Lodavo vs Simplii Financial: An Honest Comparison for 2026

Simplii Financial will pay you to bank with it: a $300 cash bonus on its No Fee Chequing Account and 4.60 percent on savings for five months. Those are genuine perks. But when people search Lodavo vs Simplii Financial, the useful answer is that these two do different jobs. Simplii is CIBC’s no-fee online bank, so it holds your money and pays a rate on it. Lodavo is a free savings app that rewards you for saving: it works with the bank you already use, and the more you save, the more free tickets you get for a weekly cash draw. So it’s not one beating the other, but a question of what you want: a no-fee bank account, a free weekly draw on top of one, or both.

What is the difference between Lodavo and Simplii Financial?

The one difference that matters: Simplii holds your money and pays interest on it, while Lodavo gives you free weekly draw tickets just for saving, a shot at cash prizes. Simplii is a place to keep your money. Lodavo works alongside whatever bank you already use, and never touches your balance.

Simplii is custody plus a rate. You open an account, your money sits with Simplii Financial, the digital banking division of CIBC and a CDIC member, and you earn interest while your eligible deposits stay insured. It’s a full online bank: no-fee chequing, a high-interest savings account, GICs, the Cash Back Visa, mortgages, and investments under one login. Your money lives inside Simplii.

Lodavo is a free prize-linked layer, not an account. As Canada’s first prize-linked savings app, it connects to your existing bank through Plaid in read-only mode, checks your savings balance each week, and gives you free tickets for a weekly draw. It can’t move a dollar. Your money never leaves your own bank, and it keeps earning whatever it already earned there.

How Simplii Financial works

Simplii is a no-fee online bank owned by CIBC. It bundles chequing, savings, GICs, the Cash Back Visa, mortgages, and investments in one app, with no monthly fees and no minimum balance. The thing to watch is the savings rate: a low ongoing rate, with the high numbers reserved for time-limited welcome offers for new clients.

Look closely at the rate. New clients can earn a promotional 4.60 percent on a High Interest Savings Account for 153 days, about five months, on balances up to $100,000, per Simplii’s savings offer (opens in a new tab). After that, the rate reverts to the regular tier, which is low, around 0.30 percent on the first $50,000, per Simplii’s rates page (opens in a new tab) (rates change, so check before you open). On chequing, Simplii runs a $300 cash bonus for new clients who set up direct deposit, per Simplii’s welcome offer (opens in a new tab). For context, the Bank of Canada (opens in a new tab) has held its overnight rate at 2.25 percent through June 2026, so a 0.30 percent ongoing savings rate sits well below the going rate. The pattern is the familiar one for big-bank online arms: generous welcome offers, a low everyday rate between them.

On safety, this is a real bank. As a division of CIBC, Simplii is covered by CDIC (opens in a new tab), so eligible deposits are insured up to $100,000 per category, per depositor. One important limit: Simplii Financial products and services aren’t available in Quebec, per Simplii’s own FAQ (opens in a new tab), so if you live in Quebec, Simplii isn’t an option to begin with. Everywhere else, the trade is the one every bank account makes: to earn the rate, your money has to live at Simplii, and the headline rate only lasts as long as the welcome offer.

How Lodavo works

Lodavo rewards your saving with free tickets in a weekly cash draw. You connect your existing Canadian bank account through Plaid (opens in a new tab), which covers over 99 percent of deposit accounts in Canada and gives apps scoped, read-only access (never your bank password). The more you keep saved, the more free tickets you get for the weekly draw. The draw pays up to $10,000, with a guaranteed weekly prize of at least $100 going to a user every week.

Because the connection is read-only, Lodavo can’t withdraw, charge, or transfer anything. Your money stays at your own bank, earning whatever it already earns, and you don’t switch banks or open an account. You can see exactly how each draw is run on the provably fair page, and eligibility and odds live in the contest rules. And because Lodavo is built in Montreal, the weekly draw is open to residents of every province, Quebec included.

Can you use Lodavo and Simplii together?

Yes, outside Quebec, and it’s the pairing that makes the most sense for a lot of people. Because Lodavo holds no money, it doesn’t compete with Simplii for where your cash sits. Keep your savings in Simplii, grab the welcome offers if you’re a new client, stay CDIC-insured, and connect that same account to Lodavo to add free weekly draw tickets on the balance you hold. Nothing about Simplii changes. You’re adding a free prize layer on top of a bank account.

Simplii holds the money and pays the promo rate; Lodavo hands the same saver a free weekly shot at a prize, without moving a dollar. And if you’re in Quebec, where Simplii isn’t offered, Lodavo still works on its own, connected to the bank or caisse you already use.

When Simplii Financial is the better choice

Simplii is the right tool, on its own, if any of these is your main goal:

• You want a real, full-service online bank backed by CIBC: no-fee chequing and savings, GICs, the Cash Back Visa, mortgages, and investments in one place.
• You’re a new client and want the welcome offers: the $300 chequing cash bonus and 4.60 percent on savings for five months while they last.
• You want CDIC-insured custody from a big-five bank, up to $100,000 per category.
• You want no monthly fees, no minimum balance, and everyday banking tools alongside your savings.
• You live outside Quebec and want a place where your money earns a rate.

If what you mainly care about is a guaranteed return on your money, a bank account like Simplii does something Lodavo never will: it pays you a rate. The best savings apps in Canada guide lines a few up side by side, and if Simplii’s ongoing rate is the sticking point, Simplii alternatives in Canada covers banks with a higher everyday rate.

When Lodavo is the better fit

Lodavo is the right fit if these sound like you:

• You want a free chance at cash prizes just for saving.
• You don’t want to move money, switch banks, or open another account just to enter a draw.
• You want zero monthly cost and nothing new to manage.
• You like the bank you already have, or you’re in Quebec where Simplii isn’t available, and you just want a reason to save a bit more.
• You want the upside of a draw without any of your money leaving your own bank, since Lodavo never holds it.

Lodavo won’t replace a bank account, so it isn’t the tool if a guaranteed rate is all you want. It’s the tool if you want saving to come with a free weekly shot at a genuine prize, on top of whatever bank you already use.

Want a free shot at a weekly cash prize while you save, without moving a dollar or leaving your bank? Get Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab).

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.