£190 a year. That is what FreeAgent charges a sole trader on its standard plan, before VAT, and it is the single number that explains why Mettle keeps showing up on shortlists it would otherwise lose. Mettle hands you that subscription for nothing. There is a condition, and almost nobody writes it down properly.
Mettle is NatWest’s app-only business account. No monthly fee, no branch, no cheque book. The account is provided by National Westminster Bank plc trading as Mettle, so the money sits inside a ring-fenced UK bank rather than an e-money wrapper.
It is also fussy about who it takes. Mettle turns away more business types than any other free account in this market, and the rejection arrives after you have filled in the application. Worth knowing before you start.
Disclosure: Mettle links on this page go through our tracked /go/ redirect and may pay us a commission. The bundled FreeAgent subscription pays us nothing at all. Neither fact moved a single line of the verdict below — read the full affiliate disclosure if you want the detail.
The FreeAgent bundle, and the condition attached to it
FreeAgent’s own pricing page states the offer in one sentence: you get FreeAgent free if you “have a business current account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank for as long as you retain the account – or have a Mettle bank account and make at least one transaction a month”.
Read that last clause twice. One transaction a month, from the Mettle account. Not a balance sitting there. Not an occasional top-up. A transaction, every month, or the free subscription lapses back to standard pricing. Mettle’s own wording matches: “To get FreeAgent included, you have to make at least one transaction a month from your Mettle account.”
In practice this means Mettle has to be your working account, not a parked second account you opened for the software. That is the deal. It is a fair one, but it rules out the obvious trick of banking with Starling and keeping a dormant Mettle account open for the free FreeAgent licence.
What is it worth? FreeAgent lists £19 a month or £190 a year excluding VAT for sole traders, and £33 a month or £330 a year for limited companies. NatWest’s page puts the saving at “up to £150 per year”, which is the conservative version. Either way, it is the largest single freebie attached to any free UK business account. We have gone deeper on the mechanics in our guide to whether FreeAgent is genuinely free for UK freelancers.
What Mettle costs
The account itself is free. The charges live in the corners, and Mettle publishes them in a fee information document rather than burying them in terms and conditions, which is more than some rivals manage.
| Item | Mettle charge |
|---|---|
| Monthly account maintenance | No fee |
| Mettle+ add-on (optional) | £4 a month |
| Cash deposit at a Post Office | £2.75 per deposit |
| Cash withdrawal by card | £1.00 per withdrawal |
| Replacement card, lost or damaged | £5.00 |
| Replacement card, stolen | Free |
| FreeAgent subscription | Included, subject to one transaction a month |
Compare that £2.75 flat fee against Starling, which charges £3 or 0.7 per cent of the deposit, whichever is higher, and Monzo, which charges £1 flat. On a £200 takings drop, Monzo wins. On a £2,000 drop, Mettle’s flat £2.75 beats Starling’s £14 comfortably, but Monzo caps sole traders at £3,000 of cash a month, so the shape of your cash matters more than the headline fee.
Cash, cheques and the Post Office problem
Mettle deposits cash through the Post Office using a barcoded slip generated in the app. That is the only route in. The Post Office’s own service listing for Mettle confirms what is not available at the counter: no cash withdrawals, no balance enquiries, no cheque deposits and no change-giving.
No cheques at all is the sharper limitation. If you invoice local authorities, schools, older clients or anyone in construction still paying on paper, Mettle will not process the cheque and there is no workaround inside the app. That single gap disqualifies it for a decent number of trades.
Mettle’s published fee document lists the £2.75 per-deposit charge but does not set out a per-deposit ceiling or an annual cash limit the way Starling does. If you handle real volumes of notes, ask before you switch rather than assuming the limit is generous.
Who Mettle will not accept
This is where applications die. Mettle’s eligibility page carries a long exclusion list, and it is longer than most people expect from a bank owned by NatWest.
Structures it does not support
- Public limited companies and unlimited companies
- Private companies limited by guarantee
- Limited liability partnerships and Private Fund Limited Partnerships
- Community interest companies, charities and non-profits
- Industrial and provident societies, royal charters, clubs, societies and trusts
- Ordinary partnerships — including two sole traders working together
That last one is easy to miss. Two freelancers trading as a partnership are not eligible, even though each of them individually would be. If you are weighing structures, our comparison of sole trader versus limited company covers what changes beyond the banking.
Trades it does not support
Alcohol and tobacco manufacturing, distilleries, adult entertainment, armaments, gambling, pharmaceuticals, certain manufacturers, embassies, trust and company service providers, money service businesses, cryptocurrency and freight shipping.
And the basics
You must be 18 or over, a UK resident, a UK tax resident only, hold a UK phone number, and run a business registered and trading in the UK. Limited companies need at least one person of significant control, all PSCs must be individuals, there can be no more than two of them, the applicant must be both a director and a PSC, and only one owner gets access to the account. The company must show as active at Companies House. Main account balances go up to £1 million.
One inconsistency worth flagging: Mettle’s eligibility page lists iOS 13 or later and Android 7.0 or later, while NatWest’s Mettle page lists iOS 16 and Android 10.0. Both were live on 27 August 2026. Assume the higher figure if your phone is old.
Savings pot and deposit protection
Mettle’s savings pot pays 0.95 per cent AER, gross, variable, on balances from £10, and holds up to £1 million separately from the main account. That is not a market-leading rate and nobody should pretend otherwise, but it beats the nothing most free accounts pay on a tax reserve.
Because the account is provided by NatWest, eligible deposits are covered by the FSCS up to £120,000, the limit that took effect on 1 December 2025. Careful here if you are a sole trader: the FSCS treats you and your business as one legal person, so you get a single £120,000 claim across your personal and business money held with NatWest. Same bank, same claim. Our guide to FSCS protection on business accounts works through the split.
One further wrinkle: on 27 August 2026 Mettle’s main business account page still displayed an £85,000 FSCS figure while its homepage and NatWest’s page showed £120,000. The FSCS itself is the authority, and the FSCS says £120,000.
Who it suits
A solo limited company director or a sole trader who bills digitally, wants proper accounting software without paying for it, and does not touch cheques. For that person Mettle is genuinely hard to beat — you are getting a £190-a-year subscription and a bank account for nothing, from a balance sheet with NatWest behind it.
Look elsewhere if you are in a partnership, run a charity or CIC, take cheques, need more than one person on the account, or trade in anything on the exclusion list. And if you already pay for Xero and like it, the bundle is worth nothing to you — our FreeAgent versus Xero comparison is the better starting point. Anyone weighing the whole field should start with our roundup of the best business bank accounts for UK sole traders.
Common questions
Is Mettle a real bank?
Yes. Mettle states that the bank account is provided by National Westminster Bank plc trading as Mettle, and eligible deposits carry FSCS protection up to £120,000. It is a NatWest product with its own app, not an e-money account.
Does Mettle charge a monthly fee?
No. The fee information document lists “No fee” for monthly maintenance. The only subscription is the optional Mettle+ add-on at £4 a month.
How do I keep FreeAgent free with Mettle?
Make at least one transaction a month from the Mettle account. Stop transacting, or close the account, and FreeAgent reverts to standard pricing.
Can I pay a cheque into Mettle?
No. The Post Office listing for Mettle confirms cheque deposits are not offered, and there is no in-app cheque imaging route.
Can two people use a Mettle account?
A limited company can have up to two owners, but only one of them gets access to the account. There is no shared or multi-user login.
Can I switch to Mettle using the Current Account Switch Service?
Not every app-only provider participates, so check inside the app before you assume it. Our walkthrough of the seven-day business account switch explains what the guarantee does and does not cover.
Mettle bundles FreeAgent, so read our FreeAgent review before you decide. For the other free accounts, see Starling, Monzo and Revolut Business.
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Sources
- Mettle — homepage, account provider and FSCS statement (checked 27 August 2026)
- Mettle — fees and charges information (checked 27 August 2026)
- Mettle — check your eligibility (checked 27 August 2026)
- Mettle — savings pot rate (checked 27 August 2026)
- FreeAgent — pricing and free-access conditions (checked 27 August 2026)
- NatWest — Mettle mobile account (checked 27 August 2026)
- Post Office — Mettle business services (checked 27 August 2026)
- FSCS — banks and building societies deposit limit (checked 27 August 2026)
This is general information about Mettle, not financial or tax advice. Every price and limit above links to the provider’s own page, with the date it was checked; terms change, so confirm on the live page before you sign up. For your own circumstances, speak to an accountant.