What owners run into before they compare anything
Small business banking in Canada has a shape of its own, and most of the friction comes from three places. Interac e-Transfer is the default way customers and suppliers pay, yet several business accounts meter them. Ten free transfers a month sounds fine until a busy week eats them by Wednesday. After that it's $1.50 each at RBC's Digital Choice account, $1 at Scotiabank, and $2 per CRA payment at TD and CIBC.
The second squeeze is remittances to the Canada Revenue Agency. A sole proprietor filing GST/HST quarterly may only make four payments a year, which is tolerable. A corporation with payroll remittances, corporate instalments and HST is looking at a dozen or more, and the per-payment charge quietly becomes a line item in the bookkeeping.
The third is the gap between what an online account can do and what the business physically handles. A landscaper in Kelowna taking cash, a market vendor in St. Jacobs with a stack of cheques, an incorporated consultancy with two signing directors: each of these runs into a limit that never shows up in the headline monthly fee. EQ Bank's business account, for instance, allows one signing officer per business and caps the balance at $500,000 across accounts. Worth knowing before you move payroll over.
Then there's the US dollar question. Freelancers billing American clients, Shopify sellers, agencies paying US subcontractors, all end up converting CAD and USD somewhere. At a branch, the spread is the cost. With a multi-currency provider, the fee is disclosed before you send.
Comparing the realistic shortlist
Fees below reflect published pricing from the providers as of late 2026. Interest rates move, so confirm current numbers before you commit.
| Account | Monthly fee | Included transactions | Interac e-Transfer | CRA payments | Suited to | Watch for |
|---|
| Wealthsimple Business | $0 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Free | Solo consultants, digital-first shops | No branch or cash deposit |
| EQ Bank Business | $0 | Unlimited electronic | 50 outgoing free, then $0.50; 100 incoming free | Free | Owners who want interest on idle cash | One signing officer per business; no overdraft |
| Wise Business | $0 plus one-time $55 CAD setup for local details | Pay-as-you-go | Not a core feature | Not a core feature | Importers, exporters, USD earners | Fees per transfer; not a chequing replacement for everything |
| Venn | $0 | Free account access; local EFT/ACH $0 to $2 by plan | Unlimited | Not offered | Startups testing a neobank | Limited cash handling |
| BMO Essential Business | $5 | Unlimited electronic and ATM | 6 free, then $1.50 | Free online | Digital-first businesses already near a BMO branch | Cash deposits sit outside the entry plan |
| TD Business Digital | $6 | Unlimited electronic and ATM | 10 free per month | $2 each | Owners who mostly use the app and ATM | Deposit-heavy businesses pay elsewhere |
| RBC Digital Choice Business | $6 | Unlimited electronic and ATM | 10 free, then $1.50 | Not included | Businesses wanting the largest branch and ATM footprint | Identity verification still needs a branch visit |
| CIBC Basic Business Operating | $6 | Pay-per-use, $1 self-service | $1.50 plus $1 self-service fee | $2 each | Variable, low-volume months | Costs climb fast with volume |
| Scotiabank Right Size | $6 | Pay-per-use, $1.25 down to $1 | $1 each | Not listed | Seasonal businesses | Per-item pricing adds up |
Reading across that table, one pattern holds. The Big Five charge a modest monthly fee and then recover it through transaction pricing, while online-first options invert that model. Neither is automatically cheaper. It depends on whether you need a teller, a coin sorter, or a night depository.
Matching the account to how money actually moves
If cash and cheques are part of the week
Trades, restaurants, farm stands, and anyone with a float in the till should keep a branch-based account for deposits and pair it with a no-fee digital account for payables. Mark, a fencing contractor outside Calgary, does exactly this. He runs deposits through a Big Five plan and keeps his supplier e-Transfers and CRA remittances on a zero-fee account, which cut roughly $40 a month in transaction charges he had been absorbing without noticing.
If clients pay in US dollars
A CAD-only account means every American invoice passes through a conversion. Wise Business charges a one-time $55 CAD fee for local account details and converts from around 0.48%, with no monthly fee. Airwallex offers a similar multi-currency structure with US routing numbers for ACH collection, useful for e-commerce sellers. The trade-off is that neither provides paper cheques or branch service, so most owners keep a small Canadian chequing account alongside.
If you are a sole proprietor without a business name
Requirements differ by institution. RBC asks sole proprietors operating under their own name to hold a business account, while some others do not insist. You will need government-issued ID and a business registration document such as articles of incorporation or a master business licence. Non-residents can open accounts with proper identification, though expect extra verification.
Sarah, a UX contractor in Halifax, opened a Wealthsimple Business account in about twenty minutes with her driver's licence and her GST registration number. Her previous plan charged $6 monthly plus $1.50 per e-Transfer. With roughly 25 client transfers a month, the switch removed about $110 a year in fees she had been treating as unavoidable.
A practical walkthrough
Pull three months of statements and count four numbers: e-Transfers sent, CRA payments made, cash and cheque deposits, and foreign currency conversions. That count decides which column of the table matters. Then check two things the marketing pages bury: whether deposits are held at a member institution of Canada's deposit insurance framework, and whether the account supports the number of signing officers your incorporation requires.
Open the application online first. RBC's digital accounts can be started in under fifteen minutes, though identity verification still requires a branch visit. EQ Bank and Wealthsimple complete verification remotely. Have your business registration document and a utility bill or tax assessment ready as proof of address, keep the old account open for a full billing cycle, and move pre-authorized debits one at a time rather than all at once.
Local help exists if the paperwork stalls. Canada's Financial Consumer Agency publishes plain-language guidance on account opening and identification, and most credit unions in Ontario, BC, and the Prairies offer business onboarding appointments within a week. Community futures offices and small business centres in most provinces also run free sessions on separating personal and business finances.
One habit worth forming early: review the account every twelve months against your actual transaction counts. Pricing on these accounts changes more often than most owners assume, and the plan that fit a solo consultancy rarely fits the same business two employees later.
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