The biggest sign-up bonus available right now is Capital One's offer on its 360 Performance Savings account: up to $1,500 for depositing new funds. SoFi pairs a smaller but faster bonus with an ongoing direct-deposit requirement, while Axos skips the cash bonus entirely in favor of a temporary rate boost. These three offers work in different ways, so "best" depends on how much you can deposit and whether you want a one-time payout or a higher ongoing yield. Here's what each actually pays, what it takes to qualify, and where the fine print changes the math.
Table of Contents
- Capital One's $1,500 Bonus — Who Actually Gets the Top Tier
- SoFi's Direct Deposit Bonus — Faster Money, Smaller Ceiling
- Axos ONE's Rate Boost — No Bonus, But a Higher APY
- How to Compare a Cash Bonus to a Rate Boost
- What to Check Before You Apply
Capital One's $1,500 Bonus — Who Actually Gets the Top Tier
Capital One's 360 Performance Savings account pays a tiered bonus using promo code EARN1500, and the tier you land in depends entirely on how much new money you move in. Depositing $5,000 or more from an external account within a 15-day Initial Funding Period earns $75; $20,000 or more earns $300; $50,000 or more earns $750; and $100,000 or more earns the full $1,500, according to Capital One's official offer page. After you hit a tier, you need to hold that balance for 90 additional days before the bonus pays out. That structure means the headline $1,500 number only applies to a narrow slice of savers — those moving six figures in new cash.
Most readers chasing a sign-up bonus will land in the $75 or $300 tiers, which still require $5,000 to $20,000 in fresh deposits. The offer is also restricted to people who've never touched Capital One's savings lineup. Capital One excludes anyone who currently has or previously held a 360 Performance Savings, 360 Savings, 360 Money Market, Savings Now, or Confidence Savings account, per Capital One's terms. If you've ever opened any of those accounts, even if it's long closed, you won't qualify no matter how much you deposit.
SoFi's Direct Deposit Bonus — Faster Money, Smaller Ceiling
SoFi takes a different approach: instead of rewarding a lump-sum deposit, it rewards recurring direct deposits into a Checking and Savings account. New or existing members who have never enrolled in SoFi Direct Deposit can earn $50 for setting up $1,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits, or $400 for $5,000 or more, within 25 calendar days of the first qualifying deposit, according to SoFi's official terms. The bonus lands within 7 business days after that evaluation window closes.
This is a better fit for someone who wants their paycheck or regular income redirected rather than a pile of idle cash sitting in an external account for 90 days. The $5,000 threshold for the top $400 tier is also meaningfully lower than Capital One's $20,000-plus tiers that pay a similar amount. One limit to flag: the $400 tier isn't a permanent feature of the account. SoFi's current Direct Deposit Promotion runs from May 15, 2026 through December 31, 2026, per SoFi's offer page, so the bonus terms could change once that window closes.
Axos ONE's Rate Boost — No Bonus, But a Higher APY
Axos doesn't pay a cash bonus at all. Instead, Axos ONE advertises a promotional APY boost up to 5.00% on savings balances up to $49,999.99 for the first six statement cycles for new customers who open the Axos ONE bundle, according to The Motley Fool. Once that boost period ends, the account's standard savings rate drops to 4.21%.
Qualifying for the boosted rate takes ongoing activity, not a single deposit. You need either $1,500 in monthly direct deposits plus a $1,500 average checking balance, or $5,000 in monthly transfers and check deposits plus a $5,000 average balance, according to NerdWallet. NerdWallet also notes the incentive is reportable as taxable income on IRS Form 1099-MISC — a detail worth remembering since it's easy to assume only cash bonuses get taxed. Axos suits someone who wants a higher rate on money they're keeping in the account long-term, rather than a one-time payout for parking funds briefly.
How to Compare a Cash Bonus to a Rate Boost
Comparing Capital One or SoFi's flat bonus against Axos's rate boost requires converting both into the same terms: a dollar amount over a set time period. Both Capital One's and SoFi's cash bonuses are one-time payments tied to depositing new funds within a short window — 15 to 25 days — and then holding or maintaining those deposits afterward, according to Capital One and SoFi.
That means the bonus is fixed no matter how long you keep the money in the account afterward, beyond the required holding period. Axos's boost works the opposite way: the extra yield compounds only while the promotional rate lasts, and only on balances up to $49,999.99. Promotional APYs on savings accounts are variable and reset after a fixed boost period, so the advertised "up to" rate applies only to new money and only temporarily, not to an account's full ongoing balance, per The Motley Fool.
- If you have a large lump sum sitting idle and won't need it for at least 105 days (15-day funding window plus 90-day hold), Capital One's tiered bonus turns that idle cash into a fixed payout.
- If your income already arrives by direct deposit and you can redirect $5,000 or more within 25 days, SoFi's $400 bonus requires less total capital than Capital One's comparable $300 or $750 tiers.
- If you want an ongoing rate advantage rather than a single payout, and can maintain Axos's deposit or balance requirements, the 5.00% boost pays out over six statement cycles rather than once.
What to Check Before You Apply
Each offer hinges on a detail that's easy to miss when comparing headline numbers side by side.
- Capital One: confirm you've never held any version of its savings accounts — 360 Savings, 360 Money Market, Savings Now, or Confidence Savings all disqualify you, not just 360 Performance Savings itself.
- SoFi: confirm you've never enrolled in SoFi Direct Deposit before, even under a different qualifying event, since that's the stated eligibility bar.
- Axos: confirm you can sustain the deposit or balance minimums for all six statement cycles, since the boosted rate only applies to the first $49,999.99 and drops to 4.21% afterward.
- Any of the three: check the deposit source counts as "external" or "new" funds — moving money already held at the same bank typically doesn't qualify for a sign-up bonus.
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