Monzo, Revolut, Starling or Chase? We compare the best digital bank accounts

DIGITAL banks are growing in popularity, as people switch to take advantage of perks such as fee-free overseas spending, budgeting and savings tools, and better customer service.

These online-only providers offer services through apps and websites and don't have any physical branches on the high street.

The biggest digital banks in the UK are Starling, Monzo, Chase, and Revolut and all score higher than 4/5 stars on Trustpilot, and more than 4.8/5 app ratings on iOS and Android.

Perhaps it's, therefor, little wonder that four in 10 Brits have a digital-only bank account in 2025, up from 36% in 2024 and 24% in 2023, according to research from Finder.com.

Overall, 17% people who don’t currently have a digital-only bank account, intend to open one at some point. This includes 7% who plan to do so in the next year.

Three of the digital banking services, Monzo, Starling and Chase, are now within the biggest 17 personal current account providers in Britain. And there is evidence that they’re outstripping the competition.

As part of a regulatory requirement, an independent survey was conducted to ask 1,000 customers of each provider if they would recommend the bank to friends and family.

Chase, Starling, and Monzo scored in the top three for overall service quality, and online and mobile banking services, beating traditional banks including Lloyds, Santander, Barclays and HSBC.

Starling and Monzo also topped ratings for overdrafts (Chase doesn’t offer one). The next best bank was First Direct, which appeared in the top five across all categories and is online-only.

When asked why people were switching to digital bank accounts, the Finder.com study showed that the top reason was better interest rates on savings accounts.

Its analysis found that on average, the interest rates at the main digital-only banks are more than double those at the ‘big four’ high street banks.

At the same time, almost 15% of UK adults said they want to transfer money more easily, while 13% felt it would be a more convenient option.

Other common reasons for switching included wanting free transactions abroad (12%), preferring digital-only banking apps (10%) and recommendations from friends and family (9%).

But if you’re considering going digital, which is the right bank for you?

We’ve compared the top four providers, looking at customer services scores, savings rates, overdraft fees, and other perks. Here’s everything you need to know.

Monzo – Trustpilot rating: 4.5/5

Regulation and protection:Monzo is regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.

That means that deposits are protected by The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to a value of £85,000 per person.

Savings: Earn 3.35% AER (variable) paid monthly with an Instant Access Savings Pot. There’s no minimum deposit, you can access your money anytime, and you can deposit up to £500,000.

Overdrafts:19%, 29% or 39% EAR variable, with limits up to £3,000. Your exact rate and limit will depend on your credit score.

No extra fees for using the overdraft. You can check if you're eligible without affecting your credit score.

Overseas spending:Pay anywhere, in any currency, free-free – on your debit or credit card. If Monzo's your main bank account, you get unlimited fee-free withdrawals in the European Economic Area (EEA), and up to £200 every 30 days anywhere else.

There are fees of 3% thereafter. Monzo pass Mastercard‘s exchange rate directly onto you.

Interest on accounts in credit:Not offered.

Paying cash in:You can do thisat any PayPoint for a £1 fee, and send cheques via post.

Customer service:The in-app chat is managed by real people 24/7.

Fraud protection:Monzo allows you touse known locations, a secret QR code or trusted contacts to confirm it’s you making large payments.

The ‘Call Status’ feature tells you if you’re speaking to Monzo in real time and has helped customers report over 700 fraud attempts each month.

Other perks:

Monzo is perhaps most famous for its ‘pots’ which allow you to easily create lots of separate mini saving accounts.

You can use the ‘Salary Sorter' to instantly move some of your earnings into bills pots, savings pots, or even ‘new house plants’ pots.

Other features include instant notifications that tell you how much you’ve spent and where, spending categories that sort your payments, and alerts if Direct Debits change before they’re due.

You also get weekly and monthly spending insights and can set up alerts to tell you if you’re spending too fast.

The ‘Split Bills' feature lets you send secure payment requests and reminders and you can set up Shared Tabs for group spending.

If you need to transfer money abroad, you can do this within the Monzo app through Wise.

Monzo says this is typically lower cost than Western Bank, MoneyGram and Zoom, as well as high street banks.

Paid account upgrades:

You can pay a monthly fee to get additional features on your Monzo account.

Extra– £3 a month. Includes everything from the free option, plus: connected banks and credit cards, virtual cards, advanced roundups, custom categories, auto-spreadsheet, credit score insights,

Perks – £7 a month. Includes everything from the Extra option, plus: better savings rates, higher cash withdrawal limits abroad, three fee-free cash deposits, discounted investment fees, annual railcard, weekly Gregg’s treat, monthly cinema tickets at Vue and 20% off food at Pizza Express (Sun- Thur).

Max – from £17 a month. Includes everything from the Perks option, plus: Personal worldwide travel insurance, Personal worldwide phone insurance, Personal UK and Europe breakdown cover – provided by RAC, Add your family to your insurance and cover for an extra £5 a month.

Revolut – Trustpilot rating: 4.4/5

Regulation and protection:Revolut Ltd, is a UK e-money institution regulated by the FCA, where funds are safeguarded.

It means that customer money must be held separately from Revolut's own assets

If it was to collapse, customers would be paid out from the client money bank accounts.

This process would be handled by an insolvency practitioner.

However, safeguarding regulations make sure that once costs related to an insolvency are paid, you will be paid before anyone else.

Savings: Up to 4% variable on an instant-access savings account.

Overdrafts:Not offered.

Overseas spending:No overseas fees from Monday to Friday, there is currently a 1% fee on weekends but this is being axed from April 22.

You can get £1,000 monthly currency exchange with no additional fees, 1% thereafter.

You can withdraw £200 a month or five withdrawals abroad as standard.

Interest on accounts in credit:4% AER interest on in-credit balances up to £200,000

Paying cash in:At any Paysafe participating retailer. You can find these using an in-app store locator

Customer service: There is 24/7 access to a support team in 100+ languages through the secure in-app chat.

Fraud protection: Freeze your card if you think details could have fallen into he wrong hands. If you believe your account has been used fraudulently, fill out a chargeback form and Revolut will help you resolve the issue.

Other perks:

Your account can hold different currencies at the same time and you can also do the following:

• Send and receive money
• Change money from one currency to another, with more than 30 currencies available
• Make payments and withdraw cash
• Manage your account.
• Earn interest, paid daily
• Transfer money around the world 24/7.
• Link all of your bank accounts
• Open a joint account
• Chat, send, and receive money among friends using Revolut
• Budget with Pockets – stash cash aside for subscriptions, direct debits, and bills
• Keep tabs on every penny that goes in or out of your account with real-time notifications
• Switch your salary to Revolut to get paid 24 hours in advance with the Early Salary feature. Applicable to BACS payments only.

You can get a £20 welcome bonus if you spend at least £20 within one month of opening your account. To get the bonus, sign up here.

Paid account upgrades:

You can pay monthly fees to get extra account features, as follows:

• Plus– £3.99 a month: Insurance for your purchases.
• Premium – £7.99 a month: access exclusive subscriptions, better savings rates, and exchange unlimited amounts of money. Withdraw £400 a month abroad.
• Metal– £14.99/month: For global travellers and traders – travel insurance, enhanced limits, and subscriptions. £800/month limit on overseas withdrawals.
• Ultra – £45/month (introductory offer): unlimited airport lounge access, monthly global data, partner subscriptions, and cancellation cover. £2,000 limiton overseas withdrawals.

Starling – Trustpilot rating: 4.2/5

Regulation and protection:Starling is regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.Deposits are protected by The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to a value of £85,000 per person.

Savings: Easy-access savings account paying 4% AER, 3.92% gross variable interest. No minimum deposit. Withdraw to your personal current account, with no need to give notice, no penalties and no maximum number of withdrawals.

Overdrafts:15%, 25% or 35%, subject to availability and credit check. If you go over the overdraft limit, no extra interest or fees are charged, but payments might be declined if there’s not enough in your account to cover them.

Overseas spending:No fees from Starling for spending abroad, or withdrawing cash

Interest on accounts in credit:Not offered

Paying cash in:Deposit cash at any post office or cheques of up to £1,000 by taking a photo in the app.

Customer service:24/7 support, 365 days a year from UK-based handlers. Online banking available if you prefer to manage your money on a computer.

Fraud protection:If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud, call the bank on 0207 930 4450 or speak in-app.

Other perks:

One main feature is Spaces, which are like virtual change jars within your account.

You can also set up separate virtual cards linked to each Space, which cap your spending.

For instance, you could set up a ‘groceries space' which would then give you a budget based on how much money you added.

You cansplit incoming payments across your different accounts and Spaces.

Another feature is 'round ups' which adds spare change from every transaction to a Space, and the ‘bills manager' tool allows you to automatically pay bills from a separate ‘Space’ in your app, so you know what’s left for daily spending once everything has been deducted.

The spending insights tool shows you where your money is going and allows you to spot trends across more than 50 different categories and create customisable graphs.

You also get a phone notification every time you spend, get paid, or pay a bill.

You can send payment links to friends with ‘settle up' – even if they don’t use Starling.

And ‘nearby payments' allows you to pay other Starling users via Bluetooth. And you can send money in the app to 35 countries.

Chase – Trustpilot rating: 4.0/5

Regulation and protection:Chase is a part of J.P. Morgan, which is regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.That means that deposits are protected by The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to a value of £85,000 per person.

Savings: Easy-access savings with 3% AER interest. Choose to round up your spending to the nearest £1, and the spare change goes into a round-up account which gives you 5% AER (4.89% gross) variable interest, paid monthly.

Overdrafts:Not offered.

Overseas spending:No fees or charges

Interest on accounts in credit:Not offered.

Paying cash in:You cannot deposit cash directly into the account.

Customer service:24/7 customer service both by phone and by secure message through the app. When you use the Chase app, you'll be instantly verified and fast-tracked through security.

Fraud protection:Numberless cards means that your card details are stored in the app, so no one can see them but you.

Other perks:

One of the big differentiators for Chase is that it offers 1% cashback on everyday spending, up to £15 a month for the first year.

However, from April 7, the cashback will only apply to essentials, including groceries, everyday transport, fuel and electric charging points.