Relay review

Relay is a business banking platform for small businesses, with checking and savings accounts, cards, and tools for managing bills, expenses, and invoices. Banking services are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC; Relay says it is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank.

The main idea is to organize cash flow across multiple accounts rather than manage everything from one checking balance. Relay supports up to 20 checking accounts on Starter and Grow, with automatic transfers for deposits; Scale raises the limit to 50 per business. The platform also includes savings accounts, business cards with spend limits and roles, receipt capture, expense categorization, accounting software sync, bill payments, and invoicing tools. Which features and rates matter to your costs depends on the plan: Starter is free, while Grow is $30 per month and Scale is $90 per month, according to Relay’s pricing page.

Relay’s clearest advantage is putting everyday cash-flow tasks in one place. Separate checking accounts can help businesses earmark money, while automated rules move deposits between accounts. Cards, spend limits, roles, and transaction tracking give teams ways to manage employee spending. The platform also covers both sides of payments: accounts payable tools for uploading bills, assigning tasks, approvals, and vendor payments, plus invoices and automated follow-up for receivables.

The free Starter plan includes 20 checking accounts, 1.19% APY on savings, 1% credit card cash back, and up to 50 debit cards per cardholder per checking account. That’s a substantial starting set of listed limits for a business that wants to separate funds without a monthly plan fee.

Grow costs $30 per month and lists 1.87% APY, 1.25% credit card cash back, and recurring invoices. Scale is $90 per month, with 50 checking accounts per business, 3.21% APY, 1.5% credit card cash back, and no fee for same-day ACH. Grow and Scale come with 14-day trials, according to the pricing page.

The main caveat is that the free plan may not cover every workflow a business expects. Relay lists recurring invoices as a Grow feature, not a Starter inclusion, so check the plan details if invoicing is central to your setup. The paid plans cost $30 or $90 per month, and the pricing page shows monthly prices but does not publish annual rates.

Relay also says additional transaction fees apply, but the amounts are not shown on the vendor's site. That makes it hard to estimate total cost from the subscription price alone; check the fee schedule before moving bill payments or other transactions over. Scale’s 50 checking accounts are a per-business limit, while Starter and Grow list 20. If you need more than that, the published plan details do not state an option. Finally, the listed savings APY and card cash-back rates differ by plan, so compare the rate on your intended tier against its monthly cost rather than assuming the free plan offers the same returns.

Relay has a free Starter plan, but the first paid tier is $30 per month. Starter includes 20 checking accounts, 1.19% APY on savings, 1% credit card cash back, and up to 50 debit cards per cardholder per checking account. It’s aimed at solopreneurs and new businesses.

Grow costs $30 per month and raises the listed savings APY to 1.87% and credit card cash back to 1.25%; it also includes recurring invoices. Scale is $90 per month, a $60 jump from Grow. It includes 50 checking accounts per business, 3.21% APY, 1.5% cash back, and no fee for same-day ACH. Grow and Scale have 14-day trials.

The pricing page shows monthly prices, but no annual rates. Additional transaction fees apply, and their amounts are not listed, so the plan price may not be your full cost. Check those fees before choosing a tier.

We can’t give a reliable migration-time estimate from the available information: Relay does not publish a switching checklist or data-export details here. Before moving, map which accounts receive deposits, which bills and vendor payments draw from them, and whether your invoices or cards need updating. Relay lists checking accounts, bill payments, invoices, cards, and accounting-software syncing, so those are the workflows to account for during a move.

Relay’s banking services are provided by Thread Bank; Relay says it is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. That distinction is worth checking as part of any banking change. The published information does not state what data can be exported, how account closure works, or whether there are lock-in terms. We also don’t have sourced Reddit reports to say what typically makes customers leave. Ask Relay about exports, closure, and transaction fees before moving money or relying on it as your only business account.