“The biggest benefit of opening an online savings account is usually additional interest offered,” Cook says. “Compared to a brick-and-mortar bank, online savings accounts tend to offer at least another 1% of interest, but often even more.” (The Discover Online Savings Account, for example, offers interest rates more than five times the national savings average.1) Online savings accounts can typically offer a better deal because they save money by not maintaining physical locations, Cook explains.