an add-on | Two or more routine needs are add-ons, or a required add-on costs half the plan again |
| Price transparency | Every plan price and the renewal price is printed, and promotions state what they renew at | Plan prices printed, but a material cost needs a call, a login or a quote | The entry price only exists as a promotion, or key prices are not public |
Ten points available, halved for a score out of five. A high score means the pricing is honest and the plan you buy is the plan you keep. It does not mean the product is the best one for you.
The Score
| Criterion | Score | Why, from the printed facts |
|---|---|---|
| What the entry plan includes | 2 / 2 | Starter is $0 and it is a working business account: 20 checking accounts with their own numbers, invoice creation and payment links, QuickBooks and Xero integrations, unlimited users, no minimum balance and no overdraft fees. Nothing a solo business needs every month sits behind the paid tiers. |
| Where the caps bite | 2 / 2 | No minimum balance and no transaction limit is printed. The only account-count line is 20 checking accounts on Starter and 50 per business on Scale, which is far above what one person uses. |
| Cost of getting paid | 1 / 2 | The account is free and the top tier prints "no fee for same-day ACH", but the per-transaction fee schedule is referenced rather than printed as a table: the site says "additional transaction fees apply, full details are below" and quotes costs through a calculator instead. A free account with an unprinted wire and same-day ACH fee is the one place the pricing stops being checkable. |
| Add-on load | 2 / 2 | The paid tiers sell more features rather than metering one: Grow adds recurring invoices, approval routing and surcharging, and Scale adds the higher savings rate and the same-day ACH waiver. Nothing routine is sold as a separate add-on. |
| Price transparency | 2 / 2 | All three plan prices are printed ($0, $30, and $120 discounted to $90), each savings rate is printed with an as-of date of September 17, 2026, the discount is labelled limited time, and the fintech disclosure and the deposit insurance mechanics are printed on the same page. |
| Relay business banking | 9 / 10 | 4.5 out of 5 |
Nine out of ten, or 4.5 out of 5. Relay prints three plan prices, three savings rates with an as-of date, the card cash-back percentages, the fintech disclosure and the insurance mechanics, and it puts the product people actually come for, the sub-accounts and the accounting integration, on the free tier.
The point it gives up is the fee schedule. A page that says it beats competitors on wires and same-day ACH, and then does not print the wires and same-day ACH prices, is asking to be trusted on the one number it declines to show. The calculator is a reasonable substitute for a shopper who knows their volume, and it is not the same thing as a rate card.
What the score cannot capture is how the accounts behave on a bad day: whether a large incoming payment triggers a review, and how long that review lasts. No pricing page answers that, and it is the question worth asking in the support chat before moving your tax money into it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Relay cost in 2026?
Relay prints three plans: Starter at $0 a month for solopreneurs and startups, Grow at $30 a month for small teams, and Scale at $120 a month discounted to $90 for larger teams. The discount on Scale is labelled limited time, and Grow and Scale each carry a 14 day trial.
Is Relay a bank?
No, and it says so on the pricing page: "Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank." Deposits are placed at Thread Bank, and the page states up to $3,000,000 in FDIC coverage when Thread Bank places funds through a sweep network, against the standard $250,000 limit that applies inclusive of other deposits at the same bank.
What does the free Starter plan actually include?
A business checking account with 20 checking accounts underneath it, each with its own number, plus invoice creation and tracking with payment links, automated follow ups, accounting integrations for QuickBooks and Xero, unlimited users, no minimum balance and no overdraft fees. Savings pays 1.19% APY and the card pays 1% cash back.
What do the paid tiers add?
Grow at $30 adds a higher savings rate (1.87% APY), 1.25% cash back, recurring invoices, spend approval requests, batch vendor payments, bookkeeping automation, auto charge on file and surcharging. Scale at $90 adds 3.21% APY, 1.5% cash back, 50 checking accounts per business and no fee for same-day ACH.
Why does this page score the payment criterion at one out of two?
Because the fee schedule is not printed. The pricing page says it saves up to 50% against competitors on wires and same-day ACH, and then says additional transaction fees apply with full details below, without a table this review could read. The cost of moving money is quoted through their calculator, which is a quote rather than a printed rate.
Sources
Prices, plan contents, rates and quoted wording were checked against this page on September 27, 2026.
- Relay pricing, for the three plan prices, the 20 and 50 checking account lines, the savings rates with their September 17, 2026 as-of date, the cash-back percentages, the fee line about wires and same-day ACH, and the fintech and deposit insurance disclosures
- Mercury pricing, Bluevine business checking and Novo business checking, for the comparison of what the three other free accounts print
For how the four free business accounts differ, see Mercury vs Relay vs Bluevine vs Novo. For what the sub-accounts are for, see the side hustle tax guide and quarterly estimated taxes.
