Relay

Who Relay is for

Relay solves one specific problem better than any other business bank: knowing where your money is and where it is going. The core feature is the ability to create up to 20 separate checking accounts, each with its own routing number. Instead of one pool of money where you mentally track “this part is for taxes, that part is for payroll, this part is profit,” you create actual separate accounts and let auto-transfer rules move money between them.

This is the Profit First method (from Mike Michalowicz’s book) made practical. The idea is simple: when revenue comes in, you allocate it to designated accounts (profit, owner’s pay, taxes, operating expenses) before spending anything. Without separate accounts, most business owners treat their checking balance as “money I can spend.” With Relay, the money is physically separated the moment it arrives.

Relay is not a bank. It is a financial technology company that provides banking services through Thread Bank, an FDIC-insured institution. Your deposits are held at Thread Bank and insured through their sweep network.

The three plans

Relay restructured its pricing in 2025 into three tiers. The core banking (accounts, cards, basic transfers) is available on all plans. The tiers differ in transaction fees, yields, and software features.

Feature	Starter	Grow	Scale
Monthly fee	$0	$30	$90
Checking accounts	Up to 20	Up to 20	Up to 20
Savings accounts	2	2	2
Savings APY	0.91%	1.55%	2.68%
Credit card cashback	1%	1.25%	1.5%
Same-day ACH	$5 each	$3 each	10 free/month, then $1
Domestic wire (outgoing)	$8	$5	$5
International wire (local)	$5	$3	$1.50
International wire (SWIFT)	$25	$22	$20
Incoming wire	$5	$5	$5
Bill pay	Basic	Auto-import from QBO/Xero	AI-powered automation
Expense categorization	Manual	Customizable rules	AI-powered

The Starter plan is genuinely free and genuinely useful. You get the full 20-account structure, auto-transfer rules, debit cards with spending controls, and basic bill pay. For a solopreneur or small business that mostly uses ACH (free on all plans for standard transfers) and does not need same-day ACH or wires frequently, the Starter plan costs nothing.

The Grow plan at $30/month makes sense when your wire and same-day ACH volume justifies the lower per-transaction fees, or when you need the accounting software integration for bill import and categorization. If you send 10 same-day ACH transfers per month, the Starter plan costs $50 in fees. The Grow plan costs $30 flat plus $30 in fees = $60. The breakeven is around 15 same-day ACH transfers/month.

The Scale plan at $90/month is aimed at businesses doing six figures in annual revenue with enough transaction volume and team complexity to benefit from AI-powered categorization, dashboards, and real-time financial insights. The 10 free same-day ACH transfers per month and lower wire fees help offset the monthly cost at volume.

The 20-account structure: why it matters

Most business banks give you one checking account. Maybe a savings account. You manage cash flow by looking at the balance and hoping your mental math is right.

Relay gives you up to 20 checking accounts, each functioning as a real account with its own routing number. You can name them however you want: Operating Expenses, Tax Reserve, Profit, Owner’s Pay, Marketing Budget, Emergency Fund, Quarterly Taxes, Equipment Fund. Each account gets its own debit card if you want one.

This is not the same as “sub-accounts” or “buckets” that some banks offer. Those are virtual labels on a single balance. Relay accounts are real checking accounts. You can set up direct deposits, ACH payments, and bill pay from any individual account. A vendor payment comes out of the Operating Expenses account, not the main pool. Tax estimates go from the Tax Reserve account, not from money you might accidentally spend.

The practical benefit: you stop guessing. If your Tax Reserve account has $12,000 in it, you know you have $12,000 set aside for taxes. It is not mixed in with money you could accidentally spend on inventory. If your Operating Expenses account has $8,000 left, that is what you have to run the business until the next allocation. The constraints force discipline that spreadsheet tracking cannot.

Auto-transfer rules: the automation layer

The 20-account structure is useful on its own. The auto-transfer rules make it automatic.

Relay offers two types of automated transfers:

Percentage-based rules: When money hits your Income account, Relay automatically moves a preset percentage to each designated account. Set it to 10% Profit, 20% Taxes, 30% Owner’s Pay, 40% Operating Expenses, and every dollar that comes in gets allocated without you touching it.

Balance-based rules: When an account hits a threshold balance, Relay automatically disperses funds to other accounts based on your percentages. This prevents money from piling up in one account and ensures funds flow to where they need to be.

You set the frequency (twice monthly is the Profit First standard, but you can adjust) and Relay handles it. The setup takes about 15 minutes. After that, every dollar follows the plan automatically.

Relay also has Profit First rules partially built into the platform, and you can grant role-based access to a Profit First Professional (accountant or bookkeeper who specializes in the method) so they can review your accounts and advise without having full account control.

Cards and spending controls

Relay lets you issue up to 50 debit and credit cards per business. Each card can have:

• Custom spending limits per card
• Merchant category restrictions (limit where the card can be used)
• Assignment to a specific account (so spending comes from the right bucket)

The credit card (available on all plans) earns cashback: 1% on Starter, 1.25% on Grow, 1.5% on Scale. These are modest rates compared to dedicated business credit cards (the Amex Blue Business Cash earns 2% flat, the Chase Ink Business Cash earns 5% in categories), but the convenience of having a card integrated with your account allocation system has value if you want everything in one place.

For team spending, you can issue cards to employees with per-card limits and controls. When an employee swipes a card linked to the Marketing Budget account, the spend comes out of that account. No reimbursement tracking, no expense reports for card purchases.

Fees and transaction costs

Standard ACH transfers (1-3 business day settlement) are free on all plans. The fees kick in for faster transfers and wires.

Transaction	Starter	Grow	Scale
Standard ACH (outgoing)	Free	Free	Free
Same-day ACH (outgoing)	$5	$3	10 free/month, then $1
Domestic wire (outgoing)	$8	$5	$5
International wire (local network)	$5	$3	$1.50
International wire (SWIFT)	$25	$22	$20
Incoming wire	$5	$5	$5
Incoming pay-by-bank	1% of amount	0.5%	0.5%
Check deposit	Free (mobile)	Free (mobile)	Free (mobile)

Compared to Mercury: Mercury offers free domestic and international USD wires on all plans, including the free tier. If your business sends wires regularly, that is a meaningful cost advantage for Mercury. On 10 domestic wires per month, Relay Starter costs $80/month. Mercury costs $0.

Compared to traditional banks: Relay’s wire fees are lower than most traditional banks ($25-$45 domestic, $40-$65 international). The same-day ACH fees are in line with industry norms.

Savings yield

Relay’s savings accounts earn interest at rates that vary by plan:

Plan	Savings APY
Starter	0.91%
Grow	1.55%
Scale	2.68%

These yields apply to the full balance with no tiers or minimums. On $50,000 in savings:

• Starter: ~$455/year
• Grow: ~$775/year (minus $360 annual fee = $415 net)
• Scale: ~$1,340/year (minus $1,080 annual fee = $260 net)

The math shows that upgrading to Grow or Scale solely for better savings APY does not pay for itself unless you have substantially more in savings or are using the other features. Grow breaks even on yield alone at roughly $40,000+ in savings. Scale never pays for itself through yield alone.

For comparison, Mercury Treasury yields 3.03%-3.71% but requires $250K minimum. Bluevine pays 1.3%-3.0% directly on checking balances. If maximizing yield is your priority, both offer better returns. Relay’s value is the account structure and cash flow tools, not the yield.

FDIC insurance

Deposits are FDIC-insured up to $3 million through Thread Bank’s deposit sweep network, which distributes funds across multiple FDIC-insured banks ($250,000 per bank).

One thing to know: Thread Bank is currently under an FDIC consent order (since 2024) related to suspicious activity monitoring and due diligence procedures in its banking-as-a-service program. This does not mean your deposits are at risk (FDIC insurance still applies), but it does indicate regulatory scrutiny of the partner bank that powers Relay. This is similar to the regulatory challenges facing other fintech partner banks, including Evolve Bank & Trust (Mercury’s partner).

The account closure risk

Like Mercury and other fintech banking platforms, Relay has documented BBB complaints about sudden account freezes and closures. The patterns are consistent across fintech providers:

• Accounts frozen after deposits or transactions flagged by compliance systems
• Funds held for 30-45+ days during review, with limited communication from support
• Account closures with balances returned via check after extended delays
• Difficulty reaching support during the review process

Relay has publicly addressed these complaints, attributing freezes to mandatory U.S. fraud prevention requirements. They state that fewer than 1% of transactions trigger reviews, and balances are always returned (never withheld permanently). That does not change the impact on a business that cannot access funds for 45 days.

Same advice as Mercury: Maintain a backup account at a second bank with enough cash to cover 2-4 weeks of operating expenses. This is standard practice for any business using a fintech as its primary bank.

Integrations

Relay integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero for accounting sync. The Grow plan includes automatic bill import from both platforms and 6 months of free Xero for new customers. Expense categorization syncs to both platforms for streamlined reconciliation.

Relay does not offer a public API (Mercury does). If you need programmatic access to your banking data for custom automations or integrations, Mercury is the better choice.

Mercury vs. Relay: which to choose

Feature	Mercury	Relay
Monthly fee	$0-$350	$0-$90
Checking accounts	1 + sub-accounts	Up to 20 (real accounts, own routing numbers)
Auto-transfer rules	No	Yes (percentage and threshold-based)
Savings/yield	Treasury: 3.03%-3.71% ($250K min)	Savings: 0.91%-2.68% (no minimum)
FDIC coverage	Up to $5M	Up to $3M
Domestic wires	Free	$5-$8
International USD wires	Free	$5-$25
API access	Yes	No
Credit card	IO: 1.5% cashback	1%-1.5% cashback (varies by plan)
Cash deposits	No	No
Best for	Digital ops, wires, high balances	Cash flow allocation, Profit First, teams

Choose Relay if: Cash flow management is your biggest challenge. You want money automatically separated into purpose-driven accounts the moment it comes in. You practice (or want to start) Profit First. You have a team and need card controls per account.

Choose Mercury if: You send wires frequently (free vs. $5-$8 each). You have $250K+ and want higher yields. You need API access for custom automations. You want the IO credit card for 1.5% cashback with no personal guarantee.

Both lack cash deposits. If you handle cash, neither is your primary bank. Look at Bluevine (up to $7,500/month in cash deposits) or a traditional bank.

Who should not use Relay

Businesses that handle cash: No cash deposits, same as Mercury. Restaurants, retail stores, and service businesses with cash-paying customers need a bank that accepts cash.

Yield-focused businesses: If your priority is earning the highest return on idle cash, Mercury Treasury (3.03%+ at $250K minimum) or Bluevine (up to 3.0% on checking) offer better rates. Relay’s savings APY is the lowest of the three.

Businesses that send frequent wires: Mercury’s free wires beat Relay’s per-wire fees at any volume. If you send 5+ wires per month, the wire fee savings alone justify Mercury.

Businesses needing API access: Relay does not offer a public API. Mercury does. If you build custom integrations or automate banking workflows programmatically, Mercury is the only option.

Bottom line

Relay is the best business bank for cash flow management. The 20-account structure with auto-transfer rules turns Profit First from a theory into an automated system. Money comes in, gets allocated to designated accounts based on your percentages, and you always know exactly how much is available for each purpose. That structure alone changes how most small business owners relate to their finances.

The trade-offs are real: lower savings yields than Mercury or Bluevine, per-transaction fees on wires and same-day ACH, no cash deposits, and no API access. The Starter plan is genuinely free and useful for solopreneurs. The Grow plan at $30/month adds meaningful bill pay and accounting integrations. The Scale plan at $90/month is best justified by transaction volume and team complexity.

For businesses that just want a clean, fee-free bank with the best yields and free wires, Mercury is the better fit. For businesses that need to deposit cash, Bluevine fills the gap. But for businesses where the real problem is not the bank but the cash flow discipline, Relay’s structure does the work that willpower cannot.