Best Online-Only Banks in the UK in 2024: Fees, Features, and More
Byron Mühlberg
Guide
Monito's Managing Editor, Byron has spent several years writing extensively about financial- and migration-related topics.
Jarrod Suda
Reviewer
A writer and editor at Monito, Jarrod is passionate about helping people apply today’s powerful finance technologies to their lives. He brings his background in international affairs and his experiences living in Japan to provide readers with comprehensive information that also acknowledges the local context.
Links on this page, including products and brands featured on ‘Sponsored’ content, may earn us an affiliate commission. This does not affect the opinions and recommendations of our editors.
Read moreOnline-only banking is on the rise in the UK, with many high-street banks increasing their digital services and many upstart banks and bank-like fintechs competing for an ever-savvier generation of clients.
So what's the best online-only bank in the UK in 2024? While the answer will depend largely on your needs and preferences, fortunately, many online-only banking options are available to UK residents, meaning all you need to do is compare your options!
Best Online-Only UK Accounts
- Monzo — Set savings goals, budget, and get the UK's best interest rates | Read our full review.
- Wise — Fund a multi-currency account at the market rate to travel like a local | Read our full review.
- Monese — Build credit and get bill protection without proof of residence | Read our full review.
- Starling Bank — An all-around current account with powerful paid add-ons | Read our full review.
Without further ado, let's go through our rankings for the best online-only bank accounts in the UK in 2024 —
Best Online-Only Bank Accounts in the UK
Starling Bank — Best All-Round
Starling Bank is a fully-authorised bank in the UK that's well known for its fee-free current account. Because this account is entirely free and gives you access to an impressively complete range of financial services (including overdraft, loans, joint account, youth card, pensions, Euro balance, interest, etc.), we think Starling offers the best online-only bank account in the UK — one we recommend as a complete replacement for an account at a high-street bank.
Account name: Personal Account
Potential costs: £20 per CHAPS transfer in the UK, 0.4% + £5.50 for international SWIFT transfers, £5 for a replacement debit card.
Noteworthy features: Saving Spaces, pension scheme, youth card, interest, overdraft.
More info: See our full Starling Bank review.
Starling Bank in Short
UK-based digital-only Starling Bank was founded by Anne Boden in 2014 and has gone from strength to strength in its bid to shake up the banking sector. Determined to embrace the sector’s technological changes, the neobank received its UK banking licence in 2016 and launched the UK’s first mobile-only current account in 2017.
Starling Bank is a bit of an all-rounder when it comes to the accounts on offer. As well as offering personal and joint accounts for adults, customers can also choose from a debit card for younger children and an account for teens. Businesses are also catered for, with the neobank offering a business account for limited companies, other registered businesses, and sole traders.
What Monito Likes About Starling Bank
- Innovative features and services that can be managed in-app.
- Categorised spending insights that make it easier to budget.
- Interest paid on account balances.
- No monthly account fees.
- Fee-free ATM withdrawals and transactions abroad.
- Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Fitbit Pay, and Garmin Pay compatibility.
What Monito Dislikes About Starling Bank
- Overdrafts are charged at 15% EAR.
- Replacing a card lost overseas could cost £60.
- Interest of -0.5% is payable on balances in the Euro account of over €50,000.
Monzo — Best for Saving
Monzo is a regulated UK bank and probably the country's most famous online-only account. An excellent choice if you're looking to escape the high fees of traditional banks, Monzo charges no fees for day-to-day card use (e.g. cashpoint withdrawals and card payments) in the UK and abroad.
Moreover, because it offers one of the most advanced and comprehensive savings systems we've seen from any challenger bank (allowing lots of flexibility over your time horizon and savings goals), we think Monzo is especially well-suited for managing and growing wealth, regardless of your individual goals.
Account name: Monzo
Potential costs: 3% per withdrawal if you withdraw over £250 per month.
Noteworthy features: Fixed Pot, Easy Access Savings, overdrafts, loans, bill splitting.
More info: See our full Monzo review.
Monzo in Short
Having some of the most competitive rates out there, opening a Monzo account and using it within the UK is entirely free to do. However, it's only when you go abroad that you'll find yourself subject to a 3% fee on cashpoint withdrawals over £300 per month. In addition, you'll also be met with a £0.50 per day fee if your account falls into overdraft.
As of 30 October 2020, Monzo introduced a 3% fee on UK cash machine withdrawals that exceed £250 per month. While travelling abroad, you'll be allowed to withdraw up to £200 in cash for free every month, after which a 3% fee on each withdrawal will apply. In addition, Monzo will also be introducing a £5 cost to replace a lost Monzo card after 30 October 2020.
Regarding exchange rates, Monzo will offer you a good deal all-round. The online bank itself charges no additional exchange rate margins on the margins already levied by Mastercard. This means the exchange rate margins you pay will be relatively low, typically around 0.80% of the total transfer.
What's more, Monzo goes above and beyond to provide this information to you unambiguously and transparently on its website — to a much greater degree, in fact, than many banks, challenger banks, and currency exchange services do.
What Monito Likes About Monzo
- Easy to set up and free to use.
- Flexibility over savings goals.
- Handy in-app bill splitting feature that works instantly.
- Joint accounts can manage rent and bills.
- Intelligent features to manage your budget, instant mobile notifications, and a well-designed app.
What Monito Dislikes About Monzo
- Free withdrawals abroad are limited to £200 per 30 days.
- Only available in the UK.
- Debit and credit card top-ups aren't supported.
Monzo Plans
Monzo offers three different types of accounts:
- Monzo: The simple Monzo account has no monthly fee. Cashpoint withdrawals are free for up to £250 a month in EEA countries and the UK and up to £200 a month in countries outside the EEA. After that, you'll be charged 3%.
- Monzo Plus: This account costs £5 per month and offers interest of 1% AER on balances up to £2,000. You'll get fee-free cash machine withdrawals in EEA countries and the UK, but they are limited to £400 per month in non-EEA countries. Anything over is charged at 3%.
- Monzo Premium: This account costs £15 per month and pays interest of 1.5% AER on balances up to £2,000. Cash machine withdrawals in EEA countries and the UK are free, while withdrawals outside the EEA are free for up to £600 each month. Anything over your allowance is charged at 3%.
Wise — Best for Foreign Spending
Wise isn't a bank in the UK but a money transfer operator well-known for offering some of the cheapest international transfers globally. However, money transfers aren't Wise's only speciality — they also provide the Wise Account, a low-cost foreign currency spending account and card product that's best in class for foreign currency spending of all kinds, whether it's holidays overseas, online shopping, or international money transfers.
Account name: Multi-Currency Account
Potential costs: £0.50 per cash machine withdrawal if more than two withdrawals are made per month, plus 1.75% on withdrawals exceeding £200 per month.
Noteworthy features: International money transfers, multiple account details, multi-currency balances.
More info: See our full Wise Multi-Currency Account review.
Wise in Short
Applying for a Wise Multi-Currency Account is fast and easy and can be done with a UK proof of residence and any proof of residence in the EU/EEA and many other countries worldwide. Once you're signed up and your card has arrived (which takes two to six working days), you'll be able to take advantage of the following unique features with the account:
- Local bank details in the UK, Eurozone, US, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Romania, Canada, Hungary, and Turkey;
- Hold, exchange, and top-up up to 56 currencies;
- A multi-currency Visa debit card that's handy for paying in foreign currencies without the hidden fees;
- Access Wise's powerful international money transfer service right from your account balance.
What Monito Likes About Wise
- Account details in as many as 10 currencies.
- Hold money in 50+ currencies.
- Send money to 80+ countries from your account.
- Some of the lowest money transfer fees available on the market.
- Pricing is accessible and transparent.
- The mid-market exchange rate is offered for currency transfers.
- The debit card avoids foreign transaction fees.
- No setup fees or monthly charges.
What Monito Dislikes About Wise
- Cash or cheque payments aren't supported.
- Overdrafts and loans aren't available.
- Negative interest on large Euro account balances.
- Fees to top up the account via debit and credit card.
- Tight limits and conditions to fee-free cash machine withdrawals.
How Wise Works
To get a sense of how helpful Wise can be for frequent travellers and expats, let's say that you're travelling from the UK to Spain and would like to spend Euros while on holiday there. With the Wise Multi-Currency Account, you'll be able to:
- Send British pounds from your bank account to your Wise Euro account;
- Convert to Euros at a low fee (e.g. if you add €1,000 and pay with British pounds, the total fee will be around 0.35% or £3*);
- Pay with your Wise debit card, make or receive SEPA (and SWIFT) payments, and even set up direct debits!
You'll also have dedicated Belgian bank details to share with a European employer. Belgian IBANs are fully eligible in the Eurozone, and rejecting the payout or receipt of funds based on the origin of an IBAN is illegal. Note that this account does not offer an overdraft, and you won't earn interest on any in-credit balances.
For the above reasons, we think Wise is the best online multi-currency account available to UK nationals and a product we firmly recommend for holidaymakers, online spenders, and expats alike.
* Conversion made on 05/11/2021
Monese — Best for New Arrivals
Monese is a mobile-only challenger bank that offers fully-fledged checking accounts to more than two million customers across Europe. Because Monese doesn't require you to prove your residence to meet creditworthiness standards to open an account in the UK, we think Monese is especially well-suited for new arrivals to the UK from the European Economic Area (EEA).
Account name: Starter
Potential costs: £1.50 per cash machine withdrawal; 2% per foreign currency transaction not in GBP, EUR, SEK, or RON; £4.95 for debit card delivery.
Noteworthy features: PayPal integration, Avios integration, Money pots, interest.
More info: See our full Monese review.
Monese in Short
While an exciting product all-around, we find Monese's weakest point to be its pricing for foreign currency spending and cash machine withdrawals. While its day-to-day fees are admittedly still relatively low in general — at least compared to traditional banks — Monese's 'Starter' plan, for example, charges £1.50 per cash withdrawal, 2% on all non-GBP, EUR, SEK, and RON foreign currency transactions, and an additional 1% on weekends.
What Monito Likes About Monese
- Available even without a UK or EU proof of residence.
- Money transfers to over 30 other countries.
- Supports joint accounts and virtual cards in the UK.
What Monito Dislikes About Monese
- Does not offer overdraft, interest, or loans.
- Upgrading plans usually does not equal lower costs.
- High conversion fees for non-GBP, EUR, SEK, and RON spending.
- Weekend surcharges apply to currency exchange.
Monese Plans
Over and above the 'Starter' plan discussed until now, here are four types of current accounts Monese offers:
- Starter: If you want to limit the up-front costs, go for the Simple account. It's a full UK current account with no monthly fees and a free debit card. However, you will be charged £1.50 on all cash machine withdrawals (unlike most UK challenger banks, there is no free monthly allowance) and a 2% fee on foreign currency commission on all non-GBP, EUR, SEK, and RON transactions. There is also a 2.5% fee for foreign exchange transfers when sending to non-Monese accounts, which bumps up to 3.5% on weekends.
- Essential: This plan costs £1.95 per month and has a free cashpoint withdrawal limit of £200 per month, with 2% being charged after that. Foreign currency spending comes at a slightly lower 0.5% per transaction on this plan.
- Classic: Classic accounts cost £5.95 per month and offer free cashpoint withdrawals up to £500 monthly. After this, a 2% fee applies. While foreign currency card spending is accessible on this plan, foreign currency exchange transfers to non-Monese accounts incur a 0.5% fee. As with the 'Starter' and 'Essential' plans, it's a complete UK account with a free debit card.
- Premium: Premium accounts cost £14.95 per month and offer unlimited UK cashpoint withdrawals, free foreign currency card spending, and foreign currency exchange transfers. Once again, it's a complete UK account with a free debit card which you can read more about in our dedicated Monese Premium review.
All Monese plans can be paid annually with a discounted monthly rate of anywhere between 20% and 40%.
If you were to open up another type of account, you'd save on fees for international money transfers, among other services, but you'd pay a monthly fee on the bank account. For example, for a 'Classic' account, your monthly fee will be £5.95, while for a 'Premium' account, your monthly cost would be £14.95.
Monzo vs Starling vs Monese vs Wise
To wrap things up, let's compare the product, service, and pricing of the online-only bank accounts we explored above. Here, you can get a better idea of which one might best suit your needs and preferences:
Account | Personal Account | Monzo | Multi-Currency Account | Starter |
---|---|---|---|---|
Currency | GBP | GBP | GBP and 9 others | GBP and 2 others |
Maintanance | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Cashpoint | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1.5 |
Intl Payment | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.015 |
Intl Transfer | 0.004 | 0.3%-2.9% | 0.3%-2.9% | 0.025 |
Contactless | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Google Pay | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Apple Pay | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Top-up |
|
|
|
|
Overdraft | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
Platforms | Mobile, internet banking | Mobile | Mobile | Mobile, internet banking |
Insured | £85,000 | £85,000 | £0 | £85,000 |
Customers | 2 million | 5.5 million | 10 million | 16 million |
Try Starling | Try Monzo | Try Wise | Try Monese |
More Comparisons in the UK For Monese vs Starling vs N26 vs Monzo
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