TL;DR
Mercury for VC-backed startups and clean UX. Brex for corporate cards and spend management. Relay for bootstrapped businesses needing multiple accounts.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Mercury | Brex | Relay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | Free |
| Best for | VC startups | Spend management | Bootstrapped |
| FDIC insurance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Corporate cards | Yes | Excellent | Yes |
| Multiple accounts | Yes | Limited | Excellent |
| International | Limited | Yes | No |
1. Mercury
Beautiful banking for startups. Checking, savings (up to $5M FDIC), venture debt, and investor relations tools. The default for YC and VC-backed companies.
2. Brex
Corporate cards with no personal guarantee, spend management, and expense tracking. 20x higher credit limits than traditional cards. Best for funded startups with significant expenses.
3. Relay
Free business banking with up to 20 checking accounts. Perfect for bootstrapped founders who want profit-first accounting with separate accounts for taxes, opex, and profit.
How We Chose These Tools
We compared features, fees, FDIC insurance, card offerings, and suitability for different startup stages (bootstrapped vs funded).
Key Takeaways
- VC-backed: Mercury.
- Need corporate cards: Brex.
- Bootstrapped with profit-first: Relay.