Savers and investors are seeing more perks on offer, as providers come up with innovative new ways to reward them, but is it worth paying a subscription to secure a better deal?
Saving and investing app Plum revamped its subscription offering in July this year. There are now four tiers on offer – Basic, Plus, Boost and Max.
It’s good news for customers looking for higher savings rates and priority customer service with added benefits on top, including lower investment charges and discounts on eating out and free cinema tickets, all of which come with a Max account.
At Plum, customers can pay between £3.99 and £11.99 a month in exchange for a variety of perks they won’t get if they just have a free basic plan.
Plum Max, Plum’s most premium offering, is in the biggest fee tier at £11.99 a month, which would see users paying £143.88 a year.
Here is what you get with Plum Max if you…
Have savings
With a Max subscription, you can currently open a notice savings account with a rate of 4.32 per cent. This feature is exclusive to Max subscribers and not available with Basic, Plus or Boost plans.
A notice account is a type of savings account where you can withdraw your savings as often as you like but you must give your savings provider ‘notice’, in this case 95 days.
Plum Max customers pay £11.99 a month for a variety of perks including better savings rates and lower investment fees
A deposit of £5,000 would earn £233.91 after 12 months, for a balance of approximately £5,334.
Meanwhile, at 3.85 per cent, the easy-access account that comes with a Max subscription is higher than rates that come with its other plans. This rate and all rates mentioned are correct at the time of writing on 17 September 2025.
As with Plus and Boost plans, Max subscribers will get eight autosavers. These automatically put money aside for you without you having to think about it. You just set how much you want to save and when and Plum does the rest.
But Max plans come with an added feature. They let you split your autosavers between savings and investments, so you can choose whether the money is kept in cash or invested in the stock market as regular amount.
Max subscribers will be able to open Plum’s cash Isa which pays 4.37 per cent and Lifetime Isa paying a market-leading 4.4 per cent.
Plum’s cash Isa rate includes a bonus of 1.33 per cent for 12 months and is for new customers only. If you are transferring in an existing Isa you won’t be able to get the bonus rate and the rate you will get it 3.04 per cent.
A Lifetime Isa is a type of Isa which lets you save up to £4,000 a year, with the Government topping up contributions by 25 per cent. It’s designed to help you save for two scenarios only: buying your first home and retirement. Withdrawing money for anything other than your first home or retirement may result in a 25 per cent government penalty, meaning you could get back less than you put in.
Have investments
If you already have a stocks and shares Isa or want to start investing, Plum Max lets you choose from 22 ready-made investment funds.
Crucially, Max subscribers also get unlimited fee-free trades rather than two free trades a month with other Plum plans.
Fund management fees are 0.15 per cent compared to 0.6 per cent with the basic plan, 0.45 per cent with Plus and 0.3 per cent with Boost.
For a portfolio of £1,000 invested, a Max subscriber would pay £1.50 in management fees compared to a basic subscriber who would pay £6.
You can set up a repeat buy order if you make regular investments rather than investing a lump sum and get stock price alerts
If you choose to invest, keep in mind the value of your investments can go up as well as down meaning you may get back less than what you invest.
Want other perks
Plum Max subscribers have exclusive access to priority customer service to resolve any issues they encounter with their Plum account quickly.
A Max account also comes with a range of Lifestyle Benefits.
Max subscribers also get 2-for-1 meals, or 25 per cent off a meal bill, through a Tastecard at thousands of restaurants around the UK including the likes of PizzaExpress, Bella Italia and Carluccio’s. It also offers 50 per cent off Pizza Hut delivery seven days a week.
For coffee lovers, the Tastecard membership gives Max subscribers 25 per cent off coffees at over 1,000 venues across the country, including Caffe Nero and Black Sheep Coffee.
You can order as many hot drinks as you’d like, seven days a week. If you got a flat white a day from Caffe Nero, which costs £4.25, you would be spending £1,511 a year to fund your coffee habit.
With the 25 per cent discount, the price of a flat white a day would be reduced to £3.19. Over the course of a year, you’d spend £1,164 – saving £347 annually on coffee. If you had three coffees a week instead of seven, you would save £149 in the year.
Max subscribers will also get one free Cineworld cinema ticket a month. A Cineworld ticket can cost up to £20.99 depending on time and location. This could equate to up to £251.88 of savings if you are a film buff.
A customer considering a Plum Max account would need to consider whether they would make good use of the benefits on offer accounts to justify the higher fees.
SAVE MONEY, MAKE MONEY
Sipp cashback
Sipp cashback
£200 when you deposit or transfer £15,000
4.38% cash Isa
4.38% cash Isa
Trading 212: 0.53% fixed 12-month bonus
£20 off motoring
£20 off motoring
This is Money Motoring Club voucher
Up to £100 free share
Up to £100 free share
Get a free share worth £10 to £100
No fees on 30 funds
No fees on 30 funds
Potentially zero-fee investing in an Isa or Sipp
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