How this page ranks business credit cards
For each of the 14 business credit cards we track:
- A year of rewards on your spending mix
- Any signup bonus, and the perks you would genuinely use
- Taking away the annual fee and any foreign-exchange charges
- Removing interest, if you carry a balance
The result is a first-year value in pounds, with a separate ongoing figure for year two onwards, and the workings are shown for every card, including the losers.
The full method, including how we value points, is on the methodology page.
Who can get a UK business credit card
The four high-street bank cards require their own business current account first. The fintech issuers test turnover or trading time instead, and Capital on Tap publishes no minimum trading period at all. It is worth noting that most providers want a personal guarantee from a director.
The kinds of card in this comparison
Four broad kinds, and the calculator prices all of them in the same units:
- Cashback cards pay a percentage back, sometimes with minimum monthly spend thresholds or capped intro offers, which the calculator prices in.
- Points and travel cards earn Avios or Membership Rewards. Points only rank in pounds if you value the point, so we publish the valuation we use and its source.
- Bank cards tied to a business current account often carry the lowest purchase rates, but reward narrowly or not at all.
- Charge and spend-management cards are built around paying in full, with modern pay-over-time options priced at their published rates.
Where a product cannot be priced, because the price is on application, the card says so.
What moves the answer
How much you spend a month. Where it goes. Whether you pay the statement in full. How much of it is in foreign currency. Which perks you would use. Those five answers move the ranking more than everything else put together, and the Personalise button asks them in eight questions.
Our view, for what it is worth: if you carry a balance, stop reading about rewards. Interest becomes the biggest number in the sum, the cheapest card to borrow on beats the most rewarding one at every spend level we have tried, and the calculator will tell you by how much.
Common questions
Do I need to be a limited company to get a business credit card?
For this site, yes: our calculator covers cards for UK limited companies only, and asks up front. Some issuers do sell business cards to sole traders, but comparing regulated credit for sole traders is a different, FCA-regulated activity, so we do not rank or link those products for sole traders. A contractor or freelancer who trades through a limited company is exactly who this site is for.
How long does my company need to have been trading?
It varies by issuer. Capital on Tap publishes no minimum trading period at all. Funding Circle asks for at least one year of trading and £30,000 annual turnover. The bank cards publish no trading-time test but require you to already hold that bank's business current account. Amex publishes no trading requirement, but does require the applying director to earn at least £20,000 a year. Every card in the calculator shows its published criteria on the card itself.
What is the difference between the purchase rate and the representative APR?
The purchase rate is the interest actually charged on a balance you carry. The representative APR is the regulated headline: it includes the annual fee, assumes a £1,200 credit limit, and must be available to at least 51% of accepted applicants. They can be far apart. A card with a large annual fee can show a representative APR over 100% while charging a much lower purchase rate, and a card advertising rates 'from' or 'as low as' a figure is quoting its best case, not what a typical applicant gets. We show both numbers, labelled, wherever an issuer publishes them.
Do I need a business current account with the bank to get its credit card?
For every high-street bank card we track, yes. Each of them requires an existing business current account with that bank before you can apply for the credit card. For a business that banks elsewhere, that requirement usually matters more than the card's rate or rewards, so the calculator displays it as a criterion on each of those cards.
What is the difference between a charge card and a credit card?
A charge card must be paid in full every month; a credit card lets you carry a balance and charges interest on it. The line has blurred: since January 2026, Amex's Business Gold and Business Platinum charge cards carry an optional pay-over-time facility with a published 29.1% purchase rate. The calculator flags pure charge cards as unsuitable if you tell it you carry a balance, and prices the Amex facility at its published rate.
Are there 0% interest business credit cards in the UK?
Among the cards we track, none publishes a 0% purchase period, and none publishes a balance-transfer offer. What business cards offer instead is the standard interest-free window on purchases, typically up to 56 days, which applies only while you pay each statement in full. If you expect to carry a balance, the ranking that matters is lowest cost, and the calculator switches to it when you answer the pay-in-full question honestly.
Will a business credit card application affect my personal credit score?
Usually the application involves a check on the applying director, and many issuers require a personal guarantee from a director, which puts you personally behind the company's debt. Whether ongoing card activity reports to your personal credit file varies by issuer and is often not published; the application terms are the place to check before you apply.
This is a comparison service, not advice, and applications are made directly with the issuer, who will run their own checks.