Key takeaways
- ✅ Both keep your savings as PDIC-insured bank deposits up to ₱1,000,000 per depositor, per bank — the difference is the route: Maya Savings sits directly inside Maya Bank, while GCash GSave passes your money through the GCash wallet into a partner bank (CIMB, BPI, UNO, Maybank, or Cebuana Lhuillier).
- ✅ As of June 2026, Maya Savings pays a 3% base rate (up to 15% with Boost missions) versus 2.30% for GSave via CIMB, but rates change often — confirm the current rate in the app before deciding.
- ✅ After the 20% final withholding tax your take-home is lower than the headline rate — on ₱10,000 for a year, 2.30% nets ₱184 and 3% nets ₱240 — so compare net, not advertised, rates (the PesoBuddy Digital Bank Savings Interest Calculator does the math).
GCash is an e-wallet that ties up with banks so you can put money into a GSave account through GCash and earn interest. The partner banks of GCash are CIMB Bank, BPI, UNO Digital Bank, Maybank, and Cebuana Lhuillier Bank.
Here's how it works: go to the GSave section in the GCash app, select one of the partner banks, and open an account with them through GCash. Once the account is open, you can easily transfer funds from your GCash wallet into the account you opened through GSave.
Maya, on the other hand, is different: it is both an e-wallet and a bank. Its e-wallet is run by Maya Philippines, Inc., and its bank is Maya Bank, Inc. Once you've successfully opened and verified your Maya account, you can start saving, and your savings will earn interest as well — all in one app.
And just like other banks, Maya is also PDIC-insured for up to ₱1,000,000 per depositor. The partner banks behind GCash's GSave are also PDIC-insured for up to ₱1,000,000 per depositor.
Now that we've laid out their key differences, let's compare the interest rates for each.
Interest Rates: What Each Product Pays
Interest rates on digital savings products change regularly, so always confirm in the app before deciding.
GCash GSave partner-bank rates (as of June 2026):
| Product (Bank) | Rate (p.a.) |
|---|---|
GSave (CIMB Bank) | 2.30% |
#UNOready (UNO Digital Bank) | up to 3.5% |
eC-Savings (Cebuana Lhuillier Bank) | 3% |
EzySave+ (Maybank) | 0.1875% |
#MySaveUp (BPI) | 0.0925% |
Maya rates (as of June 2026):
| Product | Rate (p.a.) |
|---|---|
Maya Savings (base) | 3% |
Maya Savings + Boost (promo) | up to 15% |
Maya Time Deposit (12 months) | up to 5.5% |
Maya Time Deposit (6 months) | up to 6% |
Maya Time Deposit (3 months) | up to 5% |
Maya Personal Goals (6 months) | up to 8% |
Note on Maya Boost: Maya offers a "Boost" rate that is higher than the base savings rate — up to 15% p.a. — earned by completing missions, such as paying your bills with Maya and spending using Maya Easy Credit. Check the Missions page in the Maya app for details.
How Much Do You Actually Earn? A ₱10,000 Example
Interest on Philippine bank deposits is subject to a 20% final withholding tax — the bank deducts it before crediting your interest. So the advertised rate and your take-home earnings are two different numbers.
Here is how the math works for ₱10,000 saved for 12 months, at the rates above:
| Scenario | Deposit | Rate (p.a.) | Gross Interest | 20% Tax | Net Interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GSave (CIMB) | ₱10,000 | 2.30% | ₱230 | ₱46 | ₱184 |
Maya Savings (base) | ₱10,000 | 3% | ₱300 | ₱60 | ₱240 |
Maya Savings + Boost (promo) | ₱10,000 | up to 15% | up to ₱1,500 | up to ₱300 | up to ₱1,200 |
How to compute it yourself:
- Gross interest = Deposit × Annual rate × (Days / 365)
- Withholding tax = Gross interest × 20%
- Net interest = Gross interest − Withholding tax
To skip the manual math, use the PesoBuddy Digital Bank Savings Interest Calculator — enter your deposit amount, the current rate, and your time horizon, and it shows gross interest, the 20% withholding tax, net interest, and your ending balance.
At ₱50,000, even a 1% rate difference is ₱500 a year before tax — worth knowing when you are choosing between products.
Safety First: What PDIC Insurance Actually Covers
As of June 2026, PDIC insures bank deposits up to ₱1,000,000 per depositor, per bank — the limit was raised from ₱500,000 effective March 15, 2025. A few things to keep in mind:
For every depositor, the maximum the insurance will cover is ₱1,000,000; any amount above that is not covered.
This limit applies to all your accounts in one bank combined. So if you have three accounts at one bank and the total — including interest — is ₱3,000,000, only ₱1,000,000 is covered. But if you are also part of a joint account, that joint account gets its own separate coverage of up to ₱1,000,000.
What does this really mean, and why is it important to keep your money only in a PDIC-insured bank?
If the bank closes, it triggers a PDIC takeover, where each depositor is insured up to ₱1,000,000. To check whether your bank is PDIC-insured, go to the PDIC list of banks and look up your bank.
GCash GSave vs Maya Savings: Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | GCash GSave | Maya Savings |
|---|---|---|
What it is | Savings account inside a wallet, deposits held at a partner bank | Savings account inside a licensed digital bank (Maya Bank) |
BSP regulation | GCash = e-money issuer; partner bank (e.g., CIMB) = BSP-licensed bank | Maya Bank = BSP-licensed digital bank |
PDIC insured? | Yes — at the partner bank level, up to ₱1,000,000 | Yes — at Maya Bank, up to ₱1,000,000 |
Interest rate | 2.30% p.a. (via CIMB) | 3% p.a. |
Boosted/promo rate | None currently | Maya Boost — up to 15% p.a. (conditions apply) |
Minimum balance | None | None |
Withdrawal access | Move funds to the GCash wallet, then spend or cash out | Move funds to the Maya wallet, then spend or cash out |
ATM access | No direct ATM — only after moving funds to the wallet | No direct ATM — only after moving funds to the wallet |
App requirement | Requires GCash app | Requires Maya app |
KYC / verification | GCash account must be fully verified | Maya account must be fully verified |
What to Think About Beyond the Rate
A higher rate is nice, but it is not the only thing that matters.
Liquidity. How fast can you get your money out? Both products let you move money to your wallet and then spend or withdraw — but if you need cash urgently, check whether daily transfer limits could slow you down. For your emergency fund, easy access matters as much as the rate.
App reliability. Both GCash and Maya have had occasional downtime. If an app is unavailable during a real emergency, that is a problem. So the key is not to put all your eggs in one basket — if one app is down, you have another to withdraw funds from.
Customer service. This matters as much as app reliability. Check whether they have reliable customer service: if something goes wrong, can you contact them easily?
Which One Should You Choose?
There is no single right answer — it depends on how you plan to use each app for your day-to-day transactions.
You may not have to choose between the two at all. You can use both, since there is no maintaining balance for a GCash or Maya account.
Summary
Both GCash GSave and Maya Savings pay interest rates well above traditional passbook accounts, and both keep your savings as PDIC-insured bank deposits — up to ₱1,000,000 per depositor, per bank as of June 2026. The key structural difference is that GSave routes your money through GCash (a wallet) into a partner bank, while Maya Savings deposits go directly into Maya Bank, a BSP-licensed digital bank.