Monzo Pots vs Chase Saver: 4.5% Now, 2.25% After a Year

Monzo Pots vs Chase Saver is usually settled by whichever number is biggest on the day you look, and that is exactly how people end up in the wrong account. Chase currently pays more than any Monzo pot, by a wide margin, but only for twelve months and only if you open the saver in a narrow window. Monzo pays less at the top but pays it indefinitely, and charges you a monthly subscription for most of the difference. The answer depends less on the headline rate than on how long the cash is staying put and whether you are already a Chase customer.

Every rate below was taken from Monzo’s and Chase’s own pages on 19 September 2026. All are variable unless marked fixed.

The rates as they stand

Two things jump out. Chase’s boosted saver beats the best Monzo pot by 0.85 of a percentage point, and Chase’s standard saver loses to the free Monzo pot by half a point. Same bank, opposite verdicts, and the only thing separating them is the calendar.

The twelve-month cliff is the whole story

The 4.50% is not a rate Chase has set. It is the standard saver rate of 2.25% with a fixed boost of 2.25% bolted on for 12 months. Chase spells this out on its boosted rate offers page: the boost is fixed, the underlying rate is not, and when the boost expires you are left holding whatever the standard saver pays that day.

The standard saver is not a rate Chase chooses either. It is pinned to the Bank of England base rate minus 1.50%, adjusted five business days after any change. The base rate has been 3.75% since December 2025, held for the fifth consecutive time on 17 September 2026 on a 6 to 3 vote, with three members pushing for a rise to 4%. So 3.75% minus 1.50% gives the 2.25% on the page today, and every quarter point the Bank cuts comes straight off your Chase saver five days later. The next decision is on 5 November 2026.

There are two conditions people miss:

• The boost is for new customers joining from 29 December 2025, and the saver has to be opened during your first 31 days as a Chase customer. If you have had a Chase current account since 2023, this offer is not available to you and your saver pays 2.25%.
• One boosted saver per customer. You cannot open a second one next year to restart the clock.

If you are an existing Chase customer reading this because 4.5% caught your eye, the honest answer is that your Chase saver is the worst-paying account in the table above and a free Monzo Instant Access Pot beats it by half a point for no fee and no conditions.

What Monzo’s paid plans actually buy you in interest

This is where the comparison gets interesting, because Monzo charges for its higher rates and almost nobody does the division.

The trap is that Monzo’s Select Access Pot pays 3.15% on the free plan as well as on Extra. So a Monzo Extra subscription, at £3 a month, buys you exactly nothing on the best pot Monzo offers. You would already be getting 3.15% for free.

Here is the break-even balance for each paid plan, measured against the best rate the free plan gives you at the same access level.

Read that as interest only. Perks and Max bundle in travel insurance, phone cover, lounge passes and cashback offers, and plenty of people get their money back on those alone. The point is narrower: do not buy a Monzo plan for the savings rate unless you are holding a five-figure sum in the pot, and do not buy Extra for the savings rate at all, because Select Access is already free.

Note also that Perks and Max pay the identical 3.65% on Select Access. Max costs £120 a year more than Perks and adds nothing to your best savings rate.

Monzo repriced its plans on 18 August 2026. Perks went from £7 to £9 a month and Max from £17 to £19. Anyone who signed up on or after 13 August 2026 pays the new price straight away; existing subscribers move across on their first billing date on or after 14 October 2026. If your break-even sum was worked out at the old prices, it has just moved against you.

£5,000 for a year, after fees

At £5,000 the free Monzo plan beats every paid one, and Chase beats the lot by roughly £67 over a year, provided you qualify for the boost.

The Select Access catch nobody reads

Monzo’s higher pot rate is conditional on two withdrawals a year or fewer, per pot. Make a third and the rate drops to 2.60% on the free plan or 3.10% on a paid plan, and it stays there until the pot’s anniversary, when the allowance resets. It also needs £500 to open.

That makes Select Access the wrong home for an emergency fund, which by definition gets raided at unpredictable moments. Three unlucky months and you have spent a year earning less than the instant pot you moved out of. If the money is genuinely everyday cash, take the 2.75% instant rate or the Chase saver, which has no withdrawal conditions at all beyond a £25,000 daily external transfer limit.

Round-ups: Chase quietly pays the best rate on the page

Chase’s round-up account pays 5.00% AER, higher than either bank’s proper savings account. It only ever holds the pennies rounded up from your card spending, and the balance plus interest is swept out to an account of your choosing once a year, so it is not somewhere you can park a lump sum. On typical round-up volumes the difference is worth a few pounds a year. Worth switching on, not worth switching banks for.

Monzo’s equivalent is the 1p Saving Challenge pot, which pays 5% AER but only on Extra, Perks or Max. The free plan gets 0%. It caps at £667.95 over a full year at the standard level, £1,335.90 at 2x and £2,671.80 at 4x, and it builds a penny at a time, so the average balance earning that 5% is roughly half the final figure. Treat both of these as a nudge to save rather than a rate play. See our guide to how round-up savings apps work for the mechanics.

Safety: no difference worth worrying about

Both are UK-authorised banks and both are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which rose from £85,000 to £120,000 per person per firm on 1 December 2025. Monzo deposits sit with Monzo Bank Limited. Chase is a trading name of J.P. Morgan Europe Limited, so your Chase current account and every Chase saver share a single £120,000 limit. Chase lets you open up to ten saver accounts, which does not multiply your protection. More on this in are digital banks safe.

Which one to pick

• Never been a Chase customer: open the current account, open the saver inside 31 days, take the 4.50% for twelve months. Nothing in the Monzo range gets close, and it costs nothing.
• Already a Chase customer without a boost: your saver is paying 2.25%. Move the cash to a free Monzo Instant Access Pot at 2.75%, or off both platforms entirely to a market-leading easy access account.
• Month eleven of a Chase boost: set a calendar reminder now. The day it expires you drop to 2.25% silently and Chase will not move the money for you.
• Holding £20,000 or more you will not touch: Monzo Perks Select Access at 3.65% is the only paid plan that clears its own fee at a sane balance, and even then only above £21,600.
• Holding an emergency fund: ignore Select Access entirely. Instant access, free plan, or Chase.

The wider point is that both of these are convenience accounts attached to a current account you already use. Neither is a market-leading savings rate once the Chase boost burns off. We keep a running list in the best easy access savings apps, and Chip vs Chase Saver covers the closest alternative if you want a higher rate without changing your current account.

Frequently asked questions

Is Chase Saver better than a Monzo pot? For the first twelve months, yes, and by a lot: 4.50% against 3.65% at absolute best from Monzo, and Monzo’s 3.65% costs £9 a month. After the boost expires Chase drops to 2.25%, which is worse than Monzo’s free 2.75% instant pot.

Can I get the Chase 4.5% boosted rate if I already have a Chase account? No. The boost is for customers who joined from 29 December 2025 and the saver must be opened within your first 31 days as a Chase customer. It is also limited to one boosted saver per customer, so it cannot be restarted.

What happens to my Chase saver when the boost ends? It reverts to the standard Chase saver rate, currently 2.25% AER, which is set at the Bank of England base rate minus 1.50% and updates five business days after any base rate change. Chase does not move your money, so you have to.

Does Monzo Extra get me a better savings rate? Not on the Select Access Pot. That pays 3.15% on the free plan and 3.15% on Extra. Extra only lifts the Instant Access Pot, from 2.75% to 3.00%, which needs £14,400 in the pot before the £36 annual fee pays for itself.

How many withdrawals can I make from a Monzo Select Access Pot? Two per pot per year. On the third the rate drops to 2.60% on the free plan or 3.10% on a paid plan until the pot’s anniversary, when your allowance resets. The pot also needs £500 to open.

Are Monzo and Chase both FSCS protected? Yes, both to £120,000 per person, the limit that took effect on 1 December 2025. Chase deposits sit under J.P. Morgan Europe Limited, so all your Chase accounts count towards one limit between them.

Sources

• Monzo savings rates and plan prices, checked 19 September 2026
• Monzo Select Access Savings, checked 19 September 2026
• Chase savings rates and boosted rate offers, checked 19 September 2026
• Bank of England Bank Rate, held at 3.75% on 17 September 2026
• FSCS deposit protection limit of £120,000, effective 1 December 2025