Starling vs Airwallex for Business: A UK Bank Account or a Multi-Currency Payments Account?

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Starling or Airwallex? Choose Starling if your company is UK-based, earns and spends mainly in pounds and wants a bank account: deposits are FSCS-protected up to £120,000, there is no monthly fee and UK payments in and out are free. Choose Airwallex if you pay suppliers or staff abroad, get paid in other currencies or need local account details outside the UK: it converts at 0.5% above interbank for major currencies, sends locally in more currencies, but is an e-money institution, so balances are safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected. Many small companies that trade abroad end up with both — Starling as the protected sterling base and Airwallex as the cross-border rail. Every fee and rule below was read from the two companies' own pages on 7 November 2026.

The two names come up together because both are app-based and popular with UK founders. They are not, though, the same kind of product, and comparing them on monthly fee alone misses the two questions that decide it: which currencies your money moves in, and what protects the balance.

The difference in one table

Sources: Starling's business account page and sending money abroad page; Airwallex's UK pricing and UK business account page; the FSCS for the protection limit.

Protection: the difference that does not show in the app

Starling is a bank. Its business account carries the FSCS mark, and the FSCS states it will "automatically compensate you up to £120,000 per eligible person, per bank, building society or credit union" — a limit that rose from £85,000 on 1 December 2025.

Airwallex is not a bank, and says so plainly: "As Airwallex UK is not a bank and is not covered by the FSCS", its help centre explains, customer funds are "kept separate from Airwallex UK's own funds". That is safeguarding. It keeps your money out of reach of Airwallex's creditors if the firm fails, but it is not an insurance scheme with a fixed payout and timetable; money comes back through an insolvency process instead.

For a small company the practical reading is not "Starling is safe and Airwallex is not". It is that the balance you would be in trouble without for three months belongs at a bank, and the money that is passing through — invoices received in dollars, supplier payments going out in euros — can sit with a payments platform. Our explainer on fintech business accounts versus bank accounts covers what happens in each case if something goes wrong.

Fees for a business that stays in pounds

If almost everything you do is in sterling, Starling is the simpler and cheaper fit. Its business page states "No monthly fees" and "No fees on UK payments, in or out", and it handles the domestic things a bank does: cash and cheques (cash deposits carry a 0.7% fee with a £3 minimum; cheques are free), and card acceptance through Tap to Pay on a phone at 1.6% per transaction with no monthly subscription.

Airwallex can also be free in pounds — domestic GBP transfers cost nothing — but only on Explore and only if you deposit £10,000 a month or hold £10,000; below that, Explore costs £19 a month. For a sterling-only business that is a cost without a matching benefit.

Fees for a business that trades abroad

This is where the comparison gets more interesting, and where the published numbers do not all point the same way.

Starling's own money-abroad page describes "a 0.4% fee to the currency conversion and a small delivery fee", with the delivery fee starting at 30p for a local-network payment and £5.50 for SWIFT, and an exchange rate it describes as "the actual market rate we are charged". That page is written for personal customers and does not say whether business pricing is identical, so confirm the business figures in the app before relying on them. Starling sends to 34 countries.

Airwallex converts at 0.5% above interbank for major currencies and 1% for others, sends locally in EUR, GBP and CHF at no fee and over SWIFT for £10-20, and covers far more destinations: 60+ currencies to 200+ countries, with local account details to receive money in 20+ currencies.

On a single conversion between pounds and euros, the published percentages are close and Starling's is lower. Airwallex's advantage is not the headline percentage; it is what the account can do:

• Hold currencies. If you are paid in dollars and pay suppliers in dollars, Airwallex lets you keep the dollars and pay out without converting twice. Every unnecessary round trip costs a conversion fee at any provider.

• Receive like a local. Overseas customers can pay into local account details in their own currency instead of sending an international payment, which often costs them less and arrives faster.

• Reach. If you pay contractors in countries outside Starling's 34, Airwallex is the only one of the two that can do it from the same account.

• Team cards in several currencies, with spend controls, which matters once more than one person spends money abroad for the company.

A worked example, using only the published figures: a UK company converting about £17,000 to pay a €20,000 invoice would pay roughly £68 at Starling's 0.4% plus a delivery fee, and roughly £85 at Airwallex's 0.5%, with no payout fee if the euros go out locally. If that company also receives €20,000 a month from customers, Airwallex can pay the invoice out of the euros it already holds, with no conversion at all.

Eligibility: who can open each

Starling's business current account requires you to be 18 or over and based in the UK. It supports limited companies (limited by shares) and LLPs registered at Companies House; sole traders have a separate Starling account. General partnerships and charities that are not limited companies are not supported, directors and persons of significant control must be UK residents, corporate shareholders are not allowed, and holding companies, dissolved companies and businesses that hold client money are excluded, per its business account page.

Airwallex's UK business page states that accounts typically open in 1-3 business days, sometimes the same day. It does not list every supported company type on that page, so check the application questions for your structure before you start.

If you have been declined by one bank already, our guide to what to do when a business bank account is refused explains the usual reasons and next steps.

When to choose which

• Choose Starling if you are a UK limited company or sole trader, you invoice and pay mostly in pounds, you take cash or cheques, or you want the account itself to be FSCS-protected. Read our full Starling Bank review for the rest of the product.

• Choose Airwallex if foreign currency is a regular part of your month — overseas customers, suppliers or contractors — or you need local details in other currencies. The full cost picture is in Airwallex fees explained, and you can compare Airwallex's UK plans on its own site.

• Use both if you sell abroad but keep your reserves at home: payroll, tax and reserves at Starling, multi-currency flows at Airwallex, and a fixed day each month when you sweep surplus foreign-currency balances back to the bank.

If neither fits — for example, you only need to send occasional payments abroad and do not want another business account — a transfer specialist can be the simpler answer; see the cheapest international transfers and Wise's business pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Is Starling or Airwallex better for a UK limited company?

For a company that works mainly in pounds, Starling: it is a bank with FSCS protection, no monthly fee and free UK payments. For a company that regularly pays or gets paid in other currencies, Airwallex is the better tool for those flows. Many companies use Starling for the sterling account and Airwallex alongside it.

Is Airwallex FSCS protected like Starling?

No. Starling is a UK bank, so eligible deposits are FSCS-protected up to £120,000. Airwallex UK is an electronic money institution and states that it is not covered by the FSCS; customer money is safeguarded, meaning held separately from Airwallex's own funds.

Which is cheaper for international payments?

On the published numbers, Starling's conversion fee (0.4% plus a delivery fee, on its personal money-abroad page) is lower than Airwallex's 0.5% for major currencies. Airwallex is often cheaper overall when you can hold currencies and pay out locally, because it avoids converting at all. Compare one real payment at both before deciding.

Does Starling charge a monthly fee for a business account?

Starling's business account page states that there are no monthly fees on the business current account and no fees on UK payments in or out. Some services carry their own fees, such as cash deposits at 0.7% with a £3 minimum.

Can a non-UK company open Starling or Airwallex?

Starling's business account requires a UK-based business with UK-resident directors and persons of significant control. Airwallex operates separate entities in many countries, so a company outside the UK would normally apply to the Airwallex entity for its own country.

This is general information, not financial advice. Fees and eligibility rules are those published on 7 November 2026 and can change; confirm them with each provider before you apply.