Lodavo vs Wealthsimple: Honest Canadian Comparison

If you’re comparing Lodavo vs Wealthsimple, the useful thing to know is that both run a prize draw, but they aren’t the same kind of product. Wealthsimple is a full financial platform: you can invest, trade stocks commission-free, buy crypto, and use a chequing account and credit card, while it holds your money and pays interest on the cash you keep there. Its monthly $1 million draw is one feature on top of all that, tied to the balances you hold. Lodavo is a free savings app that rewards you for saving. It works with the bank you already use, and you’re in the weekly cash draw just by keeping money saved. So it comes down to where you want your savings to live: at Wealthsimple, earning a rate and feeding its big monthly draw, or at your current bank with Lodavo adding a free weekly draw on top.

What is the difference between Lodavo and Wealthsimple?

The one difference that matters: Wealthsimple holds your money and pays interest, and its prize draw rewards the dollars you move into Wealthsimple. Lodavo gives you free weekly draw tickets just for saving, at whichever bank you already use. Both run draws. Only one needs your money to move first.

On the savings side, Wealthsimple is custody plus a rate plus a draw. You open a Wealthsimple Chequing account (renamed from Cash in 2025), your money sits with Wealthsimple’s partner banks, and you earn a tiered rate while your deposits also buy entries into the Monthly Millionaire. Add investing, commission-free trading, crypto, and a credit card, and it’s a whole financial home. Your money lives inside Wealthsimple.

Lodavo is free, and it needs none of your balance. As Canada’s first prize-linked savings app, it connects to the bank you already use, and the balance you keep saved earns you free tickets in a weekly cash draw. Nothing to fund, nothing to transfer in.

How Wealthsimple works

Wealthsimple is one of Canada’s largest fintechs, bundling investing, commission-free trading, crypto, a no-fee Chequing account, and a credit card in one app. The Chequing account pays a tiered interest rate, and the balances you hold across Wealthsimple feed both that rate and its new Monthly Millionaire draw. The more you keep with Wealthsimple, the higher your rate and your draw odds.

The Chequing rate scales with your balance

The Wealthsimple Chequing account (formerly Cash) has no monthly fee and pays interest that scales with how much you hold. As of 2026, Wealthsimple’s own rates (opens in a new tab) run 1.25 percent for Core clients, 1.75 percent for Premium clients with at least $100,000 in assets, and 2.25 percent for Generation clients with at least $500,000. Core and Premium clients can add 0.5 percent with a qualifying direct deposit, capped at 2.25 percent. So the headline rate is real, and the top rates apply to larger balances.

The Monthly Millionaire draw

The newest addition is the Monthly Millionaire (opens in a new tab). Every month one Wealthsimple client wins $1 million in the final draw, with smaller weekly prizes in the weeks before it. The line-up changes month to month: August 2026 ran $25,000, then $50,000, then a Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid, ahead of the $1 million. You earn one entry for every dollar of net deposits or transfers into Wealthsimple, 500 entries for funding a chequing account, and 5,000 for each successful referral, up to 100,000 entries a month. The odds depend on the total entries received, and because entries track the dollars you move in, the more you save and keep there, the better your odds. On safety, the Chequing account is CDIC-eligible through Wealthsimple’s partner banks (it advertises coverage up to $1 million by spreading deposits across several member banks), while invested money isn’t covered by CDIC (opens in a new tab) and falls under CIPF protection instead.

How Lodavo works

You’re in Lodavo’s draw just by keeping money saved. You connect the Canadian bank account you already use through Plaid (opens in a new tab), which covers over 99 percent of deposit accounts in Canada, Wealthsimple included, and your bank password never reaches the app. Your tickets follow what you save, so the more you keep saved, the more you get. The draw pays up to $10,000, with a guaranteed weekly prize of at least $100 going to a user every week.

Every draw can be audited after the fact. The provably fair page explains the method, and eligibility and odds live in the contest rules.

Can you use Lodavo and Wealthsimple together?

Yes, and with these two it’s especially worth doing. Neither one is competing for the same job. You can keep your savings in Wealthsimple, earn its chequing rate, enter the Monthly Millionaire with the balance you hold, and then connect that same account (Wealthsimple is supported through Plaid) to Lodavo to add free weekly draw tickets on top. One balance, two different draws, and nothing about Wealthsimple changes.

The neat part is the two draws don’t cancel out. Wealthsimple gives you a monthly chance at a big prize for the money you hold there; Lodavo gives you a free weekly one for that same balance. You stay in both, and running the second costs you nothing.

When Wealthsimple is the better choice

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

• You want investing, trading, crypto, and everyday banking in one well-built app, not just a prize chance.
• You want a no-fee chequing account that actually pays interest, and you’ll hold enough to reach the rate you want.
• You’re chasing the biggest possible prize, since Wealthsimple’s grand prize is $1 million a month, far larger than any weekly draw.
• You’re comfortable concentrating your money at Wealthsimple, because both your rate and your draw odds rise with what you deposit.
• You want CDIC-eligible custody (advertised up to $1 million across partner banks) rather than keeping savings at your current bank.

If your aim is purely the highest rate on a smaller balance, weigh a flat high-interest account too, since Wealthsimple’s best rates apply to larger holdings. The best savings apps in Canada guide lays a few out side by side.

When Lodavo is the better fit

Lodavo earns its place if:

• You want a draw you enter just by saving, with no deposit required.
• You don’t want to shift money anywhere just to be in a draw.
• You want zero cost and no new account to manage.
• You like the bank you already have, Wealthsimple included, and just want a reason to save a bit more.
• You’d rather earn tickets on the balance you already keep than fund a new one.

Lodavo won’t replace a chequing or investing account, so it isn’t the tool if you want a rate or a place to grow money. Its grand prize is smaller than Wealthsimple’s, too. What it adds is a reason to keep saving. It doesn’t try to beat Wealthsimple’s rate; it makes the saving itself a little more fun, while your money keeps earning wherever it sits. It’s the tool if you want a free weekly draw on top of whatever bank or app (Wealthsimple included) you already use.

Want a second draw, one you enter just by 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.