The best business checking accounts for solo entrepreneurs, small biz owners and more

There are a million things to consider when you're running a small- or medium-sized business, and it's crucial to have a good handle on your finances.

Between generating invoices, paying out contractors, handling digital and non-digital payment methods and tracking inventory that's always in flux — today's business owner needs more than just a standard checking account.

To make your search easier, CNBC Select reviewed dozens of business checking accounts with both digital and in-person access. We considered a range of factors when ranking the best accounts, including invoicing support, payment flexibility, fees and interest rates. (Read more about our methodology below.)

• Best overall: Chase Business Complete Banking℠
• Best for sole proprietors and contractors: Novo Business Checking
• Best for small businesses: Bluevine Business Checking
• Best for medium-to-large businesses: Spark Business Unlimited Checking®
• Best for making cash deposits: Bank of America Business Advantage Checking

You may be surprised to learn that nearly anyone with a side hustle or small business can qualify for a business checking account — not just large corporations. Opening a business checking account is a simple way to separate your personal finances from your business finances, whether you're a sole proprietor conducting business under your social security number or you have an LLC with its own tax ID.

Anyone who has a business, small or large, can benefit from a business checking account. It helps you track your revenue and expenses so that you can understand the business's financial performance before transferring the money to your personal account for spending.

Be prepared, however, as business checking accounts typically charge more fees than personal accounts, and often the minimum balance requirements to waive monthly fees are higher, since banks presume businesses bring in more money than an individual and that there will be a higher volume of transactions/administration costs.

That said, there are a growing number of smaller, online-only business checking accounts popping up that make opening a business checking account much more affordable, with no minimum balance requirements or transactions fees.

When deciding whether to open an online business checking account or go with a brick-and-mortar bank, consider first how you manage your business on a daily basis.

Plenty of businesses are now mostly digital, meaning that all of the invoicing, payments, accounting and payroll happens electronically.

On the other hand, there are businesses that still primarily use cash often enough that they need to bank with a local branch where they can drop off money at the end of every business day.

Online business checking accounts are undoubtedly convenient and come with helpful invoicing features, such as the ability to perform mobile check deposits, sync with QuickBooks and/or connect to Stripe to accept credit card payments. But it might be worth trading the convenience of these options for the ability to easily withdraw and/or deposit physical cash in large quantities.

However, online-only banks have lower fees and usually have lower minimum balance requirements (some as low as $0), so if banking in-person is not part of your daily work flow, it might be time to consider a new alternative.

To determine which business checking accounts offer the most convenience, CNBC Select analyzed dozens of U.S. business checking accounts offered nationwide by online banks as well as those with physical branches. We narrowed down our rankings by considering no-fee checking accounts or accounts with easy ways to waive the monthly maintenance fees.

We compared each checking account on a range of features, including:

• Fees
• Minimum balance requirement
• Mobile banking ease
• Small business tools and support
• Large ATM network
• Account accessibility
• Customer reviews, when available

All of the accounts included on this list are either members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or FDIC-insured through partner institutions. This insurance protects and reimburses you up to your balance and the legal limit in the event your bank or credit union fails.

The rates and fee structures for checking accounts are subject to change without notice and they often fluctuate in accordance with the prime rate.

Your earnings depend on any associated fees and the balance you have in your checking account. To open an account, some banks and institutions may require a deposit of new money, meaning you can't transfer money you already had in an account at that bank.