Once you’ve socked away a little money, you want to make sure your savings grow by earning interest. And with inflation eating away at your spending power, it’s a great time to look and see if your money is earning as much for you as it could. 

There’s plenty to choose from: These days traditional banks, online direct banks, neobanks and credit unions are all vying for your dollars by offering rates of return much higher than depositors could a few years ago. 

But there’s more to a good bank account than just a great interest rate. You want to feel assured that you’re doing business with a transparent, straightforward institution that isn’t going to nickel-and-dime you and offers the security of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protection. 

That is why we looked for banks where you can get a great bang for your buck with minimal hassle—and without maintenance fees or other charges that can chip away at your earnings. 

Interest rates we used to evaluate banks are all as of Sept. 22, 2022. For more specifics of how we vetted banks, scroll to the bottom. 

Why we picked it: You get the convenience and accessibility of a major national bank with a generous interest rate more typical of rates offered by online banks and digital nonbank “neobanks.” In addition, Capital One topped the J.D. Power ranking of national banks for its digital account management tools and user-friendly flexibility.

Getting started is simple, whether you choose to open your account online or in person at one of Capital One’s more than 300 branches. In addition to branch access, traditional banks tend to offer a wider array of account types, lending products and investment services—a plus if you want to do most of your banking with a single institution.

Unlike some high-yield savings accounts we’ve encountered, the 360 Performance Savings doesn’t use gimmicks or stuff its terms and conditions with fine print that can cost you money, such as requiring that you maintain a minimum balance, set up regular direct deposits or pay a monthly maintenance fee. 

The generous interest rate offered by the 360 Performance Savings is comparable to what you can earn with digital-only savings accounts, but Capital One has the advantage of branches. Customers also have access to more than 70,000 no-fee ATMs via Capital One’s own network as well as MoneyPass and Allpoint. 

The combination of simple and transparent account terms with the ability to manage your account electronically or in person make this the most versatile savings account for most people. And, if you like to do all your banking in one place, you can also find other great deposit accounts at Capital One. The bank’s 360 Checking account was also our pick for Best Checking Account.

Caveats : Although the 360 Performance Savings offers a generous interest rate, compared to most of its bricks-and-mortar peers, some online banks offer a higher rate of return on deposits.

While deposits can be withdrawn online or in person at a branch, direct withdrawals cannot be conducted via ATM. (To withdraw money using an ATM, you’ll need to have a linked Capital One checking account and transfer the funds there from your Capital One savings account first.)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has more than 4,800 domestic branches, but its flagship Chase Savings account has an interest rate well below 1%, and charges a $5 monthly maintenance fee unless certain conditions are met.

Like Chase, Wells Fargo also has thousands of domestic branches—nearly 4,800. But the savings rate on its flagship Way2Save account is a fraction of what Capital One offers, and there is a $5 monthly fee unless certain conditions are met. 

Why we picked it: Ally has built a reputation as a user-friendly, transparent bank that offers great savings rates with minimal hassle. Ally’s rates are perennially competitive and its Online Savings account currently offers an interest rate one of the best savings account interest rates we’ve seen.

In addition to the interest rate, we evaluate the best online savings account by looking at factors such as how well the account helps you manage your money. 

While Ally certainly isn’t the only bank to offer a digital version of the “envelope system,” letting you divide your balance into portions and earmarking each one for a particular goal or expense, it has refined the experience with features that make it easy to track your savings goals. You can create up to 10 “buckets” within your Ally Online Savings account and use the easy-to-navigate mobile app dashboard to track your progress on each. 

Ally also has account functions to help you put saving money on autopilot by funneling small amounts of money into your savings account on a regular basis. If you have an Ally checking account, one especially painless way to save more is opting to have your transactions rounded up to the nearest dollar. Ally will then transfer the difference from your checking to your savings account in $5 increments.

Caveats: While customers can conduct remote check deposits, text alerts and peer-to-peer transfers through Zelle on Ally’s digital platform, as well as get digital and phone customer service, there are no physical branches. There is a limit of six withdrawals per monthly statement cycle, although Ally says it is currently suspending the $10 fee it usually charges for withdrawals made over that limit. 

The Marcus Online Savings account typically offers an interest rate competitive with Ally’s, but customer reviews indicate that the app is fairly bare bones, with some users complaining that it can be glitchy, to boot. 

We looked at direct online banks and neobanks, some of which have APYs above 2%, such as LendingClub’s High-Yield Savings account. While this might be a better choice for someone whose top priority is yield, we think Ally’s well-rounded banking experience is likely to be worth the trade-off of a fraction of a percentage point for the majority of people shopping for a savings account. 

Why we picked it: The flagship savings account of this online credit union offers a top-tier APY without membership restrictions or monthly maintenance fees. You can open an Alliant High-Rate Savings account with as little as $5, although you’ll need to keep at least $100 in it to earn interest. Once you do, though, your money will earn an impressive 1.8% interest rate.

Many credit unions require customers to live, work, study or worship within their geographic footprint. Chicago-based Alliant is one of the institutions breaking that mold: Anybody can become a member via the nonprofit Foster Care to Success, and Alliant will pay the $5 one-time fee for you to join. It’s a formula that seems to be working: Alliant is one of the country’s biggest credit unions, with nearly 650,000 members. 

Because Alliant is an online credit union, it doesn’t have any branches, but managing your account is easy via Alliant’s website, mobile app or at one of more than 80,000 ATMs you can access without paying a fee. Not all banks include ATM access in their savings account terms, and it’s a handy feature to have if your bank doesn’t have branches you can visit, especially if you need to deposit cash regularly. 

Alliant also has the only credit union-issued credit card that made our Best of Cash Back reward card roundup, with its high-earning Alliant Visa Signature Card. 

Caveats : You need to keep at least $100 in the account in order to earn the advertised APY—something to keep in mind if you plan to draw down the account for a big purchase. Like its direct-bank counterparts, Alliant has no physical branches for in-person account management, although it does offer access to a network of more than 80,000 surcharge-free ATMs. It also charges $1 for paper statements.    

The Premium Online Savings account also typically has a competitive interest rate, but account management is limited to digital options without ATM access, which could be a hassle for people who need to deposit or withdraw cash on a regular basis. 

The Share Savings account offered by Navy Federal has an interest rate of just 0.25%. Plus, although Navy Federal is the largest credit union in the U.S., with more than 11 million members, you need a military affiliation—such as a family member who served in the armed forces—to become a member.

Why we picked it: For savers on the hunt for the absolute highest yield you can earn from a savings account, BrioDirect delivers. If the name is unfamiliar, the bank’s history might ring a bell: BrioDirect is the online brand of Connecticut-based Webster Bank, which underwent a merger with New York-based Sterling National Bank earlier this year. 

The BrioDirect High Yield Savings account offers one of the highest APYs we’ve come across in our evaluations, including among online savings accounts rates offered by direct banks and neobanks where competition is fiercest. There is no monthly maintenance fee on the account.

The BrioDirect mobile app aims to be more than just a place where you can manage your savings account. You can manage your overall finances by adding bank or credit card accounts from other financial institutions, as well as the apps of retailers like Amazon and Target, to your dashboard. You can also set up alerts and use the app to track your spending and create budgets. 

Caveats: Online reviews indicate that phone support can be spotty, with long hold times or promised callbacks that don’t materialize. Many reviewers report that opening an account or having a bank transfer clear can take several days. The bank’s website currently warns of “extremely high call volumes resulting in long wait times” for customer support and application status updates. There is also a $5 fee—which is on the high side—for paper statements.

SoFi makes your set up direct deposit in order to get the advertised 2% APY on its bundled savings/checking account. Otherwise, you earn 1%, which is below what many online banks advertise.

Ivy Bank Savings has an APY that on par with the BrioDirect account but requires a fairly steep $2,500 minimum to open.

Why we picked it: The launch of commission-free trades, combined with the pandemic, created a surge in individual investors entering the stock market. This Morgan Stanley account is offered on the website of E*Trade, which provides commission-free trades on online U.S.-listed stocks, options and ETFs, making it a popular online brokerage among retail investors. (Morgan Stanley acquired E*Trade in 2020.)

The Premium Savings Account from Morgan Stanley Private Bank offers a highly competitive interest rate, and you don’t have to be an E*Trade brokerage customer to open one. We suspect that this account’s main appeal, though, is the ability for E*Trade users to link their brokerage accounts. You can conduct immediate electronic transfers between your brokerage account and savings account, and manage both savings and investment activities on a single platform. 

The app has a library of how-to investment education as well as analytical research and data to help individual investors make well-informed trades. Novice investors can take advantage of analyst research reports, Bloomberg TV news and other educational resources on the E*Trade platform, while more experienced market participants can learn from tutorials on options, futures and margins trading.

Caveats: Even though E*Trade has educational resources for investing beginners, this account might be best suited for people with some degree of confidence in their investing acumen: E*Trade scored below the category average for “seeking guidance” in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study. 

This high-yield savings account has an interest rate of 2.15%, but its Marcus Invest tool is geared toward people looking for a robo advisor rather than the DIY crowd. 

The High Yield Investor Savings account has a much lower rate of return, with an APY of just 0.28%.

To pick Buy Side from WSJ’s Best Savings Accounts, we looked for accounts that offered the best APY on deposited funds without restrictions. We also looked for accounts without monthly maintenance fees or high minimum balance requirements. We also considered accessibility, user-friendliness and the customer reputations of the banking institutions that offer these accounts.

All of our Best Bank picks are FDIC members, which protects account holders’ deposits, with the exception of those offered by credit unions, which are protected by a parallel organization, the National Credit Union Administration.

The rates quoted in this story are as of Sept. 22, 2022. Savings rates change frequently—sometimes every week. But you can’t move your money each time a new bank offers to pay a few hundredths of a percentage point more than the competition. That’s why we looked for banks with generally attractive rates—and other great qualities too.

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