Aspiration Plus Account Review

Aspiration Bank Review: Eco-Friendly Banking That Actually Works

We've maintained an Aspiration account alongside a conventional bank for eight months, using it as our primary account for everyday spending. Here's the honest assessment: Aspiration is a genuinely good sustainable banking product, but it works best as a complement to — rather than replacement for — a conventional bank for most users outside the US.

What Is Aspiration?

Aspiration is a US-based financial services company (not a traditional bank — accounts are FDIC-insured through bank partners) that positions itself as the eco-conscious alternative to mainstream banking. Its core promise: your deposits are never used to fund fossil fuel projects, and your spending has positive environmental impact through automatic tree planting and carbon offset programs.

The Aspiration Plus Account

At $7.99/month (or $71.88/year with annual billing), Aspiration Plus is the premium tier. Features include: up to 5% cashback on spending at "sustainable" businesses in the Aspiration network, unlimited fee-free ATM reimbursements globally, automatic carbon offsetting on all purchases via the "Plant Your Change" program, 10% of fees donated to charity, and a high-yield savings rate on deposits.

The "Plant Your Change" feature automatically rounds up every purchase to the nearest dollar and uses the difference to fund tree planting. In eight months of normal spending, our account planted 47 trees. More importantly for climate impact: Aspiration calculates and displays the carbon footprint of your spending by merchant category, with a "Sustainability Score" for your overall spending pattern.

The Spending Impact Score

This is Aspiration's most distinctive feature — and the one we found most behaviourally impactful. Every merchant has a People & Planet score (0-100) based on environmental practices, labour conditions, and community impact. When you spend at a high-scoring merchant, your score rises; low-scoring merchants pull it down. Over eight months, watching this score actively shifted our shopping choices toward higher-scoring alternatives on perhaps 20% of discretionary purchases.

Limitations and Honest Caveats

Aspiration is US-focused. International users can open accounts but lose some features: ATM networks are primarily US-based, the sustainable business cashback network is almost entirely US merchants, and customer support is calibrated for US time zones. For Australian or UK users, the value proposition is reduced compared to US-based customers.

The 5% cashback sounds impressive but applies only to Aspiration's curated sustainable business network — a relatively small list of merchants. For most everyday spending, cashback is 0% on the Plus plan. Compare this to conventional cashback cards offering 1-2% on all spending.

The carbon offset quality varies. Aspiration doesn't disclose the specific offset projects used for each purchase offset, which makes independent verification difficult. This is a common issue across the industry but worth noting for environmentally rigorous buyers.

Who Should Open an Aspiration Account?

Aspiration makes most sense for: US residents who want a primary eco-conscious checking account, anyone who shops frequently at sustainable brands in the Aspiration network, and those who value seeing the environmental impact of their spending quantified. If you're also interested in ESG investing or want to explore other ways to make your money work for the environment, consider green bonds as part of a broader sustainable finance strategy. For non-US customers, it works better as a secondary account used for specific purposes than as a primary banking relationship.

Final Score: 7.5/10

Aspiration earns strong marks for innovation — the spending impact score is genuinely behaviour-changing and the fossil-fuel-free deposit promise is meaningful. It loses points for US-centricity that limits its value for global users, and cashback rates that don't compete with conventional rewards cards for most spending categories. For US customers committed to sustainable finance, it's a worthwhile primary account. For everyone else, it's worth having but probably not replacing your main bank. Remember that sustainable banking is just one part of eco-friendly living that saves money — combining sustainable banking with energy-efficient home upgrades and conscious consumption choices creates the biggest impact.