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 more you save, the more free tickets you get for a weekly cash draw. 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, while Lodavo gives you free weekly draw tickets just for saving, a real shot at cash prizes. 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 is a free prize-linked layer, not an account. As Canada’s first prize-linked savings app, it links 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 earns whatever it already earned there.

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

Lodavo hands you free tickets in a weekly cash draw for the money you keep saved. 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.

Can you use Lodavo and Tangerine together?

Yes, 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 Tangerine for where your cash sits. 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 based on the balance you hold. Nothing about Tangerine changes. You’re adding a free prize layer on top of a bank account.

Tangerine keeps the rate and the everyday banking; Lodavo adds a free weekly shot at a prize for the same balance, without ever touching it. 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 Lodavo turns it into 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

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, Tangerine included, and 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 real prize, on top of whatever bank or app (Tangerine included) you already use.

Want a free shot at a weekly cash prize while you save, without moving a dollar or leaving Tangerine? 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.