FreeAgent free with NatWest / RBS / Mettle — the catch?
How to get FreeAgent for £0, what the “one transaction a month” condition really means, and who should not rely on it.
FreeAgent is one of the few genuinely capable MTD tools you can run for £0 — if you bank in the right place. It’s owned by NatWest, and that’s the key to the free offer.
How to get it free
FreeAgent is included at no charge with a NatWest, RBS or Ulster Bank business account, or with a free Mettle account. The usual condition is that you make at least one transaction a month through the account to keep the subscription active. Without an eligible bank account, FreeAgent is a paid subscription — reported around £19.50 a month, with some sources quoting higher — so the bank route is where the value is.
Why it’s a strong pick for couples
FreeAgent’s standout feature for landlords is that you can set ownership percentages per property and it splits income and expenses automatically, with each co-owner filing their own quarterly updates and final declaration from a single shared licence. There’s even a dedicated “FreeAgent for Landlords” product. That puts it in the small group of tools that handle jointly owned property properly, rather than making you split the figures by hand.
It also brings the essentials: bank feeds, accountant (agent) access, quarterly updates, the final declaration and a mobile app.
The catches
- Self-employment needs its own account. If you also have a self-employed trade, you’ll need a separate FreeAgent account for each income stream — it doesn’t combine property and a sole-trade business in one.
- Landlord features are lighter than specialists. Purpose-built tools like Landlord Studio or Hammock offer more property-specific reporting.
- No foreign property. Overseas rental income isn’t supported.
- You may need to move banking. The free offer only makes sense if you already bank — or are happy to bank — with NatWest, RBS or Mettle.
Who should choose it
FreeAgent is an excellent fit for co-owning couples who bank with NatWest, RBS or Mettle and want automatic ownership splitting from one free account. If you don’t bank there and don’t want to switch, look at a free landlord tier such as RentalBux instead — the free-routes guide covers the alternatives, and the picker will tell you whether FreeAgent is your best match.
Put this into practice
Two tools do the heavy lifting — find your software, or work out your exact mandation date.
New to all this? Start with the pillar guide: When does MTD start for me? (free calculator).