Chip vs Plum - which is best? (2024)

Keen to start saving and investing? Good decision – your future self will thank you for it! Let’s take a look at Chip vs Plum and see which is best for you.

Chip and Plum are both apps on your phone, and both help you save more money by connecting to your bank account and working out how much spare cash you can save – this spare cash will be transferred over to their app and either save it or invest it for you, all automatically.

Although you can just open up a savings account and add your money without using any of the money saving features.

They’re both pretty great, and perfect to help you save money, but which is best? Let’s dive in!

‍Spoiler: Chip offers one of the best savings accounts out there, with a near unbeatable savings rate. Visit the Chip website¹ to learn more.

Chip vs Plum: ease of use

Both are available as an app on your phone (Apple and Android devices), so 2 big ticks there.

They both link to your bank to figure out how much you could save, and automatically save that for you, or invest it if you choose.

In terms of the apps themselves, Chip is rated 4.5 out of 5 on Apple, but only 3.5 on Google.

Plum is rated a bit more with 4.7 out of 5 on Apple and 4.6 on the Google Play store. Pretty good!

They’re both super easy to use and straightforward. It’s hard to pick a winner here, but let’s go by the reviews of the apps – with higher ratings for Plum.

Winner: Plum

Chip vs Plum: accounts for cash savings

Here’s where it gets pretty interesting.

With both Chip and Plum, you’ll be able to save cash in return for interest payments. Plum has a good savings rate, but Chip runs away with it, with one of the highest rates out there!

It’s one of the best easy access savings accounts in the UK, which means you can get your money back within minutes if you want to.

You can check the latest rates on the Chip website¹ and the Plum website¹.

There’s also no fees to simply use a cash savings account.

Chip also has a cash saving account that gives you the chance to win £10,000 per month, every month. How great is that?

Just add money to your account and a prize draw takes place every month, one lucky winner will get £10,000. There’s also £2,500 worth of additional prizes too. As long as you have £100 saved in your account, you’ll be entered, and the more money saved, the more chances you have of winning.

With Plum, you’ve got a single account that offers a good rate of interest. And it’s easy access, so you can withdraw your cash whenever you need it (although you might need to allow a few days).

Within the Plum account you can then create ‘pockets’ to save for specific things such as a holiday. And there’s other features to help you save more such as automatically save more money when it rains (for a rainy day fund).

But overall, it’s simply an account that pays interest, just like any other savings account.

One of the best interest rates out there? We have to give this round to Chip.

Winner: Chip

Chip vs Plum: investment options

The core investment options with both are investment funds – which are a group of investments combined together, such as stocks and shares (where you own a tiny part of the company).

With Plum, there’s 21 funds to choose from, with a range of different themes. Such as technology companies, healthcare companies, or just British or American companies. There’s also 3 options for ethical investing (investments that don’t harm the planet), which we love.

You can also buy stocks and shares from over 1,000 individual companies too. So you could add a specific company, such as Apple, to your portfolio (all of your investments combined together), in addition to the funds.

With both, your money will be a risk, which means the value of your investments can go up and down over time.

Nut About Money tip: if you are looking to trade stocks and shares frequently, it’s often best to use an investment platform).

You can invest via a standard account (no tax benefits), or a Stock and Shares ISA (tax-free), and also a pension (self-invested personal pension), which is a sensible idea to boost savings for retirement, the government will even give you a 25% bonus for free!

Nut About Money tip: check out PensionBee¹ for pensions too – they make pensions super easy and handle everything for you. Here’s our PensionBee review to learn more.

With Chip, there’s also a range of funds to choose from, which have themes too, such as clean energy and healthcare. You can even invest in gold and crypto companies. 

Nut About Money tip: if you want to invest in crypto directly, check out the best crypto exchanges.

Chip also makes things a bit easier if you don’t know what you’re doing. There’s also 3 simple options: a cautious, balanced or adventurous option – which are all managed by experts for long-term growth.

However, you can’t buy individual stocks of companies, and there’s no pension option. Just a standard account or a Stocks & Shares ISA.

It’s a close call, especially with the investment fund options. But with the ability to buy individual stocks and shares and to invest in a pension, we’re giving this to Plum.

Winner: Plum

Chip vs Plum: fees

Fees can often be a bit complicated with investment apps. And Chip and Plum are no different unfortunately!

First of all, let’s start by saying all of the cash savings accounts have no fees! Whoop. Including the Prize Savings Account¹ from Chip (the £10,000 prize one).

With Chip, there’s a free account to get started with investing, but you won’t be able to open a Stocks and Shares ISA, and there’s only the 3 core investment options.

On this 'free' plan, you’ll pay 0.5% on however much money is invested (with a minimum of £1 per month).

However, the real benefits are with the ChipX plan, which is £4.99 every 28 days, and you get everything – a tax-free ISA, and the full range of funds. Plus, the 0.5% fee on your investments is removed.

With Plum, there’s also a free account, but you can’t invest in investment funds, only individual stocks (and only a limited range). To access the full range of funds you need to sign up to a plan with a monthly fee (there’s 3 plans: £2.99, £4.99 and £9.99 per month).

Each plan has slightly more features, and only with the £9.99 per month plan can you get access to the full range of funds and individual stocks.

There’s also fees on the amount you invest, which is 0.45%.

With both Chip and Plum, there’s also fees within the investment fund itself. And this depends on which fund(s) you choose and can range from 0.06% to 1.06%.

That was confusing right? The main cost they both charge is the monthly fees. If you just want to save and invest, Plum is cheaper at £2.99 per month (plus investment fees). So, we’re going to give this one to Plum. 

However, each plan is slightly different and suits different people, so we recommend having a look at all the features on both the Chip website¹ and Plum website¹.

Winner: Plum

Chip vs Plum: customer reviews

To get an idea of customer service and how customers are enjoying both apps, let’s look at the customer reviews. We’re going to use the popular reviews website, Trustpilot.

Chip has a rating of 3.9 out of 5, from over 1,000 reviews. That’s okay, in fact it’s classed as great by Trustpilot. Lot’s of the reviews are positive and mention how good the app is, however there are a few negative reviews from some people not understanding that it will take money from your bank account to help you save (if you allow it to).

With Plum, it has a score of 4.4 out of 5, from over 4,200 reviews. That’s excellent. Customers love Plum and are praising the auto saving feature.

Plum has run away with it this round, well done Plum!

Winner: Plum

Chip vs Plum: the winner

So there we have it, it’s pretty close right? But we’re going to give this to Chip!

Chip has got a near unbeatable cash savings rate (check the latest rate on the Chip website¹) – if you’re just looking to save your cash (and not invest), it’s one of the best options out there.

Both apps are great at helping you save more, and they both help you invest your money if you want to (so your money could grow much more in future).

They’re both super easy to get started and the apps themselves are great on both Apple and Android.

And both offer an easy way to build up your savings, and earn a good interest rate on your cash savings.

However, if you’re looking to invest your money rather than just save cash. Plum comes out on top.

Plum is slightly cheaper than Chip each month (although you can upgrade to a higher priced option if you want even more features), and Plum offers the ability to buy individual company stocks and shares, alongside investment funds.

Plus, with Plum, you can invest via a personal pension, alongside a Stocks & Shares ISA. We highly recommend saving within a pension to boost your retirement income (only with money you don’t mind being locked away). You’ll also get a 25% bonus from the government on everything you put in (with all personal pensions).

However, there are better options for saving and investing (if you’re not looking for a cash savings account).

If you're only looking to save for a pension, check out PensionBee¹, it’s low cost and super easy to use (experts handle everything), or check out our best personal pensions for the full range of options.

For general investing, check out eToro¹ – it’s perfect for beginners all the way to advanced traders, low cost and a huge range of investment options.

If you’re only looking to invest in a Stocks and Shares ISA (and make your own investments), check out Trading 212¹ (get a free share worth up to £100. Use code NUTS), it’s low cost, and a great range of investment options.

So overall, we recommend Chip for saving cash (as the interest rate is one of the best), and helping you save more – with all the great money saving features (Plum is great for this too). And for everything else, check out the other options just above.

Here’s the Chip website¹ to get started and check the latest savings rate.

Happy saving!