"Free" Company Registration UK: What It Actually Costs in 2026

"Free company registration" used to be a real thing in the UK. Banks bundled the £100 Companies House incorporation fee into a business account, formation agents used it as a loss-leader, and anyone registering a new limited company could reasonably expect to pay nothing upfront.

That's no longer true. As of 2026, every practical route to incorporating a UK limited company costs money. Tide, once the most well-known source of free formation, now charges £24.99. Starling and Revolut Business don't offer company formation at all. Formation agents charge the full £100 Companies House fee plus a service fee on top. Most accountants bundle incorporation into a paid engagement.

Here is what each route costs in 2026, what you actually get for your money, and how to pick the one that fits.

Is company registration free in the UK?

Not any more. Companies House charges £100 to register a new limited company online, and somebody has to pay that fee. "Free" offers in previous years worked because a third party absorbed the £100 on your behalf in exchange for signing you up to something else, most often a business bank account. Those deals have disappeared or been repriced.

You can still pay less if you register directly on GOV.UK (£100 flat, no extras) rather than through an agent or bundled package. But there is no longer a route that costs £0.

What Companies House actually charges

Companies House increased its formation fees on 1 May 2024. The current prices are:

• £100 for standard online incorporation, usually processed within 24 hours.
• £124 for paper filing via form IN01, processed within 8 to 10 working days at the Cardiff office.
• £156 for same-day digital incorporation through an approved software filing provider, processed on the same working day if submitted before the Companies House cut-off.

These fees are mandatory. No bank, accountant, or formation agent can waive them; they can only pay the fee on your behalf and recover the cost elsewhere in their pricing.

What happened to "free" formation offers?

Two things shifted the market. Companies House raised its fees in May 2024, which made the "free to the customer" economics harder to justify for bundled offers. And the wider cost of customer acquisition in UK business banking rose, so banks pulled the lever that used to pay the Companies House fee on behalf of new account holders.

Tide

Tide used to include free company formation when you opened a Tide business bank account. As of 2026, that offer has been repriced. Tide now charges £24.99 as a one-off cost to register your limited company through their platform, on top of opening the bank account itself. The £100 Companies House fee is included in that £24.99 figure, so there is no separate Companies House charge on the Tide route.

£24.99 is still cheaper than most formation agents and considerably cheaper than an accountant, but it is no longer free.

Starling and Revolut Business

Neither Starling Bank nor Revolut Business currently offers UK company formation as part of opening a business bank account. To use either of them, you register your company separately (via GOV.UK, a formation agent, or an accountant) and open the business account once you have your Companies House registration number.

Formation agents: £100 plus a service fee

Formation agents are the sites that advertise "register a limited company from £2.99". They no longer absorb the Companies House fee. The headline price you see is the agent's service fee only; you pay the £100 Companies House fee on top.

1st Formations, a representative example

1st Formations is one of the most-used UK formation agents. Their pricing (verified April 2026) is:

• Basic package, £100 + £2.99. Includes Companies House incorporation, digital company documents, and basic director and shareholder setup.
• Enhanced package, £100 + £39.99. Adds extras such as printed company documents, a registered office service for the first year, and a service address that keeps the director's home address off the public Companies House register.

Higher tiers add further services like accountant introductions, share certificates in printed form, and additional director services. Every tier includes the mandatory £100 Companies House fee as a separate line item.

What you're paying for on top

The service fee covers things you would otherwise have to do yourself:

• Filling in the IN01 form accurately, including SIC codes, model Articles, and person-with-significant-control information.
• A registered office address that isn't your home, so your home address doesn't appear on the public Companies House register.
• Mail forwarding for statutory correspondence from Companies House and HMRC.
• A pack of digital company documents (certificate of incorporation, memorandum, articles, share certificates).
• Guidance on Corporation Tax registration, PSC declarations, and identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

If none of that matters to you, the agent's service fee is paying for convenience.

Accountants: bundled formation

Most UK accountants now charge for company formation, either as a one-off fee or as part of a monthly accounting package. The economics are straightforward: an accountant who forms your company for free is hoping to earn the cost back through an ongoing engagement, and margins are too thin in 2026 for most firms to take that bet unpaid.

A typical UK accountant charges between £100 and £250 as a one-off formation fee (which includes the £100 Companies House fee), or bundles formation into a monthly package that also covers Corporation Tax registration, PAYE setup, VAT registration if needed, and the first year of statutory accounts.

GoForma charges £158 as a one-off formation service, which includes the £100 Companies House fee and handles Corporation Tax registration, model Articles setup, and SIC code selection. A 50% discount is sometimes available on sign-up when you take an accounting package, which brings the formation fee down to £79. That discount is only offered alongside an accounting package; it isn't available as a standalone formation deal. Formation is also included at no extra charge in the GoForma Grow package.

To see what you would pay in your specific situation, get an instant quote.

DIY: register direct at GOV.UK for £100

The cheapest route is to register your company yourself through the Companies House web service on GOV.UK. You pay £100, you get the same legal outcome as any agent or accountant, and you don't pay a service fee on top.

You will need to provide:

• A unique company name ending in "Limited" or "Ltd".
• A SIC code describing your main business activity (up to four codes allowed).
• A UK registered office address where statutory correspondence can be delivered.
• Details of at least one director, including identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 rules.
• Details of at least one shareholder, who can be the same person as the director.
• Details of every person with significant control, typically anyone holding more than 25% of shares or voting rights.
• Memorandum and Articles of Association. Companies House provides a model version that most new companies adopt without amendment.

What you don't get on the DIY route: no registered office service (your home address will appear on the public register unless you arrange a service address separately), no Corporation Tax registration assistance, no bank account introduction, and no accounting support afterwards. Those are the things agents and accountants charge for.

Which route should you pick?

The honest answer depends on what you need beyond the filing itself.

• If you just want the cheapest legal outcome, register direct at GOV.UK for £100. Best for founders who are comfortable doing their own SIC code research, Corporation Tax registration, and bank account setup.
• If you don't want your home address on the public register, use a formation agent with a registered office service. 1st Formations' enhanced package at £100 + £39.99 is representative of the market.
• If you want ongoing accounting support from day one, pick an accountant. Bundled formation inside a monthly package usually works out cheaper than paying for formation and accounting separately.
• If you already want a Tide business bank account, the £24.99 formation add-on is the lowest-friction bundle currently on the market.

What to budget for in your first year

Formation is only the first cost. A realistic first-year budget for a UK limited company looks like:

• Companies House formation, £100 minimum, £125 to £160 typical if using an agent, higher if bundled with accounting.
• Business bank account, £0 to £15 per month depending on provider.
• Registered office service if not using your home, £25 to £60 per year.
• Confirmation statement, £34 per year paid to Companies House on the anniversary of incorporation.
• Accountant, £60 to £200 per month typically, covering year-end accounts, Corporation Tax return, VAT if registered, and PAYE if running payroll. A Corporation Tax return is due within 12 months of your year-end, statutory accounts within 9 months, and the accountant handles both.
• Professional indemnity or public liability insurance, depending on what the company does.

"Free" formation was a useful entry point when it existed. In 2026 it doesn't, and the better question is which paid route gives you the best value for the way you intend to run the company.