Top savings accounts and deposits compared

About Top savings accounts and deposits compared

Savings rarely win on rate alone. What decides this ranking is the combination of what you earn, what stands behind your balance and whether you can reach it without notice. The ranking covers 1,498 brands spanning easy-access pots, fixed terms and cash balances that earn interest while you hold them. The trade-off is steady. Stronger headline rates tend to sit with products that hold your money for a period, while easy-access accounts pay a little less and let you move money the same day. Protection carries equal weight, and the limit that applies to each brand is printed on its entry. Costs range from nothing to a monthly plan charge, and a minimum deposit can apply even when a rate looks competitive. Scoring leans on trust first, then cost, then the strength of the offer, so a member with a modest rate, solid protection and no fees can outrank a higher-yielding rival with a thinner safety net.

How we picked

Scores are built from three inputs. Trust carries the largest weight at 40%, cost follows at 35% and the offer itself at 25%. Trust covers the legal entity behind each brand, where it is based, whether deposits sit under a protection scheme, and how the account is opened and run. Cost covers any monthly or annual charge, the minimum deposit and the headline rate. Offer covers the account type, whether the rate is variable or fixed, and the stated access terms. Every figure comes from the brand's own published pages or from a public register, including deposit protection listings, company registers and terms pages, while each ranking statistic is drawn from site data covering 1,498 savings brands, of which 562 are licensed. Partners appear first, ordered by score, and non-partners follow behind them. Nothing here rests on personal testing: every entry reports what the provider publishes about fees, terms, access and protection.

Our top picks

1. 2. XTB

   XTB closes this ranking on a variable rate of 4%, shared highest in the list, earned on uninvested funds with no minimum or maximum balance and withdrawal straight to your own bank account. Interest is calculated daily and paid monthly after month end, so a saver wanting small regular payouts would earn more often elsewhere, and bunq's weekly interest is worth weighing against that. Deposits are protected to FSCS up to GBP 85,000, the minimum deposit is €0, the monthly fee is £0 and the fee model is commission free and low fees, with support on email, chat and phone. It remains a trading platform first, and retail losses across the wider product set sit at a median of 70.15%, so the cash interest reads as a side benefit rather than the reason to open.

   • Minimum deposit: €0
   • Stock trade fee: €0
   • Account fee: €0

   Pros

   • The account fee is €0 and the stock trade fee is €0, which places XTB at 1 of 166 brands on the share dealing charge.
   • The minimum deposit is €0, putting XTB at 1 of 218 brands on the amount needed to start.
   • Deposit protection is FSCS up to GBP 85,000 and investor protection is EU ICS up to EUR 20,000, both stated with figures rather than vague wording.
   • Interest is paid on uninvested funds, calculated daily and settled monthly, with no minimum or maximum balance.
   • Support covers email, chat and phone, so email, chat and phone are all open to you.

   Cons

   • The inactivity fee is €10, and at 39 of 56 brands on that measure XTB sits well outside the free group.
   • A currency conversion fee of 0.5% applies even though the stock trade fee is €0, which bites on any US share held in a euro or sterling account.
   • Retail leverage runs to 1:30 and 77% of retail accounts lose money, so free dealing does not mean free from risk.
   • Fiat deposits run through bank transfer, and the deposit and withdrawal fee terms leave a charge on withdrawals below a set threshold in EUR or USD.

What to look for

What the rate really pays

The median headline rate in this category is 3.06%, with a lower quartile of 1.5% and an upper quartile of 4.5%. A figure above the median is worth chasing, but it only tells you part of the story.

How fast you can get the money out

Easy-access accounts cover 75.4% of this category, so most savers can withdraw without notice. Fixed products trade that access for a better rate, and the median term runs 36 months, with a lower quartile of 12 and an upper quartile of 60.

What your balance sits behind

Licensed providers account for 562 of the brands in this category, and the protection limit is listed against each entry. A rate is worth little if anything above a scheme ceiling is exposed, so check the limit against the balance you plan to hold.

Fees and minimum deposits

The median annual fee here is €0, although the upper quartile reaches €20.96. Minimum deposits are usually light, with a median of €0.17 and an upper quartile of €18.96, so a low barrier to entry is normal rather than special.

Variable or fixed

A variable rate covers 69.3% of this category and 30.7% fix theirs, so a headline figure quoted today can move. Check how often interest is credited and whether the provider can change the rate at any point.

Support when money is stuck

Phone support reaches 80.2% of the category, a help centre 73.3% and email 63.5%. A provider reachable by phone is worth more than a headline point of rate when a transfer fails on the day it matters.

Frequently asked questions

Top savings accounts and deposits compared by country

• Australia
• Austria
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• South Korea
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV