Revolut revealed as UK’s best finance app

At Invezz.com, we compiled an analysis to assess the best investment apps in the UK, according to data sourced from downloads and reviews across both iOS and Android. This feels topical, especially seeing as one of the most talked about apps in the space, Robinhood, is not available outside American soil. Additionally, we threw in apps from other genres too, but all  falling within the loose umbrella of investment or banking apps.

Key takeaways

• Revolut tops the ranks of the best investment apps, as new age apps take on established names such as Lloyds and Barclays
• HSBC a traditional name with one of the worst rated apps (48th out of 50)
• Binance app makes the top 10, highlighting crypto’s arrival in the mainstream
• Coinbase and Crypto.com also place in the top 5 for downloads
• Cash App and Google Pay boast a lot of downloads but are badly rated 
• Chase UK is the most popular finance app in the UK despite very few downloads

Pandemic changes

The pandemic created a new demographic of investor, the Robinhood trader. The markets have never before been so accessible, with millions now trying their hand at investing. Elsewhere, if banking and payment apps weren’t vital before, they certainly are now, following a two-year period where in-person trips to the bank were heavily restricted. Additionally, many merchants have switched off cash entirely, as the world’s movement towards tech took an almighty surge amid the health restrictions. 

Method

Compiling a weighted ranking system which gives an overall score to each app based on number of downloads, average rating and number of reviews, Revolut is the best investment app currently available in the UK. 

In order to calculate this weighted rank, we aggregated three metrics: the average rating in both iOS and Android app stores, the total number of downloads, and finally the total number of reviews. In order to not overly penalize smaller apps, and appreciate that the latter two metrics are highly correlated, we put a 50% weight on the average rating and a 25% weight on number of downloads and reviews respectively.

We looked at the top 50 most downloaded apps in the financial sphere, which cover a range of sub-sectors, including stock apps, cryptocurrency apps and stand-alone banking apps. 

Revolut reigns supreme

As can be seen from the table below, Revolut rules the roost, and quite comfortably so. The challenger bank’s app comes in with a top 5 score in all three categories, putting it well clear of PayPal in second place. 

Revolut offers many features, the most popular of which (and their original niche) was instant transfers to fellow app users, as well as cheap foreign exchange fees. But they have since expanded, and now offer an extensive banking app with budgeting, analytics, subaccounts and lending, to name but a few features. They have also launched an investing side of the business, with crypto, stocks and commodities all available, in addition to the previous selection of currencies,  positions them not just among the best forex apps, but among the top trading apps as a whole, too.

It’s been a meteoric rise for the company, and last year they became the most valuable private company in the UK – a valuation which the ratings and downloads in our study give credence to.

It shows the new age of banking has truly arrived, with innovative apps offering a wide range of features taking the battle to more established names such as Lloyds and Barclays – both of whom are still in the top 10, but likely would have been dominant if this study was compiled a few years previously. 

The highly (and poorly) rated

Looking purely at ratings alone, it is Starling Bank and Chase UK that lead the way with a lofty 4.85 rating each. Revolut is not far behind with 4.8 stars, and the bulk of the top 50 are rated between 4 and 5 stars. Further backing up Revolut’s top spot on the throne is the high proportion of downloaders who rate the app – at 18%, it is second behind only Barclays and Lloyds. 

Perhaps more intriguing here is those at the bottom. HSBC stands out, with a disappointing 3.45 stars, particularly concerning given it has the seventh most reviews. Cash app is another, 45th out of 50 in terms of average rating, and this is off the third most downloads. Google Pay also has work to do, an abject 39th of 50 in average rating despite being the most downloaded app.

Curiously, despite Chase UK being one of the top rated apps, the Chase Mobile app is 49th of 50 overall, with an average rating of only 3.35 stars. Furthermore, this is based off one million ratings, compared to a tiny 12,000 ratings for Chase UK, suggesting the latter’s strong performance may be partially due to a small sample size. 

The worst of the bunch? That would be 118 118 money, the credit app who place dead last with a rather shocking 1.9 stars, although with only 230 reviews this should be taken somewhat with a pinch of salt. 

Cryptocurrency apps arrive on the scene

Another trend notable from the rankings? The arrival of crypto apps. Binance cracks the top 10, with a particularly notable amount of downloads – third overall, behind only PayPal and Google Pay – pretty impressive company for the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange to be keeping. This will be a noticeable trend to track going forward, too, as Binance plan to expand more into the banking space with features such as credit cards and savings accounts either already launched or in the works. 

Coinbase and Crypto.com are two more crypto apps boasting impressive downloads – tied for fifth overall. Their average ratings let them down however, with 4.35 stars and 4.05 stars dropping their overall ranking to 18th and 31st. 

The full top 50 are ranked below: