Lodavo vs Tangerine: An Honest Canadian Comparison

Tangerine’s savings account leads with 4.50 percent, but that’s a five-month welcome rate for new clients. After it ends, the ongoing rate drops to 0.30 percent. That gap is the whole story when you put Lodavo vs Tangerine side by side. Tangerine is a real online bank that holds your money and pays a rate. Lodavo is a free savings app that rewards you for saving. It works with the bank you already use, and the balance you keep saved earns you free tickets in a weekly draw where you could win up to $10,000. So it’s less Lodavo versus Tangerine than a question of what you’re after: a no-fee bank account, a free weekly draw on top of one, or both, especially once that promo rate settles back to 0.30 percent.

What is the difference between Lodavo and Tangerine?

The one difference that matters: Tangerine holds your money and pays interest on it. Lodavo hands you free tickets in a weekly draw for saving, with a top prize of $10,000. Tangerine is a place to store your money. Lodavo works alongside it, rewarding what you save.

Tangerine is custody plus a rate. You open an account, your money sits with Tangerine Bank, a CDIC member and a wholly owned subsidiary of Scotiabank, and you earn interest while your deposits stay insured up to the usual limits. It’s a full online bank, with chequing, savings, GICs, credit cards, and investing under one login. Your money lives inside Tangerine.

Lodavo changes nothing about where you bank. As Canada’s first prize-linked savings app, it connects to the bank you already use and gives you free tickets in a weekly cash draw, more of them the more you keep saved. Your Tangerine account carries on unchanged, promo rate or not.

How Tangerine works

Tangerine is a no-fee online bank, owned by Scotiabank, that bundles chequing, savings, GICs, credit cards, and investing in one app. The savings account charges no monthly fee and has no minimum balance, and your deposits are CDIC-insured. The thing to watch is the rate: a low ongoing rate, with the high numbers reserved for time-limited new-client promotions.

Here’s where the rate actually sits. As of 2026, Tangerine’s regular Savings Account rate is 0.30 percent on every balance, per Tangerine’s own rates page (opens in a new tab). New clients can get a promotional 4.50 percent for five months on a non-registered savings account, or 4.60 percent on a registered TFSA, RSP, or RIF, per Tangerine’s savings promo offer (opens in a new tab). That promo runs 153 days and then reverts to 0.30 percent. 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 well known: Tangerine runs frequent welcome promos, and the everyday rate stays low between them.

On safety, this is a real bank. Tangerine Bank is a CDIC (opens in a new tab) member in its own right, so eligible deposits are insured up to $100,000 per category, per depositor. You get no monthly fees, no minimum balance, and the everyday banking tools you’d expect from a Scotiabank-owned bank. The trade is the one every bank account makes: to earn the rate, your money has to live at Tangerine, and the headline rate only lasts as long as the promo does.

How Lodavo works

You could win up to $10,000, and the tickets cost nothing. You connect the Canadian bank account you already have through Plaid (opens in a new tab), which covers over 99 percent of deposit accounts in Canada and keeps your bank password out of the app entirely. Your balance updates each week, and your tickets follow what you save. Every week, a guaranteed prize of at least $100 goes to a user.

Nothing about the draw is hidden. The provably fair page sets out how each one is run, and eligibility and odds live in the contest rules.

Can you use Lodavo and Tangerine together?

Yes, and it’s the pairing that makes the most sense for a lot of people. The two do different things for your savings, so neither has to give ground. Keep your savings in Tangerine, grab the welcome promo if you’re a new client, stay CDIC-insured, and then connect that same account to Lodavo to add free weekly draw tickets for the balance you hold. Nothing about Tangerine changes. You’re adding a free prize on top of a bank account.

Tangerine keeps the rate and the everyday banking; Lodavo adds a free weekly draw for the same balance. It earns its keep most once a welcome promo ends and the balance settles at 0.30 percent: the money is sitting there either way, and with Lodavo it also earns you free draw tickets, without you doing anything new.

When Tangerine is the better choice

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

• You want a real, full-service online bank: no-fee chequing and savings, GICs, credit cards, and investing in one place.
• You’re a new client and want the 4.50 percent welcome promo for five months while it lasts.
• You want CDIC-insured custody from a bank backed by Scotiabank, up to $100,000 per category.
• You want no monthly fees, no minimum balance, and everyday banking tools alongside your savings.
• You’re willing to move banks, or chase periodic promos, to keep a higher rate.

If what you mainly care about is a guaranteed return on your money, a bank account like Tangerine 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 Tangerine’s ongoing rate is the sticking point, Tangerine alternatives in Canada covers banks with a higher everyday rate.

When Lodavo is the better fit

Go with Lodavo if:

• You want free tickets in a weekly draw, just for saving.
• You’d rather not switch banks or shift money around to get into a draw.
• You want no monthly cost and nothing extra to keep track of.
• You like the bank you already have, Tangerine included, and just want a reason to save a bit more.
• You want a $10,000 top prize in reach without opening or funding anything.

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 free tickets in a weekly draw for the saving you do, on top of whatever bank or app (Tangerine included) you already use.

You could win up to $10,000 this week, just for saving. 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.