How to get FreeAgent free with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle
This article earns us nothing. It is the cheapest route to proper accounting software we know of, it pays no commission to anybody, and if you bank with one of these four you should probably stop reading comparison tables and just do it.
Last verified 31 July 2026. Prices are ex VAT and taken from each vendor’s own UK pricing pages. Promotional offers change roughly monthly and are normally for new customers only — check the live price before you subscribe.
If you hold an eligible business account with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle, FreeAgent is free for as long as you hold that account — and it is the full product, not a cut-down edition. Mettle adds one condition: at least one transaction a month.
We earn nothing from this, and we are saying so up front
Fizoral is funded by affiliate commission. This route pays us zero. We are not in any of these banks’ referral programmes, we are not in FreeAgent’s, and no version of you acting on this article makes us money. We are publishing it because it is the correct answer for a large number of UK sole traders and landlords, and a comparison site that hides the correct answer is not worth reading.
Our full funding model is in the affiliate disclosure, and our methodology is at how we research.
Who qualifies
Four banks carry it: NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank and Mettle. Hold an eligible business account with any of them and FreeAgent comes with it at no additional cost.
The first three are the traditional high street route. Mettle is the digital business account in the same group, aimed at sole traders and very small businesses, and it is the one worth knowing about if you do not want a conventional business bank account.
| Bank | FreeAgent included | Extra condition |
|---|---|---|
| NatWest | Yes | None recorded beyond holding the account |
| RBS | Yes | None recorded beyond holding the account |
| Ulster Bank | Yes | None recorded beyond holding the account |
| Mettle | Yes | At least one transaction a month |
Verified 31 July 2026. Eligibility criteria are set by each bank and can change — confirm directly with the bank and with FreeAgent before you rely on this. Promotions and bundled benefits across this market are revised roughly monthly.
What you have to do
- Open or already hold an eligible business account with one of the four.
- Activate the FreeAgent subscription through the bank’s own portal or app — not by signing up directly on FreeAgent’s website, which will put you on a paid plan.
- If you are on Mettle, make sure the account sees at least one transaction each month.
Point two is where people lose the benefit. Signing up direct and then trying to reconcile it with the bank offer afterwards is more awkward than starting from the bank side.
It is the full product, not a cut-down one
The bank routes give you FreeAgent proper — not a trial, not a limited free tier, not a feature-capped edition. That is what separates this from every other “free accounting software” claim in the UK market.
The distinction matters because the phrase “free accounting software” usually means one of three much weaker things:
- A time-limited trial that becomes a bill. Xero, QuickBooks and Sage all run trials; they are trials.
- A capped free tier. Sage Sole Trader Free is genuinely £0 and genuinely permanent, but it allows five invoices a month and cannot handle VAT. Real, useful, and a ceiling.
- A promotional rate dressed up as free. Sage’s three-months-free on Accounting Start is a discount, not a free product — the bill starts in month four.
The bank route is none of those. It is the same FreeAgent that other people pay £19 a month for, with the bill going to the bank instead of to you.
Everywhere else in this market, “free” means limited or temporary. Through these four banks it means free.Fizoral
Verify before you commit
Bank benefit packages change. Before you choose a bank because of FreeAgent, confirm the current terms with the bank directly and check FreeAgent’s own page. Nothing on this site is a substitute for the provider’s live terms, and we would rather you check than take our word for it.
What it saves you
FreeAgent Sole Trader is £19 a month, which comes to £399 over 24 months after the six-month 50% introductory discount. Through an eligible bank, that becomes £0.
Put against the rest of the market, the bank route does something no amount of shopping around can: it takes the most expensive entry plan in this comparison and makes it the cheapest.
- —FreeAgent via NatWest / RBS / Ulster Bank / MettleFull product, free while you hold the account£024 months
- —Sage Sole Trader Free5 invoices/month, non-VAT only£024 months
- 1QuickBooks Sole Trader£10/mo after 6 months at £1. Cannot file VAT.£18624 months
- 2Xero Ignite£16/mo after 6 months at £3.20£307.2024 months
- 3Sage Accounting Start£18+VAT/mo after 3 months free£37824 months
- 4FreeAgent Sole Trader, paid directly£19/mo after 6 months at £9.50£39924 months
Ex VAT, verified 31 July 2026. Sage quotes +VAT and is normalised here. Full workings on our cheapest over 24 months page.
Every one of those paid figures is a post-discount number. If you have not read the accounting software discount cliff, it explains why the £9.50 and £1 headline prices in this market are not the prices you will pay.
What happens if you change bank
The free subscription is tied to holding the eligible account. Close it or move your banking elsewhere and you should expect to move onto FreeAgent’s normal paid pricing — currently £19 a month for Sole Trader, £399 over 24 months.
This is the one genuine risk in the arrangement, and it is worth thinking about before you build your bookkeeping around it. You are not just choosing software; you are coupling your software cost to your banking relationship.
Three practical implications:
- A better banking offer elsewhere is not automatically better. If a competitor bank offers you something worth £150 and you lose £399 of FreeAgent over two years, the maths has flipped.
- Your data does not disappear. Moving from a bank-funded subscription to a paid one is a billing change, not a migration. But confirm the transition terms and any notice period with your bank before you close the account.
- On Mettle, dormancy is the risk, not closure. The condition is one transaction a month. An account you opened for the software and never use is the failure mode to watch for.
When this is still the wrong choice
Free is a very strong argument, but it is not the only argument. Do not take the bank route if:
- You need a business bank account you would not otherwise have chosen. Pick the bank on the banking, then treat FreeAgent as a bonus.
- Your accountant works exclusively in another package. The friction can cost more than £399 in billable hours.
- You need something FreeAgent does not do well for your structure. Read the FreeAgent review and the Xero vs FreeAgent comparison before assuming free equals right.
Check FreeAgent’s own terms: freeagent.com. Compare against Xero, QuickBooks and Sage.
Free FreeAgent questions, answered
What people check before they trust an offer this good.
Which banks give you FreeAgent free?
NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank and Mettle. Holding an eligible business account with any of them gives you FreeAgent at no cost for as long as you hold the account. Mettle additionally requires at least one transaction a month.
Is the free version of FreeAgent cut down?
No. The bank routes give you the full FreeAgent product rather than a limited or trial edition. That is what makes this unusual — it is not a free tier with a feature ceiling, it is the paid product with the bill paid by the bank. Confirm the current terms with your bank and with FreeAgent before you rely on it.
What is the Mettle condition?
Mettle requires at least one transaction a month on the account to keep the free FreeAgent subscription active. It is a light condition if the account is your actual trading account, and an easy one to fail if you opened it purely for the software.
How much does this save?
FreeAgent Sole Trader is £19 a month, £399 over 24 months after the six-month 50% introductory discount. Going through an eligible bank takes that to £0 — the single largest saving available on this site.
What happens if I change bank?
The free subscription is tied to holding the eligible account. Close it or move your banking elsewhere and you would expect to move onto FreeAgent’s normal paid pricing, currently £19 a month for Sole Trader. Check the notice and transition terms with your bank before you switch, and factor the cost back into your comparison.
Does Fizoral earn anything from this?
No. We earn nothing from this article and nothing from the banks named in it. It is the cheapest route we know of and it pays us nothing, which is precisely why it is worth reading. Our affiliate disclosure explains how the rest of the site is funded.
Is FreeAgent MTD compatible?
Yes, FreeAgent is on HMRC’s recognised list — as are Xero, QuickBooks and Sage. MTD compatibility is table stakes across all four and is not a reason to choose one over another.
Read next
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Across — sibling post
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Down — what to buy
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