Starling Bank
Ranked 4 of 5 neobanks by recommenders
Recommended as a well-run UK neobank with no problems for some users; critics report account lockouts and app-security cut-offs.
Recommended as a well-run UK neobank with no problems for some users; critics report account lockouts and app-security cut-offs.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 53%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Reliable bank with no issues
“I don't think I've ever had an issue with Starling, it's great”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “Google Cloud outage affects almost all banking and other operations in Europe” “the neobanks are arguably some of the best in the world”
Comment from 2 Oct 2026 in “European payments groups join forces to challenge US dominance” “my actually good bank (Starling)”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Scammers are abusing an internal Microsoft account to send spam links”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Cut off by app security checks
“I was cut off by Starling for something similar and had to choose between a factory reset of my phone and my bank.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “HSBC blocks its app due to F-Droid-installed Bitwarden” “Starling has gone out of their way twice to exempt GrapheneOS from their checks, but only after users complained”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “HSBC blocks its app due to F-Droid-installed Bitwarden” “I had rooted the phone and it gave me 90 days to reset with no extension at the end.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “HSBC blocks its app due to F-Droid-installed Bitwarden” Lockouts and enforced app use
“I switched bank in the UK due to enforced app use, from Starling to Nationwide.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple” “Starling left me without any access to any of my bank accounts at the time”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “Tell HN: PayPal blocks GrapheneOS” “It's a hard requirement to access the account.”
Comment from 18 Feb 2026 in “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple”
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 | — |
| Monzo | 19 | 7 | 73% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Starling BankThis page | 10 | 9 | 53% | 4 | — | — |
| N26 | 8 | 8 | 50% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
23 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I don't think I've ever had an issue with Starling, it's great”
“getting issues with random card declines due to”
“the neobanks are arguably some of the best in the world”
“Starling left me without any access to any of my bank accounts at the time”
“Simply copy-pasting an AI-generated essay to someone criticising your complete lack of effort”
“Yes AI will fix all the bugs, just like it did in”
“It just looks like Cinnamon with a b00merang macOS skin.”
“I'm not going to read 300k lines of AI slop code”
“Right now it is just another marketing stunt.”
“When I see an obviously AI-generated website with obviously AI-generated copy, I have negative infinity reasons to believe you've put 6 months of human effort into this project.”
“yet another Linux desktop environment (DE)”
“engineering discipline mixed with good agent guidance can avoid the slop”
“this page explains the design rationale better than the landing page imo”
“They're only ok until something goes wrong or you end up with an overdraft.”
“Banking with them is simply dangerous”
“my actually good bank (Starling)”
“It's a hard requirement to access the account.”
“I switched bank in the UK due to enforced app use, from Starling to Nationwide.”
“when we have Monzo and Starling?”
“They managed to build from scratch on relatively shoestring budgets their own implementation of a consumer bank”
“I had rooted the phone and it gave me 90 days to reset with no extension at the end.”
“Starling has gone out of their way twice to exempt GrapheneOS from their checks, but only after users complained”
“I was cut off by Starling for something similar and had to choose between a factory reset of my phone and my bank.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.