Brex vs. Relay: business banking comparison

To help you choose the best banking option for your business, here's a side-by-side comparison of Brex vs. Relay—how they differ on eligibility, accounts, cards, and cash flow tools.

First, a brief overview of each platform.

What is Relay?

Relay is an online banking and money management platform that helps you stay on top of cash flow, get clear on operating expenses, and manage your team's spending.

Since its founding in 2018, Relay has focused on serving small businesses and their advisors—accountants and bookkeepers. It's built for businesses with 1 to 100 employees.

With Relay, businesses can create up to 20 individual checking accounts and up to 50 physical or virtual Relay Visa® debit cards³ to organize income, expenses, and cash reserves.

With multiple checking accounts, businesses can stick to a set budget by creating a digital envelope system. Business owners can create dedicated accounts for single-purpose expenses—like operations and marketing—or accounts to set aside money for critical needs like taxes and payroll.

All Relay checking accounts are true checking accounts with unique account and routing numbers, which means you can automate and schedule transactions between these accounts.

Within Relay, you can create new physical or virtual cards with dedicated spending limits. For example, you can create an operations card and a marketing card for those expenses and link them back to their corresponding checking accounts to simplify expense tracking.

³The Relay Visa® Debit Card is issued by Thread Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted.

What is Brex?

Brex is an all-in-one financial management platform for enterprise companies and venture-backed startups. Founded in 2017, Brex offers banking services, charge cards, employee expense management automation, travel, and reporting for scaling businesses.

While Brex used to serve businesses of all sizes, on June 16, 2022, the company announced that it would stop serving tens of thousands of small business customers as part of a renewed focus on high-growth tech startups. That policy is still in force: as of 2026, Brex requires a U.S.-incorporated entity and does not accept sole proprietors, individuals, or unincorporated partnerships.

Businesses that are still eligible to bank with Brex can do so without paying account fees. Brex is also a good option for businesses looking to build credit. Its corporate card is a charge card by default—the balance is paid in full each cycle—which lets businesses build a credit history and earn points on their purchases.

Is Relay a good Brex alternative?

Yes—for the businesses Brex no longer serves. Since 2022, Brex has focused on venture-backed startups and larger companies, leaving most small businesses, sole proprietors, and bootstrapped founders without an account. Relay has no revenue threshold, no incorporation requirement, and no minimum balance: corporations, multi-member and single-member LLCs, partnerships, and sole proprietorships can all open an account in about 10 minutes. Where Brex is built around enterprise spend management, Relay is built for owners who want to see and control their cash flow—up to 20 checking accounts with their own account and routing numbers, automated percentage-based transfers to set aside taxes and reserves on every deposit, and a shared view for their accountant or bookkeeper.

Brex vs. Relay: what's the difference?

The main difference between Brex and Relay is that Brex serves venture-backed startups and high-growth technology companies, whereas Relay is suited best for small businesses with 1 to 100 employees that want to get clear on their cash flow. Relay has no minimum requirements to open an account, whereas Brex requires that your company meet certain thresholds—including U.S. incorporation and, for funded startups, roughly $50,000 in cash.

Brex vs. Relay comparison

Here are the main differences and similarities between Brex and Relay:

Qualifying for an account

Brex and Relay differ in how businesses qualify for an account. Relay supports all types of entities: corporations, multi-member LLCs, single-member LLCs, partnerships, and sole proprietorships. In each case, the business owners submit the documents required for registration. This takes about 10 minutes and can be done online.

To qualify for an account with Brex, a business must be incorporated, and it must meet certain size thresholds. While those thresholds are determined case by case, Brex has indicated that some small businesses that were once qualified are no longer qualified—sole proprietors and unincorporated businesses are not eligible at all.

Banking collaboration with accountants

Relay and Brex approach banking collaboration differently. Brex lets business owners issue read-only access to external advisors (accountants and bookkeepers), but there are limited options when it comes to selecting a permission level.

In Relay, business owners can provide secure, role-based account access to their accountant or bookkeeper so they can manage money and cards, pay bills, and access banking data and documents like monthly statements. These permission levels include:

• Administrator

• Manager

• Bill Payer

• Bill Payer (imported bills only)

• Cardholder

• Deposit-only

• Read-only

See here for a full list of permissions in Relay.

Cash back and rewards

Both platforms offer card rewards, but through different card types. Brex's corporate card is a charge card with a points program—points on rideshare, travel booked through Brex, restaurants, and software, redeemable for cash back, statement credit, or travel. Relay offers the Relay Visa® Credit Card⁴, which earns cash back* on purchases—1% on Starter, 1.25% on Grow, and 1.5% on Scale—deposited straight into your Relay checking account. To get the best rewards with Brex, businesses need to prove card exclusivity; otherwise cash-back rewards are greatly reduced.

⁴The Relay Visa® Credit Card is issued by Thread Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc and may be used anywhere Visa credit cards are accepted.

*Terms and conditions apply to the cash back rewards program. Monthly cash back rewards will be automatically deposited into your Relay checking account within 30 days of the end of the credit card billing cycle. ATM transactions, the purchase of money orders or cash equivalents made with your Relay Visa® Credit Card⁴ are not eligible for cash back. Please refer to the Visa® Signature Rewards Program Terms & Conditions for more details.

Accounts payable management

The two companies take a different approach to accounts payable and spend management. Brex focuses on streamlining expense management for team members at large organizations, which means there's less focus on managing cash flow in the business overall.

For example, businesses can create expense policies for employees, and employees can request the ability to make purchases, increase limits, or get vendor-specific cards. And while Brex does not directly pull unpaid invoices from your accounting system like Xero or QuickBooks Online, businesses can send their unpaid invoices to Brex by email.

Relay's accounts payable solution, on the other hand, is a better fit for businesses looking to manage their cash flow and spending as a whole. On the Grow plan, Relay automatically syncs any unpaid bills from Xero or QuickBooks Online back into Relay's platform. From there, businesses can review, approve, and pay bills directly from Relay. Businesses can also set up single- or multi-step approval rules based on payment amounts. For businesses comparing more than one banking platform, the Brex alternatives roundup covers additional options worth reviewing.

Verdict: what's better, Relay or Brex?

Which banking platform you choose will largely depend on whether you are a venture-backed startup, or a small business that needs a banking platform that puts you in complete control of your cash flow.

If you qualify, Brex offers a range of perks and points on card spend and is a strong fit for enterprise businesses that require robust employee spend management.

Relay, on the other hand, is online banking that puts small businesses in control of their finances. It's a strong fit for companies trying to build a cash-flow-positive business—helping them set and stick to sustainable budgets by organizing income, expenses, and reserves into dedicated accounts.

If your Brex account was closed because you no longer meet the company's requirements, Relay is built for exactly the businesses Brex left behind. Open a Relay account and you can be set up in about 10 minutes.

Frequently asked questions

Can small businesses use Brex?

Most can't. Since June 2022, Brex has served venture-backed startups and larger companies. Sole proprietors, individuals, and unincorporated partnerships are not eligible, and non-funded businesses generally need at least 20–50 employees to qualify.

Is Relay a Brex alternative for sole proprietors?

Yes. Relay accepts sole proprietorships, single- and multi-member LLCs, partnerships, and corporations, with no revenue threshold or minimum balance. That makes it a direct option for the small businesses Brex stopped serving.

Does Relay offer a credit card?

Yes. The Relay Visa® Credit Card⁴ earns cash back* on purchases—1% to 1.5% depending on your plan—paid directly into your Relay checking account.

How many bank accounts can I open with Relay?

Up to 20 individual checking accounts on the Starter and Grow plans, and up to 50 on Scale (sole proprietors can open up to 10 on any plan). Each account has its own account and routing number.