# Relay review (2026): is the free plan enough?

> Online business banking with bill pay, cards and expenses

Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA.

Relay is a financial technology company that offers online business checking and savings accounts, Visa debit and credit cards, bill pay, expense tracking and invoicing in one account. Banking services are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. Every plan allows unlimited users, with higher plans adding approval rules, automation and better savings rates.

- **Category:** Spend & Bill Pay
- **Made by:** Relay
- **Website:** https://relayfi.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you stay on Starter: it earns less on savings and lacks spend approval requests.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026

## Pricing

As of Nov 13, 2026, Relay has a free plan, and paid plans start at $30 per month.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Starter plan: $0 a month, with 20 checking accounts, cards with spend controls, invoicing and QuickBooks and Xero integration.
- **Free trial:** 14-day trial of the Grow or Scale plan.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Starter | $0 | 20 checking accounts, 1.19% APY on savings and 1% cash back on credit cards, as of 9/17/2026. Same-day ACH is $1 and domestic wires are $8. |
| Grow | $30 per month | Adds spend approval requests, batch vendor payments, bookkeeping automation and recurring invoices. 1.87% APY and 1.25% cash back. Same-day ACH is $0.50 and domestic wires are $5. |
| Scale | $90 per month | Shown as $90, down from $120, no end date given. 50 checking accounts, bill payment automation, cash flow forecasts, 3.21% APY, 1.5% cash back and no fee for same-day ACH. |

Read from https://relayfi.com/pricing on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Relay before buying.

## Key features

- **Checking and savings accounts:** Open up to 20 checking accounts (50 on Scale) and high-yield savings accounts, with deposits auto-transferred by rule.
- **Debit and credit cards:** Visa debit and credit cards with spend limits and roles, up to 50 debit cards per cardholder per checking account.
- **Expense tracking:** Receipt capture and upload reminders, expenses categorized as they happen, and sync to accounting software.
- **Bill pay:** Upload bills, assign tasks, set multi-step approval rules and pay vendors by ACH or wire.
- **Invoicing:** Create and track invoices, send payment links and automated follow-ups, and collect by card, bank payment or wire.

## Good for

- Small businesses that want banking, cards and bill pay in one account
- Owners who split money across several accounts, such as tax and payroll
- Teams that need many users without paying per seat

## Worth knowing

- Relay is not an FDIC-insured bank; banking services come from Thread Bank, Member FDIC.
- Transaction fees apply on every plan: for example SWIFT international wires are $25 on Starter, $22 on Grow and $20 on Scale.
- Pay-by-bank invoice collection costs 1%, 0.75% or 0.5% of the amount on Starter, Grow and Scale, capped at $10.
- Savings APY and card cash back differ by plan and are variable, so the $0 Starter plan earns less than the paid plans.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.8 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Relay is a business banking account with cards, bill pay, expense tracking and invoicing, and the free Starter plan allows unlimited users. It isn't an FDIC-insured bank, approvals and better savings rates start on the $30 Grow plan, and transfers carry fees on every plan.

- **Value for money: B.** Starter is $0, and Grow is $30 a month and Scale $90. The $0 plan covers the core, so the paid plans are an upgrade, not a toll.
- **Free plan and trial: A.** Starter is free outright, with 20 checking accounts, cards with spend controls, invoicing and QuickBooks and Xero sync. A 14-day trial of Grow or Scale is also offered.
- **Features: C.** Checking and savings, debit and credit cards, expense tracking, bill pay and invoicing. Spend approval requests and bookkeeping automation start on Grow.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You open a business bank account, which takes setup and verification.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with QuickBooks Online and Xero. No desktop app.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Relay's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among spend and bill pay tools

- Relay's GPA of 2.8 is higher than 64 of the 76 other spend and bill pay tools we grade, and level with 4.
- It stands best on free plan and trial (A, above 71 of 76) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $30 a month, against a middle price of $12 for the category: 28 of the 36 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 15 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/expenses

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Relay you would be making money moved between bank accounts, which takes a licensed payments partner. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.8 is higher than 64 of the 76 other spend and bill pay tools we grade. It costs $360 a year.

- You could make: Expense tracking and invoicing: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Money moved between bank accounts, which takes a licensed payments partner.
- You could not: Cards issued through a bank.
- You could not: Live feeds from your bank, which take an agreement with each bank or a service that has them.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## What people say

- **App Store rating of the iPhone and iPad app:** 4.8 out of 5 from 3,801 ratings in the United States, read Nov 13, 2026. This is the store's rating of the app, not a score from ToolGPA. Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1454115640

## Works with

QuickBooks Online, Xero

**Tags:** Expense tracking, Bill pay, Company cards, Invoicing, Bookkeeping

## Alternatives

- [Mercury](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mercury): Business banking with cards, expenses, bill pay and invoicing. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mercury-vs-relay)
- [Novo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/novo): Free business checking with invoicing, bill pay and debit cards. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/novo-vs-relay)
- [BILL](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bill): Bill pay, invoicing and free company cards for small businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bill-vs-relay)
- [Ramp](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ramp): Corporate cards, expenses, travel and bill pay, with a free plan. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ramp-vs-relay)
- [Brex](https://toolgpa.com/tools/brex): Corporate cards, expenses, bill pay and travel for growing companies. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/brex-vs-relay)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026:

- https://relayfi.com
- https://relayfi.com/pricing

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/relay
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).