I'm self-employed or running a small business
Business tools that don't bleed you on fees.
Accepting cards, paying contractors abroad, and converting EUR/USD — each one a place where a regular bank takes 2-4% silently. The picks below replace those one by one, usually for €0/month.
Quick check
What do you need first?
Top picks for you
Each pick shows what you get, what you'd save, and the catch — so you can decide without reading the small print.
1. · BEST FOR CROSS-BORDER WORK
Wise Business Account
What it gives you
- €0 monthly fee, no minimum balance
- Hold 40+ currencies and switch between them at 0.35% FX
- Local account details in 10+ currencies (EUR IBAN, US ACH, GBP)
- Batch pay up to 1,000 contractors in one upload
The catch
Not a full bank — no overdraft, no credit, no card terminal. Pair with a regular bank if you need traditional services. Some EU corporate structures need an EU-based bank for filing.
2. · BEST POS FOR SMALL VENUES
SumUp Card Reader
What it gives you
- Free hardware promotion currently running (€19 RRP)
- 1.69% per card transaction — no monthly fee
- Money in your bank in 1-2 days
- Works as standalone (no phone needed for taking payments)
The catch
1.69% beats most competitors but loses to Stripe Terminal for high-volume venues (Stripe negotiates lower per-transaction rates above €30k/month). At small volumes SumUp wins on simplicity.
3. · EXPENSE CARDS + CONTROLS
Pleo Business Expenses
What it gives you
- Virtual + physical cards for the team, with per-card limits
- Auto-categorisation, receipt capture, Xero/QuickBooks/NetSuite sync
- From €9/user/month (Starter plan)
- Real-time spend visibility for the finance lead
The catch
Per-user pricing means cost grows linearly with the team. For a 3-person studio (€27/mo) it's a no-brainer; at 30 people (€270/mo) Spendesk or Soldo start to compete on price.
Why these
Picks chosen for the most common small-business stack across EU: cross-border payments (Wise), card acceptance (SumUp), team expenses (Pleo). All three publish transparent per-transaction or per-seat pricing — no quote-on-request fog. The discover catalogue has 22 more business tools if your use case is more specialised (payroll, EOR, tax, multi-country VAT).