Best automatic savings apps in Canada (2026): what still works

Search for an automatic savings app in Canada in 2026 and you’ll get a list that stopped being true a while ago. Moka, the round-up app most Canadian guides still name, has retired its brand, and moka.ai now redirects to a $20 a month investing platform with no round-ups in it. Acorns, the other standard recommendation, is open only to people who live in the United States. Wealthsimple ended its own Roundup feature back in April 2025. What’s left is a shorter list, and a more honest one. The comparison above shows what each option actually automates. Below is how each one works, which Canadian banks already do this for free, and what to do if round-ups were never really the problem.

What happened to round-up savings apps in Canada?

Three of the apps Canadians get pointed to are either gone or were never available here. Moka retired its brand, Wealthsimple discontinued Roundup on April 11, 2025, and Acorns has always been limited to US residents. KOHO is now the only mainstream Canadian app with a true round-up feature.

Moka was the Canadian round-up app: link a card, and it rounded your purchases up and invested the change. Today moka.ai redirects to Intelligent Investing (opens in a new tab), a CIRO-regulated Canadian investing platform from Orion Digital Corp. It costs $20 a month plus 0.10% a year on managed portfolios, and there’s no round-up feature in it. It’s a legitimate investing product. It just isn’t the spare-change app people are searching for.

Wealthsimple’s Roundup was a beta on its chequing account. It rounded settled card purchases to the nearest dollar and moved the difference into your cash back rewards account, and Wealthsimple discontinued it on April 11, 2025 (opens in a new tab). Recurring deposits are still there, and they move more money anyway.

Acorns and Qapital come up constantly in Canadian results, and neither will let you open an account. Acorns’ program agreement (opens in a new tab) says the platform is meant solely for citizens or lawful residents of the United States who are located in the United States. Qapital’s terms of service set the same requirement. Digit, the other name you’ll still see recommended, no longer exists under that brand either: digit.co now redirects to Oportun.

Best true round-up app: KOHO

If round-ups are specifically what you want, KOHO is the one Canadian app still doing them properly. RoundUps (opens in a new tab) rounds each card purchase up to the nearest $1, $2, $5 or $10, whichever you pick, and moves the difference into your KOHO Savings once the purchase settles, usually three to five days later. A $2.25 coffee with $5 selected sets aside $2.75. It’s funded from your Spendable balance, and you can cash out whenever you want.

The feature is free on every plan. What the plan changes is the interest on that balance: 2% on Essential, 2.5% on Extra at $18 a month, and 3.5% on Everything at $22 (opens in a new tab), or $12 and $14.75 a month if you pay for a year up front, as of July 2026. Essential itself is free with direct deposit or $1,000 a month in deposits, and $4 a month without. KOHO isn’t a bank, so eligible balances are held in trust at CDIC-member banks.

Best for someone who taps a card several times a day and wants saving to happen without a decision each time. It’s a weaker fit if you’d rather not run your daily spending through a prepaid card, or if you’re saving a larger balance, where a no-fee savings account will pay you more. We go deeper in Lodavo vs KOHO and the wider list of KOHO alternatives in Canada.

Best for automating your paycheque: Wealthsimple

Round-ups save small change. Automating part of your pay saves real money, and that’s where Wealthsimple is strongest. You can set a recurring deposit (opens in a new tab) weekly, biweekly or monthly from another Canadian bank account, or route a slice of each paycheque into savings or investments before it lands in your chequing account.

The Chequing account (opens in a new tab) has no monthly fee and pays 1.25% to 2.25% depending on your client tier, with a 0.5% boost for a qualifying direct deposit, capped at 2.25%, as of June 2026. Wealthsimple isn’t a bank: chequing balances are held in trust across up to 10 CDIC member institutions, for combined coverage up to $1 million. It also runs a Monthly Millionaire draw on chequing balances, so it’s the other option here with a prize attached.

Best for someone with a steady paycheque who wants a fixed amount moved every payday without thinking about it. Less of a fit if your income is irregular, where round-ups or a percentage-based approach flex better. We compare the two draws in Lodavo vs Wealthsimple.

Best set-and-forget bank transfer: Tangerine

Tangerine’s Automatic Savings Program (opens in a new tab) is the plainest version of this idea: choose an amount and a frequency, daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly, and it moves money from your chequing to your savings on schedule. No card, no round-ups, no subscription. Tangerine Bank is a CDIC member in its own right.

The honest catch is the rate. The posted savings rate (opens in a new tab) is 0.30%. New clients who sign up by July 31, 2026 get a promotional 4.50%, or 4.60% on registered accounts, for 153 days from opening, and it drops to the posted rate after that. Best for someone who wants automation from an established bank without adding another app. If it’s the rate you’re after rather than the automation, our roundup of the best high-interest savings accounts in Canada is the more useful page.

Your bank may already do this for free

Before you add anything, check what you’re already paying for. Scotiabank’s Bank The Rest (opens in a new tab) rounds every debit purchase up to the next $1 or $5, adds the differences up at the end of each day, and moves the total into a Money Master Savings Account, free. Most Canadian banks and credit unions will also let you schedule a recurring transfer into savings, which is the same mechanism as Tangerine’s program under a different name.

These aren’t in the comparison above because they’re bank programs rather than apps you add on top of an account. For a lot of people, though, the free thing their bank already runs beats paying a subscription for the same behaviour.

Best for when the problem isn’t forgetting: Lodavo

Automation solves one problem: remembering. It does less about the other one, which is that saving is dull and there’s rarely a reason to do it this week instead of next month. That’s the gap Lodavo is built around.

Lodavo doesn’t round up your purchases, and it doesn’t move money. It works with the bank account you already use, and the more you save, the more free tickets you earn in a weekly cash draw. You could win up to $10,000, and a guaranteed prize of at least $100 goes to a user every week. Your savings keep earning whatever your account already pays, and the tickets are free on top. You can check past results on the winning numbers page and see how each draw is verified on the provably fair page.

Best for someone who has automated before and still isn’t saving, or who wants something to look forward to alongside a good account. Lodavo runs alongside that account rather than replacing it, so pair it with whichever option above holds your cash.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.

Which one should you actually pick?

Work backwards from why you aren’t saving.

If you forget, automate it. Tangerine’s program, or a recurring transfer from the bank you already have, costs nothing and takes a few minutes. If you spend on a card constantly and never seem to have a lump sum to move, KOHO’s round-ups match the way your money actually leaves. If you have a steady paycheque, automating a slice of it through Wealthsimple will move more in a month than round-ups do in a year.

If none of those is the real problem, another transfer schedule won’t fix it. Add Lodavo free on top of whichever account holds your savings, and saving comes with a chance at a cash prize each week. For the wider field beyond automation, see our roundup of the best savings apps in Canada, and for why this is hard in the first place, why it’s so hard to save money covers the behavioural side.