The number on the page is rarely the number that matters
Canadian business accounts run from nothing per month to roughly C$125, depending on whether you want branch service, unlimited debits, or a dedicated account manager. The wide gap isn't about generosity. It's about where the cost hides.
Two figures decide almost everything: your real transaction volume and your idle balance. A business doing forty Interac e-Transfers a month and holding C$4,000 in the account is a completely different customer from a consultancy that keeps C$70,000 sitting still to dodge a monthly charge.
Balance waivers deserve scrutiny. TD's Unlimited Business plan runs about C$125 monthly and waives it at a C$65,000 daily balance. National Bank's Premium Business package asks for C$80,000 daily to skip a C$100 fee. If that money could otherwise earn around 2.75% in a savings product, parking C$80,000 costs roughly C$2,200 a year in lost interest to avoid C$1,200 in fees. The waiver is more expensive than the thing it removes. That's the single most useful piece of arithmetic in this category, and almost nobody runs it before signing.
Three places Canadian owners lose money without noticing
Currency conversion on routine work. Traditional banks mark up foreign exchange somewhere between 2.5% and 3.5%. On a C$200 invoice to a US client, that's noise. On C$80,000 of annual export revenue, it's a used delivery van. This matters most for ecommerce sellers, agencies billing in USD, and importers paying overseas suppliers.
Eligibility you discover at the end of an application. EQ Bank's Business Account is open to registered sole proprietors and active corporations, but not to Quebec residents or businesses, trusts, partnerships, charities, or unregistered sole proprietors. Venn excludes Quebec-incorporated companies too. Partnerships are a common structure for Canadian professional firms, and they fall outside several digital options entirely. Checking province and structure before you gather documents saves a wasted afternoon.
Transaction pricing at scale. BMO's Essential Business Account includes six e-Transfers, then charges C$1.50 each. EQ Bank includes 50 outgoing and 100 incoming before moving to C$0.50. If you invoice clients weekly, those per-transfer charges quietly outgrow the monthly fee. A business bank account with unlimited e-Transfers priced at C$0 sounds like marketing until you compare it against C$1.50 × 60.
How the main options compare
| Provider | Type | Monthly cost | Interest on balance | Domestic transfer notes | Watch-outs |
|---|
| EQ Bank Business Account | Digital bank | No monthly fee | 2.25% on CAD | 50 outgoing and 100 incoming e-Transfers included, then C$0.50 | Not available in Quebec, or to partnerships, trusts, unregistered sole proprietors |
| Venn (Essentials / Pro) | Digital platform | No monthly fee / about C$100 | Around 2% on CAD and up to 3.5% on USD | Tiered FX markup from 0.45% down to 0.25% on paid tier | Quebec-incorporated businesses excluded; limited local currency details |
| Wealthsimple Business Chequing | Fintech (FINTRAC-registered) | No monthly fee | Up to 2.25% | Flat C$20 outgoing domestic wire; no charge to receive | Not a bank; prepaid card, no branch cash handling |
| Airwallex Business Account | Fintech | No monthly fee on entry plan | No advertised yield | Local rails in multiple countries, low FX cost | No cash deposits, no lending products |
| BMO Essential | Big Five branch | C$5 | Minimal | 6 e-Transfers included, then C$1.50 | FX roughly 2.5% to 3% |
| RBC Digital Choice | Big Five branch | C$6 | Minimal | 10 e-Transfers included, then standard fees | FX roughly 2.8% to 3.2% |
| TD Unlimited Business | Big Five branch | C$125, waived at C$65,000 daily | Low | Unlimited e-Transfers | Waiver ties up significant cash |
| National Bank Premium Business | Big Five branch | C$100, waived at C$80,000 daily | Low | e-Transfers included | Waiver cost exceeds the fee saved |
Deposit protection is worth checking separately. EQ Bank deposits fall under Equitable Bank's CDIC membership, up to C$100,000 per insured category. Venn holds balances in trust at BMO with comparable coverage. Wealthsimple extends coverage through partner institutions to a combined C$1 million across accounts, and Airwallex holds client funds in segregated trust accounts under Canadian retail payment rules.
A sole proprietor's real decision path
Priya runs a two-person design studio out of Mississauga. She invoices in CAD, occasionally in USD, takes about 35 e-Transfers a month, and keeps roughly C$6,000 in operating cash. A Big Five package at C$125 monthly would cost her C$1,500 a year before a single conversion. A no-fee digital account costs nothing monthly and pays interest on the balance, but she loses the ability to deposit client cheques at a counter and to walk into a branch for a draft on short notice.
Her workable middle path: a no-monthly-fee digital account for day-to-day operations, plus a pay-as-you-go branch account for the two or three in-person services she genuinely needs each year. That combination is common among Ontario freelancers, and it's usually cheaper than committing to one full-service package.
Geography changes the calculus. In Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, branch density means convenience costs little to skip. In rural Saskatchewan or Newfoundland, a business bank account near me may be forty minutes away, which makes digital onboarding and phone support more valuable than counter access. Alberta and BC sole proprietors also tend to lean toward no-fee platforms earlier, partly because incorporation paperwork and registry searches are already online.
For an incorporated company, the paperwork differs from a sole proprietorship. Expect to provide business registration, director information, and a CRA program account number that matches recent filings. A business bank account for sole proprietors usually needs only personal identification and business registration. Unregistered sole proprietors are turned away by most digital platforms, so registering the business first is the practical starting point.
Steps to sort this out this week
- Pull three months of statements and count outgoing e-Transfers, wires, and currency conversions. Multiply each by the per-item price of the account you're considering.
- Run the waiver math: balance required × realistic interest rate, compared with the annual fee.
- Confirm your province and business structure appear in the provider's eligibility list before you upload anything.
- Decide how you'll handle cash and cheques. Digital-first accounts generally can't accept either at a counter.
- Set up a second savings account inside the same institution to hold tax money for GST/HST and instalments. Separation is the whole point of a business account.
- Connect bookkeeping software. Loop syncs directly with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Wave; most banks support statement exports or direct feeds.
- Keep a void cheque or pre-authorised debit form on file for payroll, CRA payments, and supplier setup.
One more habit worth building: review the account annually, not never. The cheapest option for a C$30,000-revenue freelancer is rarely the cheapest for a C$400,000 importer, and the switch takes less time than you'd expect.
Start with your own numbers rather than a comparison page. Count the transfers, price the conversions, check whether your province and structure qualify, then pick the account that fits the business you actually run. If you're weighing two options, open the cheaper one first and keep the branch account for the occasional in-person errand. That's usually the version of small business banking in Canada that holds up over a full year.
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