What is the best bank account in the UK right now?
Answers vary from one ask to the next, and the apps can search the web and remember the person asking. That is why we ask each question 90 times without web search and 36 times with it.
Britain's biggest retail bank comes ninth in AI's answers. Monzo comes first.
Lloyds Banking Group serves about 28 million customers, more than any other UK bank group. It comes first in 3% of answers without web search and 2% with it. Asked for the best bank account in Britain, AI names it first in none of 90 answers and none of 36 with search. Monzo comes first in 27% both ways, whichever question we leave out.
United Kingdom
Banking and money apps
Britain's biggest retail bank comes ninth in AI's answers. Monzo comes first.
Measured without web search. The search run comes in the next edition.
The brands AI names first most often, plus any this finding is about.
Named firstNamed at all
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| Monzo | 59% | |
| Starling | 67% | |
| HSBC UKFirst Direct 9%, HSBC 2% | 38% | |
| Nationwide | 31% | |
| Barclays | 24% | |
| Wise | 13% | |
| Chase | 31% | |
| GoHenry | 9% | |
| Lloyds Banking GroupHalifax 2%, Lloyds 1% | 36% | |
| Chip | 8% | |
| NatWest GroupNatWest 2% | 31% | |
| Revolut | 31% | |
| Trading 212 | 3% | |
| Snoop | 4% | |
| NS&I | 3% | |
| Emma | 4% | |
| Santander | 20% | |
| TSB | 5% | |
| Marcus | 4% | |
| Zopa | 3% | |
| Plum | 6% | |
| Kroo | 3% | |
| Step | 2% | |
| Currencies Direct | 1% | |
| Discover | <1% | |
| Post Office | 4% | |
| Moneybox | 3% | |
| Monese | 3% | |
| Atom Bank | 3% | |
| OFX | 2% | |
| Remitly | 2% | |
| YNAB | 2% | |
| WorldRemit | 2% | |
| Co-operative Bank | 1% | |
| Rooster Money | <1% | |
| Metro Bank | <1% | |
| Chime | <1% | |
| Honeydue | <1% | |
| None of the tracked brands |
720 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The three assistants share a favorite on 3 of 8 questions.
Group figures combine their brands: Lloyds Banking Group includes Halifax and HSBC UK includes First Direct. Brand pages show each name separately. Lloyds Banking Group is ninth without web search and shares eighth to eleventh place with it.
By assistant, and on your own buyers' questions: that is a Position Map. See a Position Map
With web search · All eight questions
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| Monzo | 64% | |
| Starling | 66% | |
| Barclays | 33% | |
| Nationwide | 36% | |
| Chase | 33% | |
| HSBC UKHSBC 3%, First Direct 3% | 44% | |
| NatWest GroupNatWest 3% | 33% | |
| Lloyds Banking GroupHalifax 1%, Lloyds 1% | 31% | |
| Santander | 24% | |
| Wise | 14% | |
| Co-operative Bank | 6% | |
| Zopa | 8% | |
| GoHenry | 6% | |
| Plum | 6% | |
| NS&I | 2% | |
| Emma | 6% | |
| Snoop | 5% | |
| TSB | 8% | |
| Moneybox | 4% | |
| Currencies Direct | 2% | |
| Trading 212 | <1% | |
| Revolut | 29% | |
| Chip | 6% | |
| Monese | 5% | |
| Kroo | 3% | |
| Rooster Money | 3% | |
| Post Office | 3% | |
| Atom Bank | 2% | |
| Metro Bank | 2% | |
| OFX | 2% | |
| WorldRemit | 2% | |
| YNAB | 2% | |
| Remitly | 1% | |
| Step | <1% | |
| Wells Fargo | <1% |
287 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The three assistants share a favorite on 2 of 8 questions.
Who sells, and who AI names first.
By market size
By AI's first picks
- 1Lloyds Banking Group28 million customers
- 2Barclaysover 20 million
- 3NatWest Group19 million
- 4Nationwide19 million members
- 5Monzo15.2 million
- 6HSBC UKover 14.6 million
- 7Santander13.6 million
- 8Revolut13 million
- 1Monzo27%
- 2Starling15%
- 3HSBC UK11%
- 4Nationwide7%
- 5Barclays6%
- 6Wise4%
- 7Chase4%
- 8GoHenry4%
- 9Lloyds Banking Group3%
- 10Chip3%
- 11NatWest Group2%
- 12Revolut2%
- =17Santander<1%
Places count every brand AI names, so the numbers can jump. "=" is a tie. "–" means AI never names it first.
By customers: Lloyds Banking Group, then Barclays, NatWest Group and Nationwide. By AI's first picks without web search: Monzo, Starling, HSBC UK. With it: Monzo, Starling, Barclays.
Customer numbers from the banks' own latest reports. Customers are not main accounts, and many people use more than one bank.
What it means.
Size gives no head start here. In the market and in AI, British banking has two different league tables, and none of the three assistants puts Lloyds in its top three. One leans to Starling, the other two clearly prefer Monzo. A bank that grew through branches and decades of relationships should assume its position in AI has to be won separately, starting with the moments that bring a new customer: switching, saving, a child's first account.
The eight questions.
I'm in the UK. Best card for spending abroad in Europe with no fees?
Best savings app in the UK?
I'm in the UK. Which bank has the best switching offer at the moment?
Without web search
HSBC UKThe assistants differ.
With web search
BarclaysThe assistants differ.
Best bank account for a 13 year old in the UK?
Best budgeting app that works with a UK bank account?
I'm in the UK. Is it safe to keep my money in an app-only bank?
Which UK bank will give me an account with a poor credit history?
Is your company missing or measured under the wrong name? Tell us. We correct facts at any time. Results change only in the next edition, for everyone.
Edition 1, Q4 2026. Next edition: January 2027.
Eight buying questions per market, each asked in six wordings of ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude: five times without web search (720 answers per market, 14,400 in all) and twice with it (288 per market, 4,600 in all, in sixteen of the twenty markets so far). Measured 25 to 30 October 2026. Kesterley.
Your own questions, not ours. Position Map: where you stand on the questions your buyers ask, why AI puts a rival first, and what to do first. From $2,500. Two weeks.
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