Revolut vs Monzo vs Starling vs Chase: Which Free UK Account Actually Wins?

Four banks, one question: if you could only keep one free account, which should it be?

Revolut, Monzo, Starling and Chase are the UK's biggest digital banks, and on paper they look interchangeable — slick apps, no monthly fee, a card that works abroad. Spend ten minutes with each and the differences get sharp very quickly. One won't take your cash. One pays you to spend. One quietly lags on the thing that matters most for savers. And the biggest, flashiest name of the lot turns out to be the hardest to recommend on its free tier.

Here's how they actually stack up, category by category, with the catches that don't show up in the marketing.

The four, at a glance

All four are now fully licensed UK banks — Revolut was the last to get there, finally landing its licence in March 2026 after a long wait. Beyond that, they split into two camps. Revolut and Monzo run paid subscription tiers stacked with extras; Starling and Chase keep it simple and do straight banking.

A quick note on scope: this is purely about the free accounts. Revolut and Monzo both have genuinely strong paid plans, but the moment you're paying a monthly fee it's a different comparison. Most people start on free, so that's where the real fight is.

Everyday fees: where the cash problem hides

On the basics, it's a near dead heat. No monthly fee, free physical card, contactless and Apple/Google Pay across the board. The split shows up the moment you try to deposit physical cash.

Starling is the only one that takes cash without thinking twice — free up to £1,000 a year, then 0.7%. Monzo charges a flat £1 a deposit on the free tier, which stings on small amounts (paying £1 to bank a £20 birthday note is hard to love). Revolut and Chase simply don't accept cash at all.

If you're never near physical cash, ignore this entirely. If you are — tips, a side hustle, gifts — it's close to a dealbreaker, and it narrows the field to Starling fast.

Travel and FX: Starling's quiet win, Revolut's hidden spread

This is the category these banks built their reputation on, and the one with the most misunderstood detail.

The big one: Revolut does not use the interbank rate. It uses its own "Revolut Rate", which carries a small built-in spread even midweek — plus a +1% markup at weekends on the Standard tier. Monzo, Starling and Chase all pass through the Mastercard rate with no markup at all.

Starling is the standout for spending abroad: Mastercard rate, no FX fee, no monthly ATM cap. The one catch is a hard £300 per day ATM limit (max six withdrawals) — fine for most trips, worth knowing if you need a big cash sum in one go. Monzo matches on rate and gives unlimited fee-free EEA cash withdrawals if Monzo is your main bank (otherwise it's capped). Chase is clean on FX too. Revolut's free tier, by contrast, gets hit by the spread, the weekend markup, a £1,000 monthly FX cap and a £200 ATM cap — four separate ways to pay more.

Savings: Chase runs away with it (for new customers)

For a savings-focused decision, this is the category that matters most — and the gap is huge.

Chase's boosted saver pays 4.5% AER for a full 12 months for new customers — a 2.25% fixed boost on top of its 2.25% standard rate. Because it runs for a whole year at a flat rate, it's more valuable than it first looks.

Revolut's headline 5% is louder but messier: it only applies up to £25,000, only during a new-joiner onboarding window, and anything above the cap reverts to your plan rate (2.9% on Standard), giving you a blended rate that's lower than the headline. Monzo's free-tier 2.75% is respectable. Starling's 2.5% is the weak link — sitting below several easy-access rates you'll find on a comparison table, and well below inflation-beating territory.

If a market-leading rate is your priority, it's worth checking the live easy-access tables on DepositScout before you commit.

Rewards: two kinds of cashback, one set of points

Only two of the four pay you meaningfully for spending — and they do it very differently.

Chase is the closest thing here to effortless money: a flat 2% on groceries, fuel, transport, dining and EV charging, paid as actual cash, up to £20 a month (£240 a year). The conditions — £1,000 sitting in a saver and 15 card payments a month — are easy to hit if it's your main card, and the £1,000 earns interest while it unlocks the cashback.

Monzo Offers is the underrated one: merchant-specific cashback of 2–10% at selected brands (think Asda, Boots, eBay), paid as real cash into a Cashback Pot. Higher headline rates than Chase, but only at specific shops you activate one by one, and you opt in to sharing de-identified spending data.

Revolut's RevPoints look like a reward but behave differently. On Standard you earn one point per £10 spent, and points have no fixed cash value — redemption depends on what you cash them out for. Spend £1,000 on Chase's eligible categories and you get £20 back; the same spend on Revolut Standard earns you points worth a fraction of that. Starling sits this category out entirely.

Support: the human touch still matters

Nobody thinks about support until something goes wrong with their money — and then it's the only thing that matters.

Starling and Chase both offer 24/7 UK phone support to every customer, free tier included. Monzo has strong phone support too (call them and a real person answers fast). Revolut keeps phone support behind its paid tiers — on Standard you're largely funnelled through in-app chat. On independent satisfaction measures, Monzo consistently leads the pack; Revolut scores well on review volume but the free-tier support experience is the weakest of the four.

The verdict: who should actually open what

There's no single winner for everyone — but there is a clear all-rounder.

Best overall free account: Monzo. Best-in-class budgeting app, Mastercard rate with no markup, and crucially it's the only free account here that covers the lot — overdrafts, cash deposits (for a fee), loans and a credit card. It's the closest thing to a complete bank in one free app, and it tops customer satisfaction.

Best for travel: Starling. Mastercard rate, zero FX fees, no monthly ATM cap. The £300/day ATM limit is the only asterisk. A genuinely uncatchable free travel card.

Best for cashback and savings: Chase. The 2% everyday cashback and 4.5% new-customer saver are the strongest rewards on this list — worth opening alongside another account even if it's not your main one. Its one real gap: it can't send money abroad at all.

The most surprising result: Revolut Standard finishes last. The app is the most impressive of the four and it's the biggest bank here by a mile — but on the free tier, almost none of what makes Revolut special is actually free. The Revolut Rate spread, weekend markup, FX cap, ATM cap and points-not-cash rewards all bite. Its real value lives behind the paid plans.

Pick by the job you need done, not the logo. And if that job is simply "one no-fuss free account that does everything," it's Monzo, with Starling a close second for anyone who values the phone line and the travel card over budgeting screens.

Rates, fees and limits verified June 2026 and subject to change — always check live figures before opening an account. Monzo's unlimited fee-free EEA ATM withdrawals apply only when Monzo is your main bank; otherwise a monthly cap applies. Chase's standard saver rate (2.25%) applies after the 12-month boosted period ends. This guide covers free/standard tiers only.