Bank Zero beats TymeBank and Discovery Bank in digital banking price shootout

Bank Zero offers the most affordable banking fees of South Africa’s most prominent digital banks, beating the likes of TymeBank and Discovery Bank’s Gold pay-as-you-transact (PAYT) account.

MyBroadband compared the various fees offered by these digital bank accounts and created a theoretical monthly basket of transactions to evaluate each account’s cost-effectiveness.

All three banks have recently implemented price adjustments for 2025, and in our monthly transaction basket analysis, Bank Zero was the most affordable at R43.90.

Our hypothetical basket of monthly transactions includes the following:

• Monthly account fee
• Two cash deposits (R1,000 each)
• Two point-of-sale (PoS) withdrawals (R1,000 each)
• Five external debit orders
• Three digital payments
• Two prepaid airtime purchases
• Two prepaid electricity purchases (R100 each)

TymeBank’s total is R8 more than Bank Zero’s, with its total basket cost being R51.90 per month.

Discovery Bank’s PAYT account is the most expensive of the three, totalling R107.40 per month — R55.50 more than TymeBank and R63.50 more than Bank Zero.

While Discovery Bank’s offering is the most expensive, it offers several benefits that Bank Zero’s and TymeBank’s accounts don’t.

For example, its monthly account fee includes Vitality Money, through which customers can earn dynamic interest rates of up to 5.25% and receive various travel discounts.

“Engage with Vitality Money and increase your Dynamic Interest Rates,” says Discovery Bank.

“You can earn up to 0.6% interest on the positive balance in your transaction account and up to 5.25% interest on your demand savings accounts.”

Vitality Travel discounts include up to 25% off local and international flights, and up to 25% off holiday accommodation and car hire.

The account also includes a Discovery Miles account, where customers can view, track, manage, and spend their Discovery Miles.

Discovery Miles can also be used to purchase prepaid airtime, data, water, and electricity. They can also be exchanged for cash or used to generate vouchers for in-store payments.

The chart below compares total basket costs for Bank Zero, Discovery Bank’s Gold PAYT account, and TymeBank.

Digital banking fee breakdown

A lot of the basket price difference for Discovery Bank’s Gold PAYT account is due to its R32.50 monthly account fee. Bank Zero and TymeBank charge no monthly account fee.

However, Discovery’s account fee does include the R17.50 Vitality Money premium.

Regarding cash deposits and withdrawals, point-of-sale (PoS) deposit fees aren’t set by the banks but rather by the respective retailers.

For example, Checkers and Pick n Pay charge R19.95 for store cash deposits.

Bank Zero and TymeBank change the same rate for automated teller machine (ATM) withdrawals, R10 per R1,000 block, while Discovery Bank charges R5 plus R2.75 per R100 block.

TymeBank charges the highest PoS fee for cash withdrawals, R3 per transaction — R1 more than Bank Zero and Discovery Bank’s Gold PAYT account.

Bank Zero and TymeBank charge no digital payment and external debit order fees, while Discovery Bank charges R2.75 per digital payment and R3.75 per external debit order.

Bank Zero is the most affordable when it comes to prepaid recharges, offering airtime, data, and electricity recharges with no additional fee.

In comparison, TymeBank charges R0.50 per prepaid cellular recharge and R3 per prepaid electricity recharge.

Discovery Bank’s Gold PAYT account charges the highest fee for prepaid airtime, minutes, and data at R1 per transaction.

It charges 1% of the transaction value for prepaid electricity recharges, capped at R10.

The tables below compare various banking fees for the most affordable bank accounts available through Bank Zero, Discovery Bank, and TymeBank.