Tangerine is a digital bank with a long history of disrupting the Canadian banking industry. Wealthsimple has a shorter history but has made plenty of waves of its own, launching in 2014 as an investment platform and then moving into the world of banking.
So if you’re looking for a banking or investing platform, who should you choose? Let’s compare Tangerine vs Wealthsimple to find out.
| Tangerine | Wealthsimple | |
|---|---|---|
| Products |
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| Account interest rates |
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| Monthly fees | $0 | $0 |
| Purchase card | Debit card | Prepaid card |
| Cash access | Free access to 3,500+ Scotiabank ATMs nationwide and 44,000 ATMs worldwide, $1.50 fee for other ATM withdrawals in Canada | No Wealthsimple ATM fees, any ATM operator fees charged globally are reimbursed |
| Branches | N/A (online only) | N/A (online only) |
| CDIC insured? | Yes | Yes |
| Apple App Store rating | 4.7/5 based on 78,000+ ratings | 4.6/5 based on 130,000+ ratings |
| Google Play rating | 4.6/5 based on 53,000+ ratings | 4.1/5 based on 81,000+ ratings |
| Notable differences |
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| Get started |
Tangerine is a digital bank owned by Scotiabank. It offers many of the products and services you’d expect from a traditional bank, including chequing and savings accounts as well as mortgages, but with one key difference: it doesn’t have any branches.
Tangerine was founded in 1997 as ING Direct Canada, but was then acquired by Scotiabank in 2012 and soon rebranded.
Wealthsimple is a Canadian fintech, not a bank. It offers a platform and mobile app for a variety of financial products, ranging from chequing and savings accounts to a credit card, mortgages, and stock and crypto trading.
Wealthsimple was founded in 2014 as a robo-advisor platform, and it has added support for a wide range of products and services in the intervening years.
Tangerine offers a No-Fee Daily Chequing Account, a Savings Account and a US Dollar Savings Account.
Wealthsimple has a Chequing Account, a Kids Chequing Account, a Savings Account and a USD Account.
To find out how they stack up against each other, let’s break down how they perform across a few key categories.
Nothing to see here. Tangerine and Wealthsimple both have $0 monthly fees across their accounts. We’re also pleased to see that both the Tangerine No-Fee Daily Chequing Account and the Wealthsimple Chequing Account support unlimited daily transactions.
Plenty to see here. Tangerine stands out for the attractive promo interest rates on its savings accounts, but those juicy rates only apply for the first five months. After that, you only get a much lower standard rate.
Meanwhile, Wealthsimple offers a competitive ongoing rate on its CAD and USD savings accounts, with no time limits or other pesky terms and conditions. We also like the fact that Wealthsimple’s Chequing Account provides easy access to your money for day-to-day banking, but at the same time pays the sort of competitive interest you’d expect from a savings account.
It’s worth noting that with the Wealthsimple Chequing Account, Generation clients (with $500,000+ in assets qualify for the maximum 2.25% interest rate. Core and Premium clients get 1.25% and 1.75% respectively, but they can qualify for a 0.5% boost when they direct deposit at least $2,000 into their account within a 30-day period.
Check the tables below to see how the account interest rates stack up side-by-side.
| Tangerine Savings Account | Wealthsimple Savings Account | |
|---|---|---|
| Interest rate | 0.30% (4.50% for first 5 months) | 2.50% |
| Conditions | Promo rate for new clients only on balances up to $1 million | N/A |
| Tangerine US$ Savings Account | Wealthsimple USD Account | |
|---|---|---|
| Interest rate | 0.10% (4.50% for first 5 months) | 2.5% – 3.5% |
| Conditions | Promo rate for new clients only on balances up to $1 million | Tiered rate structure based on the value of the assets you hold with Wealthsimple |
| Tangerine No-Fee Daily Chequing Account | Wealthsimple Chequing Account | |
|---|---|---|
| Interest rate | 0.01% – 0.10% | 1.25% – 2.25% |
| Conditions | Tiered rate structure based on account balance | Tiered rate structure based on the value of the assets you hold with Wealthsimple |
Let’s take a look at how the two chequing accounts compare in terms of other fees and charges.
| Tangerine No-Fee Daily Chequing Account | Wealthsimple Chequing Account | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum deposit requirement | $0 | $0 |
| Interac e-Transfer fee | $0 | $0 |
| FX fee | 2.50% | $0 |
| Out-of-network ATM withdrawal fee in Canada | $1.50 | $0 |
| Wire transfer fee | N/A | $15 |
| Overdraft protection fee | $5 per use (charged a maximum of once per month) + 19% interest | $0 + interest from 3.95% |
| NSF fee | $10 | $0 |
| Account inactivity fee | $10 | $0 |
Who’s the winner?Higher savings interest rates and fewer fees see Wealthsimple take the win here.
Tangerine offers a choice of three credit cards to Wealthsimple’s one.
Choose from the following:
Meanwhile, the Wealthsimple Credit Card is available as a Visa Infinite+ or Infinite Privilege card with a wide range of perks. It pays 2% cashback on everything, has no FX fees, and offers free lounge passes along with a variety of travel benefits. The card comes with a $240 annual fee, but this is waived if you meet direct deposit requirements to your Wealthsimple Chequing Account or have $100,000+ in assets with Wealthsimple.
Who’s the winner?It depends on what you need in a card. Tangerine is a good choice if you want a $0 annual fee and a relatively low minimum income requirement, but Wealthsimple offers more high-end perks.
If you want to grow wealth for the future, Tangerine and Wealthsimple take quite different approaches to investing.
Tangerine provides access to non-registered investment accounts as well as registered accounts (TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs). It offers a range of mutual funds based on your investment goals and appetite for risk, including its Core Portfolios (Equity Growth, Balanced Growth, Dividend, Balanced or Balanced Income) and global ETF portfolios. You can also invest in GICs with terms ranging from 90 days to 5 years.
But Wealthsimple offers a much broader range of options for self-directed investors. You can use a Wealthsimple Trade account to invest in Canadian and US stocks and ETFs commission-free, while you can also trade options, futures and even invest in physical gold. And unlike traditional brokerage platforms, Wealthsimple also lets you trade crypto.
Wealthsimple still offers managed investing too. The range starts with the Classic portfolio, which invests in ETFs depending on your goals and risk tolerance—Aggressive, Growth, Balanced or Conservative. You can also choose from Income portfolios for dividend income, the Summit portfolio to target high growth, and private credit funds.
Who’s the winner?Wealthsimple offers more investment choices.
As the more traditional of the two providers, it’s no surprise that Tangerine offers a traditional range of borrowing options. You can access fixed and variable mortgages from the digital bank along with a home equity line of credit (5.95% interest rate), a line of credit of up to $30,000 and RSP Loans.
Over at Wealthsimple, you can use your investments as collateral to borrow funds with a portfolio line of credit. You can borrow up to 35% of the value of your assets, with interest rates ranging from 3.95% – 4.95% depending on your client tier.
Wealthsimple also operates as a mortgage broker rather than a direct mortgage lender, offering access to a network of over 25 lending partners. Check how the mortgage interest rates of Wealthsimple’s partners compare to Tangerine in the table below.
| Tangerine | Wealthsimple | |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year fixed mortgage rate | 4.84% | 4.49% |
| 5-year variable mortgage rate | 3.90% | 3.45% |
Who’s the winner?Tangerine offers more choice for borrowers.
As you’d expect from a digital bank and a fintech, Tangerine and Wealthsimple both offer slick mobile apps.
Tangerine offers a clean and uncluttered user interface, so it’s easy to access all your banking products in one place. You can check your account balance and monthly spend, track your progress towards savings goals, and pay bills or send money to people all with a few simple taps. We appreciated the easily accessible selection of money management tools on offer, while features like mobile cheque deposit allow for convenient day-to-day banking.
The Wealthsimple app is just as streamlined. It’s fast, clean and easy to navigate right from your first use, and there’s a lot to be said for being able to access your chequing account, stock trading and crypto wallet in one place. It’s pretty clear based on this seamless user experience that Wealthsimple has been built as a mobile-first financial platform.
| Tangerine | Wealthsimple | |
|---|---|---|
| Apple App Store |
4.7 –
★★★★★ 76K reviews |
4.6 –
★★★★★ 127K reviews |
| Google Play |
4.3 –
★★★★★ 48.8K reviews |
4.4 –
★★★★★ 80.3K reviews |
Who’s the winner?Both providers have streamlined, user-friendly apps, but the higher ratings for Tangerine see it come out on top.
The Canadian banking and investing sectors are highly competitive, so it’s quite common for both providers to regularly run special offers in a bid to entice new customers. For example, at the time of writing Tangerine is offering a $250 bonus to new customers who open a chequing account and set up a payroll direct deposit, while introductory bonus interest rate offers are a regular feature of the Tangerine Savings Account.
Over at Wealthsimple, you can take advantage of a 1% match on account transfers of $25,000 or more, up to a maximum of $20,000. Offers change frequently, so it’s worth checking in with each provider often to find the best deals.
Need to withdraw cash at an ATM? Because Tangerine is owned by Scotiabank, you get free access to Scotiabank’s nationwide network of over 3,500 ATMs. You can also access 44,000 ATMs worldwide through Scotiabank’s Global ATM Alliance.
Wealthsimple doesn’t have its own ATM network, but that’s not a problem—Wealthsimple will reimburse you for fees charged by ATM providers around the world.
Prefer to make payments the traditional way? Your First chequebook with 50 cheques is free with the Tangerine No-Fee Daily Chequing Account, while additional chequebooks cost $50. Wealthsimple offers a free cheque book when you set up a direct deposit into your chequing account, while you can order additional chequebooks for $50 plus tax.
What does Reddit think of the Tangerine vs Wealthsimple debate?Tangerine and Wealthsimple both have their fans among Reddit users, but posters generally acknowledge that each provider excels in different areas.
For Tangerine, that means offering a wide range of conventional banking products like a traditional bank. It gets plaudits as a solid option for daily banking and for offering attractive promo rates on its Savings Account.
Wealthsimple draws praise for factors such as paying competitive interest on your Chequing Account, offering a user-friendly investing platform, and providing commission-free trading.
Wealthsimple is the better choice for more people, but there are some areas where Tangerine outperforms its rival
Wealthsimple is the winner if you want a chequing account that pays interest, a beginner-friendly investing app and commission-free trading.
But if you want no-fee daily banking, access to a wide range of financial products and the security of dealing with a chartered bank, Tangerine could be a good fit for you.
Still not sold on either Tangerine or Wealthsimple? Maybe one of these other alternatives will tick all the boxes.
Online-only EQ Bank offers a hybrid chequing/savings account it calls the Personal Account. This account offers unlimited transactions, no foreign transaction fees, and cashback on your spending with the EQ Bank Card, but at the same time pays up to 2.75% interest (when conditions are met) on your balance.
EQ also offers a US Dollar Account to help you grow your USD savings, and a Notice Savings Account that pays 2.35% – 2.75% interest.
A KOHO account is a hybrid spending/savings account with plenty of similarities to the Wealthsimple Chequing Account. It supports unlimited transactions, pays 2% – 3.5% interest depending on the plan you choose, and also pays 1% – 2% cashback on your spending with a prepaid Mastercard. Other KOHO products include interest-free cash advances, credit-building services and in-app crypto trading.
Neo is a Canadian fintech that offers a range of products to compete with Tangerine and Wealthsimple. It starts with the fee-free everyday banking of the Neo Chequing Account, and the ability to earn 1% cashback on gas and groceries when you add a Neo Money prepaid card. Then there’s the Neo Savings Account that pays up to 2.75% interest, and a selection of cashback and flight miles credit cards designed to reward you for your spending.
Read our full Neo Financial review
Simplii Financial is a digital bank backed by CIBC. If you want fee-free daily banking, the unlimited transactions of Simplii’s No Fee Chequing Account will put a smile on your face. Simplii is also known for the promo interest rates on its High Interest Savings Account, which pays 4.60% for the first 5 months, as well as the rewards earning potential of its Cash Back Visa credit card.
Read our full Simplii Financial review
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