The 10 Best HSA Accounts in 2026

If you are looking for the best HSA account in 2026, you’re in the right place. If a Health Savings Account (HSA) hasn’t been top of mind – there really is no better time to start or switch to a new HSA account, as provider competition is at an all-time high. HSA funds are portable, meaning that individuals with HSA balances can move funds at any time from one account to another through a distribution or transfer, especially if those funds currently sit in an underwhelming employer-sponsored HSA. This article will review, compare, and rank the best HSA accounts in 2026 available to individuals and families (outside of employer-sponsored offerings) – including fees, investment options, pros, and cons.

In recent years, the entrance of Lively, Fidelity, and re-entrance of Bank of America into the individual (non-employer) HSA account space, each with competitive offerings, has resulted in an industry-wide reduction of HSA account fees and improvement to HSA investment account options. On the flip side, 2 HSA administrators, HSA Bank and Health Equity, have aggressively been purchasing other HSA account providers, including HSA Bank’s purchase of Elements Financial HSA (#6 on last year’s ranking of the Best HSA accounts). This is still a quickly changing industry with a lot of room for growth and improvements for consumers.

The Best HSA Account Ranking List Criteria

There are literally hundreds of HSA account providers available to consumers. That makes finding the best HSA account very difficult. Most HSA accounts are administered through banks or credit unions at a regional level and very few of them allow you to invest your savings in anything outside of their own savings and money market accounts. And, unfortunately, most of the established online investment brokers still do not currently offer an HSA account option.

With that said, here are the main criteria we used to find and rank the best HSA accounts:

1. Debit Card: does the HSA come with a debit card for simple HSA-eligible qualified medical expense tracking? The best HSA accounts do.
2. Setup Fees: are there setup or opening fees? If so, look elsewhere. HSA accounts with setup or opening fees were cut from this list of the best HSA accounts.
3. Maintenance Fees: are the HSA account maintenance fees at or close to zero? For a number of years, most HSAs had very high fees, including annual or monthly maintenance fees. HSA accounts with high base account fees did not make this list.
4. Savings, Investment, or Both: Does the HSA have only a save-and-spend savings account, investment account options, or both? The best HSA accounts have both. Each account that made this list had some type of investment account option. If you can’t invest a portion of your funds in higher yield investments, as you would in a 401K or IRA, the value of your HSA contributions will erode from inflation every year. And the save-and-spend accounts all typically offer under a 1% APR, despite much higher rates available in the marketplace.
5. Self-Directed Brokerage or Managed Funds: if the HSA offers an investment account, is it only a small list of managed/curated funds to choose from or a self-directed brokerage account (where you choose from any stocks, funds, CDs, bonds, or treasuries that you’d like to invest in)? Or, does the provider offer both? A self-directed brokerage account option is preferable here, so you can choose low cost options and investments including money market funds and CDs versus being stuck with only high-fee managed mutual funds.
6. Investment Fees: if the HSA offers an investment option, what are the fees to invest, management fees, and the ongoing expense ratios of the funds you have to choose from? The lower the fees the better.
7. Reputation: is the bank, credit union, broker, or other HSA administrator reputable and do they have good customer reviews?
8. Availability: every HSA on this list is available to individual consumers at the national level. This criteria alone cuts out a large majority of HSA administrators.

The Best HSA Accounts in 2026

Based on the criteria above, I’ve ranked the 10 best overall HSA accounts in 2026 in the chart further below. Why 10? There is a pretty steep drop-off in quality once you get beyond these 10 providers. Next, are this year’s picks for the best overall, best investment, and best savings HSA accounts.

Best HSA Account Overall: Lively

Lively repeats as the choice for the #1 best HSA account overall. With its low fees and multiple investment options (self-directed brokerage account through Schwab or a Devenir managed funds options), Lively is a great choice for anyone. There are no fees for the base account at Lively, while the Schwab self-directed brokerage account option is either $0 if your Lively cash balance is $3,000+ or $24 annually if below that. The Devenir-managed fund option has a 0.5% annual management fee – so the Schwab option is the more affordable and better choice for most individuals.

Lively is 100% focused on HSAs as a company and their website and support is transparent, detailed, educational, and responsive – a rarity in the HSA space.

Best HSA Account for Investing: Lively & Fidelity (Tie)

The best HSA account for investing is a close tie between Lively (which uses Schwab’s investment platform) and Fidelity, which both offer self-directed brokerage account options for their HSAs, with no additional account management fees (note: your balance at Lively must be $3,000+ to avoid a $24 annual fee). Self-directed is preferable, as it gives the most personal choice and the potential for the lowest overall fees (any HSA provider has standard fund expense fees). Both brokerages offer an extensive selection of stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds to choose from, with $0 in trading fees on their respective platforms.

If you prefer managed investment options (where the HSA provider curates a list of available funds to choose from), Lively (via Devenir) and Fidelity (via their “HSA Go” managed account option) both offer this, but I would personally avoid these options due to the management fees charged. I’d give the slight nod to Schwab’s investment platform vs Fidelity’s in terms of user friendliness – but both are excellent.

If your HSA goal is to have an optional account to invest extra savings, with low fees, Lively and Fidelity’s self-directed brokerage options are the clear winners – and there’s a drop after that.

Best HSA Account for Savings (“Cash-and-Spend”, Non-Investment): Lake Michigan Credit Union

Lake Michigan Credit Union HSA is my choice for the Best HSA account if all you want to do is hold your money in a cash savings account (non-investment cash balance, aka a “cash-and-spend” only account). As a Michigan resident, I’ve been an LMCU member for well over a decade. Anyone nationally can open an account with a $5 donation. LMCU, a large and reputable credit union, offers an interest-bearing (though currently low) base account with zero added maintenance fees. LMCU also has an investment account option if you do want to begin investing later (comes with a $30 annual fee), but it is inferior to Lively and Fidelity. This type of account may be preferable for those with small balances who plan to save-and-spend versus building up a larger balance over time.

Unfortunately, even with Federal Reserve rates still being well over 3%, interest rates on cash balance savings accounts are are still at historically low levels, including at Lake Michigan Credit Union, at typically under 1% APR. If you don’t want to invest in stock or bond mutual funds, but you still want a reasonable investment return, you may be better off going with Lively or Fidelity as their self-directed brokerage options allow you to purchase short-term CDs or money market mutual funds with no minimums – both of which have recently offered rates over 3.5% APR. I’ve found Schwab’s new issue CD purchasing to be easier to navigate than Fidelity’s.

Best HSA Accounts: Top 10 HSA Account Providers Comparison Chart

Here is a comparison of the top 10 HSA account providers, including maintenance and other fees, investment options, investing fees, and pros and cons:

Can you Switch HSA Accounts or Transfer Funds?

When I first signed up for an HSA, I wondered how tied I would be to a particular HSA account. Could I switch if I didn’t like mine, just like I could with an IRA? I’ve since done a lot of research on this topic.

If you or your employer have picked a poor HSA account admin (common), the good news is that you are not stuck with them. Just as with IRAs, you can switch if you are not happy with your administrator’s policies, investment options, and fees. A person contributing to an HSA is under no obligation to contribute to his or her employer-sponsored HSA. And, you can contribute to an HSA outside of employer payroll deductions (though HSA contributions through an employer are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes). Employers, however, may require that direct payroll contributions be made only to their sponsored HSA plan.

A note on transferring funds from 1 HSA to another: some HSAs (e.g. Health Equity) have transfer out fees, so you may need to be strategic about how often to transfer funds. It may also be possible to take a distribution from one HSA provider and then rollover the funds to another to avoid fees. You will receive IRS form 1099-SA from the distributing HSA provider and IRS form 5498-SA from the recipient HSA provider – save them both for your tax return filing to document that you rolled over the funds.

Can you have Multiple HSA Accounts?

You can have multiple open HSA accounts. And, you can make transfers between accounts if you do not like one. Full HSA transfers or partial HSA fund transfers can be initiated at any time by starting a new account with the HSA provider of your choice (see my caveat in previous question).

Can you Transfer FSA Funds to an HSA

HSAs are superior to FSAs and the 2 types of accounts primarily have a similar function. So, you may ask, “can you transfer FSA funds to an HSA?“. The answer to that is “No”. However, I’ve been able to successfully pair an FSA with an HSA to boost my HSA account balance.

The Pros of HSAs: The Best Account for Health Care Costs

Why curate and maintain a list of the best HSA accounts? I have previously noted that the HSA is my pick for the best retirement account (employer matching funds aside), in addition to being the best account for out-of-pocket health care costs. Why are HSAs the best? For these reasons:

1. Tax Benefits: HSAs offer a unique combination of tax-free pre-tax contributions and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses (QMEs), employer contributions, and growth through investments. In other words, for qualified medical expenses, you’re not taxed when funds are contributed or withdrawn from an HSA!
2. Significant Contributions: HSA maximum contributions are significant – $4,400 per individual and $8,750 per family in 2026. That is a good amount of tax-free savings.
3. Funds Carryover: HSA account contributions fully carry over from year-to-year (unlike with FSAs). In other words, HSA funds are not “use it or lose it”.
4. IRA Rollover: You can do a one-time IRA to HSA rollover to boost your funds, but they are rarely worth it.
5. Bonus Incentives: If you have an employer sponsored HDHP with an HSA, you may be eligible for HSA bonus incentives.
6. Self-Owned: You are the owner of your HSA account and your employer can’t take the funds away from you.
7. Portability: HSAs are “portable”. This means that you can take an HSA with you from one employer to another, or even to self-employment.
8. Retirement Withdrawals: You can withdraw funds from HSA accounts in retirement similar to an IRA, without penalty, for any reason, starting at age 65.
9. No RMDs: HSAs don’t have required minimum distributions at retirement age, like IRAs do.
10. Flexible QMEs: HSAs can now be used to pay for OTC medications, feminine hygiene and menstrual care products – in addition to all of the previous qualified medical expenses (QMEs) like doctor visits, prescription drugs, and more.

Remember, you must have an HDHP to get access to and then continue contributing to an HSA (update: starting in 2026, bronze and catastrophic plans are HSA-eligible). You can withdraw from an HSA at any time, for a qualified medical expense, without penalty (even if you no longer have an HDHP). For more basics on HSAs, check out the above links and the full IRS HSA guidelines.

The Cons of HSAs: There’s Plenty of Room for Growth & Maturation

The challenge with HSAs, however, is that a lot of the big name financial players (e.g. major banks and investment brokers) aren’t in the HSA space. Many HSA administrators have a maze of fees to navigate as well, sadly. If you get stuck with the wrong HSA account provider, it can really cut into your HSA savings. You need to do your homework.

The HSA marketplace is still young, but quickly growing. HSAs are fairly new to the health insurance and investing worlds. They weren’t established until 2003. In 2008, only about 6 million Americans had one. But that number has more than quintupled since, and there are now 40 million HSA accounts in the United States, with total HSA assets surpassing $159 billion.

HSA accounts can be started with banks, brokers, credit unions, and even insurance companies. Any company that offers an HSA is referred to as an “administrator” or “custodian”. HSAs were originally designed for modest deposits through payroll, followed by frequent small withdrawals. This is why most started and are still administered by banks and credit unions, which makes investing tricky, because most banks and credit unions don’t have their own investment platform. But, the good news is that you are not locked in. If you’re not happy with your current HSA(s), you can transfer your HSA funds to one of the best HSAs at any time.

Best HSA Account Provider Discussion:

• Who is your current HSA account administrator and what are their fees, policies, and investment options?
• Have you invested within an HSA account or just saved?
• What are your picks for the best investment HSA account, best cash-and-spend HSA account, and best overall HSA account?

Related Posts:

• Should you Front-Load HSA Contributions?