- Ally Buckets (up to 30) and SoFi Vaults (up to 20 active) are the most developed true sub-account tools: both split one savings account into named, individually tracked goals that share the parent account's APY.
- Capital One takes a different approach: instead of sub-dividing one account, it lets you open multiple separate 360 Performance Savings accounts under one login, though Capital One publishes no fixed numeric cap, despite conflicting 'up to 25' and 'up to 30' claims across review sites.
- Buckets and sub-accounts do not increase your FDIC coverage, they don't earn a different rate, and depending on the provider, each one may still generate its own 1099-INT.
Quick Answer
For most goal-based savers, Ally Buckets or SoFi Vaults are the strongest picks: both let you split one account into up to 30 (Ally) or 20 (SoFi) named, individually tracked sub-accounts at no cost and no rate penalty. If you'd rather have genuinely separate account numbers instead of internal labels, Capital One's multi-account structure does that, though it publishes no stated cap. None of these tools increase your FDIC coverage or change your rate, they only organize money you're already earning interest on.
| If you want... | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The deepest goal-tracking tool, with automation | Ally Buckets | Up to 30 buckets plus Boosters (recurring transfers, round-up-style Surprise Savings) |
| Sub-accounts with a typically higher rate | SoFi Vaults | Up to 20 active vaults, same-day transfers for direct-deposit members |
| Real, separately numbered accounts under one login | Capital One 360 | No fixed published cap; each goal gets its own account number |
| Unlimited flexible categories in a cash-management account | Wealthfront Categories | No stated cap per Wealthfront's own documentation, plus an $8M sweep-network FDIC ceiling |
| The single highest rate, no bucket tool needed | Whichever tops the live rankings | Discover, Synchrony, and Amex routinely lead on pure APY with no sub-account feature |
Searching for a "high-yield savings account with buckets" almost always means the same thing: you want to save for more than one goal, an emergency fund, a vacation, a down payment, without opening a separate bank account for each one. A handful of providers built exactly that tool. Most did not, and a few fintechs blur the line between two entirely different products.
What "Buckets" Actually Means, and Why the Difference Matters
Not every provider that markets "savings goals" or "buckets" is offering the same thing under the hood. There are four distinct structures in the market:
True sub-accounts, one balance, one account number. Ally Buckets is the clearest example: you're still holding one Ally Savings account with one account number, but the balance is visually split into up to 30 named, individually tracked portions. Interest is reported on a single 1099-INT for the whole account, because it is, legally, one account.
Nested sub-accounts under a parent account. SoFi Vaults work similarly to Ally's Buckets in that they live inside one Savings relationship, but SoFi treats each Vault as its own tracked sub-ledger with its own name and goal, up to 20 active at a time.
Separately numbered accounts under one login. Capital One doesn't sub-divide a single account. Instead, it lets you open multiple individual 360 Performance Savings accounts, each with its own account number, all visible in one dashboard. Functionally this gets you the same goal-separation experience, but because each is a distinct account, tax reporting can work differently, and some of the "no extra FDIC coverage" caveats below apply slightly differently in practice (all of them still aggregate under your name at that one bank).
Unlimited categories inside a non-bank cash-management account. Wealthfront's Categories tool doesn't sit inside a chartered bank at all; Wealthfront sweeps deposits to a network of partner banks and lets you organize the whole balance into as many Categories as you want, per its own support documentation.
Provider Comparison: Buckets and Sub-Accounts
| Provider | Bucket Tool | Max Buckets | Structure | Same APY as Main? | Current APY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ally | Buckets (+ Boosters automation) | 30 | Sub-divisions of one account | Yes | … |
| SoFi | Vaults | 20 active | Nested sub-accounts under one Savings account | Yes | … |
| Capital One | Multiple 360 Performance Savings accounts | No published cap | Separate accounts, one login | Yes | … |
| Marcus | None (manual multiple accounts only) | N/A | Fully separate accounts you open yourself | Yes | … |
| Discover, Synchrony, Amex | None | N/A | Single account only | N/A | … / … / … |
Ally and SoFi's limits come directly from their own support documentation. Capital One publishes no numeric cap on its site; treat "up to 25" or "up to 30" claims you see elsewhere as third-party estimates, not confirmed figures. Confirm sub-account limits directly with the provider before opening, since product terms change.
Ally Buckets: The Deepest Tool, Plus Automation
Ally's Buckets feature lets you split a single Ally Savings account into up to 30 named goals, each with its own progress bar and target amount. It pairs with Boosters, two automation tools that fund your buckets without manual transfers: Recurring Transfers move a fixed amount on a schedule, and Surprise Savings analyzes your linked Ally checking account and pulls small amounts you can afford to spare. For a full breakdown of Ally's rate and account structure, see our Ally high-yield savings review.
SoFi Vaults: Goal Tracking Nested in One Account
SoFi Vaults cap out at 20 active vaults at a time (SoFi also limits opening or closing more than 25 vaults within a calendar statement cycle, a detail worth knowing if you're the type to reorganize goals frequently). Every vault earns the identical APY as your main SoFi Savings balance, and the whole structure sits under one FDIC-insured account. Our SoFi savings account review covers SoFi's broader rate and fee picture.
Capital One: Multiple Full Accounts, No Published Cap
Capital One's approach trades the visual simplicity of Ally or SoFi's single-account model for something a bank-transfer purist might prefer: each "bucket" is a genuine, separately numbered 360 Performance Savings account, all under one Capital One login, with instant no-cost transfers between them. Capital One itself does not publish a specific account limit on its product pages, and third-party sources disagree: some describe it as unlimited, others cite 25 or 30 as a practical ceiling. That structure means Capital One can double as a lightweight version of the multi-bank strategy covered in our multiple HYSAs guide, minus the actual cross-bank diversification, since every account still sits at the same institution. See our Capital One 360 savings review for the full rate and feature breakdown.
Wealthfront Categories: Unlimited, But It's Not a Bank Account
Wealthfront's Cash Account isn't a bank product; deposits sweep across a network of partner banks, which is how Wealthfront advertises FDIC coverage up to $8 million rather than the standard $250,000. Inside that account, the Categories tool lets you organize your balance into as many named categories as you want, per Wealthfront's own support documentation, each with its own automated funding plan. The trade-off versus Ally or SoFi is structural: you're opening a brokerage-adjacent cash account, not a traditional savings account, which matters if you specifically want a standard FDIC-insured bank relationship rather than a sweep-network one.
Revolut: Two Different Tools, Frequently Confused
Revolut is worth knowing about, but its bucket-adjacent features are genuinely more complicated than a typical HYSA, and several competitor articles get this wrong by merging two separate products into one claim. Savings Vaults are Revolut's interest-bearing product, FDIC-insured through Cross River Bank, paying up to 5.50% APY on the Metal plan (lower on Standard and Premium); only one High-Yield Savings Vault is permitted per user, capped at $10,000 in user-initiated deposits, with a combined savings balance limit of $250,000. Pockets (formerly called Vaults in Revolut's own older documentation, an unrelated naming collision) are a separate budgeting sub-account tool for setting aside money toward bills or shared goals; Revolut's help documentation does not state that Pockets earn interest, and no official source confirms a specific numeric cap on how many you can create. If a bucket-style tool with real interest matters to you, Revolut's actual interest-bearing feature is the single-account Savings Vault, not the higher Pocket counts some reviews advertise.
The Providers Without a Buckets Tool
Discover, Synchrony, and American Express all offer competitive high-yield savings rates but keep it to a single account with no built-in sub-account tool. If organizing multiple goals visually matters more to you than chasing the last few basis points of APY, that's a real reason to prefer Ally, SoFi, or Capital One over these three, even if one of them is paying a slightly higher headline rate. See our Marcus vs. Ally vs. Amex comparison for how the feature trade-off plays out against rate.
What Buckets Do Not Do
Three things worth knowing before you pick a provider based on its bucket tool:
They don't increase your FDIC coverage. FDIC deposit insurance is calculated per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category, not per bucket. Thirty Ally Buckets holding $300,000 combined are exactly as insured as one Ally account holding $300,000: covered up to $250,000, with $50,000 exposed. If your total cash is approaching that limit, you need a second bank, not more buckets at your first one.
They don't earn a different rate. Every bucket or sub-account at Ally, SoFi, and Capital One earns the same APY as the parent product. There's no way to "shop" a portion of your balance into a higher rate by moving it into a differently named bucket at the same bank.
Tax reporting depends on the structure. Ally Buckets and SoFi Vaults are sub-divisions of a single account, so you'll typically see one 1099-INT for the whole thing. Capital One's multiple accounts and any manually opened Marcus accounts are separate legal accounts; each one crossing the $10 interest threshold can generate its own 1099-INT. If you're opening several accounts purely to avoid a stack of tax forms, a single-account bucket tool (Ally or SoFi) is the simpler choice.
Which Structure Fits Your Situation
| Your Situation | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You want the deepest goal-tracking tool, with automation | Ally Buckets + Boosters | Most built-out option; pairs with a linked checking account, though the rate typically trails pure-yield leaders by a modest margin |
| You want sub-accounts with a typically higher rate | SoFi Vaults | Similar goal-separation to Ally, with same-day transfer options for direct-deposit members |
| You want real, separately numbered accounts without leaving your bank | Capital One 360 | Closest thing to the multi-bank strategy without managing multiple bank relationships; useful for goals needing a distinct account number, like a security deposit |
| You want unlimited categories and don't mind a non-bank cash account | Wealthfront Categories | No stated cap, plus sweep-network FDIC coverage up to $8M, at the cost of leaving traditional banking |
| You want the single highest rate and don't care about visual organization | Discover, Synchrony, or Amex, whichever tops the live rankings | May pay more than any bucket-equipped provider above; run your numbers with the Rate Gap Calculator before trading rate for features |
| You're not sure buckets are even the right tool for your goal mix | Run a full Money Map scan first | Buckets organize savings you already have; Money Map checks whether your broader banking setup, not just your savings buckets, is costing you money |
Methodology
Rankings on this page use SwitchWize's composite ranking: rate, trust, and switching friction, not rate alone. For this category, that breaks down as:
- Current APY (60% weight)
- Institution trust signals: FDIC status, brand recognition (25%)
- Switching friction: minimums, fees, transfer speed (15%)
Commercial relationships never determine organic ranking order. Full methodology →
Methodology
SwitchWize ranks and compares high-yield savings accounts using current APY, fee structure, minimum balance requirements, sub-account and automation features, and FDIC insurance coverage. Sub-account limits and feature names (Buckets, Vaults, Pockets, Categories, multiple accounts) are drawn from each provider's own current product pages and support documentation, cross-checked at the dates noted below. Where providers disagree with third-party reviews on a specific number, we say so rather than repeating an unconfirmed figure. For our full ranking criteria, see the methodology page.
This is educational information, not personalized financial advice. Sub-account limits, automation features, and tax-reporting behavior can change; confirm current details directly with the provider, and consult a tax professional about your specific 1099 situation, before opening multiple accounts.
- Ally: Savings Buckets and Boosters· Checked 2026-07-12
- SoFi: What are Vaults?· Checked 2026-07-12
- SoFi: How many vaults can I have?· Checked 2026-07-12
- Capital One: 360 Performance Savings Features· Checked 2026-07-12
- Wealthfront Support: Categories· Checked 2026-07-12
- Revolut US: How are Savings Vaults protected?· Checked 2026-07-12
- Revolut US: Getting started with Pockets· Checked 2026-07-12
- FDIC: Deposit Insurance· Checked 2026-07-12
Next scheduled verification: 2026-08-12
What to Do Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Which high-yield savings account has the best buckets feature?
How many savings accounts can you actually open at Capital One?
Do savings account buckets each have their own interest rate?
Does Marcus by Goldman Sachs have savings buckets?
Do buckets or sub-accounts increase my FDIC insurance coverage?
Will I get a separate 1099-INT for each bucket?
Is Revolut's savings feature the same as a bank's buckets?
Act on this: today's top savings

Ranked by SwitchWize's composite score. We may earn a referral fee, and it never changes the ranking order.
Editorial review
What changed since the last update
Was this guide helpful?