Top Novo Alternatives in 2026
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Suggest a change- If you use Novo's Reserves to split money for taxes, payroll, or profit and want more room to do it, choose Relay. Relay's free Starter plan gives you up to 20 full checking accounts under one login, which is a bigger version of the same budgeting idea Novo's Reserves offers.
- If you want the most widely recognized free startup bank and might want a named relationship manager later, choose Mercury. Mercury's free tier matches Novo on cost with no monthly fee or minimum balance, and its paid Pro tier adds a dedicated relationship manager instead of ticket-based support.
- If you keep a real operating cash balance and want it to earn something instead of sitting idle, choose Bluevine. Bluevine's Premier plan pays 3% APY on the full balance with no cap, and it also offers a line of credit and term loans from the same account if you need working capital.
- If getting a real person on the phone matters to you if your account ever gets flagged, choose Relay. Relay's Scale plan is the only option here that advertises faster phone support. Novo confirms email and in-app support only, Mercury moves to ticket-based support outside its Pro tier, and Bluevine's published support hours don't mention a phone line either.
- If your business is small, your banking needs are simple ACH and invoicing, and you haven't hit a freeze or support problem, choose stay on Novo. Novo is still a genuinely free account with no minimum balance and built-in invoicing, so there's no reason to take on a new bank relationship just to fix a problem you don't have.
Novo built its name on a truly free business checking account: no monthly fee, no minimum balance, and Reserves for splitting money into buckets for taxes or payroll. That's still the right fit for a lot of solo founders. The reasons people leave are specific: Better Business Bureau complaints describe accounts frozen for weeks with only a generic 'under review' reply, and Novo's support is email and in-app only, with no phone line to call when money is stuck.
The alternatives below are the ones a Novo buyer would actually put on a shortlist: other fintech business checking accounts with a partner bank underneath, a free core plan, and the same kind of invoicing and bill pay Novo bundles in. Brex and Ramp are left off this list on purpose. They're corporate card and spend management platforms built for venture-backed companies with real cash reserves, not a checking account replacement for a solopreneur or small business, so they aren't a real substitute for what Novo does.
Novo alternatives compared
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free option | Last update |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RelayBest for envelope-style budgeting | Businesses running a Profit First or envelope-style cash system across multiple checking accounts | Free | Yes | March 2026 |
| MercuryBest known free startup bank | Startups that want free business checking with a clean dashboard and no monthly fees | Free | Yes | July 2026 |
| BluevineBest for earning interest on cash | Businesses that want a free checking account and don't mind meeting a small monthly spend or deposit minimum to earn interest | Free | Yes | February 2026 |
Why teams switch from Novo
Accounts get frozen or restricted with little warning and no clear path to resolve it
Multiple Better Business Bureau complaints describe Novo accounts placed under review for six or more weeks, with support giving only generic replies and no list of documents needed to release the funds.
There's no phone line to call when something goes wrong
Novo support is email and in-app chat only. When an account issue is urgent, like a frozen account or a fraud review, waiting on an email thread instead of calling someone can stretch resolution out by weeks.
ATM fee reimbursement is capped too low for regular use
Novo reimburses up to $7 a month in ATM fees. A founder who withdraws cash more than once or twice a month is paying the difference out of pocket, per Novo's published fee schedule.
The best Novo alternatives, ranked
Relay is the closest match to what Novo actually sells: a free checking account with no monthly fee, no minimum balance, and sub-accounts for separating cash into buckets like payroll, taxes, or profit. Relay just gives you more of it, up to 20 checking accounts on the free Starter plan and 50 on Scale, versus Novo's single account with Reserves layered inside it. Bill pay, invoicing with automated follow-ups, and QuickBooks and Xero sync are all built in on the free plan, so an agency or service business moving off Novo doesn't lose anything on day one. The tradeoff shows up if you want more: Grow and Scale carry real monthly fees ($30 and $90), and Trustpilot reviewers describe the same kind of frozen-account compliance holds Novo gets flagged for, so switching to Relay doesn't guarantee you dodge that risk entirely.
Pros
- + Starter plan is free with no monthly fee, no minimum balance, and no overdraft fees
- + Up to 20 checking accounts (50 on Scale) under one login makes it easy to separate payroll, taxes, and reserves
- + Bill pay, invoicing, and card controls are built in rather than bolted on
Cons
- – Grow and Scale carry real monthly fees ($30 and $90) on top of what used to be a free-only product
- – Multiple Trustpilot reviewers report accounts frozen for compliance review (RFIs) lasting weeks to months, with support giving no clear timeline during the hold
Mercury is the alternative most solo founders already know by name, and it matches Novo's core pitch: a free checking and savings account with no monthly fee, no minimum balance, and no overdraft charges. The free plan includes bill pay and basic invoicing, close to what Novo offers out of the box. Where Mercury pulls ahead is the paid tiers: Plus at $29.90/month adds a real invoicing API and unlimited 1099 filings, and Pro at $299/month adds a named relationship manager instead of anonymous ticket queues. That's not a phone line and Mercury doesn't advertise one, but it does mean a person you can reach by name. The catch is that Mercury has its own BBB complaints about accounts closed over an unnamed Terms of Service violation, with funds held up to 60 days and paid out only by paper check, so support quality on the free tier isn't obviously better than Novo's.
Pros
- + Free tier has no monthly fee, minimum balance, or overdraft charges
- + Plus and Pro pricing is published and predictable, not a sales call
- + Paid tiers bundle real operational features (recurring invoices, invoicing API, more reimbursements) rather than just support upgrades
Cons
- – BBB complaints describe slow or unresponsive support once an account issue escalates, with some customers reporting Mercury stopped replying entirely during disputes
- – Account closures can happen with little explanation, and closed accounts can face 60-day fund holds paid out by paper check
Bluevine is the pick for a founder who wants their checking account to also cover a revolving line of credit without adding a second bank relationship. It's the only one here that pairs a line of credit with checking: Relay only offers term loans, and Novo's working capital product, Novo Funding, is a separate add-on rather than something built into the account. The free Standard plan has no monthly fee and no minimum balance, matching Novo, but it only pays 1.3% APY if you hit a $500 monthly card spend or $2,500 in deposits, an extra condition Novo's account doesn't have. Paying for Plus or Premier removes that condition and pushes the rate up to 3% APY on Premier with no balance cap, real money on an idle cash balance. Support runs Monday through Friday, 8am to 8pm ET, better hours than Novo's email-only setup but with no weekend coverage, and Bluevine has its own reports of accounts frozen during review with little explanation.
Pros
- + No monthly fee and no minimum balance on the Standard plan
- + 3% APY on the Premier plan applies to the full balance with no cap
- + FDIC coverage up to $3 million by spreading deposits across partner banks
Cons
- – Earning interest on the free Standard plan requires hitting a monthly debit spend or deposit minimum
- – Support hours run Monday through Friday, 8am to 8pm ET, with no stated weekend hours, so a Friday account freeze can mean waiting until Monday
Novo alternatives: FAQ
What is the best free alternative to Novo?+
Relay and Mercury both have free checking plans with no monthly fee and no minimum balance, matching Novo's core pricing. Relay adds more budgeting accounts for free, while Mercury's free plan leans closer to Novo's simple checking-plus-invoicing setup.
Do any of these alternatives avoid Novo's account-freeze problem?+
Not entirely. Mercury, Relay, and Bluevine all have their own complaints about compliance holds and account closures with vague explanations, since all of these are fintechs sitting on top of partner banks with similar review processes. None of them guarantee a freeze-free experience.
Which Novo alternative pays the most interest on a business checking balance?+
Bluevine's Premier plan pays 3% APY on the full balance with no cap, the highest of the tools compared here. Its free Standard plan only pays 1.3% APY and requires hitting a monthly spend or deposit minimum to earn it.
Are Brex and Ramp good Novo alternatives?+
Not for most Novo buyers. Brex and Ramp are corporate card and spend management platforms built for venture-backed companies with strong cash reserves, not standalone checking account replacements for a solopreneur or small business, so they solve a different problem than what Novo does.
Novo alternatives: pricing compared
Entry price, billing model, and whether pricing is public. 4 of 4 publish pricing you can check without talking to sales.
How we made these picks. We compare tools on public pricing, features, and hands-on assessment, then verify every price against the vendor's own page. We never accept payment for rankings. Read the full methodology. Spotted an error? Report it.