Novo was founded in 2016 and partners with Middlesex Federal Savings, a member FDIC institution, to provide FDIC-insured business deposit accounts up to $250,000. The platform operates as a fintech company — the banking infrastructure sits with the partner bank while Novo provides the interface, integrations, and product layer on top. The model is common across the neo-banking category and results in a no-fee structure that traditional banks cannot match on standard accounts.
The product has one plan. There are no tiers, no monthly fees, and no choice between paying more for features. Novo’s business checking account has no monthly service fee, no minimum balance requirement, no transaction fees, no incoming wire fees, no ACH fees, and no insufficient funds fees. ATM withdrawals at any ATM in the world are free from Novo’s side — third-party ATM surcharges are refunded up to $7 per month. This covers one or two withdrawals depending on the ATM’s fee schedule.
The built-in invoicing is what separates Novo from a plain checking account. Freelancers and contractors can create, customize, and send invoices directly from the Novo dashboard or mobile app. Accepted payment methods include ACH bank transfer, Venmo, and PayPal through the invoicing tool. Stripe and Square connect as separate payment processors with direct integration rather than just link-based forwarding. For a solo business owner whose workflow lives inside a banking app, this removes the need for a separate invoicing tool.
The integration list is among the most functional in the freelancer banking category. Stripe, PayPal, Square, Xero, QuickBooks, Wave, Wise, and Zapier all connect directly. Xero and QuickBooks connections pull transaction data for automatic bookkeeping reconciliation. The Wise integration specifically enables international wires — Novo itself does not process SWIFT wires natively, but the Wise connection makes them accessible from within the Novo dashboard without opening a separate account first.
Novo does not pay interest on any balances and offers no savings account product. For a business holding $50,000 in a checking account, that represents meaningful idle cash earning nothing. Mercury and Bluevine both offer yield on checking or savings balances alongside comparable no-fee checking.
Customer support is email and in-app message only for routine issues. Phone support is reserved for fraud-related emergencies, available 24 hours a day. Standard account questions go through a ticket-based system with response times that user reviews note can take several business days. For time-sensitive account questions, this creates friction that a bank with phone support does not.
Novo is the right account for freelancers and small businesses that want the cleanest no-fee banking experience available with strong third-party tool integrations, and who do not need interest on balances or immediate phone-based support access.