Novo vs. Relay for Small Businesses

Novo and Relay both offer free online business checking, which makes the price row a tie and everything else the real comparison. Novo is built for the solo operator who lives on invoices; Relay is built for owners who want their cash divided across many accounts. Neither pays interest on checking, and both lack an integrated line of credit, which is why Bluevine belongs in this comparison as the third option built for operating businesses.

What you need to know

• Both platforms start at $0 a month, so the decision rides on product shape, not price.
• Novo's strengths are invoicing, payment links, and simplicity; Relay's are envelope budgeting with up to 20 checking accounts and bookkeeper collaboration.
• Neither pays interest on checking. Novo pays none anywhere; Relay's APY applies to savings accounts and climbs with paid plans.
• An online business banking platform like Bluevine pays 1.3% APY on the Standard plan with a monthly activity goal¹ and 3.0% APY on every dollar with the Premier plan², on checking, and adds an integrated line of credit.

Novo vs. Relay at a glance

The table below puts both platforms side by side with Bluevine, an online business banking platform built for operating small businesses, so you can see where each fits before the breakdown that follows.

Verified as of July 2026.

Where Bluevine stands out: same $0 entry as Novo and Relay, but the checking balance itself earns¹², credit is integrated, transactions are unlimited³, and deposits are covered up to $3 million.⁴

What to look for in business checking

Choosing between Novo and Relay comes down to a few specific dimensions. Here's how to think about each, and where an online banking alternative fits in.

Monthly fees and what paid tiers buy

Novo is free with no paid tier to grow into, which keeps things simple and caps the feature set. Relay's paid plans ($30 Grow; $120 list Scale, $90 on a limited-time discount) buy automation, faster payments, and higher savings APY. Bluevine's Standard plan is free⁵, and its paid plans ($30 Plus, $95 Premier) buy higher checking APY, each with waiver paths tied to average balance and monthly debit spend. As of publication.

Since both competitors' entry plans are free, the real comparison is what each product optimizes for: Novo optimizes for revenue coming in (send the invoice, take the payment), Relay for money once it has arrived (divide it across purpose-built accounts, give the bookkeeper access). What neither optimizes for is the balance itself.

APY on your operating cash

Novo pays nothing, as of publication. Relay pays nothing on checking; its savings accounts earn 1.11% to 3.00% APY depending on plan, with the top rate requiring Scale at $120 a month list price, variable as of May 1, 2026 per Relay's site. Bluevine pays 1.3% APY on the Standard plan with a monthly activity goal¹ and 3.0% APY on every dollar with the Premier plan.²

What 3.0% APY on Premier looks like in practice:

• $100,000 operating cash balance: about $3,000 a year in yield
• $250,000 balance: around $7,500 a year
• $500,000 balance: roughly $15,000 a year

For balance-holding businesses, this dimension decides more than the feature lists do.

Illustrative only. Assumes the stated balance is maintained for a full year. Actual earnings may vary, and rates and terms are subject to change.

Payments, account structure, and lending

On payments, Novo's invoicing and payment links are polished for client-billing solo operators, and Relay adds bill approvals, batch payments, and team cards with spend policies. Bluevine covers both directions inside checking (bill pay, ACH, checks, domestic and international wires)³ and adds cash access through 120,000+ ATMs and retail locations via MoneyPass, Green Dot, and Allpoint+.

On structure, Relay's 20 free checking accounts are the strongest envelope system in the category, and Novo's Reserves approximate buckets within one account. Bluevine supports sub-accounts, with the distinction that balances keep earning.¹²

On lending, Novo offers a merchant cash advance through Novo Funding LLC (an advance against future sales with its own cost structure) and Relay offers a credit card. A standard business line of credit isn't on either menu. Bluevine offers one: a separate credit application, with approved funds drawn and managed from the same dashboard as checking.

The Bluevine difference. Bluevine's Standard plan has no monthly fee, so there's no waiver to track.⁵ The dollars sitting in checking earn yield if you meet a monthly activity requirement¹, and working capital lives one application away in the same dashboard instead of in a cash-advance product.

Considering Novo or Relay for business checking?

Novo or Relay may be worth considering for the specific jobs they chose: Novo if you're a one-person service business that mostly sends invoices and wants zero banking overhead with balances under the $250,000 single-bank FDIC cap; Relay if envelope budgeting or Profit First across many sub-accounts, with bookkeeper collaboration, is how you run your money.

The job both leave open is the one most operating businesses care about: making the operating balance productive and keeping credit close. Money in Novo or Relay checking earns nothing, and working capital means an outside product in both cases. An online bank for business is built to maximize your time and money by paying APY on checking itself and centralizing lending and bill pay in one place.

Bluevine: a business banking alternative built for digital-first companies

Online business banking has matured to the point where a growing share of small businesses now run their checking, bill pay, and working capital out of an online platform. Bluevine doesn't carry branch overhead, so those savings go back to customers through lower fees, higher APY, and tighter product integration.

Bluevine Business Checking is one of the more established online business banking platforms designed specifically for businesses. In fact, Bluevine is the largest small business banking platform in the U.S.⁶ Against these two, three differences matter most:

APY on your operating cash. The Standard plan pays 1.3% APY on balances up to $250,000 when you meet a monthly activity goal.¹ The Premier plan pays 3.0% APY on every dollar.² Neither Novo nor Relay pays anything on checking, as of publication.

Built-in line of credit and native bill pay. A Bluevine line of credit application runs from the same dashboard you use for checking, and approved capital is available to draw against directly. Bill pay, same-day and standard ACH, checks, and domestic and international wires all live in the dashboard.³ A cash advance against future sales or a credit card is not the same instrument.

Faster account opening and FDIC coverage up to $3 million. Account opening is fully online and typically takes minutes. FDIC coverage up to $3 million per depositor runs through the program-bank model⁴, and the debit card works at 120,000+ ATMs and retail locations via MoneyPass, Green Dot, and Allpoint+.

Get started with Bluevine Business Checking and get paid on the balance you already hold.

{{get-started}}