Baselane vs Mercury for Landlords with Multiple LLCs
Quick answer: Baselane is a landlord banking and bookkeeping platform. Mercury is general business banking for companies that want a modern dashboard, free USD payments, and multiple organizations on one profile. For landlords with several LLCs, both can hold separate accounts under one login. Baselane is built around properties and entities. Mercury is built around companies, cards, and payments. Neither is itself a bank.
This review of Baselane vs Mercury for landlords with multiple LLCs is about whether each LLC can have its own accounts, whether you can switch entities under one login, and whether the fees still make sense once you add deposit and reserve accounts. The facts below are current as of November 2026. Features, fees, and rates change, so confirm them on each provider's official pages before you apply.
This is general information, not tax, legal, or banking advice, and it is not a recommendation to open either account. Baselane and Mercury are financial technology companies, not FDIC-insured banks. Banking services are provided by partner banks, as each discloses on its site.
The short fit guide
Choose Baselane if you want banking designed for rental properties: unlimited checking and savings accounts you can label by property or entity, security deposit accounts, and landlord tools such as rent collection and property-level bookkeeping in the same product. The Core plan has no monthly account maintenance fee.
Choose Mercury if you want general business banking with no required monthly fee for core checking and savings, free ACH and domestic wires in USD, and a profile that can link and switch among multiple Mercury organizations. You will still need a way to collect rent and keep rental books, because Mercury does not market landlord-specific rent collection.
In either case, keep one operating account per LLC and a deposit account where your state requires one. The banking app does not replace separate books per LLC or a rental chart of accounts. How to structure those accounts is in Do you need a separate bank account for each rental property or LLC?.
Side-by-side comparison (as of November 2026)
Figures below come from official Baselane and Mercury pages checked in November 2026. Variable rates and sweep coverage can change. Check the live pricing and help pages before you decide.
| Topic | Baselane | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. | Fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. |
| Who it is built for | Real estate investors and landlords, including multiple properties and entities. | Businesses, including LLCs, that want banking, cards, bill pay, and invoicing in one dashboard. |
| Multiple LLCs, one login | Official positioning: unlimited property-specific accounts for all your entities in one place, replacing multiple logins. You apply for business-entity accounts (LLC, corporation, or partnership) from an existing login. | Official help: you can link multiple Mercury accounts to a single profile and switch without logging out, and you can apply for a new account from an existing profile. |
| Accounts you can open | Unlimited checking and savings accounts, including property-specific accounts and dedicated security deposit accounts. | Multiple checking and savings accounts to split income and allocate funds. An official account-count cap was not stated on the pages reviewed. |
| Core monthly fee | Core plan $0 per month. No monthly account maintenance fee and no minimum balance. Smart is $20 per month on an annual plan (30-day trial). | Core banking and essential tools $0 per month. No required monthly fees, overdraft penalties, or minimum balances. Paid plans exist for advanced workflows. Prices on the pricing page and FAQ did not match exactly, so confirm current paid-plan rates on mercury.com/pricing. |
| Payments | Standard ACH transfers are listed as $0 on the pricing table. Same-day ACH is listed at 1%, with a $15 maximum. Outgoing domestic wires are $15, waived when combined Baselane balances are $50,000 or more at the time the wire is initiated. Mailed checks $2. Checkbooks $15 for four 20-check books. | ACH (including same-day and next-day), domestic wires, real-time payments, and USD international wires are listed at $0. Optional OUR international processing is $15 so intermediary fees are less likely to be deducted from the recipient. Non-USD international wires have a 1% currency exchange fee. |
| Interest on savings | Help center (updated October 15, 2026): highest APY currently 2.88%, subject to tiering, with a $50,000 combined-balance requirement for that highest rate. Only savings balances earn interest. The savings page also lists a rent-collection APY bonus on lower tiers. Rates are variable. | Checking and savings are not marketed with a stated APY on the pricing page reviewed. Mercury Treasury is a separate investment product from Mercury Advisory, LLC, available to eligible customers with a $250,000 Mercury balance. Treasury is not FDIC-insured and is subject to investment risk. |
| FDIC insurance | Help center: Checking and Savings insured up to a maximum of $3,000,000 through Thread Bank's deposit sweep program, subject to conditions and possible change of the sweep threshold. Standard $250,000 coverage applies at each program bank in the same ownership capacity. | Up to $5 million through partner banks and their sweep networks, subject to eligibility and conditions. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. |
| Landlord-specific tools | Automated rental payments, tenant portal and auto-pay, property-level income and expense tracking, entity-level bookkeeping, accountant tax package and Schedule E reports, on Core or Smart as listed on the pricing page. | No landlord-specific rent collection or Schedule E product on the official pages reviewed. Accounting connections listed for QuickBooks Online, Xero, and NetSuite. Multiple accounts can still be named by property if you set them up that way. |
| Cards | Physical and virtual Visa debit cards with spend controls, issued by Thread Bank. | Virtual and physical debit and credit cards, including IO credit cards with 1.5% cash back as listed on official pages. |
What each platform is, and is not
Both companies disclose that they are fintechs, not FDIC-insured banks. Baselane's banking services are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC. Mercury's are provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. That matters for how deposits are insured, usually through the partner bank and, where you qualify, a sweep program.
One more distinction on Mercury: the help article "Linking and switching Mercury accounts" is about several organizations on one profile. A different article, "Manage multiple Mercury Business accounts," is about several accounts inside one company (operating, taxes, payroll). Multi-LLC landlords need both: one organization per LLC, and operating, deposit, and reserve accounts inside each one.
Neither product makes an LLC's liability shield real by itself. For the account layout, use one operating account per LLC, a deposit account where required, and separate books per entity.
How to choose between Baselane and Mercury in 7 steps
- Write down your entity map. List each LLC, the properties it owns, and whether you need a deposit account or reserves for that entity. If you do not yet have that map, start with the separate bank account guide.
- Decide whether you want landlord tooling in the bank. If you want rent collection, a tenant portal, and property-level tagging inside the same product as the accounts, Baselane officially offers those. If you already collect rent another way and only need business accounts, Mercury may be enough.
- Price the payments you actually send. Mercury lists ACH, including same-day ACH, and domestic wires at $0. Baselane lists standard ACH at $0, same-day ACH at 1% with a $15 maximum, and outgoing wires at $15, waived at a $50,000 combined balance. If you send many wires or same-day ACH payments, that difference is real. If you rarely send either, it may not be.
- Check interest and cash you might keep idle. Baselane pays a tiered, variable APY on savings only, with the highest published rate on the October 15, 2026 help article at 2.88% when combined balances are at least $50,000. Mercury's yield product for larger balances is Treasury, which is not a bank deposit and is not FDIC-insured. Compare them only after you understand that difference.
- Confirm the one-login path for every LLC. On Baselane, apply for each business entity from the same login and keep each LLC's accounts separate. On Mercury, open or link each organization to one profile, then create operating, deposit, and reserve accounts inside each organization.
- Read the partner-bank and FDIC disclosures. Both use sweep programs for expanded coverage, with conditions. Baselane's help center describes up to $3 million through Thread Bank. Mercury describes up to $5 million through its partner banks' sweep networks. These figures are not a guarantee for every balance or ownership category.
- Keep the books on the legal owners, not on the dashboard. Each LLC still needs its own ledger, a chart of accounts you reuse, and monthly reconciliation. Stateful can keep those books per LLC while you bank at either provider.
Checklist: before you apply
- Each LLC has an EIN and formation documents the bank will accept
- You know which properties belong to which LLC
- You have a plan for operating, deposit, and reserve accounts per LLC
- You have estimated monthly ACH, wire, and check volume
- You have read the current fee table, APY terms, and FDIC sweep conditions
- You understand the provider is a fintech with a partner bank, not a bank itself
- You can assign each new account to the correct LLC on day one
- You have a bookkeeping plan that produces a P&L and balance sheet per LLC
Other one-login options
Baselane and Mercury are not the only platforms that let one owner run more than one business from a single login. Relay, Bluevine, Found, Lili, Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo each offer a version of that feature. At Chase and Wells Fargo, confirm with the bank that one profile covers each of your LLCs. At the big banks, one login is often a view-and-switch convenience, while tools such as Zelle can still be tied to one phone number or email per account. Those options, with fees and limits, are in best banks for managing multiple LLC accounts under one login.
Questions people ask
Is Baselane or Mercury better for landlords with multiple LLCs?
It depends on what you need. Baselane is built for rental properties and entities, including unlimited accounts and landlord tools. Mercury is general business banking with free USD wires and a profile that can switch organizations. Compare current official terms.
Are Baselane and Mercury banks?
No. As of November 2026, both disclose that they are financial technology companies, not FDIC-insured banks. Baselane uses Thread Bank. Mercury uses Choice Financial Group and Column N.A.
Can I run several rental LLCs under one login?
Yes, on both, according to official pages. Baselane markets accounts for all your entities in one place. Mercury lets you link multiple accounts to one profile and switch without logging out. Each LLC should still have its own accounts.
Does Mercury include rent collection for landlords?
Not on the official pages reviewed in November 2026. Mercury offers invoicing, bill pay, and accounting connections. Baselane officially includes automated rental payments and a tenant portal on its banking product.
Will a banking app replace bookkeeping for each LLC?
No. Separate accounts help, but each LLC still needs its own books, property tags, and a year-end packet. A dashboard view is not the same as a balance sheet per entity.
Keep the books with the same split as the bank accounts
Stateful is property management for landlords with LLCs, not a bank. It keeps separate double-entry books per LLC or property, with reports you can filter by LLC, rent tracking, a tenant portal, and a landlord app (Android now, iPhone coming soon). Online rent payments are not available yet. You can bring bank activity into Stateful, by connecting a bank or importing a CSV, and review it before it posts. Pricing is $15 per month or $144 per year, with a 30-day trial. A payment method is required. There are no unit limits. If that fits, get started.