We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It never changes a score or a ranking. How we make money
It's a split decision.
Choose Brex if you need cards, expenses, travel, bill pay and accounting in one platform. Its Essentials plan is $0, while Premium is $12 per user monthly, according to the pricing page. Choose Novo for free business checking and invoicing, vendor payments and cash-flow tools. Novo charges 1.5% for Express ACH, with a $0.50 minimum and $20 maximum fee. These are different products: Brex is a broader finance suite; Novo is a banking option.
01Side by side
| Brex | Novo | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0 Essentials; Premium $12/user/month | $0 monthly maintenance fee |
| Free plan | Essentials: $0 per user/month | Checking: $0 monthly maintenance |
| Best for | Startups, growing companies, and enterprises | Independent businesses needing checking |
| Core strength | Cards, expenses, travel, bills, accounting | Checking, invoicing, payments, cash flow |
| Learning curve | Not published | Not published |
| Integrations/data | Accounting; ERP and HRIS on Premium | QuickBooks, accounting, payments, payroll |
| Team/seat costs | Premium is $12 per user/month | Per-seat pricing not published |
| Support | Review support score: 6 | Review support score: 5 |
Brex Choose Brex if
- Choose Brex if you need cards, expenses, travel and bill pay together.
- Choose Brex if Premium's $12/user monthly cost fits your team.
- Choose Brex if multi-entity controls or ERP/HRIS integrations matter.
Novo Choose Novo if
- Choose Novo if you want business checking with no monthly maintenance fee.
- Choose Novo if you need invoicing, vendor payments and cash-flow tools.
- Choose Novo if Express ACH's per-transfer fee works for you.
02Pricing compared
Brex has a $0-per-user monthly Essentials plan and a $12-per-user monthly Premium plan, according to its pricing page. Essentials includes one local card program, up to two entities (one global), accounting integrations and free travel booking. Premium adds multiple expense policies, dynamic review chains, multi-entity support and customizable ERP and HRIS integrations. Enterprise and Smart Card pricing is custom; annual rates are not published.
Novo Business Checking has a $0 monthly maintenance fee, no minimum balance requirement and $0 standard ACH transfers. Invoicing, bookkeeping and reserve accounts are listed at $0. Express ACH costs 1.5% per transfer, with a $0.50 minimum and $20 maximum; third-party wire fees are shown before a transaction, but amounts are not published. Choose Novo for free checking, not as a like-for-like replacement for Brex’s paid finance suite.
03Features and depth
Brex covers more of a company’s finance stack: corporate cards with spending controls, expense approvals and reports, travel booking, bill pay, banking and treasury, and accounting automation. Its pricing page lists accounting integrations on Essentials. Premium adds customizable ERP and HRIS integrations, multiple expense policies, dynamic review chains and support for US and international entities. Enterprise and Smart Card plans have additional capabilities, but pricing is custom.
Novo is centered on business checking for independent businesses. It offers invoicing and payment acceptance, vendor payments, cards and expense tracking, cash-flow tools, and connections to accounting, payments and payroll products. Its homepage mentions QuickBooks integration. Novo’s free account includes standard ACH transfers; Express ACH is an extra charge. It is a narrower option than Brex: useful banking and payment tools, but the published information does not list Brex-style travel management, bill-pay automation or accounting automation.
04Ease of use and learning curve
The products have different jobs, so the simpler fit depends on what you need. Novo’s offer is easier to evaluate if the priority is a free checking account: the listed terms include no minimum balance and free standard ACH transfers. Keep the Express ACH fee and $7-per-month ATM reimbursement cap in mind.
Brex puts more functions in one platform, which may mean more policies, integrations and entity settings to configure as a company grows. Essentials is a lower-cost entry point, but its card-program and entity limits matter. The published information does not establish setup times or comparative usability, so we would not treat either product as definitively easier to learn.
Questions people ask
Who are Brex’s biggest competitors?
The published product information does not identify Brex’s biggest competitors, so we can’t rank them reliably. For this comparison, Novo is an alternative for business checking and payment tools, but it is not a direct match for Brex’s broader cards, expenses, travel, bill-pay and accounting platform.
Is Novo a good bank for small business?
Novo may fit an independent business looking for checking with no monthly maintenance fee or minimum balance, plus invoicing, vendor payments and cash-flow tools. Standard ACH transfers are listed at $0. Express ACH costs 1.5% per transfer, and ATM fee reimbursements are capped at $7 monthly. Banking is provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC.
What happened to Brex?
The published information does not describe a specific event involving Brex, so we can’t say what happened without risking speculation. It describes Brex as a finance platform for cards, banking, expenses, travel, bill pay and accounting, with plans ranging from free Essentials to custom-priced options.
Is it hard to get a Brex card?
The published information does not state Brex’s card eligibility rules, application requirements or approval criteria, so we can’t say how hard approval is. The pricing page lists a local card program with Essentials and global card capabilities under Smart Card, but Smart Card pricing is custom.