Plum briefly managed to overtake Monzo in the iOS AppStore recently and maintained a top 10 ranking for few weeks:
Android app drops October 2019 
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What are the benefits?
The app is nice, speedy, and seems to do what it says. But it looks like there’s only a choice of saving up the money (no interest?) or investing it (gains, but has a monthly fee? Any other info on taking money out?)
Do they have a roadmap or planned features?
That’s a solid summary of Plum at present to be fair. Personally, I use it for microsaving - both automated & round ups - in the background. The friction of having it in a separate account is ideal for me as this money is for purchases I have in mind e.g. Fitbit Versa 2.
Unsure of a public roadmap, but I believe ‘Insights, Energy Switching & Goals’ are in testing/development. The 11:FS homescreen vid few comments up is decent too on product development.
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My friend introduced me to a financial app, Plum, which matches up to your bank account and creates your own savings pot. For example, it looks at your income and outgoings and, based on what you spend, it might take a certain amount out and put it into a separate savings pot. I started it in March this year and I’ve already saved £800. With Christmas coming up, it’s nice to know that in December I don’t have to panic and will have that money to one side.
from I had £30,000 debt, but now I’ve learned to manage money.
Always good to see fintech make a difference for people.
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Android app public now: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.withplum.app&hl=en_GB
https://twitter.com/withplum/status/1192400118437359618?s=21
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Loving Plum. I use it’s interface to save small amounts with Ratesetter. I’m yet to try their other investment options though.
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Official update on further funding and more:
Plum now has 650,000 registered users, of which around 70% are active monthly.
I like the idea and the app works very well I think it probably makes savings and starting into investments quite easy for people to use and understand. But it also seems a bit expensive? Has anyone run the numbers?
Plum has a blog with a section on outweighing fees, so the more invested with them the more palatable it’ll be:
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I guess it could be counted as a convenience fee or ease of use fee. And £12 isn’t bad, but it’s £12 + their partners platform fee (0.15%) + the fund fee. So there’s actually two platform fees to keep in consideration.
It’s not bad but it’s still not very transparent to me, I jumped through hoops to find the fee information and I still can’t find if the 3rd party platform fee is capped or not on everything.
Part of it I think is that plum has outgrown me before it even existed, so I won’t complain much there. Once you get past a point it seems to make more sense to go to vanguard directly.
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Takes 2 clicks on their website landing page to get here:
A 3rd click to get pricing page here:
So not more, less than transparent than their competitors.
Agree, the target audience is different to that of a DIY investor, and it’s easy to see how some could outgrow their platform as they on-ramp via Plum, but then as they progress in their investment journey find better/complimentary/supplementary options. Others may prefer the convenience as you pointed out too.
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Plum did an AMA over on the Monzo forum and I asked them directly about their platform fee a while ago.
I got a response saying “it’s £1 only.”
I said yes but what about the platform fee?
“£1 is the only fee you’ll pay”.
When I linked the article they finally admitted there was +0.15% (and then further fund fees).
So no, would never use Plum.
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Cool story, but care to link the exact chat? That way we see the real dialogue and not just your impression of it as pre-AMA their fees have always been easy to find in the same way above, you didn’t rumble anything tbh.
@anon810895 there’s no trace of such a dialogue nor comment from you in the AMA 
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Hmm, maybe on another thread, I’ll see if I can find it. I have a long post history. Give me a little time.
@Diversify, here you go, didn’t remember it verbatim (it was the best part of a year ago) but essentially it’s there:
Cheers, so from actually reading the exchange it’s nowhere near as dramatic as your recollection made out but props for finding the exchange.
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No admittedly, I seem to have dramatised it more then I cared to remember.
I’m not sure how you’ve become so defensive and upset by it though, do you have a stake in Plum?
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Yes, clearly stated on another thread that I do but it’s so insignificant that it would not influence calling out, or not, of any bs/exaggeration where I see it. Your input was inaccurate, it was called out. I don’t know how you equate that with defensiveness? But best not to answer as we’ll go off topic.
It was 4 clicks for me in the app if you don’t count typing in fees or following the dead ends (it’s not in the investments bit, plum plus, or documents). Initially looking for it for the first time was not that simple.
But like I said, I like the app, I think it’s a good idea, and while a little more expensive (I think an unfortunate side affect is these fees chip away at new less educated investors more than it does others, but this isn’t specific to plum it’s the same elsewhere) i think it’s a good initiative to get people saving and starting into investing. I just don’t get much from it myself with it’s current feature set.
Yes, I understand where you’re coming from if that’s the case.
To clarify, I haven’t tried finding fees via the app, only the website which was pretty standard.
Does anyone use this without investing or rounding up? I round up within Monzo.
What’s the benefit of using plum without the investing? I am hoping to use it to build up small pots of cash that I can then use within FT.