The branch habit costs more than it looks
Canada's big banks still hold most small business deposits, and their entry-level digital packages sit around $5 to $6 a month. Full-service plans with heavy cash handling can climb toward $125 a month. That is fine for a retailer depositing floats daily. It is wasted money for a consultant sending twelve invoices and a dozen supplier payments.
The traps tend to be similar across the Big Five. Scotiabank's Right Size account and CIBC's Basic Business Operating account charge per transaction, roughly $1 to $1.25 once you go past the included count. RBC's Digital Choice and TD's Business Digital package include unlimited electronic transactions but cap included Interac e-Transfers at ten, then bill around $1.50 for each one after that. Pay a freelancer, reimburse a subcontractor, return a deposit — the count adds up faster than most owners expect.
Cash is the second dividing line. Online-first accounts generally cannot accept paper deposits, or they route you through an ATM network with limits. A landscaping crew in Brampton and a bakery in Halifax have very different banking needs, even if both call themselves small businesses.
Then there is geography. EQ Bank's business account is not available to Quebec residents or businesses, and it excludes trusts, partnerships, and companies owned by another company. Quebec owners usually end up comparing Desjardins against the national banks instead.
The accounts most small teams actually open
| Account | Monthly fee | Interest on balance | Included e-Transfers | Cash deposits | Best fit | Watch for |
|---|
| Wealthsimple Business Chequing | $0 | Posted rate in the low 2% range, tiered by total assets | Unlimited | Not supported | Incorporated service companies paying CRA electronically | Eligibility limited; confirm your structure first |
| EQ Bank Business Account | $0 | Around 2.25% | 50 outgoing, 100 incoming | Mobile cheque deposit only | Registered sole proprietors and small corporations | Not for Quebec, trusts, or partnerships |
| RBC Digital Choice Business | $6 | None | 10 | ATM and branch options | Owners who want a national branch network behind a cheap digital plan | Per-item charges beyond the included count |
| TD Business Digital | $6 | None | 10 | ATM deposits | Businesses that also want U.S. dollar accounts nearby | CRA payments billed separately |
| BMO Essential Business | $5 | None | 6 | ATM deposits | Digital-first businesses wanting a Big Five safety net | Higher fee once you need cash volume |
| Scotiabank Right Size | $6 | None | None included | Branch supported | Very low, irregular transaction counts | Per-use pricing bites in busy months |
| CIBC Basic Business Operating | $6 | None | None included | Branch supported | Owners who prefer pay-as-you-go | Self-service and full-service rates differ |
| Desjardins Digital Plan | $5.95 | None | Included in digital transactions | Deposit items charged individually | Quebec-based businesses | Digital-only features outside the province |
| Wise Business | $0 monthly, one-time setup charge | Around 2.2% on CAD balances | Pay-as-you-go | Not supported | Importers, exporters, Shopify sellers paid in USD | Not a full Canadian chequing replacement |
Rates and fees shift, so treat the table as a starting map rather than a final quote.
Where the real cost hides after the monthly fee
The headline number is rarely the expensive part. Currency conversion is. Traditional business accounts typically add a markup of 2% to 4% on top of the exchange rate, which quietly taxes every U.S. client payment. A Mississauga seller moving roughly $20,000 a month through a Shopify store paid close to 3% on conversion for two years. Moving international receipts into a multi-currency account and keeping a domestic chequing account for payroll and tax changed her annual cost by thousands of dollars.
Minimum balance waivers work the same way in reverse. A plan that drops its fee when you park a large balance is not saving you anything if that cash could be earning interest elsewhere or funding inventory.
Integration matters too. If your bookkeeping runs on QuickBooks or Xero, an account that feeds transactions automatically saves a few hours each month. That is worth more than a $1 difference in monthly fees for most owner-operators.
Match the account to your paperwork, not to a ranking
Sole proprietors and freelancers
Dev runs a two-truck landscaping business outside Toronto. Most of his revenue arrives by e-Transfer, but customers occasionally pay cash, and he needs somewhere to deposit it without driving across the city. A Big Five digital plan with ATM deposits handles that better than a no-monthly-fee account that refuses paper altogether.
Marie-Claude, a translator in Montreal, has the opposite profile. She receives e-Transfers from agencies across Canada and Europe, writes maybe fifteen cheques a year, and never touches cash. Her realistic shortlist is Desjardins and a national bank, because the cheapest online option simply is not open to her province.
Incorporated companies
Corporations need more paper before they need a better fee. BMO's published checklist asks for articles of incorporation, a corporate profile report, and, for businesses older than eighteen months, an annual return or certificate of status. Lenders and banks also want the name and ownership share of anyone holding 25% or more, plus identification for each signing officer. Assembling that before you start an application is the difference between one sitting and three.
EQ Bank accepts active corporations where the applicant is a majority shareholder, signing officer, and director — and only one individual per business may open the account. Wealthsimple has widened its business account eligibility over time; verify your structure against current criteria rather than assuming.
Businesses with cross-border revenue
If a meaningful share of your income arrives in U.S. dollars, splitting functions helps. Keep a Canadian chequing account for CRA payments, payroll, and domestic suppliers. Hold foreign receipts in a multi-currency account and convert when the rate suits you. Wise Business charges a one-time setup amount in the tens of dollars and no monthly fee, but it lacks branch access and full Canadian deposit-taking features.
Opening it without a second trip to the branch
Get your CRA business number first. Almost every application asks for it, and some online forms will stall without it.
Then gather documents according to your structure: a master business licence or trade name registration if you operate under a name other than your legal one; incorporation documents and a profile report for a corporation; identification for every signing officer.
Decide who holds the signing authority before you apply, not after. Adding a second signer later usually means another verification round.
Fund the account with a small deposit and test one low-stakes transaction — a supplier payment, a $20 e-Transfer to yourself. Confirm the payment reaches your accounting software. Then set your e-Transfer and deposit limits deliberately, because the default weekly cap on many online business bank accounts is lower than a payroll run.
Finally, schedule one CRA remittance through the new account early. Discovering on a deadline that a payment channel is not supported is a costly way to learn.
Local details that change the math
Deposit insurance is not identical everywhere. CDIC coverage runs to $100,000 per insured category, per depositor, and sole proprietorship deposits are combined with the owner's personal deposits rather than treated separately. Provincial credit unions fall under different insurers, with different limits.
Interac e-Transfer caps vary by institution, not by business size, and they reset weekly rather than monthly. A company paying fifteen subcontractors every second Friday can hit a ceiling that a monthly-fee comparison never mentions.
Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia each have strong regional institutions — Desjardins, ATB, Vancity — that bundle merchant processing or local advisory support the national banks do not match in those markets. If you already run Moneris for card payments, ask whether your account package discounts it. That question alone has saved owners more than a fee comparison ever will.
Start with two numbers this week: your average monthly count of outgoing e-Transfers, and the share of revenue received in a currency other than Canadian dollars. Those two figures eliminate half the accounts in the table above. Then open one application, fund it small, and run a single real payment through it before you move anything important. A good online business bank account should be boring within a month — and invisible for the rest of the year.
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