Relay Bank, run by Relay Financial Technologies, charges $0 a month on its Starter plan, $30 on Grow and $90 on Scale (regularly $120), as of November 2026, and all three plans allow unlimited users. The number that decides most store owners’ cost is the wire and same-day ACH line: Starter charges $8 per domestic wire and $1 per same-day ACH, while Grow drops those to $5 and $0.50. Relay is not an FDIC-insured bank. It says banking services are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC.
I teach high ticket dropshipping through Ecommerce Paradise, and a business bank account is one of the first monthly decisions a store owner makes. This review covers Relay’s plans, fees, accounts, limits, FDIC statements and integrations. Every Relay figure comes from Relay’s own pages on relayfi.com, which I read on November 3, 2026. Relay’s website is relayfi.com. The domain relay.com belongs to an unrelated travel retailer, so do not sign up there.
Disclosure: some links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I do not have an affiliate link for Relay, and nothing here is a Relay referral.
This is general information, not financial advice. Fees, plan prices and terms change, so check Relay’s current pages before you open an account. Approval is up to the bank, and I cannot tell you whether you would be approved.
Relay Bank plans and prices at a glance
This table pulls together the plan cards on Relay’s pricing page and its plan help articles. Prices are in US dollars, billed monthly, and the pricing page shows no annual option.
| Item | Starter | Grow | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $30 | $90 limited time, regularly $120 |
| Checking accounts | 20 (10 for sole proprietors) | 20 | 50 |
| Savings accounts | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Users | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Savings APY (variable, as of 9/17/2026) | 1.19% | 1.87% | 3.21% |
| Relay Visa credit card cash back | 1% | 1.25% | 1.5% |
| Same-day ACH | $1 each | $0.50 each | No per-transfer fee shown |
| Outgoing domestic wire | $8 | $5 | $5 |
| Free trial | None listed | 14 days | 14 days |
Relay says on its pricing page that additional transaction fees apply and that Grow includes savings on payment fees. It also advertises no hidden fees on its home page. I take both statements at face value, and I list the fees I could find below, because the pricing page itself prints only part of the schedule.
The Scale price has two numbers
The pricing page and the Scale plan help article show $90 a month as limited-time pricing and say the regular price is $120. The fee schedule in Relay’s deposit account agreement, which it marks as effective September 1, 2026, lists Scale at $120 a month. So $90 is a promotional rate with no end date shown on the pages I loaded, and you should budget for $120 in case it ends.
Scale is also pitched at larger businesses. Relay’s Scale help article describes the plan as fitting small businesses managing $1,000,000 or more in annual revenue. That is audience wording, not a stated eligibility requirement on the page I read. If your store is below that, Starter and Grow are likely the better-fitting options.
Relay fees by plan, as of November 2026
The table below uses the fee schedule in Relay’s business deposit account agreement, cross-checked against each plan’s help article. Where the two disagree I say so under the table.
| Fee | Starter | Grow | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription | None | $30 | $120 list, $90 promo |
| Same-day ACH | $1.00 | $0.50 | None per schedule |
| Outgoing domestic wire | $8.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Incoming wire | $5 | $5 | $5 |
| Outgoing international wire, SWIFT | $25.00 | $22.00 | $20.00 |
| Outgoing international wire, local network | $5.00 | $3.00 | $1.50 |
| ATM or card purchase abroad | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Stop payment on a check | $10 | $10 | $10 |
| Customer pays your invoice by card | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Customer pays your invoice by bank transfer (Plaid), capped at $10 | 1% | 0.75% | 0.50% |
Relay’s invoice fee article, which shows an August 11, 2026 update date, also lists no per-transaction fee for ACH invoice payments on any plan. Standard ACH is described as unlimited and $0 per transfer on the Grow and Scale pages. The Starter page I loaded does not print a standard ACH line, and the fee schedule I read lists no charge for it, so I would confirm that with Relay before you rely on it.
Where the pages disagree or go quiet
The Scale help article lists no per-transfer fee for same-day ACH in its feature list, but a line in its FAQ says 10 same-day ACH transfers are included per month. The article does not explain the difference. The fee schedule shows none. If you plan to send many same-day ACH payments on Scale, ask Relay which rule applies.
Several costs are not printed on the pages I could load. Those include the dollar limits on card spend, ATM and cash deposit fees on the Starter page, and a fee for replacement cards. Out-of-network ATM fees are set by the ATM operator, and the agreement says balance inquiries can carry them too. Grow’s article says there is no withdrawal fee at Allpoint Network ATMs. I did not see an equivalent line for Starter.
The Grow article also says international currency exchange has a margin starting at 1.00%. That is a hidden-in-plain-sight cost if you pay overseas suppliers, so add it to the wire fee when you compare a quote.
Which Relay plan costs less? A formula and four examples
The formula is simple. Monthly cost equals the subscription, plus the wire fee times the number of wires, plus the same-day ACH fee times the number of same-day transfers, plus the SWIFT fee times the number of SWIFT wires. I left out standard ACH and incoming wires, because none of the pages I read shows a plan difference or a charge for standard ACH, and incoming wires are $5 on every plan. These are examples with assumptions I made up, not quotes.
| Example | Starter | Grow | Scale at $90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A: 4 domestic wires, 10 same-day ACH | $42 | $55 | $110 |
| B: 10 domestic wires, no same-day ACH | $80 | $80 | $140 |
| C: 20 domestic wires, 20 same-day ACH | $180 | $140 | $190 |
| D: 10 domestic wires, 5 SWIFT wires | $205 | $190 | $240 |
Checking the arithmetic. Example A on Starter is 4 wires at $8, which is $32, plus 10 same-day transfers at $1, which is $10, for $42. On Grow it is $30, plus 4 at $5 for $20, plus 10 at $0.50 for $5, for $55. Example C on Grow is $30, plus 20 at $5 for $100, plus 20 at $0.50 for $10, for $140, against $160 plus $20, or $180, on Starter.
Wire fees alone put the break-even at 10 domestic wires a month. Starter costs $8 per wire, and Grow costs $30 plus $5 per wire, so the two meet when 3 times the wire count equals $30. Below about 10 wires, Starter is cheaper, and above it Grow wins, with same-day ACH nudging the break-even lower. Scale at $90 looks expensive in every example because its domestic wire fee is the same $5 as Grow. Its gains come from the free same-day ACH shown in the fee schedule, a lower SWIFT fee, 50 checking accounts and a higher savings APY, not from cheaper domestic wires. Unless you send a great many same-day ACH or international wires, or want those other features, the extra $60 a month over Grow is hard to recover. In my experience a store paying suppliers mostly by ACH and card rarely sends enough of those to recover it, so Scale suits a larger operation than most readers run.
What a customer’s invoice payment costs
If you invoice customers through Relay, the card fee is the same on every plan, so the plan only changes the bank-transfer fee. On a $2,000 invoice, a card payment costs $58.30, which is 2.9% of $2,000 plus $0.30. A Plaid bank transfer costs $10 on every plan, because 1%, 0.75% and 0.50% of $2,000 all reach or pass the $10 cap. On a $500 invoice the bank transfer costs $5 on Starter, $3.75 on Grow and $2.50 on Scale, against $14.80 by card. For a high ticket order, a bank transfer is the cheaper rail, and that is a point about the fee structure, not a recommendation.
Accounts, cards and savings
Relay lets you open up to 20 checking accounts on Starter and Grow and 50 on Scale, with sole proprietors capped at 10 on Starter. The home page says you can auto-transfer deposits between accounts. Splitting money into separate accounts for ad spend and supplier payments is my idea, not a Relay recommendation, and I like it for a store because those are the two lines that quietly eat cash. How you split your money is your call.
Cards come as Visa debit and credit. The pricing page says up to 50 debit cards per cardholder per checking account and up to 5 credit cards per cardholder per credit account, with cash back of 1%, 1.25% or 1.5% depending on plan on the credit card. Cash back excludes ATM transactions, money orders and cash equivalents. The pages I loaded do not print a credit limit or an approval rule for the credit card, so I cannot say what limit you would get.
The savings APY is variable and Relay marks it as of 9/17/2026. The deposit agreement describes the account itself as non-interest-bearing, so I read the APY as applying to Relay’s savings accounts. Rates will move, so treat 1.19%, 1.87% and 3.21% as a snapshot.
What Relay offers beyond the basics
The home page also lists bill pay with approval rules, invoicing, expense management with receipt capture, term loans, and international payments provided by Community Federal Savings Bank through Nium. It claims more than 110,000 businesses and more than $1 billion in managed customer deposits. Those are Relay’s own claims and I did not verify them independently.
Relay limits: what the deposit agreement shows
Relay assigns accounts to limit tiers, and the amounts below come from the agreement’s tier table. Which tier a new account receives is not shown on the pages I could load, so ask Relay what applies to you. Figures are per day, then per month.
| Method | Basic | Standard | Default | High-Spend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACH deposits | $2,000 / $5,000 | $20,000 / $50,000 | $100,000 / $200,000 | $150,000 / $300,000 |
| ACH withdrawals and transfers out | $400,000 / $600,000 | $400,000 / $800,000 | $750,000 / $1.5M | $5M / $10M |
| Check deposits | $5,000 / $15,000 | $20,000 / $50,000 | $50,000 / $120,000 | $100,000 / $200,000 |
| Domestic wires out | $200,000 / $400,000 | $300,000 / $600,000 | $500,000 / $1M | $3M / $4.5M |
| Debit card purchases | $7,000 a day | $15,000 a day | $20,000 a day | $50,000 a day |
The agreement lists higher tiers above these, which I left out. It also says direct deposits, internal transfers between Relay accounts and incoming domestic wires have no limit. Cash deposited at an in-network Allpoint ATM with your debit card is limited to $1,000 per transaction and $2,000 per day on all tiers. The agreement also lists ATM withdrawal limits, which I did not reproduce here, so check that section if you plan to pull cash.
Cash deposits at retail locations go through Green Dot. The agreement lists $500 per transaction at most retailers and $1,000 at Walmart, with caps of $1,500 a day, $3,500 a week and $5,000 a month, and says Green Dot may charge its own fees. For a dropshipping store that rarely handles cash, this barely matters, but it is the main limit if you also sell in person.
Cutoffs and timing
The agreement lists a 5:40 p.m. ET cutoff for same-day wires and a 5:00 p.m. ET cutoff for mobile check deposits. Transfers to connected accounts have a 3:00 p.m. ET cutoff. Mobile deposits are ordinarily available within 7 business days. Relay’s support hours on the Grow help article are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET by chat, phone or email, and Scale adds priority routing.
FDIC insurance: what Relay actually says
This is the part I would read twice. Relay states on its home page that it is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank, and that banking services are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. The pricing page repeats that FDIC deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.
Relay also says deposits can reach up to $3,000,000 in FDIC coverage through Thread Bank’s sweep program, with up to $250,000 per program bank. The FDIC’s own deposit insurance page gives the standard amount as $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. That page does not discuss fintech partner accounts, so the $3,000,000 figure rests on Relay’s description of its sweep program and I have not independently confirmed it.
Insurance covers the failure of an insured bank, not a mistake by a fintech or a frozen account. If you hold large balances, read Relay’s deposit account agreement and ask what you need to do to keep coverage. That is a question for the provider and for your own advisor, not something I can settle.
Relay integrations
Relay’s integrations page names QuickBooks Online and Xero as accounting connections and Gusto as a payroll connection. It also names Plaid, Yodlee and Collective, and says tools such as Expensify (through Plaid) and FreshBooks, Stessa and PayPal (through Yodlee) can connect that way.
The page does not mention Shopify, Amazon or Stripe. Shopify says payouts from Shopify Payments go to the bank account you set up, and its payouts help page names a qualifying checking account or Shopify Balance as the options. So I could not find any official statement that Relay is or is not accepted for Shopify payouts. Check Shopify’s bank requirements for your country before you move your payout account. Relay does not offer personal accounts, according to its own help center, so keep your personal and store finances apart either way.
If you pick a ledger to pair with Relay, my QuickBooks Online pricing guide prices it for year one and year two. The same goes for Xero in my separate Xero pricing guide.
Who can open a Relay account
Relay’s required documents article says every beneficial owner (anyone with 25% or more ownership or significant management responsibility) must be over 18 and provide a government photo ID, an SSN or passport number and a physical US address with no PO boxes or virtual mailboxes. LLCs and corporations need an EIN and formation documents. Sole proprietors use an SSN instead.
The IRS says the online EIN application is free and issues the number immediately if approved. Relay lists some prohibited industries: cannabis including CBD, cryptocurrency, debt collection, direct marketing and telemarketing, gambling, NFTs, payday lending and prescription drug sales. Registered agent addresses are accepted as the legal address, but you must also give an operating address.
Is Relay a fit for a high ticket dropshipping store?
This is my opinion, based on the numbers above. A store that sells a handful of expensive items a week usually makes a few large supplier payments rather than hundreds of small ones. That profile points to the wire and ACH rows, not the cash back row. If you are still choosing what to sell, my high ticket niches list shows which categories carry big enough orders for supplier wires to matter. For the model itself, here is how high ticket dropshipping works and why order size changes your banking costs.
Supplier terms also decide how you pay. Some suppliers want a wire before they ship, others take ACH or a card. I wrote a step by step guide to finding suppliers that covers payment terms, and it is worth reading before you pick a plan based on wire counts. Before you open any account, set up the legal entity, because the bank asks for formation papers. My guide to business formation for a high ticket store walks through it.
In my experience, separate accounts for ad spend and supplier payments make the monthly reconciliation faster, whatever bank you use. Relay’s 20 free checking accounts make that cheap to try, though I have not stress-tested Relay with a live store and I am not claiming results.
Relay alternatives to compare
Relay is one of several online business banks, and fees differ by provider. I compared it side by side with another popular option in Mercury vs Relay.
I reviewed that other bank on its own in my Mercury Bank review. If you want to look at the account itself, you can open the Mercury site. I did not re-verify Mercury’s terms for this post, so use Mercury’s own pages for its numbers.
If you want cards and spend management more than a checking account, my Brex alternatives guide compares five options. For a wider list across bank types, see my best business bank accounts for ecommerce entrepreneurs.
What Relay does not show, and how to find it
Annual pricing. Not shown. The pricing page lists monthly prices only.
Credit card limit and approval rules. Not shown on the pages I loaded. Ask Relay before you count on the credit card.
Account limit tier. The agreement lists tiers, but which one a new account receives is not shown.
Dollar limits on card spend controls. The Grow article says daily and monthly spend limits exist and gives no amounts.
Scale same-day ACH. One page shows none, another mentions 10 included. Confirm with Relay.
Shopify, Amazon and Stripe integration. Not named on the integrations page I loaded.
Part of the deposit agreement was cut off when I read it, so other fees may exist in sections I could not see. Read the full agreement and fee schedule on relayfi.com before you sign up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Relay an FDIC-insured bank?
No. Relay says it is a financial technology company and not an FDIC-insured bank, and that banking services are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. Relay also says deposits can reach up to $3,000,000 in coverage through a sweep program, with up to $250,000 per program bank. Not financial advice, so read the deposit agreement and confirm with Relay.
How much does Relay cost per month?
As of November 2026, Starter is $0, Grow is $30 and Scale is shown at $90 for a limited time, regularly $120. Relay describes Scale as fitting businesses managing $1,000,000 or more in annual revenue. Per-transaction fees such as wires and same-day ACH apply on top.
What are Relay’s wire fees?
Outgoing domestic wires are $8 on Starter and $5 on Grow and Scale. Incoming wires are $5 on every plan. Outgoing international wires are $25, $22 and $20 by SWIFT, or $5, $3 and $1.50 on the local network, for Starter, Grow and Scale.
Does Relay work with QuickBooks, Xero and Shopify?
Relay’s integrations page names QuickBooks Online, Xero and Gusto. It does not mention Shopify, Amazon or Stripe. Check Shopify’s payout bank requirements for your country before you switch your payout account.
Can I open a Relay account for a sole proprietorship or LLC?
Relay says LLCs and corporations need an EIN and formation documents, and sole proprietors use an SSN and need a physical US address. It lists prohibited industries and does not offer personal accounts. Whether a specific application is approved is the bank’s decision.
Bottom Line
Relay is worth a look if you want many checking accounts and unlimited users for $0. The wire math decides the plan: Starter wins under about 10 domestic wires a month, and Grow wins above it. Relay pitches Scale at businesses managing $1,000,000 or more in annual revenue, so it is not a starting point.
The cautions are real. Relay is not itself an FDIC-insured bank, several limits and fees are not printed on the pages I could load, and Shopify and Amazon are not named integrations. Read the full agreement, do the arithmetic with your own wire and ACH counts, and take anything that affects your finances to an accountant or advisor. Terms change, so check the provider’s pages as of the day you apply.
Related Articles
If you are comparing business banking and the software that sits around it, these are the posts I would read next.
- Mercury Bank vs Relay Bank in 2026: Tech-Forward Ecommerce Banking vs Profit First Multi-Account Architecture
- Mercury Bank Review 2026: Free Business Banking With Free Wires and Honest Tradeoffs
- Brex Alternatives: 5 Business Card and Banking Options Compared (2026)
- Best Business Bank Accounts for Ecommerce Entrepreneurs in 2026
- Net 30 Vendors 2026: Where New LLCs Can Open Trade Credit
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
