Unclaimed: Are you working at Mercury?
Mercury Reviews: 4.6/5 — Highly Rated
Mercury Bank is a digital banking platform specifically designed for startups and tech-forward small businesses. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Mercury aims to simplify financial management for its users by offering a suite of services tailored to the unique needs of growing companies.
| Segment |
Small Business
Mid Market
|
|---|---|
| Ease of use |
Beginner
|
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based |
| Support | Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
Mercury states the most important thing about itself in a sticky footer on every page: “Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.” That is the right disclosure, prominently placed. The pricing is similarly straightforward — $0 a month for business checking and savings — with two paid tiers whose crossover point is calculable: Pro overtakes Plus at roughly 270 invoice ACH transactions a month.
- What it is: A digital banking platform for startups — checking, savings, cards, bill pay, invoicing and treasury.
- Best for: Startups wanting free business banking with no minimums or monthly fees.
- Pricing: Free $0. Plus $29.90 and Pro $299 a month billed annually. Verified July 2026.
- The honest catch: Treasury requires a $250,000 balance across all accounts.
What Is Mercury?
Mercury provides business checking and savings accounts aimed at startups and technology companies, along with debit and IO credit cards, bill pay, invoicing, expense management and a treasury product. It is not itself a bank — deposits are held through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., both FDIC members. Revenue comes from interest on deposits, foreign exchange, treasury and venture debt fees, card interchange and subscriptions.
The pricing page defaults to annual billing.
How Mercury Works
- Banking itself is free, at any balance.
- Two paid tiers add invoicing and automation.
- Annual billing saves about 15%.
- Treasury needs a $250,000 balance.
- Non-USD transactions carry fees.
- Mercury Personal is $240 a year.
Mercury Pricing
Captured from Mercury’s pricing page in July 2026 in US dollars. The page opens with annual pricing selected.
| Plan | Annual | Monthly | Saving | Key additions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | $0 | $0 | — | Banking, cards, bill pay, expenses, invoicing |
| Mercury Plus | $29.90 | $35 | 14.6% | ACH debit invoicing ($1/transaction), recurring invoices, API (500/mo), unlimited 1099 filings |
| Mercury Pro | $299 | $350 | 14.6% | Relationship manager, ACH debit ($0/transaction), unlimited invoicing API, NetSuite categorisations |
| Fees that apply regardless of plan | |
|---|---|
| Monthly fee, minimum balance, overdraft, account opening | $0 |
| Bill Pay | Free, unlimited |
| USD international wire (SHA) | Free (recipient may absorb intermediary fees) |
| USD international wire (OUR) | $15 flat (Mercury absorbs intermediary fees) |
| Non-USD international wire | 1% conversion fee |
| Non-USD card transactions | International transaction fee |
| Card payments received via Stripe | 2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe’s fee) |
| Mercury Treasury | Requires $250,000+ balance |
| Mercury Personal | $240/year, free with an active Business account |
What actually decides your cost:
- Mercury tells you plainly that it is not a bank, which matters more than any price on the page. The footer reads: “Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.” Deposit insurance therefore attaches to the partner banks, not to Mercury. That is how most neobanks work, but many bury it; Mercury puts it in a persistent footer on the pricing page itself.
- The free tier really is free banking, and the exclusions are specific. Mercury states there are “no minimum account balance requirements, overdraft fees, required monthly fees, or account opening fees.” The features that do carry charges are listed explicitly: mass payments via the API, Treasury account management, non-USD card transactions, non-USD currency exchange, and USD international wires with optional premium processing. Bill Pay is free and unlimited, and invoices can be created, sent and received without a subscription.
- Pro overtakes Plus at about 270 invoice transactions a month. The functional difference between the two paid tiers is that Plus charges $1 per ACH debit invoice transaction and Pro charges $0. Since the price gap is $269.10 a month on annual billing, Pro becomes the cheaper option once you process roughly 270 such transactions monthly. Below that, Plus plus per-transaction fees costs less; above it, Pro does. That single calculation should drive the choice, alongside Pro’s relationship manager and unlimited invoicing API against Plus’s 500-invoice cap.
- The FAQ quotes a different price from the plan cards, because it quotes the monthly rate. The cards show $29.90 with “Annual Pricing (15% off)” enabled by default, while the FAQ says paid plans start at ”$35/month” — four separate times, without stating which billing term it means. Both figures are correct; the actual saving is 14.6%, which rounds to the advertised 15%. But a reader moving between the two sections has no way to know why the numbers differ.
- International money movement is where the free account stops being free. Non-USD international wires carry a 1% conversion fee. USD international wires are free under SHA coding, but Mercury notes this “may result in intermediary bank fees that are absorbed by your recipient” — so the free option can cost your supplier. The OUR option costs a flat $15 and charges intermediary fees back to Mercury, “making it more likely your recipient will receive the full amount.” For anyone paying overseas vendors regularly, $15 a wire is the honest price of the free account.
- Treasury is gated by balance, not by plan. Mercury Treasury requires more than $250,000 across all Mercury accounts, and account management carries a fee. So the yield product is available on the free tier — but only to companies already holding a quarter of a million dollars. Mercury says it hopes to open it more widely.
- Accounting integrations are mostly free; NetSuite is not. QuickBooks and Xero enriched automations are free, as is importing bank feeds across QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite. But NetSuite enriched automations require a paid plan, as does syncing IO card transactions to NetSuite. Similarly, reimbursements are free for up to five active users a month and require a paid plan beyond that — a specific, checkable threshold rather than a vague limit.
- Mercury Personal is free if you already bank with Mercury. It costs $240 a year standalone, but is “included at no additional cost as long as your account remains active and in good standing” for Business customers. For a founder who would otherwise pay for both, that is a real saving worth knowing about.
Who Should Use Mercury
- Startups wanting free business banking. The clearest case — no minimums, no monthly fee, no opening fee.
- Companies paying overseas vendors. Free USD wires, or $15 to guarantee the recipient is made whole.
- Businesses invoicing at volume. Pro’s $0 ACH debit becomes cheaper past ~270 transactions a month.
- Founders wanting personal banking too. Mercury Personal is included free with an active Business account.
It fits poorly for businesses needing NetSuite automation on the free tier; for those reimbursing more than five people a month without a paid plan; and for anyone expecting Treasury access below a $250,000 balance.
Honest Pros and Cons
Strengths
- Genuinely free business banking with no minimums or monthly fees.
- The fintech-not-a-bank disclosure is prominent, not buried.
- Bill Pay is free and unlimited.
- QuickBooks and Xero automations included at no cost.
- Mercury Personal free with an active Business account.
- Fee exclusions listed explicitly rather than vaguely.
Limitations
- Treasury requires a $250,000 balance.
- 1% conversion fee on non-USD international wires.
- Free USD wires may cost your recipient unless you pay $15.
- NetSuite automation needs a paid plan.
- Reimbursements free for only 5 users a month.
- The FAQ’s $35 conflicts visually with the cards’ $29.90.
Mercury Alternatives and How It Compares
- Brex targets the same startup market with cards and spend controls.
- Ramp offers a comparably complete free tier focused on spend management.
- Novo and Relay compete on free small-business checking.
- Bluevine pairs business checking with lines of credit.
- Traditional business banks offer branch access and direct FDIC insurance that neobanks route through partners.
The Verdict
Mercury does two things well that are worth separating. The first is disclosure. A persistent footer states that “Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank”, names its partner banks — Choice Financial Group and Column N.A. — and clarifies that “deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.” Every neobank has this structure; comparatively few put it where you cannot miss it. Mercury also lists exactly which activities carry fees rather than gesturing at “certain features may apply”, and answers the “how do you make money if it’s free?” question directly: interest on deposits, foreign exchange, treasury and venture debt fees, card interchange, and subscriptions.
The second is that the free tier is genuinely free banking. No minimum balance, no overdraft fees, no monthly fee, no account opening fee, unlimited free Bill Pay, invoicing, expense management, debit and IO credit cards, and free QuickBooks and Xero automations. For a startup that mainly needs an account, cards and a way to pay suppliers, there is no reason to pay Mercury anything.
Where money does change hands, the numbers are checkable. The gap between Plus at $29.90 and Pro at $299 is $269.10 a month, and the functional difference is that Plus charges $1 per invoice ACH debit transaction while Pro charges $0 — so Pro becomes cheaper at roughly 270 transactions a month. Below that threshold Plus wins; above it Pro does, and you also get a relationship manager and an uncapped invoicing API instead of Plus’s 500-invoice limit. That is an unusually clean upgrade decision.
Two things to watch. International payments are where free stops. Non-USD wires carry a 1% conversion fee, and while USD international wires are free, Mercury is candid that the free routing “may result in intermediary bank fees that are absorbed by your recipient” — paying $15 for OUR routing makes it “more likely your recipient will receive the full amount.” If you pay overseas suppliers regularly, treat $15 a wire as the real cost. And Treasury requires more than $250,000 across all accounts, so the yield product is gated by balance rather than by plan. One small presentational grumble: the FAQ says paid plans start at ”$35/month” four times while the cards default to $29.90 with annual pricing pre-selected. Both are accurate — the difference is the billing term — but nothing on the page explains that.
FAQ
How much does Mercury cost?
Mercury’s business checking and savings accounts are $0 a month, with no minimum balance, overdraft or account opening fees. Mercury Plus is $29.90 a month billed annually ($35 monthly) and Mercury Pro is $299 ($350 monthly) — the page defaults to annual pricing, advertised at 15% off and actually 14.6%. Mercury Personal is $240 a year, free with an active Business account.
Is Mercury a real bank?
No, and it says so prominently. Its footer states: “Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.” Your deposits sit with those partner banks, and FDIC insurance covers the failure of the insured bank rather than Mercury itself — the standard neobank structure, disclosed more visibly than most.
Should I choose Mercury Plus or Pro?
It turns on invoicing volume. Plus charges $1 per invoice ACH debit transaction; Pro charges $0, and the price gap is $269.10 a month. So Pro becomes cheaper at roughly 270 such transactions monthly. Pro also adds a relationship manager, an unlimited invoicing API against Plus’s 500-invoice cap, and NetSuite categorisations. Below about 270 transactions, Plus is the better value.
What does Mercury charge for international payments?
USD international wires are free under standard SHA routing, though Mercury warns this “may result in intermediary bank fees that are absorbed by your recipient”. Paying a flat $15 for OUR routing charges those fees back to Mercury instead. Non-USD international wires carry a 1% conversion fee, and non-USD debit and credit card transactions carry an international transaction fee.
Who can use Mercury Treasury?
Only businesses holding more than $250,000 across all Mercury accounts. Treasury account management also carries a fee. Mercury states it “hopes to open Mercury Treasury to all users in the future”, but for now the yield product is gated by balance rather than by subscription tier — it is available on the free plan, provided you meet the threshold.
Compare Mercury with other popular tools in the same category.
Ease of use, support via email and security
Not much I want mobile transfers in the coming time Zelle integration
Revenue streamlining, payments and online/physical transactions
Their app is extremely easy to use, creating and activating an account is also very simple. All the basic required features are all there. Also its very easy to use with wallets.
I have not find any feature till now that I can say I dislike.
Digital banking solution for business, we are running our majority of business transactions through mercury
The user interface is really nice and intuitive. It is refershing to have a financial product that is easy to use and is FDIC compliant to ensure that there are no issues with the funds due to bank failures.
The only downside of using mercury is that they do not integrate with large banks like Bank of America or JP Morgan or any of the US Top 10 banks. It might lead to the board asking a lot of questions around why the platform is chosen even after collapse of large banks like SVB. It does help to have a higher than average FDIC limit.
The problem mercury is solving is that of banking. We use mercury to receive funds to a dedicated AR account and have those balances auto-transferred to another internal bank account which is not exposed to external vendors/suppliers etc making our banking infrastructure more resiliant and robust.
Simplicity, ease of use, I like that I can download the data. Also, that it has a treasury fund where I can invest my excess liquidity and get a return in the meanwhil
I don't like that when wires are too big, it takes a long time to process. Also, it doesn't give me a reason why it's taking long to process. Also, withdrawing money from the treasury fun takes too long.
The problem being solved is that of a modern bank where I can create users and assign roles in a simple way without going through tons of paperwork. Also, it's easy to analyZE DATA
I love how clean and clear the website is , free international transfers and app is easy to use. It's a pleasure to log into the site and work with my money. Will be back.
The only thing they could be doing is offering and a DIY guild on my account, so that I can earn interest for any money down without having to move to another platform. In addition, the exchange rate is not quite as good as a J.P. Morgan, Chase wire transfer exchange rate.
Basically, the main reason I like it is due to the free wire, transfers and simplified invoice and receipts that it will send out. This makes it fast to send out payments
Investor introductions Continuous knowledge share and value add Good design Strong community focus
Nothing, absolutely nothing the product works well
Making banking enjoyable
Seamless UI, easy to understand and transact.
Nothing as such, it works pretty well for us.
Helpful for US Banking solutions.
I love to use Mercury as a latam founder. Easy to use, they understand our legal structures and sending money to Mexico is charge free. IMercury is the best partner.
Probably how fast we receive our physical cards. I understand they are internationally delivered, but would love to have them delivered quicker. That's the only thing I dislike
Bank account and receiving founding and expense management. I'm an international founder and having a traditional US bank account its difficult so Mercury helps on that
It was super easy to get started. We needed a new bank account as one of our Enterprise customers could not send money to our other bank account (for some reason that I couldn't figure yet). So quickly got onboarded on Mercury and the whole process was smooth and easy. And once in everything I needed was right on my fingertips.
Wish they offered a credit card right away too. Other financial products (like RBF) are not super connected.
Keeping a tab on our businesses expense was not easy before Mercury. Once we centralized all our revenue/spend on Mercury it was easy to check on our cashflows. Also creating different cards for different orgs made things easier.
Great UX, easy to use, powerful tool, tha app and the web are awesome, I'm liking a lot the service. Just started a few months ago but I'm loving it
Nothing I dislike for the moment, everything its working perfect.
Expense management, credit cards for empoyes
The ease of use and speed to get everything set up for a startup.
Lack of products beyond core features of banking
Startup Banking and it simplicity to use
The UI is very nice, the features are just what I need for my startup banking needs
Had some issues with features like bill pay being able to attach documents, and some features seem like early. Looking forward to the platform evolving more.
Easy banking, quick and somple UI. Seem to be innovating over the horrible bank websites that exist.
So easy to use. I have three acct on it.
Underwriting....it was a hassle until I reached out to Iman.
Both really.
The support team response and great User experience using their app and web platform.
Not much. Great service and constant learning from their clients
Having a reliable bank in the US (being based in Argentina) that we can trust, have a fluid communication and with friendly usage in all senses that other traditional banks were not able to provide
1. Zero balance 2. access to investment community
Nothing really. Everything looks very good.
Managing my company finances.
The ux/ui that the bank offers in all of their platforms. Super easy to find things. Works really well
Sometimes is a little stuck when the app ask you for the security code in the login.
Access to a bank and habe credit cards for our expenses in the company
I can reach out to their team and get a swift answer. The platform is also extremely easy to use.
Nothing so far, it gets the job done. They are doing a great job
I use them as my company bank account
Easy onboarding, amazing interface and most important is their team.
There is some commission on exchanging different currencies. But still it is ok for me.
Getting paid from customers and paying money to employees.
Incredible interface and is very intuitive for the user.
Nothing really. Have never had any issues using the product!
Makes it way easier to track team spends and assign budgets
Mercury has helped streamline our functions and has helped to keep data categorized in a very accessible manner. This tool has made working a lot easier and more convenient. Its a proper corporate tool. It also has an excellent and easy-to-understand interface.
I have no complaints because it completely satisfies my work needs. If i have to point something out, then I would say they should use better background colours for the interface.
It is making managing data easy; with the integration of mercury into our business, it has reaped good growth. I like how it strengthens work and and convenient for work.
Extremely simple to use, outstanding customer experience, and they are fast to adapt and listen
They have been responsive during the SVB crisis and have adapted their services to re-assure clients of their stability. Maybe some more transparency would be even better.
simple banking for teams
It is straightforward for a team and has nice API integrations allowing the platform to connect fast and easily to your systems. It works like a charm if you want your clients to pay for your services and automate the cash flow for e-commerce or SaaS. or integrate with ERPs and automate payroll. Is absolutely a must have.
I only will ask for more granular permissions enabling some users to have different access rights to the accounts. Otherwise is an excellent platform, easy to use and does not have a cluttered UI.
As a start-up or tech Company we need banking accounts and debit cards to receive payments from clients and pay providers, employees and taxes. Mercury offers and end to end solution and can be easily integrated into your existing accountancy software or ERP.
I really like Mercury because it is a very simple and user-friendly bank. At the same time, it has good functionality, and all its features are well thought out.
I haven't actually encountered any aspects of Mercury that I find inconvenient so far
It solves the simple task of accepting investments and sending people their salaries. That's it, nothing more. And it excels at this function.
Mercury provides the easy of use we come to expect from modern services, not what you get from a typical bank. Everything is online, fast. Banking and essential services are free. Saves our small communicty non-profit a ton of money and pain
The mobile app could use some improvements.
Banking, receiving and sending payments
Simple, clear, very easy to use Great interface, easy to set up wires
No online chat to discuss with CS This is the only thing that comes to mind
Makes money transfers/ ach / wire very simple and easy
User friendly interface and quick support when it is required and access to create multiple bank accounts inside one credit cards to actually support business on going transactions
I don't specifically have anything to dislike I can say that the customer support can be much Quikr for a bank like thisand maybe credit cards can be a much better solution
We use make it all day for our business transactions and make sure that we evaluate and calculate our business is doing from this bank account and doing International transfer and even National transfer very very start of friendly Bank it made a life so easy compared to a previous Bank
Very simple UI and amazing support whenever we need help. I greatly recommend this bank and it has been essential to the functionnement of our business. Couldn't recommend it enough.
Nothing I dislike. They keep adding features and I can't wait to see what they add next
It solves our day to day banking need and international transfer needs. We are a company dealing internationally and need a bank that helps us in that regard.
Their UI is on another level, only matched by their high-quality custom support. I've never had an issue with them.
I would love to have Treasury available for single proprietor LLCs but other than that, I like it all.
They handle my business checking account through simple interfaces and allow me to quickly create dynamic credit cards, making my operation a breeze.
Easy, free, secure and great experience.
Time of response in chat, sometimes I have problems from international transfers.
Everything in a bank.
They are very upfront and transparent, no hidden fees. Their UI and UX are clear and very easy to navigate, and overall it's very easy to do your daily operations, both on the website and also on the mobile app.
I don't see any downsides to be honest, it was a very smooth experience working with them.
As a foreigner (US Business owner, but not resident in the US) I feel very happy to know that I can count on Mercury and their awesome banking services to support my US company. Being a digital bank makes things much easier!
