Monzo
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 5 neobanks by recommenders
People recommend Monzo for its easy, modern app and fast backend, plus full API access. Critics point to outages, poor customer service and some business decisions.
People recommend Monzo for its easy, modern app and fast backend, plus full API access. Critics point to outages, poor customer service and some business decisions.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy to use
“They managed to build from scratch on relatively shoestring budgets their own implementation of a consumer bank”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “East coast. Verizon outage in US” “Where you can open an account, see savings, current account, business account, CC etc all in one.”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “UK banking apps showing customers other users' transactions” “Rare example of a consumer banking company that makes things easy.”
Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Monzo Stand-In” - Comment from 25 Apr 2026 on Hacker News
Fast, modern backend
“Yes the backend for Monzo is indeed very performant. I have a dev app connected using their api”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “UK banking apps showing customers other users' transactions” “I'm sure Monzo is slicker because it isn't talking to a bunch of COBOL in the backend”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “UK banking apps showing customers other users' transactions” Works on rooted phones and GrapheneOS
“I use Monzo, and that works perfectly on GrapheneOS.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “I've been running GrapheneOS on my Pixel Fold for over half a year” “Monzo in UK is fine with rooted and no Google Play”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux” Fair fees and sensible approach
“Platform fees are capped at £250 and their default managed fund fees is 0.14% which is pretty normal”
Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Monzo Stand-In” “I'd still say theirs is a great approach”
Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Monzo Stand-In”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Outages and poor customer service
“Then they screw you with poor customer service. Like the worst.”
Comment from 25 Jul 2026 in “Android May Soon Restrict On-Device ADB” “Due to the recent outage where it didn’t work properly”
Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Monzo Stand-In”
Other neobanks people recommend
The four most recommended other neobanks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury Bank | 44 | 8 | 85% | 11 | 5 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Revolut | 43 | 81 | 35% | 11 | 2 yrs3 owners | — |
| MonzoThis page | 19 | 7 | 73% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Starling Bank | 10 | 9 | 53% | 4 | — | — |
| N26 | 8 | 8 | 50% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
30 of the 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I don't think monzo is a good example”
“I was impressed that it barely affected their functionality.”
“the neobanks are arguably some of the best in the world”
“Monzo is nothing more than a science project”
“monzo r the same guys who went in on micro services”
“Platform fees are capped at £250 and their default managed fund fees is 0.14% which is pretty normal”
“Monzo I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up”
“I'd still say theirs is a great approach”
“They are quite far down the leaderboard for ISA rates and SIPPs.”
“Rare example of a consumer banking company that makes things easy.”
“It's not the decision I would have made, and I'm not sure I agree with their reasoning”
“Due to the recent outage where it didn’t work properly”
“Monzo in UK is fine with rooted and no Google Play”
“Then they screw you with poor customer service. Like the worst.”
“Banking with them is simply dangerous”
“In the UK you can send someone a Monzo link allowing them to pay directly and instantly into your account.”
“their stupid system was treating the sort code as an integer and therefore dropping the leading zero”
“I assume the kids these days mostly use features like Apple Cash or Monzo transfers.”
“Wish we had this in the US, would make things so much easier.”
“provides a full API and trigger webhook for events”
“Yes the backend for Monzo is indeed very performant. I have a dev app connected using their api”
“I'm sure Monzo is slicker because it isn't talking to a bunch of COBOL in the backend”
“Where you can open an account, see savings, current account, business account, CC etc all in one.”
“NatWest and Monzo work fine”
“I use Monzo, and that works perfectly on GrapheneOS.”
“when we have Monzo and Starling?”
“They managed to build from scratch on relatively shoestring budgets their own implementation of a consumer bank”
“they correctly categorise 99% of my transactions for me”
“The only one I would bank on still working in the future is Monzo”
“lets you be an adult and choose to continue to use the app”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.