When people compare CDs, the real question is usually not just the posted rate. It is whether locking the money longer is actually worth the extra return. This page is built to make that trade-off easier to compare.
It turns deposit amount, annual rate, and term into APY, maturity value, interest earned, average monthly interest, and effective term return. That gives you both an annualized comparison and a practical “how much more money do I end up with?” view. These outputs come from the page’s fixed monthly-compounding model, not a quote or a replication of any bank’s product terms.
3 months versus 1 year or longer.This is the principal you plan to place in the CD. It does not change APY itself, but it directly changes maturity value, total interest, and average monthly interest. If you keep principal constant while comparing several options, the differences are easier to interpret.
This is the annual rate quoted by the product, so entering 4 means 4%. The current page converts that rate into a monthly rate for its internal estimate, which makes it good for consistent comparisons even though it does not mirror every bank's exact method.
It is best for comparing rough return differences across CD terms and rates, along with the trade-off between yield and liquidity.
No. APY is annualized to a one-year basis, while effective yield is the total return over the selected term relative to principal.
The current page divides total interest by term months to create an easy reading metric, not an exact bank payout schedule.
Not exactly. Real products may differ because of early-withdrawal rules, auto-renewal, and simple-versus-compound conventions.
Estimate monthly-compounded APY, maturity total, interest, and effective term return from a single deposit, fixed annual rate, and term; bank fees, taxes, early withdrawal, and renewal terms are excluded.