Relay vs Novo 2026: Free Business Checking Compared

Pick Relay if you want separate account numbers for taxes, payroll and profit; pick Novo if you want one free account with budgeting folders and a 2% cash-back debit card. Relay Starter and Novo Business Checking both charge no monthly fee. Relay's Grow plan is $30 a month and Scale is $90, while Novo sells no paid tier. Figures were read on Relay's pricing page and Novo's business checking page on October 26, 2026.

The two accounts solve the same problem with different plumbing. Relay gives a business up to 20 checking accounts, each with its own account number, plus two savings accounts that pay interest. Novo gives one checking account and up to 20 Reserves, which are budgeting categories inside that single balance. Relay's envelopes are real accounts; Novo's are labels. That difference decides most of what follows, including the fees, the yield and the FDIC math.

Toolradar data: on Toolradar, the software directory we run, Relay is listed as an alternative to 12 other tools and Novo to 10, against a median of 3 among the 89 expense management tools in that category, as of October 2026. Buyers shortlist the two by name at about the same rate, which is why this pair comes up so often.

Twenty accounts or twenty reserves

Relay's structure is the reason to pay attention to it. Starter and Grow allow 20 checking accounts per business and Scale allows 50, each a separate account number you can give to a client, a payroll provider or a tax authority. A business running the Profit First method, or any owner who wants the payroll money physically out of the operating account, gets that without a second bank. Every plan also includes two savings accounts, and the yield lives there, not in checking: Relay's deposit agreement describes the checking account as non-interest-bearing.

Novo's Reserves do the budgeting half of that job. You set rules once, a percentage for taxes, a slice for profit, and Novo allocates incoming money into up to 20 categories automatically. The money stays in one checking account, so there is one account number, one balance for the bank's purposes and no separate statement per reserve. For an owner who wants discipline, Reserves are enough; for an owner who wants separation an auditor can see, they are not.

The practical test is simple. If you need to hand a different account number to a different party, Relay. If you need a tidy view of what is spoken for inside one balance, Novo does it for free and with less setup.

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The fee table at $0 and $30

Both free accounts charge nothing monthly, nothing to receive wires and nothing for standard ACH. The differences show up on outgoing wires, faster transfers and cash.

Relay prints every number on the pricing page, which is the honest advantage of its fee table: you can model a month before you open the account. Novo's checking page says optional services and outgoing wires may carry fees and points to a fee schedule dated September 13, 2026, published as a document rather than on the page, and its payments page says any provider fees, limits and availability are shown before you send. A business that wires money every week should read that schedule before choosing Novo, because the wire line is the one place a free account can stop being free.

Our arithmetic for a Relay Starter business that sends two domestic wires and four same-day ACH transfers a month: $20 in fees, $240 a year, with no plan fee. The same activity on Grow costs $12 in fees plus the plan fee, $504 a year. Grow only makes sense for the approval rules, batch payments and bookkeeping automation it unlocks, not for the lower wire price.

Yield versus cash back

Relay pays interest; Novo pays rewards. Relay's savings APY is 1.19% on Starter, 1.87% on Grow and 3.21% on Scale, all dated September 17, 2026 on the pricing page and all on the two savings accounts only. On a flat $20,000 held in savings for a year, Starter earns $238 by our arithmetic, which roughly covers the $240 of wire and ACH fees in the scenario above. Grow's higher rate adds $136 on that balance, well short of its $360 annual fee, so the yield does not pay for the plan at that size; our Relay review works through the balance at which it does.

Novo's checking pays no interest. Its reward is the debit card: 2% cash back on eligible purchases when the checking balance is $5,000 or more, 1% below that. A business that spends $3,000 a month on the card at the 2% rate earns $720 a year, our arithmetic, which is three times what Relay's Starter savings pay on $20,000. Relay's own card reward is 1% on Starter, 1.25% on Grow and 1.5% on Scale, but it sits on the Relay Visa credit card, a separate credit product with its own approval.

So the yield question is really a question about where your money sits. Idle cash favors Relay's savings accounts. Cash that goes out on a card every month favors Novo.

FDIC coverage and who holds the deposit

Neither company is a bank. Relay's deposits sit at Thread Bank, and its deposit agreement says they qualify for up to $3,000,000 in FDIC coverage when Thread Bank places them at program banks in its sweep program, with $250,000 per program bank. Novo's deposits sit at Middlesex Federal Savings, and its checking page says eligible deposits are insured up to $5,000,000 per depositor through Middlesex and other banks in its sweep network. Some of Novo's pages still carry the older $250,000 line in the footer, so the pages differ; the checking page is the one that describes the sweep.

The figures only matter above $250,000, and both depend on the sweep working as described. Relay's agreement also sets an eligibility bar worth knowing: the account is for a business entity incorporated in the United States. Our US business bank accounts for non-residents guide covers the accounts that accept a foreign owner.

Who should pick Relay, and who should pick Novo?

Pick Relay if you want separate account numbers for payroll, taxes and profit, if you keep a cash reserve that should earn interest without a balance gate, if you send wires often enough that a printed $8 or $5 price matters, or if a team needs approval rules and batch vendor payments, which is what Grow sells.

Pick Novo if you want one free account with automatic budgeting folders, if most of your spending goes out on a debit card and the 2% reward applies, if you receive wires and rarely send them, or if you want FedNow instant receipts, which Novo's payments page lists for incoming transfers.

Neither is the pick when free USD wires are the priority: our Mercury vs Relay and Mercury vs Novo comparisons cover that case, and Novo vs Bluevine covers an account that pays interest on checking itself. The wider field is in our best free business checking accounts and best business bank accounts rankings, and the fee patterns across the category are in business banking fees 2026. The Novo review goes deeper on the product.

How we compared

Plan prices, fees, APYs and account limits come from Relay's pricing page and its plan comparison table, Relay's business deposit account agreement, and Novo's no-fee checking, Reserves and payments pages, all read on October 26, 2026. Relay dates its APYs to September 17, 2026, and Novo dates its fee schedule to September 13, 2026. Fee and yield totals are our arithmetic on the printed figures, using a flat balance and the standard rates, with no promotion applied. Toolradar figures come from the Relay and Novo profiles in the Toolradar catalog, October 2026. We did not open either account.

This page is general information, not personalized financial advice. Confirm current fees, rates and FDIC terms with Relay and Novo before you move money.

Finpresso data: 33,000+ subscribers receive Finpresso, with an average open rate of 33% in the audience file refreshed November 8, 2026.

Cite this: Finpresso, "Relay vs Novo 2026: Free Business Checking Compared", November 2026. Prices verified on vendor pages, October 26, 2026.

FAQ

Is Relay or Novo better for a small business in 2026?

Relay for a business that wants separate accounts for taxes, payroll and profit and a savings yield; Novo for a business that wants one free account with budgeting Reserves and a 2% cash-back debit card. Both charge no monthly fee on the base account, and only Relay sells paid plans.

Does Relay or Novo charge a monthly fee?

Relay Starter and Novo Business Checking both cost nothing a month with no minimum balance. Relay's Grow plan is $30 a month and Scale is $90 a month, discounted from a $120 list price, as of October 26, 2026. Novo has no paid tier.

How many accounts can I open with Relay and Novo?

Relay allows 20 checking accounts per business on Starter and Grow, 50 on Scale, plus two savings accounts on every plan. Novo gives one checking account with up to 20 Reserves, which are budgeting categories inside that account rather than separate account numbers.

Which pays more, Relay's savings APY or Novo's cash back?

It depends on where the money sits. Relay Starter pays 1.19% APY on savings, so $20,000 earns about $238 a year by our arithmetic. Novo pays 2% cash back on eligible debit purchases with a balance of $5,000 or more, so $3,000 of monthly card spend earns $720 a year. Idle cash favors Relay; card spending favors Novo.

What are the wire fees on Relay and Novo?

Relay prints them: $8 per outgoing domestic wire on Starter and $5 on Grow and Scale, $25 for a SWIFT international wire on Starter, and nothing to receive any wire. Novo receives wires free and shows the outgoing fee before you send, with the full list in its fee schedule dated September 13, 2026.

How much FDIC coverage do Relay and Novo offer?

Relay states up to $3,000,000 per business through Thread Bank's sweep program. Novo's checking page states up to $5,000,000 per depositor through Middlesex Federal Savings and its sweep network, while some of its other pages still print the standard $250,000. Both figures rely on the sweep spreading deposits across program banks.

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