Starling Saving Spaces Interest: Only Easy Saver Spaces Pay
Starling Spaces pay interest only inside the Easy Saver: up to 5.00% AER for new customers, 2.50% standard. Regular Spaces and round-ups earn 0%.
Do Starling saving Spaces pay interest? Some do and some do not, and the app uses the same word for both. A Space inside the Easy Saver earns the Easy Saver rate, which in October 2026 is 2.50% AER variable as standard, with a bonus taking it to 4.00% or 5.00% for six months if you applied recently. A Regular Space attached to your current account earns nothing at all, because Starling stopped paying interest on current account money in February 2025. Round-ups only go into Regular Spaces, so spare change on its own earns 0%.
So the question to ask about any Space is not “is it a Space?” but “which account is it in?”. Here is how to tell, what each one pays, and how to set things up so your savings Spaces actually earn.
The two kinds of Starling Space
| Regular Space | Easy Saver Space | |
|---|---|---|
| Which account it sits in | Your current account | Your Easy Saver |
| Interest | 0% | The Easy Saver rate (2.50% AER standard) |
| Round-ups | Yes | No |
| How many you can have | Several, for budgeting | Up to 100 |
| Withdrawals | Any time, to your main balance | Any time, to your current account, no penalty |
Regular Spaces are a budgeting tool. You ring-fence money for rent or a holiday, pay Direct Debits from a Bills Manager Space, or spend straight from a Space with a virtual card. Useful, but that money is still current account money and Starling pays 0% on it.
Easy Saver Spaces arrived in November 2024. Starling’s Easy Saver page describes a Space there as “a personalised savings goal, letting you organise up to 100 separate pots of money”, and says you earn interest on the whole Easy Saver balance and choose which Space the interest is paid into. The interest is calculated on the account as a whole, not Space by Space, so splitting £5,000 into a “Car” Space and a “Christmas” Space makes no difference to what you earn.
If you are not sure which kind you are looking at, open the Space in the app. An Easy Saver Space shows up under the Easy Saver with its rate; a Regular Space sits under your current account, shows no rate and offers Round Ups in its settings.
What the Easy Saver pays in October 2026
All rates are variable and paid monthly. Figures are from Starling’s Easy Saver page as published in October 2026:
| Who | Rate for the first 6 months (balances up to £25,000) | After 6 months |
|---|---|---|
| New Starling customers: current account opened from 1 October 2026, Easy Saver applied for within 30 days | 5.00% AER (4.87% gross), including a 2.50% AER fixed bonus | 2.50% AER (2.46% gross) |
| Anyone else applying from 11am on 1 October 2026 (personal or joint Easy Saver) | 4.00% AER (3.92% gross), including a 1.50% AER fixed bonus | 2.50% AER (2.46% gross) |
| Balances over £25,000, up to £1 million | 2.50% AER (2.46% gross) | 2.50% AER (2.46% gross) |
Starling ties both bonuses to applications made from 1 October 2026, so an Easy Saver you opened before then earns the 2.50% standard rate. You can only hold one personal Easy Saver, so you cannot open a second one to collect the bonus. If you closed a personal current account after 30 September 2026, you are not eligible for the new-customer rate.
Bonus or not, every Space inside the account earns the same rate. There is no way to give one Space a better rate than another.
What that means on £5,000
These are our own sums from Starling’s published gross rates, with interest paid monthly and rates unchanged for the year:
- Regular Space: £0.
- Easy Saver Space at the 2.50% standard rate: about £125.
- Easy Saver Space applied for from 1 October (4.00% for six months, then 2.50%): about £162.
- Easy Saver Space as a brand-new customer (5.00% for six months, then 2.50%): about £186.
The gap between a Regular Space and the standard Easy Saver is the one that matters most, because it costs nothing to close. If you built up an emergency fund in a Regular Space before February 2025, when the current account still paid interest, it has been earning nothing since. Moving it across takes a minute and the money stays just as accessible.
Interest is taxable. At 2.50% on £5,000 you earn £125, well inside the £1,000 Personal Savings Allowance for a basic-rate taxpayer, but bonus rates on larger balances can push you over, especially if you are a higher-rate taxpayer with a £500 allowance.
Round-ups earn nothing until you move them
Starling’s Round Ups page says spare change goes “into a Regular Space of your choice”, with multipliers of x2, x5 or x10. There is no option to round up straight into the Easy Saver. That means a round-up pot can grow for years at 0%.
Two ways round it:
- Sweep it monthly. Leave Round Ups going into a Regular Space, and every month or so move the balance into an Easy Saver Space. It is a manual step, but it keeps the habit and adds the interest.
- Use a recurring transfer instead. Starling lets you set up a recurring transfer from your current account into any Easy Saver Space. A fixed £50 a week does the same job as round-ups, earns interest from day one and is easier to plan around. If you like the spare-change idea specifically, see how other apps handle it in how round-up savings apps work.
Easy Saver Space or Fixed Saver?
If you have money you will not touch for a year, Starling’s Fixed Saver paid 4.20% AER/gross fixed for 12 months in October 2026, with a £2,000 minimum and no access until the end of the term. Interest is paid when the term ends, and you can hold up to 50 of them. There are no Spaces inside a Fixed Saver, so each goal needs its own fix.
The new-customer and October bonuses beat that rate for six months, then fall to 2.50%. Over a full year on £5,000, a 4.20% fix pays about £210, against about £162 to £186 in an Easy Saver Space that started on a bonus. Easy access is the trade-off. Keep your emergency money in Easy Saver Spaces and fix what you are sure you can lock away. Our emergency fund guide covers how much to keep instantly available.
Is it safe, and is it the best rate?
Starling is a fully licensed UK bank, so the Easy Saver, your Spaces and your current account are covered together by the FSCS up to £120,000 per person. That limit is per banking licence, not per Space or per account.
The standard 2.50% is a fair easy-access rate rather than a market-leading one. The six-month bonuses are competitive, but they end. Set a reminder for the date your bonus runs out and compare then. For the wider picture of how Starling stacks up, read our Starling Bank review and Monzo vs Starling, and for the general rule on pots versus proper savings accounts, see savings pot vs savings account.
Frequently asked questions
Do Starling Spaces earn interest? Only Spaces inside the Easy Saver. They earn the Easy Saver rate, 2.50% AER variable as standard in October 2026, or a six-month bonus of 4.00% or 5.00% AER on balances up to £25,000 if you applied from 1 October 2026. Regular Spaces on the current account pay 0%.
Does Starling pay interest on the current account? No. Starling stopped paying interest on current account balances in February 2025, and that includes money in Regular Spaces.
How many Spaces can I have in the Starling Easy Saver? Up to 100. Interest is worked out on the whole Easy Saver balance and paid into the Space you choose, so the number of Spaces does not change what you earn.
Can Starling round-ups go into the Easy Saver? No. Round Ups go into a Regular Space, which pays no interest. Move the balance into an Easy Saver Space from time to time, or replace round-ups with a recurring transfer into an Easy Saver Space.
Do existing Starling customers get the 5% rate? No. The 5.00% AER rate is for people who open a new personal current account from 1 October 2026 and apply for the Easy Saver within 30 days. Anyone else applying for an Easy Saver from 1 October 2026 gets 4.00% AER for six months on up to £25,000. Easy Savers opened before then earn the 2.50% standard rate.
How often does Starling pay Easy Saver interest? Monthly, into the Space you have chosen. Fixed Saver interest is paid at the end of the 12-month term.
Sources
- Starling Bank, Easy Saver page, rates and comparison table (October 2026)
- Starling Bank, Round Ups feature page
- Financial Services Compensation Scheme, deposit protection limit
