Everyone wants to get the best rate on their savings, but some of the most generous accounts aren't suitable for everyone.
You might, for example, prefer to do all your banking in-branch or you might be someone who handles all their finances through apps on their phone.
However, many of today's top savings accounts are quite restrictive in terms of how, or where, you can apply for them.
That means savings is no longer a one-size-fits-all industry.
To help out, we've provided a list of the best savings accounts based on how you can open and manage them.
Best savings accounts for every need
We've looked at savings accounts that can be managed in-branch, by post or phone, online, and through an app and for each, we've found the best easy access account, notice account, short-term fixed savings account (one year), and long-term fixed savings account (five years).
The best accounts have been chosen based on the interest rates that they offer.
We have included Shariah-compliant bonds when the rates are among the most competitive.
While these are technically investing rather savings products in that they pay a return rather than interest, they act similarly enough (and have the same protections) to warrant inclusion.
Read our detailed guide to Islamic and Shariah-compliant bonds for a full rundown of what they are and whether or not they would work for you.
In-branch
A lot of people prefer to do their banking in an actual branch as it's often simpler to talk to somebody face-to-face if you've got any issues. Here are our top picks for in-branch savings accounts.
For these, we've tried to find a balance between the best rates available while ensuring the bank in question has a reasonable number of bank branches so as to make it viable.
Best easy access accounts
Winner: Nationwide Triple Access Saver
Rate: 0.75% (max 3 withdrawals a year or rate falls to 0.1%)
Minimum: £1
Interest paid: monthly
Runner-up: Post Office Money Instant Saver
Rate: 0.75%
Minimum: £100
Interest paid: annually
Best notice accounts
Winner: Yorkshire Building Society 90 Day Notice
Rate: 1.25%
Minimum: £100
Interest paid: annually
Runner-up: Yorkshire Building Society 30 Day Notice
Rate: 1.15%
Minimum: £100
Interest paid: annually
Best short-term fixed savings (one year)
Winner: Metro Bank Fixed Term Savings Account*
Rate: 1.50%
Minimum: £500
Interest paid: monthly or annually
*Must have another Metro Bank account to pay money into
Runner-up: Yorkshire Building Society Fixed Rate Bond (until Feb 2021)
Rate: 1.10%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: annually
Best long-term savings (five years)
The pickings here were extremely thin on the ground. Some banks offered half-decent rates but had no network, while the nationwide banks offered pitiful rates.
Below is possibly the best in-branch deal that can be accessed in multiple cities across the UK, however, this may not be local to you.
If we've missed an obvious option please do let us know, but it seems to us that long-term savers will lose out massively by saving in-branch.
Winner: UBL Five year fixed term deposit*
Rate: 2.10%
Minimum: £2,000
Interest paid: monthly, annually, or on the maturity of the deposit
*There are UBL branches in London, Birmingham, and Manchester.
Runner-up: ICICI Bank UK Supersaver Term Deposit*
Rate: 1.70%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: on maturity of funds
*There are ICICI Bank branches in Birmingham, East Ham, London, Manchester, and Middlesex.
Although banking in-branch comes with the advantage of having a friendly face to talk to, it comes with the penalty of much lower interest rates.
Our best in-branch savings accounts consistently have lower rates in every category when compared to other ways of banking, apart from the best long-term fixed savings rate, where UBL's rate of 2.10% is much better than the best app rate for long-term savings, which is only 1.75%.
Whilst it's difficult to say what banks will look like in the future, the chances of the rates beating those offered through online, phone or post, and app banking are fairly low.
Keep reading to find out about the better rates offered through changing your banking habits, and perhaps consider other ways to manage your money if you're not happy with your in-branch rates.
By phone / post
If you're not able to get to a branch for whatever reason, it is possible to open and manage savings accounts without using the internet. This is our list of the best accounts that you can sort entirely through the phone or post.
Best easy access
Winner: AA Member Saver (open and manage by phone)
Rate: 1.21%
Minimum: £100
Interest paid: annually
Runner-up: AA easy saver (open and manage by phone)
Rate: 1.11%
Minimum: £100
Interest paid: annually
Best notice
Winner: Close Brothers Savings 95 Day Notice Account (open and manage by post)
Rate: 1.55%
Minimum: £10,000
Interest paid: annually
Runner-up: Charter Savings Bank 95 Day Notice Account (open and manage by post)
Rate: 1.48%
Minimum: £5,000
Interest paid: annually
Shariah-compliant: Al Rayan Bank 90 day notice account (open and manage by phone or post)
Expected profit rate: 1.50%
Minimum: £250
Expected profit paid: monthly
Best short-term fixed savings (one year)
Winner: Charter Savings Bank One Year Fixed Bond (open and manage by post)
Rate: 1.57%
Minimum: £5,000
Interest paid: annually (or monthly at 1.56%)
Runner-up: Paragon Bank One Year Fixed Rate Savings Account (open and manage by post)
Rate: 1.55%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: monthly or annually
Best long-term fixed savings (five years)
Winner: UBL Five Year Fixed Term Deposit Account (open and manage by post or phone)
Rate: 2.10%
Minimum: £2,000
Interest paid: monthly, annually, or on the maturity of the deposit
Runner-up: Paragon Bank Five Year Fixed Rate Savings Account (open and manage by post)
Rate: 1.85%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: monthly or annually
Putting your money into savings accounts that can be managed by post or by phone undoubtedly gets you better rates than relying exclusively on in-branch services.
Our findings also suggest that it might be better than using an online savings account when it comes to long-term fixed rates.
That said, most of the rates still trail behind the online equivalents, such as the easy access account rate of 1.21% with AA (which you have to already be a member of to be eligible) which lags behind the QIB rate of 1.70%.
Handling your savings via the post or phone does get you better rates than some app accounts however, with the easy access and long-term fixed savings accounts both performing better than their app equivalents.
How investing could get you better returns than using a savings account
Online
To get the most out of your savings, you will probably want to look at online services.
Of the different means of accessing your account that we looked at, this surpassed all other methods in terms of giving good interest rates across the board.
Best easy access
Winner: Marcus by Goldman Sachs
Rate: 1.35%
Minimum: £1
Interest paid: monthly
Runner-up: Saga Easy Access savings account
Rate: 1.35%
Minimum: £1
Interest paid: monthly
Best notice
Winner: ICICI Bank UK Notice savings account (95 days' notice)
Rate: 1.60%
Minimum: £1
Interest paid: monthly
Runner-up: Secure Trust Bank 60 Day notice account
Rate: 1.50%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: quarterly (31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December)
Shariah-compliant: BLME 90 day notice account
Rate: 1.71%
Minimum: £10,000 (to open an account), £1,000 (to keep account open)
Interest paid: annually
Best short-term fixed savings (one year)
Winner: Masthaven Bank one year savings account
Rate: 1.60%
Minimum: £500
Interest paid: on maturity of fund
Runner-up: Post Office Money Online Bond
Rate: 1.41%
Minimum: £500
Interest paid: on maturity of funds
Shariah-compliant: BLME Premier Deposit Account
Rate: 1.80%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: at maturity or annually
Best long-term fixed savings (five years)
Winner: Secure Trust Bank Five Year Fixed Rate Bond
Rate: 2.06%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: annually
Runner-up: Masthaven Bank five year savings account
Rate: 2.05%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: annually
Shariah-compliant: Gatehouse Bank 5 Years Fixed Term Deposit
Rate: 2.1%
Minimum: £1,000
Interest paid: at maturity
Accessing your savings online gives you a good chance of getting the most competitive rates, with it beating the other methods for easy access accounts and only falling a little shy of the best options for notice, short-term, and long-term accounts.
Our ultimate guide to savings: everything you need to know
App
Our mobile devices have quickly become our one-stop-shop for organising different parts of our lives. With these savings accounts, you're able to both open and manage everything just through downloading an app.
Best easy access
Winner: Monzo Bank easy access saving pot by Paragon
Rate: 0.91%
Minimum: £10
Interest paid: monthly
Runner-up: Monzo Bank easy access saving pot by Oak North
Rate: 0.90%
Minimum: £10
Interest paid: monthly
Best notice
Winner: Moneybox 95 notice saving account
Rate: 1.65%
Minimum: £1
Interest paid: monthly
Runner-up: Nationwide Building Society one year triple access online saver
Rate: up to 0.90% (this will, however, drop to 0.10% if you make four or more withdrawals in the year)
Minimum: no minimum
Interest paid: at the end of the term
Best short-term fixed savings (one year)
Winner: Atom Bank Fixed Rate Savings Account
Rate: 1.65%
Minimum: £50
Interest paid: annually
Runner-up: Monzo Bank fixed savings pot by Charter Savings Bank
Rate: 1.35%
Minimum: £500
Interest paid: monthly
Shariah-compliant: Al Rayan fixed 12 Month Fixed Term Deposit
Expected profit rate: 1.31%
Minimum: £1,000 (over one year period)
Profit paid: quarterly
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Best long-term fixed savings (five years)
Winner: Atom Bank Five Year Fixed Saver
Rate: 1.75%
Minimum: £50
Interest paid: at the end of the term
We were unable to find any other long-term fixed savings accounts that you can open and manage exclusively through an app, so there is no runner-up for this category.
Being able to open and manage everything on your phone is probably a winner in terms of convenience if you're used to using your mobile a lot.
Most of the app rates are pretty good, apart from the best long-term rate being 1.75%, which is the worst on offer as the only rate to drop below the 2% mark.
It's also worth noting that you can manage most of the online savings accounts via an app once they're set up, so this is a better alternative if you aren't satisfied with some of the rates offered by services such as Atom and Monzo, but still want to organise everything through your phone.
Verdict
Best rates summary:
There are plenty of options available to ensure that you're banking in the way that's most convenient for you.
That said, it's clear that if you're looking to get the top rates, your best bet might be to handle your savings online or via an app rather than in-branch, via post or phone.
Please note we've excluded Shariah products from the below table as not everyone is comfortable with something that is effectively an investment.
| Account type |
Best means of accessing it* |
| Easy access account | Online |
| Notice account | App |
| One year fixed term | App |
| Five-years fixed term | Phone / in-branch |
*Based on rates that we found at the time of writing.
However you decide to grow your savings, make sure you read our ultimate guide to savings to get the most out of your money.
How do you manage your savings accounts? And would you change methods to get a better rate? Let us know in the comments below.