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Two ways to help you find the best online broker or investment platform

Painting: Two friends compare their investments.

Update: 5 March 2019 – Unfortunately the interactive tool from Broker Compare – that’s discussed below – is no longer supported by that company, and thus is no longer available on Monevator. The good news is our comparison table is still there to guide you through the broker maze!

Working out the best online broker or platform1 to use in your investing can be frustrating.

Just when you have got your head around shares versus funds, corporate bonds versus James Bond, and you’re finally ready to start investing, you discover dozens of different brokers to choose from.

All have their own similar-but-different fee structures.

We have long kept track of the different broker platforms and what they charge via our fee comparison table.

But comparing the charges levied by say Hargreaves Lansdown with those of Interactive Investor can be fiddly work.

Details matter. Some brokers charge lower fees for trading but sting you with high withdrawals fees. Others offer cheap trading, but make additional annual charges for each different kind of account you open with them – once for an ISA and again for a SIPP. There may be entry and exit fees, too.

You also need to compare fixed annual platform fees – for instance £15 a quarter – with the alternative method of levying a percentage fee – say 0.25% year – on your investment pot. Which is more cost effective for you?

What’s more, the winner of this equation will probably change as your nest egg grows! You’ll need to run the numbers every few years to keep your costs as low as possible.

Get tooled up to compare investing platforms

If you find all this fun then you’re in the right place. We’re investing nutters around here.

But most people frankly do not.

Out in the wider world, people use interactive tools to compare things like insurance products and energy bills.

Well, that is now possible with investing platforms, too.

We’re hosting an interactive comparison tool created by our partners at Broker Compare. We hope it will help casual investors get their money onto a suitable investment platform with a lot less hassle.

In fact anyone who wants to hone in fast on the best potential brokers will find it a quick way to generate a shortlist of candidates.

True, if you want to work out precisely what you’ll pay – in your specific situation – you’ll always need to do the sums for yourself.

There are just so many quirks out there, and any tool needs to make a few assumptions. Only you know exactly how you plan to invest and why.

But for many people, getting a good idea of the best platform to use quickly is the most important thing.

They’d rather know approximately what they’re going to be charged than laboriously figure out the exact costs from a dozen or more competitors.

Compare the brokers and save hundreds of pounds

Monevator regulars love to debate the minutia of different platforms with all the passionate enthusiasm of trainspotters arguing about the best non-standard railway gauges found in the wilder mountainous regions of Europe.

And long may that continue. (You’re among friends here.)

But the average person has little idea of their broker’s fees – or how what they’re paying compares to the competition.

For these people, five minutes with a comparison tool could be a quick way to save hundreds or thousands of pounds.

So what are you waiting for?

  • Try out the interactive broker comparison tool. [No longer available]

Note that just as with the price comparison websites we all use to compare energy bills or mortgages, Monevator may receive a payment from a broker that you visit or sign-up with via the table or tool. This does not affect the fees you pay – it’s made by the company to us for introducing you to their business.

Happy hunting – and let’s save some money!

  1. We tend to use the words ‘broker’ and ‘platform’ interchangeably. A broker is a stock broker – a person or company who trades and holds investments on your behalf. The platform is their website that lets you see and adjust your investments. []
{ 34 comments… add one }
  • 1 vanguardfan November 13, 2017, 5:10 pm

    Yes, I like it! (Once I had tried it out on my PC – the interactive bits don’t work on an iPad, which is a shame, as I tend to do most ‘shopping’ and browsing on the iPad).
    I noticed the description of iWeb talked about a 0.25% capped fee, which isn’t correct. Doubtless one or two other glitches to be ironed out.
    But otherwise, its really easy to generate a shortlist, and to play around with the key variables. Fantastic accompaniment to the broker table.
    Also, is it really true that Hargreaves Lansdown don’t charge anything for a trading account invested all in ETFs, apart from trading and exit fees? That was the main revelation for me, and if true might even get me to dip a toe in the water. Otherwise, my broker choices are all still reasonably cost-effective, which is reassuring.

  • 2 The Rhino November 13, 2017, 5:47 pm

    That is true about HL. No holding fee for shares, ETFs, ITs in a taxable account. They attempted to charge for ITs post RDR but quickly backed down

  • 3 FI Piper November 13, 2017, 6:19 pm

    One thing I’d love to see getting a more attention in the broker comparison table (and in this new fancy tool) is the somewhat criminal FX charges (usually a percentage of the transaction) levied by brokers. It really is a significant cost factor. It applies to dividends you get on most Vanguard ETFs (many of which pay their dividends in USD, even if you bought the GBP denominated one), and it also applies if your a bit more of an active trader for overseas (i.e US) stocks. As a consumer I can access FX services at the interbank rate (i.e 0% charge) from the likes of Revolut (but limited to about 5k a month) or at 0.5% from the likes of transferwise.

    How then do brokers get away with charging 1-1.5% on FX? Interactive investor is about 1% and iWeb charge 1.5%. Which, assuming you buy and sell your US share – eats up to 3% of your transaction cost.

  • 4 tony bage November 13, 2017, 7:14 pm

    Entered mine and yes iWeb came up, which i have BUT the tools is returning incorrect figures for fees.

  • 5 The Rhino November 13, 2017, 7:17 pm

    @FIP that’s interesting. Is it the base currency of the etf you have to look for on the fact sheet? i.e vuke gbp but vhyl usd? Do you get hit up on the initial purchase, the dividends and the eventual sale?

  • 6 FI Piper November 14, 2017, 9:59 am

    @Rhino – so taking VHYL as an example – the base currency is USD, and assuming you bought the following SEDOL: B9FH310 (VHYL.L on Reuters), which is its GBP denominated variant quoted on the LSE.

    Your purchase and sale of the ETF are fine as that transaction is in GBP – so no FX fees necessary there.

    However it’s the dividends of VHYL that are paid in USD. Assuming you hold in an ISA, your broker (interactive investor in my case) will automatically convert those USD to GBP (with FX conversion Fees non-transparent from the customers point of view).

    I had to do a bit of digging and several emails to Interactive Investor before I realised what happening, and they confirmed they were charging 1% on the conversion (USD -> GBP) process. They also told me that the dividends cant be left in dollars as ISA funds must be stored as GBP.

    It’s certainly not a transparent fee and the average Joe is unlikely to spot it.

    It also means its uncompetitive to hold US individual shares in this ISA. At 2% for purchase and sale, it eats into your gain significantly, and is a large transaction cost. Depending on your holding period and expected gain, its a deal breaker.

    More competitive providers such as Degiro charge no fees on FX, and you actually get the interbank rate. Thus I think its something that should get a bit more attention on comparison tools and tables.

  • 7 The Rhino November 14, 2017, 11:34 am

    Good digging.

    I could prob live with losing ~1% on dividends but on purchase or sale that is definitely more problematic.

    It is fascinating. The devil is always in the detail. Why would have guessed that’s how it works?

    I had a go with the comparison tool. I think it’s good. Quick and effective method of understanding the huge difference in costs between the platforms. The input UI could be improved for sure. It could be re-jigged to make it more intuitive. Drop me an email if you want to know how that could be done. But all the work must be in the back end and that seems really good bar the odd typo and such like.

    The trick will be keeping it up to date as the landscape constantly changes.

  • 8 Naeclue November 14, 2017, 12:04 pm

    Interesting! Agree about FX fees making a large difference. Another one to watch out for those in SIPP drawdown is that Hargreaves Lansdown do not charge extra for this. Many other brokers have drawdown fees and when added in these make Hargreaves Lansdown much more competitive.

  • 9 Fremantle November 14, 2017, 2:50 pm

    Great tool, but should include options for cost of moving, e.g. Bestinvest have significant costs for in specie transfer. It gives you the future cost of exiting, but the choice to transfer is now and it the uncertainty of future cost structures reduces the value of this info. In fact, I’d go so far as suggesting that exit fees be listed for comparison, but not prorated over the the proposed life of the investment product as there are many factors that would impact the cost of exiting.

    Perhaps add a comparison table showing the total cost for staying with your current provider versus moving (including any exit and transfer fees/rebates).

    Please take the above as constructive criticism and I hope you get to see an income stream from Monevators using the service. But I suppose you can’t cover all scenarios. Help with exit and transfer fees would be good to know though.

    My SIPP is with Bestinvest and my situation recommends Charles Stanley, which could be convenient as I have an ISA and JISA with them, but with ten holdings and £25 a pop transfer fee plus exit fee of £125+VAT soon adds up to £400 up front costs. Even cashing out costs £75+VAT to transfer, not to mention the potential cost of being out of the market and then the ETF dealing fees of re-entering.

    This wipes out any benefit of transferring, especially if faff factor is considered.

  • 10 James November 18, 2017, 9:43 am

    Hi. Wow that tool was really interesting. I still just find the HL charging structure strange. When I plugged in my numbers II (who I’m with) came out £10k over 40 years, but HL was £160k! But if you drop using funds HL comes down to £15k. Have they ever explained why they do this? It’s crazy.

  • 11 Mr Optimistic November 18, 2017, 9:46 am

    @FIP. That’s interesting. Are you saying that all ETFs with a USD or non GBP base currency are subject to this fx conversion on all dividends? Sounds right and not something I had thought about. Case for non distributing shares/funds then ?

  • 12 FI Piper November 18, 2017, 4:56 pm

    Yes, in an ISA as you can’t have any kind of multi curreny account – your broker will always convert non-GBP dividends to GBP (and depending on the broker, take a slice under the banner of “FX Fees”, which they will claim to have no control over. Which, sounds like BS to me. I’m a lowly retail customer and I have plenty of excellent options for (cheaper than 1%/free) FX. To think that a broker (Interactive Investor I’m looking at you) cant get a better deal than me is bewildering.

    Non distributing funds in an ISA brings its own set of pros and cons… (mostly cons I’d think) not least of which if you want to spend any money from it at some point in the future, you’ll have to sell something! Plus you dont get to decide where your dividends get reinvested.

  • 13 Mr Optimistic November 18, 2017, 5:05 pm

    Thanks. Wonder how it will be handled in the SIPP I am about to transfer into, as cash balance in GBP same must apply. I shall enquire. Thanks again.

  • 14 Ric November 19, 2017, 1:55 pm

    Thank you for this tool, very useful.

    It did not work on my Android Device. Also I initially had a problem on my Linux/Firefox but in the end I found this was in fact a data issue; I had put 50 for “Years you will hold the account for” as I intend to hold the account forever. As a result the “Update Results” button failed to work. Returning the value to the default 10 made it all worked fine.

    I’m currently moving one of my accounts from TDW (expensive but used fro historical reasons, and now taken over by II) and had already identified IGG as my next best broker to use. The tool confirmed this choice 🙂

    I notice http://www.x-o.co.uk is missing from the broker list. They are basic but cheap, and so might be worth including as an option. I like to limit my exposure to any one broker, so need several cheap brokers. The more bargain brokers included the better! So far I use IWeb, X-O, and I’m soon to move another portfolio from TDW to IGG. I’ll be looking for a forth provider soon, to reduce my risk from any single broker.

  • 15 Raj Sharma November 29, 2017, 5:21 pm

    The calculation tool needs a lot of improvement. In its current state the info is coming out as misleading. The points I have noted are
    1. Calculating over 10 years it is adding exit fee for each year.
    The exit fee would be charged only once not every year.
    2. According to the tool iweb is the cheapest platform but it does not include the regular investments each month, which are £5 for each fund. So if you hold 5 funds then that is £25 each month. Similarly on Halifax that would be £10(5x£2) each month.
    On Charles Stanley direct and HL there are no charges on funds.
    I advise that people should do there own calculations based on their choice of investments i.e. Funds or shares, lump sum or regular investment.

  • 16 Stuart - Broker Compare November 30, 2017, 9:42 am

    Hi everyone – thanks for the comments on the broker comparison tool. I run Broker Compare, which developed the tool and runs it with Monevator (as well as similar partnerships with other publications). I will try and respond to individual comments where I see them, but your feedback is really helpful – some of it we can act on quickly and is already in progress, other things we have thought about but don’t have the resources to do right now unfortunately. Wherever you spot a calculation error please let Monevator or me know at help@brokercompare.info – keep in mind it may be due to one of the assumptions we have to make to simplify the UX – you can check these out here: http://www.brokercompare.info/monevator/static/cost-breakdown

    Thanks!

  • 17 Stuart – Broker Compare November 30, 2017, 9:55 am

    @FIPiper – you’re right that there’s a massive difference in the way that De Giro and IG treat international transactions from the likes of Interactive Investor, Hargreaves Lansdown, iWeb etc. We’ve always shied away from it for perceived cost/benefit – it’s quite a complicated addition, and still a relatively small percentage of platform customers trade international shares, so at the current level of switching we see it’s difficult to justify it commercially I’m afraid.

  • 18 Stuart – Broker Compare November 30, 2017, 9:57 am

    @tony bage Please let me know what you entered and what you were expecting if you don’t mind – I’m confident the calculations match the assumptions we’ve laid out, but always want to double check

  • 19 Stuart – Broker Compare November 30, 2017, 10:01 am

    @Fremantle – that’s a great point, and something we have looked at before and which we MAY be able to get done in the next couple of months (though no promises). I like the idea of a single question asking if people are with an existing provider, and then calculating the annualised costs for staying with that provider worth moving to all of the others. It would allow us to take into account providers who offer to pay your transfer fees from your old provider when you open a new account as well. Is that the kind of thing you have in mind?

  • 20 Stuart – Broker Compare November 30, 2017, 10:05 am

    @Ric – it is designed to work on Android (and works on mine) so that’s annoying, sorry about that. Do you mind telling me what device/browser and we can see if we can dig into it? I think it might only go up to 49 years…

    Thanks for the note about X-O – I’ll take a look at them, sometimes it’s quite easy to add new brokers, especially if their price structure offers something a bit different to the competitors.

  • 21 Stuart – Broker Compare November 30, 2017, 10:08 am

    @The Rhino – agree about the UX – we have something in progress right now which I think will improve it a lot, based on feedback from This is Money. Feel free to drop me an email with your thoughts and I will see if we can incorporate any we’re not already working on.

  • 22 Stuart – Broker Compare November 30, 2017, 10:15 am

    @Raj Sharma – thanks for both of your points , I’ve addressed them separately below:
    1. The main cost you see is the ‘Annual Cost’ – this is the total cost you will pay over however long you plan to invest for, divided by the length of your investment. Because you will pay exit fees with most providers in your final year, this cost is also annualised in the annual cost calculation. Exit fees are really high in some instances (as @Fremantle points out) and we want to try and ensure people take them into account BEFORE they open accounts, hopefully rewarding the providers which don’t charge them.

    2. This is one area where our UX needs to be improved. We do include the monthly investing charges if you add to your investments each month, but you need to enter this in the correct section, which is in the ‘Optional details’ section at the moment. You can then enter the amount of funds/shares you intend to add each month, and the number of transactions per month (funds go in the top box, shares go in the bottom box). Hopefully you will then get the correct answer.

    3. I wasn’t sure what you meant about Charles Stanley and Hargreaves Lansdown – they don’t charge for fund transactions, but they do charge for holding funds. Please let me know if there’s a specific example you want me to look into.

  • 23 Mr Optimistic January 22, 2018, 11:40 pm

    ….still don’t know why Halifax Share Dealing SIPP has comment ‘….with SIPPs under 50k’. Surely as a flat fee provider it’s good for large portfolios ?
    I have asked this before so if it’s been answered and I missed it, pls be kind!

  • 24 Mr Optimistic January 23, 2018, 9:27 pm

    One thing to note is how cash is treated in a SIPP. Fidelity levy the full platform fee, 0.35%. No other provider I am looking at does this. They also charge 0.1% transaction fee for ETFs so on first purchase with a sizeable SIPP, this is significant. Mind you, I couldn’t find many bond ETFs…it’s almost as if they want you to go into funds.

  • 25 Robbo April 17, 2018, 8:58 pm

    I am currently invested in VWRL and VGOV within an ISA and just noticed dividends in my cash account. I didn’t realise these ETF’s were Income – does anyone know if there are there Accumulation versions of these please as I can’t seem to find them?

    Would I have to pay tax on the dividends from an Income ETF?

  • 26 Toby April 26, 2018, 10:42 am

    Is Lloyds Bank Share Dealing not included in the tool? On the comparison table it says this service is best for “Fund portfolios over £26K, mixed ETF/fund portfolios over £36K”.

  • 27 The Investor April 27, 2018, 10:33 am

    @Robbo — There is no tax to pay when cash leaves your ISA wrapper. However if you were to invest that income outside of your ISA and subsequently make gains with it, you would have to pay tax on that. You should be able to find a setting somewhere which tells your broker to keep the cash within your ISA, which is what someone would want if they were still in the accumulating phase as it keeps it all nicely anti-tax-wrapped. 🙂

  • 28 David May 21, 2018, 9:35 pm

    Hi , I have an isa with Iweb containing 2 VGLS funds that take me over the compesation limits so would like to split them probably using the Vanguard platform for
    One. Am I right or would I then have 2 Isas one
    With each platform Thanks.

  • 29 Viv June 30, 2018, 12:06 am

    Hargreaves is superb. The one thing they don’t offer though, is an internal rate of return metric considering the time value of money – ie your gains look very good as they ignore how long you have held the stocks. And losses one keeps getting rid of ! So it seems like your portfolio is doing better than it really is.

    Do you know of any tool that helps track stocks easily (not too complex) and see returns across accounts ?

  • 30 LadsDad August 13, 2018, 2:06 pm

    Very useful given recent pricing increase for Charles Stanley Direct.

    For my size portfolio (c.£40k), with one Fund purchased per month, IWeb seems to be cheapest.

    Anybody have any good or bad experiences with them?

  • 31 Jonathan December 4, 2018, 2:31 pm

    Thanks for the tool, when I found myself looking to invest in Stocks and Shares ISAs for the first time it was very useful. (For the last little while, my wife and I have been putting our savings into either paying off the mortgage or adding to our occupational pension funds, but with my retirement a whole chunk of that money came back and after clearing the mortgage needed a savings vehicle). Having decided on the basis of Monevator and other sources of advice that the best strategy was simply to buy LifeStrategy and aim to hold for at least 5 years, iWeb came out on top in the comparator and so far it has happily done everything I have asked of it.

    However we now have a new query for it, which it doesn’t seem to be able to handle. This is something I am sure there are a good number of others wanting as well.

    My wife is contemplating her retirement in the next year. In her current employment she has a DC pension fund which she has recently been contributing strongly to. The plan is that on retirement she would use it for drawdown, taking the 25% tax free lump sum and then income at the income tax threshold until the first of her bits of DB pension from previous jobs comes in, at which stage we would review the best strategy for the remaining balance. However her work pension fund doesn’t offer drawdown, basically all they will do is help her purchase an annuity. To access the fund she will need to transfer it to a platform which offers SIPPs with drawdown.

    But how to work out which platform would work for her? The options it comes up with are for SIPPs in investment. Not only do some charge additional fees for drawdown, others don’t seem to offer a drawdown facility at all. (That isn’t really reflected in the comparison table, but seems to be the case when clicking through for more info, and would mean investors in those may need to change provider at retirement: it isn’t just people wanting to drawdown occupational DC funds who would want to compare SIPPs for drawdown).

    Any chance of an update any time soon to include SIPPs for drawdown? And adjustment of the inputs to allow part of a lump sum not to be invested in anything, there would obviously be no point in investing the amount to be withdrawn as a lump sum and it would be risky to invest money destined for withdrawal as income in the short term.

  • 32 Vanguardfan December 4, 2018, 2:43 pm

    Yes, not much info in comparison tables anywhere for drawdown. Part of the difficulty is that there is so much flexibility about drawdown it might be hard to standardise the comparison or provide enough options to suit everyone’s circumstances.
    You might try a post on the lemonfool.co.uk forum – there are more people there actually using drawdown.
    Also the Money Advise Service (moneyadviceservice.org.uk) has a directory of drawdown providers – no evaluation as it’s government and impartial – but it might be a useful starting point.

  • 33 Jonathan December 4, 2018, 5:05 pm

    Thanks Vanguardfan for a quick response and those suggestions.

    The Money Advice Service website took a lot of looking before I found the list you mentioned. It was a surprisingly long list, but I guess it included those who will do total pension management for a suitably large fee. And it seems to have omissions, for example iWeb which I know does do drawdown, so it may not be that great to crossreference with Monevator’s table.

    I had forgotten about Lemon Fool, while I couldn’t see a recent thread about exactly what we are looking for it is clear there is a lot of relevant experience out there. I will do some searching through the older threads to see what comes up.

  • 34 Mark December 30, 2018, 7:28 pm

    Been following this website and love the openness and honesty from everyone. Some of the comments I get, others go way above my head. Either way, planning to take the plunge and tfr some old forgotten pension money into a SIPP and have a go at passive investing for myself. Largely as a test and learn exercise. Appreciate any words of experience ??

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