The best apps to save for a house deposit, honestly compared

The best apps to save for a house deposit, feature by feature

Theo: best for running the journey

Among the best apps to save for a house deposit, Theo is the one built around the whole first time buyer journey. It turns a price and deposit percentage into a target, then tracks a date that moves every month you save. Alongside it, Theo checks 100+ UK lenders every weekday, knows which deposit levels change the products available to you, and shows swap rate, inflation and Bank of England context. It does not hold your money, so you still need somewhere to keep the deposit.

Strength: the only app here that runs the deposit plan and the mortgage market together. Watch out: it does not hold money, and it is newer than the established savings names.

Moneybox: best for growing the deposit

For eligible first time buyers, a Lifetime ISA is usually the most valuable thing to do with deposit money, and Moneybox is a well known app route to one, with round ups and regular payments built in. The government bonus does more for the total than any budgeting feature. The conditions matter as much as the bonus, so check the current rules on gov.uk. It does not tell you anything about mortgages.

Strength: the government bonus on eligible savings. Watch out: strict eligibility and withdrawal rules, and no view of the mortgage market.

Plum and Chip: best for saving on autopilot

Plum reads your spending and moves amounts you are unlikely to miss, with rules you can tune. Chip combines automatic saving with interest bearing accounts, so the pot builds quietly. Both answer how to build the pot and stop there: no target from a property price, no moving date and no mortgage layer. Some features sit behind paid tiers, so check current plans.

Monzo: best for everyday visibility

An app based bank puts a labelled pot beside your current account, so the deposit is in front of you every time you check your balance. For many people that visibility does more than any algorithm. It is a bank, not a plan, and it keeps the deposit close to your spending money, which suits some people and not others.

How we compared the best apps to save for a house deposit

Every app was assessed against the same criteria: how it holds and grows money, how it automates saving, how it tracks a plan, and whether it connects the deposit to the mortgage that follows. Information came from each app’s own app store listing and published documentation. No provider paid to appear and there are no affiliate links. See how to save for a house deposit for the whole journey, or the best mortgage tracking apps if you already own a home.