SoFi vs. Ally: Which bank is right for you?

Whether you go with SoFi or Ally, you’ll be choosing one of the best online banks out there. Each bank offers accounts with few fees, 24/7 phone support, decent APYs and a variety of products and services. The differences in account offerings between the two online banks are marginal, but those small differences can add up.

SoFi vs. Ally: A quick comparison

Ally vs. SoFi: Product offerings

SoFi and Ally are two of the most popular and well-known online banks. Both are FDIC-insured on their own, unlike many other digital banking fintechs like Chime and Current, which rely on third-party banks to insure their products.

Banking

SoFi and Ally offer some of the best personal bank accounts available. Ally Savings often earns itself a place on our best high-yield savings accounts list, and SoFi often takes the win for the best checking account. These accounts lack fees and deposit requirements, and they’re full of modern perks. Both banks also allow joint owners on their accounts, use the Allpoint ATM network and accept mobile check deposits, and their APYs on savings are neck-in-neck.

With SoFi’s hybrid option, you only have to open one account to get both a checking and savings account. Unlike Ally, SoFi doesn’t offer money market accounts or CDs. But Ally can’t accept cash deposits at all, and SoFi accepts cash deposits at select retail locations for a $4.95 fee.

Ally offers:

• Ally Savings. The Ally Savings account has no monthly fees, no balance requirements and no messy APY tiers. You’ll earn up to 4.2% APY on all balances, but there’s no way to make cash deposits. It features its own digital envelope budgeting tool called “buckets,” which allows you to sort your savings goals.
• Ally Spending. No monthly maintenance fees, opening deposits or overdraft fees. There are also no fees for any incoming wires, cashier’s checks or ATM fees within the Allpoint network. The Ally Spending account also offers 0.1% to 0.25% APY based on your balance, features a budgeting tool and works together with the savings account for roundups. You can also get up to $10 in out-of-network ATM fee reimbursements per month.
• Ally CDs. Ally offers a variety of CDs, none of which require an opening deposit. It offers rate boosts for renewing and no-penalty CD options, and rates are as high as 4.75% APY.
• Money market account. Ally’s money market account made our list of the best money market accounts (MMAs). It earns 4.2% APY on all balance tiers and has no monthly fees, overdraft fees or incoming wire fees. There are also no excessive transaction fees, and you’ll get a debit card and checkwriting privileges.

SoFi offers:

• SoFi Checking and Savings. It’s a hybrid checking and savings account with no monthly fees or opening deposit requirements. Checking balances earn up to 0.5% APY with no balance requirements. The savings balance earns up to 4.6% APY when you set up direct deposit or deposit at least $5,000 per month. If you don’t meet the requirements, the APY drops to 1.2%. The account also comes with up to 20 “vaults,” so you can separate your savings goals, similar to the Ally’s Spend account buckets.

Borrowing

SoFi and Ally offer similar lending options. Both banks offer mortgages, refinancing, auto loans, personal loans and business credit, but Ally offers three more credit card options.

SoFi offers:

• Secured and unsecured loans. Browse personal loans, home loans, student loans and home equity loans. It also offers small business loans and a variety of refinancing options such as auto loans, student loans, cash-out refinance and mortgage refinancing.
• SoFi Credit Card. Offers unlimited 2% cash back, up to 3% cash back on SoFi Travel purchases, and has no annual fee.

Ally offers:

• Secured and unsecured loans. Offers personal loans, mortgages, refinancing and auto loans. Ally also offers small business lending and resources.
• Credit cards. There are four different Ally personal credit cards: Ally Platinum, Ally Everyday Cash Back, Ally Unlimited Cash Back and Ally Unlimited Cash Back for Nurses & Educators.

Investing

Both SoFi and Ally feature investing and retirement planning tools.

• Ally investing. Ally’s investment platform offers self-directed trading, robo portfolios and personal investment advice. It has many investment options, including stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), commission-free ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, and margin accounts. It also offers IRAs.
• SoFi Invest. SoFi offers an online investing platform where you can invest in stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and alternative asset funds. It also offers traditional, ROTH or SEP IRAs.

Apps, features and more

SoFi offers a few more features in its mobile app than Ally and can offer significantly higher FDIC insurance.

SoFi and Ally both offer a savings round-up feature that rounds up purchases to the nearest dollar and then transfers the difference to your savings account. But SoFi also offers credit score monitoring, spending categories, budget planning, bill organizing and more. You can also get up to $2 million in FDIC insurance — most banks only offer up to $250,000 per depositor.

Ally’s Spending account and SoFi’s hybrid account both feature a tool that uses the envelope budgeting method, allowing you to sort your cash into neat little SoFi “vaults” or Ally “buckets.” But aside from the envelope method the banks both use, Ally doesn’t feature tools like credit monitoring that you’d find with SoFi.

How SoFi and Ally’s fees compare

The only real fee difference comes down to foreign transactions. SoFi’s Mastercard charges a low 0.2% foreign exchange convenience fee, and Ally has a 1% foreign exchange rate fee.

Other than that, SoFi and Ally are nearly identical in fees — or lack of them. Neither charges monthly maintenance fees on its personal accounts, they use the same free Allpoint ATM network and they don’t require opening deposits. But unlike SoFi, Ally also offers up to $10 in out-of-network ATM reimbursements per month and doesn’t require an opening deposit on its MMA or various CD offerings.

But SoFi allows unlimited savings transactions, and Ally only allows up to 10 withdrawals or transfers with its savings account — which is still higher than the typical six monthly transactions you’ll find at other banks.

Also, while Ally does have a transaction limit, there are no excessive transaction fees, and you can make unlimited transactions between your savings buckets.

What customers say about Ally and SoFi

Ally has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and SoFi holds the highest rating of A+. These ratings are based on a company’s responsiveness to customer complaints, as well as the volume of complaints they receive. While SoFi has a slightly higher BBB rating, it’s gotten over double the number of complaints at around 1,700, and Ally’s only received a little over 500.

The majority of these two banks’ complaints are typical banking grievances, such as struggling to contact customer support — a common complaint we see with digital banks without physical branches. Other common complaints are about frozen accounts due to fraudulent or suspicious activity, disappointment with being denied financing or billing issues.

On Reddit, SoFi receives decent marks, with customers saying they like the convenience of the hybrid account, its high APYs and referral bonuses for various products. Redditors also talk highly of Ally, with most saying it’s a solid online bank with high APYs and few fees, and many note it has fast and responsive customer service.

Final verdict: Tie

You really can’t go wrong with SoFi or Ally. Both banks have no monthly fees or deposit requirements on their personal accounts, support joint accounts, offer 24/7 phone support, have envelope budgeting features, investing options, interest-bearing checking accounts and more. All in all, they have more in common than they differ.

If you’re after convenience and want to make cash deposits, SoFi might be better. You can also get a savings and checking account by opening just one account, and both your checking and savings balance earn interest when you meet deposit requirements. But it doesn’t accept or send international wire transfers, and it doesn’t offer CDs or MMAs.

Ally might be the better option for savings products. The 4.2% APY on savings is slightly lower than SoFi, but there are no deposit or balance requirements to earn that rate. It also offers more savings products, including a high-yield MMA with a debit card, an interest-bearing checking account and multiple high-yield CDs with no opening deposit requirements.

SoFi at a glance

SoFi is best if you need to make cash deposits and want the convenience of opening one account for checking and savings.

Ally at a glance

Ally is best if you’re looking for high-yield accounts for savings, checking, CDs and MMAs.

Alternatives to SoFi and Ally

If you prefer online banking but SoFi and Ally aren’t for you, you’ve got plenty of alternative options.

• Upgrade. Similar to SoFi and Ally, Upgrade is a fintech company with banking services. The Upgrade Rewards Checking Plus account has no monthly fees and offers cashback rewards.
• Current. This fintech company offers banking services through its banking partner. It has somewhat limited personal banking offerings similar to SoFi but comes with many perks. With Current, you’ll enjoy no monthly fees, savings pods and rewards, and cash back. There’s also a credit-building card called Current Build featuring paycheck advances and no APR.
• Capital One. A primarily online bank, Capital One is a full-service bank offering credit cards, checking, savings and CDs. It also offers a variety of business banking products, mortgages, auto loans and business credit.

See how even more bank accounts stack up:

• SoFi vs. Chime
• Ally vs. Synchrony
• Ally vs. Chime