Always Bank

Name: Always Bank (Business Bank Accounts)
Brand: Always Bank

Small-business-only digital bank, a division of 22nd State Banking Company, whose free Essential tier is the only one that can currently be opened.

Best for

A sole proprietor who wants a free account at a chartered bank and does not need to deposit cash.

Rate on your money: Not published on checking
Cash deposits: Not published at source
FDIC coverage: $250,000, combined with 22nd State
EIN required: Not published at source

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How Always Bank compares

All prices in USDPrices checked Sep 7, 2026

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Side-by-side with the closest alternatives by monthly fee.

Each account's published monthly fee, and the plan that fee belongs to. Where a fee can be waived, the condition is stated rather than applied. Interest is shown as the rate each account publishes, with its conditions, and never as a forecast of what you would earn.

	Always Bank $0/mo	Mercury $0/mo	Relay $0/mo	Novo $0/mo
Deposits held by	Bank division; 22nd State Bank	Fintech; Choice Financial and Column N.A.	Fintech; Thread Bank	Fintech; Middlesex Federal Savings
Free cash deposits /mo	Not published at source	Not applicable	$2,000/day (ATM), $5,000/mo (retail)	Not applicable
Entities accepted	Sole proprietors	Not published at source	LLC, corp, partnership, sole prop, non-profit	Sole prop, LLC, corp, partnership, non-profit
Branches	No	No	No, Allpoint in network	No
To open	Not published at source	None	Not published at source	None
APY on balance	Not published on checking	Not published (Treasury, an investment product)	None on checking (savings to 3.00% by plan)	None
Monthly fee	$0/moFree outrightEssential	$0/moFree outrightMercury	$0/moFree outrightStarter	$0/moFree outrightNovo Business Checking
	Visit Always Bank	View details	View details	View details

Always Bank

$0/mo

Deposits held by: Bank division; 22nd State Bank
Free cash deposits /mo: Not published at source
Entities accepted: Sole proprietors
Branches: No
To open: Not published at source
APY on balance: Not published on checking
Monthly fee: $0/moFree outright

Visit Always Bank

Mercury

$0/mo

Deposits held by: Fintech; Choice Financial and Column N.A.
Free cash deposits /mo: Not applicable
Entities accepted: Not published at source
Branches: No
To open: None
APY on balance: Not published (Treasury, an investment product)
Monthly fee: $0/moFree outright

View details

Relay

$0/mo

Deposits held by: Fintech; Thread Bank
Free cash deposits /mo: $2,000/day (ATM), $5,000/mo (retail)
Entities accepted: LLC, corp, partnership, sole prop, non-profit
Branches: No, Allpoint in network
To open: Not published at source
APY on balance: None on checking (savings to 3.00% by plan)
Monthly fee: $0/moFree outright

View details

Novo

$0/mo

Deposits held by: Fintech; Middlesex Federal Savings
Free cash deposits /mo: Not applicable
Entities accepted: Sole prop, LLC, corp, partnership, non-profit
Branches: No
To open: None
APY on balance: None
Monthly fee: $0/moFree outright

View details

Strengths and trade-offs

Pros

A chartered bank division rather than a fintech with a partner bank
The entry tier is genuinely free, with no maintenance, NSF or overdraft fee
Free standard bill pay and a Mastercard debit card included
Small business is its stated sole focus
Fee-free access to the MoneyPass and Allpoint ATM networks

Cons

Only the free Essential tier can be opened; the $99 and $199 tiers are waitlist-only
No fee schedule is published anywhere on the site
No rate is published on checking, and the two tiers that advertise one cannot be opened
Cash deposit terms, transaction allowances and minimum opening deposit are all unpublished
FDIC cover is combined with 22nd State Bank rather than additional to it

About Always Bank

Always.bank is a division of 22nd State Banking Company, chartered in 1917 as Farmers Exchange Bank and operating today as a fully digital institution with no branches. It is a bank rather than a financial technology company with a partner bank behind it, which puts it in the same class as the other chartered institutions here.

It publishes three business checking tiers, and only the first can be opened. Essential is free, carries no maintenance, NSF or overdraft fee, and its button reads open an account. Premium at $99 a month and Pro at $199 both read join the waitlist, and the bank's own FAQ describes them as coming soon, so neither is a price a business can pay today and neither is used to cost this row.

What is published beyond the fee is thin, and deliberately recorded as such. There is no fee schedule anywhere on the site, no cash deposit terms, no transaction allowance and no minimum opening deposit for checking. The rate is not published either: the two waitlisted tiers advertise a competitive APY with no number, and the bank states that the rate and yield are coming soon.

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