Mercury vs Novo (2026): Which Business Bank Account Fits You?

Pick Novo if you are a sole proprietor or a solo service business; pick Mercury if you run an LLC or corporation that sends wires or holds more than $250,000. Both charge no monthly fee. Novo accepts unregistered sole proprietors and charges up to $45 per outgoing domestic wire. Mercury refuses sole proprietorships but sends domestic and USD international wires free.

The two accounts look alike on the homepage and split sharply in the fee schedule. Novo is built for freelancers, contractors and small shops that get paid by ACH, Stripe or Square and rarely wire money. Mercury is built for startups and remote founders that move money in larger, more frequent payments and want sweep insurance into the millions.

Toolradar data: our finance ranking tracked 1,111 finance tools as of 17 October 2026, with directory pages for Mercury and Novo. Figures below were read on 17 October 2026 on Mercury's pricing page, Novo's fee schedule (last revised 26 February 2026) and Novo's free checking page.

At a glance

	Mercury	Novo
Monthly fee	$0 on the base plan; paid plans add workflows	$0, no paid tiers
Minimum balance	None	None; $1,000 recommended initial deposit
Who can open	US-formed entities; no sole proprietorships	Sole proprietorships, LLCs, corporations, partnerships and nonprofits
Outgoing domestic wire	Free	Up to $45
Same-day or express ACH	Free	1.5%, minimum $0.50, maximum $20
USD international wire	Free (optional $15 OUR code)	Receiving is free; sending runs through the Wise integration
Interest on checking	None	0% APY
Yield option	Treasury, from $250K, up to 4.05% net	None published
FDIC coverage	Up to $5 million through a sweep network	Up to $250,000 at Middlesex Federal Savings
Card rewards	IO credit card, 1.5% cash back	Credit card, 2% with $5,000+ balance, else 1%
ATM fees	No Mercury fee	No Novo fee; up to $7 a month in third-party fees refunded

A business checking account is the account a company uses to receive revenue and pay bills, kept separate from the owner's personal money. Mercury and Novo are both fintech companies that run that account through partner banks: Choice Financial Group and Column N.A. for Mercury, and Middlesex Federal Savings for Novo.

Who can open each account

This is the first filter, and for many readers it ends the comparison. Mercury's Column N.A. deposit agreement, updated 14 August 2026, states that no entities considered sole proprietorships are eligible. Its FAQ asks every applicant for the company's formation documents, so a freelancer who never filed with a state cannot open one.

Novo takes the opposite stance. Its account requirements page lists sole proprietorships, LLCs, corporations, general partnerships and nonprofits, and its FAQ says an owner who has not filed with a state can apply as a sole proprietor, with a DBA if the business uses a trade name. Novo does require a US citizen for a sole proprietorship account, and non-citizen owners of other entities must show they live in the US.

Mercury is the better fit for founders abroad. Its FAQ says it supports US companies founded by people across the globe, outside a list of restricted countries. A non-resident who formed a Delaware or Wyoming LLC can open Mercury and will usually be shut out of Novo. Our non-resident account roundup and the guide to forming a US LLC as a non-resident cover that route.

Fees: where the free accounts stop being free

Neither charges a monthly fee, so what you pay depends on how you move money. Novo's schedule keeps the everyday rails at zero: incoming and outgoing standard ACH, incoming domestic and foreign wires, stop payments, mailed bill-pay checks, insufficient funds and paper statements all cost nothing. Three items carry a price.

The outgoing domestic wire is listed at up to $45. A contractor who wires a supplier deposit once a quarter barely notices, but the fee compounds quickly for anyone who pays by wire each month. A company paying a landlord, a manufacturer and a law firm by wire each month could spend up to $135 a month, or $1,620 a year. On Mercury those same wires cost nothing.

Express ACH on Novo costs 1.5% of the payment, at least $0.50 and at most $20. A $500 same-day payment costs $7.50, and anything above about $1,333 hits the $20 cap. Mercury sends same-day ACH free, so a business that often pays vendors on short notice saves real money there.

Express check deposit on Novo costs up to 2% of the check, with a $0.50 minimum, and Novo's FAQ says check deposits otherwise sit on a one to four business day hold. A trade business paid by large paper checks should plan for the standard hold rather than pay to speed it up.

Mercury's remaining charges sit elsewhere: 1% on non-USD wires, 3% on non-USD card purchases and $5 per 1099 filing on the free plan. Its optional paid plans, Plus at $35 a month and Pro at $350, add invoicing and accounting workflows rather than lowering any banking fee. The Mercury review covers those tiers.

Three businesses, three answers

We priced three typical monthly patterns against both fee schedules. These are our own calculations from the published rates, not quotes.

A solo designer, a sole proprietor billing clients through Stripe and paying software by card, sends no wires and no express ACH. Novo costs $0 a month, and Mercury is not available without forming an LLC first. Novo wins by default. The Novo review goes deeper on this profile.

A three-person agency LLC sends two domestic wires and four same-day ACH payments of $2,000 a month. On Novo that is up to $90 for the wires plus $80 in express ACH fees, up to $170 a month. On Mercury it is $0. Over a year, the gap reaches about $2,040 at Novo's top wire price.

A seed-funded startup holding $1.5 million after a round faces an insurance question more than a fee question. Novo's coverage is listed at $250,000 through one bank, so most of the round would sit uninsured. Mercury's sweep spreads deposits across up to 20 banks for multi-million coverage, and Treasury could put idle cash to work at 3.28% to 3.60% net in the entry band, as of 9 October 2026. Mercury is the clear pick.

Earning on the balance and on the card

Neither pays interest on checking. Novo's fee schedule lists a 0% APY and Mercury's pricing page lists no checking rate. If interest on operating cash matters, read Bluevine vs Mercury, because Bluevine is the account in this group that pays it.

Mercury's yield product is Treasury, a securities account run by Mercury Advisory that opens once balances across Mercury accounts reach the minimum. It invests in a government money market fund and an ultra-short bond fund, so the money is no longer an FDIC-insured deposit. LLCs taxed as sole proprietorships cannot use it. Novo publishes no comparable product.

Card rewards tilt the other way. Novo's business credit card, issued by Continental Bank, pays 2% cash back on eligible purchases when the checking balance is $5,000 or more, and 1% below that. Mercury's IO card pays 1.5% on credit spend. On $4,000 of monthly card spend, Novo at the higher tier returns $80 a month against $60 on Mercury, a $240 yearly edge for a business that keeps the balance above the threshold. Our corporate card roundup compares limits and controls.

Novo also refunds up to $7 a month in third-party ATM fees, including abroad. Mercury charges no ATM fee of its own, and its pricing page does not list a reimbursement for the business account.

Tools, integrations and organization

Novo leans on integrations; Mercury builds more of the workflow in. Novo says it connects with more than 40 business tools, including Stripe, Square, Shopify, QuickBooks and Xero, and its FAQ lists Gusto, FreshBooks, Zoho, Wise and others. Invoicing with tracking and automatic reminders is built in at no charge.

Novo Reserves splits the checking balance into up to 20 buckets for taxes, payroll or slow months, with rules that route a share of each deposit automatically. That suits a freelancer who wants a tax envelope without opening a second account.

Mercury includes bill pay, unlimited invoices, employee cards and bank feeds to QuickBooks Online, Xero and NetSuite on the free plan. Recurring invoices and ACH-debit collection need a paid plan. For bookkeeping software that works with either, see accounting software for small businesses and the AI bookkeeping tools list.

Deposit insurance and who holds the money

Mercury's insurance ceiling is twenty times Novo's. Mercury describes FDIC coverage up to $5 million through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A. and their sweep networks. Novo states deposits are insured up to $250,000 through Middlesex Federal Savings. For a freelancer with $30,000 in the account the difference is irrelevant. For a company holding payroll for 15 people plus a reserve, it decides the choice.

Both coverages are pass-through insurance: it protects against the failure of the partner bank, not the fintech, and depends on the bank's records being correct. Neither Mercury nor Novo is itself a bank.

Which account should you open?

Open Novo if you are a US-citizen sole proprietor, a freelancer or a small service business that gets paid by ACH or card processors, rarely wires money and keeps a balance well under Novo's insurance limit. The 2% card tier is a real bonus if you hold $5,000 or more.

Open Mercury if you have an LLC or corporation, pay vendors by wire or same-day ACH, have founders outside the US, or hold more cash than Novo's single-bank insurance limit. Add Treasury once reserves qualify and can sit in funds.

If neither fits, compare Mercury vs Relay for envelope accounts with savings yield, or browse the full business bank account and free business checking lists.

How we compared

We read Mercury's pricing, Treasury and FAQ pages and its Column N.A. deposit agreement, and Novo's fee schedule, free checking page, business checking page, FAQ and account requirements page, on 17 October 2026. Cost examples multiply those published fees by the stated volumes. Novo lists its domestic wire fee as "up to" a maximum, so our wire totals are the ceiling. We did not open either account.

Finpresso data: Beehiiv's export for this newsletter, refreshed October 18, 2026, counts 29,000+ active subscribers, with an average open rate of 33%.

FAQ

Is Mercury or Novo better in 2026?

Novo is better for sole proprietors and solo service businesses that rarely send wires, because it accepts unregistered sole proprietors and charges no monthly fee. Mercury is better for LLCs and corporations that wire money or hold large balances, because domestic and USD international wires are free and its sweep network stretches FDIC coverage into the millions.

Can a sole proprietor open a Mercury account?

No. Mercury's Column N.A. deposit agreement, updated 14 August 2026, says entities considered sole proprietorships are not eligible, because Mercury asks for the company's formation documents. A sole proprietor would need to form an LLC or corporation first, or use Novo, which accepts sole proprietors who are US citizens.

Does Novo charge for wires?

Receiving domestic and foreign wires on Novo is free. Sending a domestic wire costs up to $45, per Novo's fee schedule last revised 26 February 2026. For international payments, Novo's FAQ points to its Wise integration. Mercury sends domestic and USD international wires at no charge.

Do Mercury or Novo pay interest?

Neither pays interest on checking: Novo's fee schedule lists a 0% APY and Mercury lists no checking rate. Mercury offers Treasury, a securities account for larger balances with net yields up to 4.05% as of 9 October 2026, which is not FDIC-insured. Novo has no yield product.

Which has better FDIC insurance?

Mercury, by a wide margin. Mercury describes coverage up to $5 million through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A. and sweep networks across up to 20 banks. Novo lists coverage up to $250,000 through Middlesex Federal Savings. Both are pass-through coverage that applies if the partner bank fails.

Is there a minimum deposit for Novo or Mercury?

Neither requires a minimum balance. Novo's fee schedule recommends a $1,000 initial deposit but sets the minimum balance at $0. Mercury lists no minimum balance and no account opening fee.

This page is general information, not personalized financial advice. Confirm current fees, eligibility and terms with Mercury and Novo before you open an account.

Cite this: Finpresso, "Mercury vs Novo (2026): Which Business Bank Account Fits You?", October 2026.

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