If you’re a small business owner seeking a fee-free banking experience, Lili may fit the bill. This fintech company offers a Basic account option with no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirements.
Or, if you’re seeking a more robust account with features such as automated invoicing, tax preparation support, and the ability to earn both cash back and a high APY on your savings, you can upgrade to one of Lili’s three premium options.
At a Glance
- No minimum opening deposit or minimum balance required.
- Basic account has no monthly fees; other accounts range from $15 to $55 per month.
- Premium accounts come with features like tax prep software, invoicing, and expense categorization.
Who Should Use Lili?
Lili was designed for small business owners who want to have a free (or affordable) way to help manage their business income and expenses better.
If you need to deposit more than $9,000 in cash or more than $50,000 in checks each month, then Lili will not be for you. Lili also limits outbound ACH transfers to $20,000 per day and $100,000 per month.
Most small businesses will be OK with those limits and can enjoy all the other features Lili offers. For the reasons mentioned above, Lili is probably best suited to freelancers and side hustlers who don’t make a huge amount of cash.
Lili Alternatives
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| Monthly Fee | $0 | $10 | $0 |
| Minimum Balance | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Software Integration | ebay, Etsy, Gusto, PayPal, Quickbooks, Shopify, Slack, Square, Stripe, Wise, Xero, Zapier | Etsy, FreshBooks, PayPal, Quickbooks, Shopify, Slack, Square, Stripe, Venmo, Wise, Xero, and many others | Quickbooks |
| Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |
Table of Contents
What Is Lili?
Lili isn’t a bank; it’s a banking fintech, created in 2018. The platform was originally designed specifically for freelancers, gig workers, and side hustlers, but it now accommodates all types of small businesses, including LLCs, multi-member LLCs, and S Corps.
One of the most attractive features Lili offers is that its Basic account is free — there is no monthly fee or minimum balance requirement. Other notable features include:
- Free Visa debit card (Lili Pro and up earns cash back)
- Unlimited and fee-free inbound domestic wires
- Automated savings
- Interest-earning savings account (with Lili Pro and up)
- Expense categorization (with Lili Pro and up)
- Invoicing (with Lili Smart and up)
- Tax preparation software (with Lili Smart and up)
- Allows joint accounts
Although Lili isn’t a bank, Lili’s accounts are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 through Choice Financial Group (FDIC #9423). Lili also sends transaction alerts in real time and implements fraud monitoring and multi-factor authentication processes. You can instantly freeze your debit card right from the app.
Note that there are no branch locations with Lili; you do your business banking entirely online.
You can deposit checks with Lili’s mobile check deposit feature, or you can deposit cash for a fee at Green Dot locations. You can also connect Lili to your Google Wallet or Apple Pay account for quick and easy payments.
However, note that there are daily and monthly transaction limits with a Lili account:
- ATM withdrawals: $1,000 per day
- Debit card purchases: $10,000 per day
- Cash deposits: $1,000 per day or $9,000 per month
- Mobile check deposits: $10,000 per day or $50,000 per month
Lili Account Options
When you sign up with Lili, you have four account options: Basic, Pro, Smart, and Premium.
While the free Basic version includes everything you need for general business banking, the fee-based versions offer added features like expense management, tax categorization, invoicing, and the ability to earn cash back on debit purchases.
Lili Basic
Lili Basic is free and comes with the following features:
- Visa Business debit card
- Fee-free ATM withdrawals at over 38,000 locations (daily limit of $10,000 in card purchases and $1,000 in ATM withdrawals)
- Ability to get paid up to two days early
- Unlimited domestic wire transfers
- Automatic emergency savings bucket
Lili Pro
Lili Pro regularly costs $15 per month and includes everything offered with Lili Basic, along with these additional features:
- Visa Business Pro debit card with cash back rewards, which are automatically deposited into your Lili account (cash back percentages vary depending on the vendor you purchase from)
- Fee-free overdraft up to $200 through Lili’s BalanceUp program (your account must remain in good standing and meet certain deposit and spending requirements)
- 4.15% APY on a Lili Savings Account balance of up to $100,000
- Expense management and tax categorization
Lili Pro also features a tax savings bucket (in place of the emergency bucket in the Basic version), where you can automatically set up a percentage of all income to go into your tax bucket. This helps you to be prepared when tax time comes.
Lili Smart 🆕
Lili Smart regularly costs $35 a month and includes everything from Lili Pro and the free tier, plus even more business tools like:
- Smart bookkeeping
- Financial reports (e.g., profit & loss and cash flow statements)
- Unlimited invoicing and payments
- Pre-filled business tax forms like the Form 1065/Schedule C
Lili Premium 🆕
Lili Premium is an even higher tier of service and regularly costs $55 a month. It includes everything in the previous tiers plus a dedicated account specialist as well as priority customer support (VIP Customer Service). You can also get a metal debit card.
Note that Lili does offer banking promotions on occasion. See the website for details. Also, check out more of the latest business bank account promotions here.
Lili vs. Novo
Novo is another fintech operation. Deposit accounts with Novo are FDIC-insured through Middlesex Federal Savings.
The Novo Business Checking account has attractive features such as:
- $0 monthly fees
- $0 minimum balance requirement
- $50 minimum opening deposit
- ATM fee refunds of up to $7 per month
Novo also allows you to create reserve accounts where you can put aside money for taxes and emergencies.
Perhaps most notably, Novo says it has no transaction limits — a major difference from Lili’s tight limits. As well, another feature Novo has that Lili doesn’t is integrations. With Novo, you can integrate with Quickbooks, Stripe, Square, Xero, Shopify, Stripe, Wise, and more.
Check out our full review of Novo Business Checking.
Lili vs. NorthOne
NorthOne is a fintech company that provides FDIC-insured deposit accounts via TheBancorp Bank.
Like Lili, NorthOne operates digitally with no bank branch locations. Also like Lili, it offers lots of low or fee-free perks:
- $0 monthly fee for Standard; $20 per month for Plus
- $0 minimum balance requirement
- $50 minimum opening deposit requirement
- Unlimited debit card transactions
Also like Lili, NorthOne does come with some transaction limits.
- ATM withdrawals: Up to 5 transactions per day for a total of $2,000
- Mobile check deposits: $50,000.00 per check, per rolling 24-hour period, or per rolling 30-day period
NorthOne offers subaccounts for your business checking account that can be used to deposit money for taxes, emergencies, and more.
NorthOne has integrations with numerous accounting software and e-commerce platforms, including Quickbooks, Xero, FreshBooks, Stripe, Square, Shopify, Etsy, and many others. The long list of integrations you have access to with NorthOne can be a deciding factor when choosing a business checking account.
Check out our full review of NorthOne.
Lili vs. Axos
If you want a fee-free business account but would prefer an actual bank as opposed to a fintech like Lili, you may want to consider Axos and its Basic Business Checking account.
Like Lili, Axos’s Basic Business Checking has no monthly fees and no minimum opening deposit. It also offers free in-network ATM usage and unlimited domestic ATM fee reimbursements.
With Axos, you also get check-writing privileges — something that’s not available with Lili, even under the fee-bearing accounts. As well, since Axos is a bank, you can also open up additional products, like savings accounts, money market accounts, and CDs.
A downside of Axos is that while it does offer merchant and payroll services and is compatible with Quickbooks, it doesn’t offer invoicing services.
Check out our full review of Axos.
FAQs
Lili is a fintech company and not a bank. However, its accounts are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 through Choice Financial Group.
Lili offers a Visa debit card for businesses that can be used anywhere Visa is accepted. If you sign up for one of the fee-based accounts with Lili, you can access a cash back Visa debit card.
Yes, Lili can integrate with Quickbooks, although that’s currently the only accounting software integration that it offers. However, Lili does have its own expense categorization, bookkeeping, invoicing, and tax prep tools.
Summary
For small business owners, freelancers, and side gig hustlers, Lili can be an extremely affordable option, with no minimum deposit or minimum balance requirements. There are also no monthly fees if you opt for Lili’s Basic account. Its paid accounts vary in their fees (as high as $55 per month), but come with features like tax prep software and automated invoicing.
While Lili may not be suitable for businesses that need to make large monthly deposits or wire transfers, it’s a solid option for the smaller entrepreneurs out there in need of business banking.
The post Lili Review 2024: Free Small Business Banking and More appeared first on Best Wallet Hacks.
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