Picking the wrong business bank as a brand-new Florida LLC isn't catastrophic, but it costs you 5–15 hours of switching pain in year two when you realize the bank you signed up with charges $20/month, doesn't sync cleanly with QuickBooks, or won't let you wire money internationally.
This is a comparison of the seven business banks that account for ~95% of new Florida LLC openings in 2026: four online-first players (Mercury, Bluevine, Relay, Novo) and three traditional banks (Chase, Bank of America, plus a note on Florida regionals).
We're an affiliate of Mercury, Bluevine, and Relay, which means we earn a commission if you sign up through one of our links. We've tried to keep the comparison honest — when Mercury isn't the right pick, we say so.
The decision in 90 seconds
| If you're... | Pick |
|---|---|
| A software/SaaS or services LLC, no cash deposits | Mercury |
| An ecommerce LLC | Mercury or Relay |
| A consulting/freelance practice that wants to earn interest on idle cash | Bluevine |
| A multi-entity owner who needs separate accounts per LLC | Relay |
| A trades/contractor LLC that occasionally takes cash payments | Bluevine + a Chase Business backup, or just Chase |
| A restaurant, salon, retail, or any cash-heavy operation | Chase Business Complete or a Florida regional |
| An owner who travels and wants in-person branch access | Chase or Bank of America |
| A non-US resident forming a Florida LLC | Mercury (with a US founder) or doola + Mercury |
The rest of this guide is the long version of those tradeoffs.
Mercury
Best for: Most new Florida LLCs that don't deposit cash.
- Monthly fee: $0
- Minimum balance: $0
- Wire fees: Free domestic; $0–$15 international depending on tier
- APY on cash: Up to 4.00%+ on Vault accounts (changes with market)
- FDIC insurance: Up to $5M through partner banks (sweep network)
- App + browser: Both excellent
Mercury is the default pick for tech-leaning Florida LLCs in 2026 because the basics are free, the application is fast (most approvals in 1–2 business days), and the spend management features that competitors charge for — virtual cards with merchant locks, expense categorization, multi-user permissions — come standard.
The catch: Mercury doesn't accept cash deposits. There's no branch network. If you take cash payments — a salon, a food truck, a contractor whose customers occasionally write checks — Mercury alone won't cut it. You can pair Mercury with a free Chase Business Complete account for cash deposits, but that's two accounts to reconcile.
The other catch: Mercury has tightened account approval for high-risk industries — adult content, cannabis-adjacent products, certain crypto activities. If you're in one of those spaces, expect a denial or a longer manual review.
Bluevine
Best for: Florida LLCs that want to earn meaningful interest on idle cash.
- Monthly fee: $0 (Standard); $30 (Premier)
- Minimum balance: $0
- APY: Up to 3.7% on balances up to $250K with qualifying activities (subject to change)
- Wire fees: $15 outgoing, $0 incoming
- Cash deposits: Yes, at Green Dot retail locations ($4.95 fee)
- FDIC insurance: Up to $3M
Bluevine's pitch is simple: a business checking account that earns real interest. As of mid-2026, the standard tier offers up to 3.7% APY on balances up to $250,000, provided you meet activity requirements (typically $500/month in customer payments or $100/month in bill payments). That's the highest APY of any major US business checking account.
Bluevine accepts cash deposits at Green Dot retail locations (CVS, Walgreens, 7-Eleven), which Mercury doesn't, but the fee per deposit ($4.95) makes it impractical for high-volume cash businesses.
Relay
Best for: Multi-entity owners and operators using Profit First.
- Monthly fee: $0 (Standard); $30 (Pro)
- Minimum balance: $0
- Sub-accounts: Up to 20 checking accounts on the standard tier
- Wire fees: Free incoming domestic; $5 outgoing domestic
- Cash deposits: Limited (Allpoint+ network, fees apply)
- FDIC insurance: Up to $3M
Relay is the bank built for the Profit First crowd — owners who run a separate checking account for taxes, owner pay, operating expenses, and profit. On Mercury or Bluevine, getting 5+ checking accounts requires either upgrading or running multiple applications. On Relay, 20 sub-accounts come standard.
Relay also supports multiple LLCs under one login, which Mercury and Bluevine technically do but treat as separate businesses with separate logins. If you own three Florida real-estate-holding LLCs (a common Florida pattern), Relay's interface is significantly less painful.
The downside: Relay's standalone tools are thinner than Mercury's. Card controls are simpler. Reporting is simpler. There's no equivalent to Mercury's Vault for high-yield treasury management. If you only operate one entity and don't need Profit First, Mercury is more capable for the same $0 monthly fee.
Novo
Best for: Solo Florida LLCs who care about app polish.
- Monthly fee: $0
- Minimum balance: $0
- Wire fees: $0 incoming; outgoing wires not directly supported on standard tier
- Cash deposits: Limited (mail-in checks; no cash)
- FDIC insurance: Up to $250K (standard FDIC limit)
Novo's strength is integrations: deep ties with Stripe, Square, Etsy, Shopify, and Amazon Seller. If you run an ecommerce shop and want sales-channel data piped into the bank app, Novo does it cleanly.
Novo's weaknesses are real: no native domestic outgoing wires on the standard tier (you can do them via the Novo app, but they go through a partner with longer settlement), $250K FDIC limit (vs $3M–$5M at the others through sweep networks), and the company's longer-term financial position is less clear than Mercury's or Bluevine's.
For most new Florida LLCs, Novo is fine but not the best pick. We're not affiliates of Novo.
Found
Best for: Solopreneurs and freelancers using Found's bookkeeping/tax features.
Found is a banking-plus-bookkeeping product aimed at single-member LLCs. The bookkeeping side automatically categorizes transactions and estimates quarterly tax payments. For a freelance designer or consultant who doesn't want to deal with QuickBooks, Found is a clean one-stop tool.
The tradeoff is the limited scaling path. If your LLC grows past ~$200K/year in revenue, Found's bookkeeping becomes constraining and most owners migrate to Mercury or Relay plus a real bookkeeper. We're not affiliates of Found.
Chase Business Complete
Best for: Cash-heavy Florida LLCs and owners who want branch access.
- Monthly fee: $15 (waivable with $2,000 minimum balance, $2,000 in qualifying transactions, or a linked Chase Private Client account)
- Wire fees: $25 domestic, $40–$50 international
- APY: Effectively zero on checking
- Cash deposits: Free (up to $5,000/month at branches and ATMs; fees over that)
- FDIC insurance: Standard $250K, expandable via deposit network products
Chase is the default pick for cash businesses. Florida has thousands of Chase branches; the in-person service is competent; the in-app experience is dated but functional.
The cost: $15/month is real money over a 5-year LLC lifespan ($900), and Chase pays nothing on idle balances. If you can hit $2,000 in qualifying transactions monthly (most active operators can), the monthly fee waives. If you can't, Mercury + a Chase backup account for cash deposits is often a better setup.
We're not affiliates of Chase.
Bank of America Business Advantage
Best for: Bank of America personal banking customers who want one login for everything.
- Monthly fee: $16–$30 depending on tier (waivable with balance/activity)
- Branches: Strong Florida network
- Wire fees: $30 domestic, $45 international
BoA's core value is the integration with personal accounts. If you already have a BoA personal account, the move-money-between-accounts experience is friction-free. If you don't, BoA isn't materially better than Chase.
We're not affiliates of Bank of America.
Florida regional banks
If you're in Tampa Bay, the Treasure Coast, or South Florida, Florida regional banks like Seacoast, Amerant, and City National Bank of Florida offer something the national banks can't: relationship banking with someone who actually answers their phone. For LLCs that expect to need an SBA loan or a line of credit in the first 2–3 years, building a relationship with a regional bank from day one matters more than the slight monthly-fee difference.
Most regional banks charge $10–$25/month with reasonable activity waivers. The application is in-branch, takes 30–60 minutes, and approval is typically same-day.
A practical decision framework
Two questions decide it for most new Florida LLCs:
- Do you take cash? If yes, you need Chase or a Florida regional. If no, you have the full menu of online-first banks.
- Do you have idle cash you want earning interest? If yes, Bluevine. If you want the cleanest tech-stack experience and don't need 3.7% APY, Mercury.
For 70% of new Florida LLCs we see — software, services, ecommerce, professional practices — Mercury is the right starting point. Open it, run it for 6–12 months, and switch later if your needs change.
What happens after you pick a bank
Two things you should not skip in the first 30 days:
- Wire your initial capital contribution from your personal account into the LLC account, in writing. Send a clear $1,000+ transfer and label it "Initial capital contribution from [your name]." This documents the formation of the corporate veil. Without it, lawyers can argue you never actually treated the LLC as a separate entity.
- Set up bookkeeping the same day you open the account. The cheapest moment to start clean books is day one. The next-cheapest is now. Bench is the most common pick for under-$1M Florida LLCs at $249–$499/month; Pilot is the pick for venture-backed software companies; QuickBooks Online is fine if you handle bookkeeping yourself.
The next decision in your formation sequence is your registered agent. Read: The 7 Best Registered Agents for Florida LLCs (2026) →