5 Best Apps to Round up Change (Automatic Saving) UK

Apps that round up change are able to save money automatically for you. This removes the hassle from saving and you can even earn interest.

Nowadays, there are a range of automatic saving apps on the market. If you are looking for the best, you might find the list below useful.

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Best Apps to Round up Change (Automatic Saving) UK

Apps that round up change can help you to save money without a hassle. The best automatic saving apps include Monzo, Monese, Moneybox, and others.

1. Monzo

Monzo is a mobile-based bank account. Because it is a bank, your money is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

This means that if anything happens to Monzo, you are guaranteed to get up to £85,000 of your cash back.

Within the Monzo app, you can set up saving pots for free. These pots enable you to save for different purposes.

For example, you could have a house deposit pot, a holiday pot, and a wedding pot.

You can then set up Monzo to round up all of your purchases to the nearest pound and put the difference into a saving pot. This feature of Monzo is free to use.

Monzo also offers new customers a £5 cash reward when they create an account. Read my Monzo review for more details.

2. Monese

Monese is an electronic money institution. Technically, Monese is similar to a bank with a few exceptions. Most importantly, your money does not have FSCS protection.

This means that there is a risk (albeit very low) that you do not get your money back if Monese goes bankrupt.

Like Monzo, Monese enables you to set up saving pots. You can instruct the app to automatically round up your purchases to the next pound.

Monese will then automatically stash the cash away for you. You can even opt to multiply the difference by 10 to save even more money.

Using the basic auto-saving feature is free with Monese.

When you sign up for a new Monese account, you can get up to £30 free cash. Read more in my Monese review.

3. Moneybox

Moneybox is an automated saving and investing app. Unlike Monese and Monzo, it does not work like a bank account. Instead, it connects to your existing bank accounts via open banking.

This means that Moneybox can round up your purchases but it cannot see your bank details or move your money anywhere else.

Moneybox offers a range of saving account options with interest ranging from 2.32% to 3.46%. Note that your money will be locked away for up to 120 days on the highest-interest account.

You can also invest your savings in funds, stocks, or premade portfolios.

All these benefits come at a price, however. Moneybox costs £1 per month plus investment fees. Read more about the pricing in my Moneybox review.

4. Plum

Plum is an automatic savings app like Moneybox. It uses open banking to connect to your bank account and put away your spare change.

Plum uses artificial intelligence to calculate how much you can afford to save based on your spending habits. You can, of course, manually adjust your saving amount.

The basic version of Plum is free to use but you can pay up to £9.99 per month for extra features. The interest also changes depending on your plan.

Starting with 1.50% on the free plan, you can get up to 1.95% on the premium plan.

You can also instruct Plum to invest your savings. On the app, 1500 stocks are available and you can also choose from 20 funds. Read more in my Plum review.

5. Chip

Chip is another competitor to Moneybox and Plum. It works according to the same principle and connects to your bank account via open banking.

Chip has a free basic plan but also comes with a paid plan, ChipX. You are not required to upgrade but ChipX comes with more features.

With Chip’s saving accounts, you can earn between 1.10% and 2.55% interest. With the highest interest account, you also have a 90-day notice period.

Chip also enables you to invest your savings.

Currently, there are eight funds available on the app. Read more about Chip in my Chip app review.

Apps That Round up Change Comparison

	Monzo	Monese	Moneybox	Plum	Chip
FSCS protection	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Price per month	Free or £5-£15 paid plans	Free or £1.95-£14.95 paid plans	£1	Free or £2.99-£9.99 paid plans	Free or £4.99 paid plan
Interest (AER)	0%-1.50%	1.00%-2.00%	2.32%-3.46%	1.50%-1.95%	1.10%-2.55%
Investment options	None	None	20 stocks 24 funds	1500 stocks 20 funds	8 Funds

Pros and Cons of Automatic Saving Apps

Pros of Automatic Saving Apps

• Save money without the hassle
• Great if you struggle to put money away
• Can help to build good saving habits
• Can earn interest and invest
• Some apps are free to use

Cons of Automatic Saving Apps

• Overall more expensive than saving manually
• Limited investment options
• Paid plans may cost more than what they are worth
• Need to own a smartphone

Alternative to Automatic Saving Apps

If you do not want to use an automatic saving app, you can still save money. In fact, the vast majority of people save money manually.

You can simplify this by setting up a standing order from your bank account.

A standing order is an instruction to your bank to transfer a specified sum of money on a specified day of the month. You can direct this standing order to your saving account.

Another alternative is using a direct debit. Many saving and investment platforms support direct debit.

With a direct debit, you allow a third-party platform to take money from your bank account at a specified time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Automatic Saving Apps Safe?

Yes, automatic saving apps and apps that round up change are safe to use. Your data are kept secure through open banking technology.

Your money is kept safe through FSCS protection if you use an app that is a member of this scheme. With FSCS protection you are guaranteed to get your money up to £85,000 back.

Note that this does not cover investment losses.

What Is Open Banking?

Open banking is the technology used by automatic saving apps to connect to your bank account. It describes the use of applications to share financial data between third parties.

Open banking technology is regarded as safe as it uses bank-level security and can only be used by companies regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Read more about open banking here.

Best Apps to Round up Change (Automatic Saving) UK Summary

Automatic saving apps are apps that round up your purchases and save the difference. The best apps that round up change in the UK include:

1. Monzo
2. Monese
3. Moneybox
4. Plum
5. Chip

Automatic saving apps are great if you struggle to save money. However, if you are already good at saving, the fees may not be worth it.

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