Easy access savings rates are around 4.5% in 2026. But the gap between the best and worst rates remains enormous — many big bank accounts still pay under 1%.
Top easy-access savings rates hit 4.5% this month and the best 1-year fixed bond reached 5.1% via Raisin UK — a rate not shown on MoneySavingExpert's best-buy tables or MoneySupermarket. For £20,000 in savings, moving from a big-bank 1.2% to the best 4.5% easy-access deal is ~£660/year extra interest for about 20 minutes of work. The single biggest no-advice financial win available to most UK savers right now.
UK savings comparison splits into three distinct roles: editorial best-buy curation, single-application access to specialist banks, and broad rate-alert tracking. Each excels at a different part of the savings journey:
| Feature | MoneySavingExpert | Raisin UK | MoneySupermarket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editorial best-buy tables | Best in class | — | Limited |
| Specialist bank access | Listings only | 30+ banks via one account | Listings only |
| Fixed rate bonds | Comprehensive | Best in class | Good range |
| Easy access coverage | Comprehensive | Good range | Good |
| Rate alerts | Weekly email | Account-based | Per-account email alerts |
| FSCS protection on all listings | Yes | Yes (all 30+ banks) | Yes |
| Trustpilot score | 4.8 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 | 4.6 / 5 |
| OverCompare 2026 rank | #1 (9.2) | #2 (8.8) | #3 (8.0) |
MSE wins on editorial: its weekly best-buy tables are manually curated, flag access conditions clearly and call out FSCS protection on every line. MoneySupermarket's edge is its rate-alert system, which emails you when a previously-listed account is beaten by a new deal. The practical pattern: use MSE to choose, MoneySupermarket's alerts to know when to revisit.
MSE is a reference: a curated list of the best savings products across the market. Raisin UK is infrastructure: a single application that gives you access to 30+ specialist FSCS-protected banks, often offering rates 0.2–0.5 percentage points above the big-bank best-buys MSE features. For fixed rate bonds specifically, Raisin consistently surfaces deals that don't appear on MSE at all. Use both — MSE for landscape, Raisin to actually access the best fixed rates.
Raisin's structural advantage is access to specialist challenger banks via one application — no need to open multiple accounts. MoneySupermarket lists more big-bank products and has a clean visual comparison plus rate alerts, but ultimately you still apply to each bank individually. For serious savers chasing the highest fixed bond rate, Raisin wins; for ad-hoc easy-access shopping, MoneySupermarket is fine.