Find the cheapest investment platforms in the UK and make broker comparison easier with our tables below. Investment costs are all-important, so we’ve placed the cheapest brokers at the top of each table.
Disclosure: Links to platforms may be affiliate links, where we may earn a small commission. It doesn’t affect the price you pay nor how we judge the brokers. This article and the comparison table are not personal financial advice. Your capital is at risk when you invest.
Get cashback by opening new accounts
In terms of promotions, this is usually a quiet time of the year for special offers.
And sure enough, most of the investing platforms have toned down their marketing efforts.
Such offers target customers transferring big ISAs and SIPPs to new brokers, which many of us are more minded to do in the final few months of the tax year. So that’s when more brokers are ready to pay big bonuses to win chunky accounts.
However a few deals are still available. Note terms and conditions apply with all offers, and your capital is at risk when you invest.
For instance, you can get up to £1,500 cashback when you transfer your cash and/or investments to Charles Stanley.
Or what if rather than a SIPP deposit or transfer, you’re just looking to start investing with a new platform?
Well, open an account with low-cost InvestEngine via our link and you can get up to £50 when you invest at least £100.
Follow the links to jump to the relevant pages. But do remember sign-up bonuses should be seen as an added bonus – not the sole reason to choose a broker.
How to compare brokers using our table below
Use our three broker comparison tables like this:
- Beginners – start with the percentage-fee brokers table.
- If your portfolio is worth over £12,000 (or £80,000+ in a SIPP) – consider the flat-fee brokers table.
- Active traders – compare brokers on the trading platforms table.
- Type your favourite broker into the search field and the table collapses to just that broker. (Assuming you know which table it’s in.)
- Mobile users: to see all the columns of our broker comparison table, please rotate your phone to landscape view.
Flat-fee broker comparison
Platform | Annual fee | Fee notes | Trading: Funds | Trading: ETFs, ITs, & shares | Regular investing | FX fee | Entry/exit fee | Good for |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
InvestEngine | £0 (DIY service) | ETFs only | n/a | £0 daily fixed times | £0 | £0 | £0 | Good for beginners |
Shares ISA | £0 | n/a | n/a | As above | £0 | £0 | £0 | ETF portfolios |
Trading | £0 | n/a | n/a | As above | £0 | £0 | £0 | ETF portfolios |
SIPP | 0.15% <£133,333, 0% >£133,333. Max £200 | n/a | n/a | As above | £0 | £0 | £0 | ETF portfolios <£80k |
Interactive Investor | £143.88 Investor plan (1 free monthly trade, 2 free friends/family) | £59.88 Essentials plan for <£50k portfolios. £239.88 Super Investor (2 free monthly trades, 5 free friends/family) | £3.99 | £3.99 | £0 | 1.5% <£25k transaction. Cheaper tiers above | £0 | - |
Shares ISA | Investor/Super Investor fee includes ISAs, JISAs and trading accounts. Essentials plan includes ISAs and trading | +£60 SIPP if all accounts <£75k. Otherwise +£120 SIPP | As above | As above | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | As above | As above | As above | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
SIPP | £71.88 if SIPP <£50k (Pension Essentials plan). £155.88 if SIPP >£50k (Pension Builder plan) | £0 drawdown/UFPLS. +£48 for ISA & trading if all accounts <£75k (Pension Essentials plan) | As above | As above | £0 | As above | £0 | Unrestricted fund portfolios >£25k (£115k vs Vanguard) |
Lloyds Bank Share Dealing | Single £40 fee if you hold ISA & trading account | Free if you're age 18-25 or a premier/private banking customer | £1.50 | £11* | £0 | 1% | £0 | - |
Shares ISA | £40 | n/a | £1.50 | £11* | £0 | 1% | £0 | Unrestricted fund portfolios >£11k, (£27k vs Vanguard) |
Trading | £40 | n/a | £1.50 | £11* | £0 | 1% | £0 | As above |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
Halifax/Bank Of Scotland Share Dealing | Single £36 fee if you hold ISA & trading account | Free if you're age 18-25 | £9.50 | £9.50 | £0 | 1.25% | - | - |
Shares ISA | £36 | n/a | £9.50 | £9.50 | £0 | 1.25% | £0 | - |
Trading | £36 | n/a | £9.50 | £9.50 | £0 | 1.25% | £0 | - |
SIPP | £90 if SIPP <£50k. £180 if SIPP >£50k | +£180 p.a. drawdown, £90 per UFPLS | £9.50 | £9.50 | £0 | 1.25% | Entry: £60 per transfer. Max £300. Exit: £0 | - |
iWeb | £100 fee for opening your first account. Does not apply to SIPP | Fee waived until 31 December 2024 | £5 | £5 | n/a | 1.5% | - | Large unrestricted portfolios if you rarely trade. Check vs ii and Lloyds |
Shares ISA | £0 | n/a | £5 | £5 | n/a | 1.5% | £0 | Cheapest stocks and shares ISA hack |
Trading | £0 | n/a | £5 | £5 | n/a | 1.5% | £0 | - |
SIPP | £90 if SIPP <£50k. £180 if SIPP >£50k | +£180 p.a. drawdown, £90 per UFPLS | £5 | £5 | n/a | 1.5% | Entry: £60 per transfer. Max £300. Exit: £0 | - |
Freetrade | - | Securities lending except on ISA. Opt in only | n/a | £0 | Standard & Plus only | 0.99% Basic, 0.59% Standard, 0.39% Plus | £0 | - |
Flexible shares ISA | £71.88 (monthly sub), £59.88 (annual sub) | Free with SIPP | n/a | £0 | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
Trading | £0 | n/a | n/a | £0 | £0 | As above | £0 | ETF portfolios |
SIPP | £143.88 (monthly sub), £119.88 (annual sub) | No drawdown, £240 per UFPLS | n/a | £0 | £0 | 0.39% | £0 | ETF portfolios >£80k if you pay £119.88 annual sub |
ShareDeal Active | - | - | £9.50 | £9.50 | n/a | Variable | Exit: £12 per holding +£60 per account | - |
Flexible shares ISA | £60 | £18 per cash withdrawal | £9.50 | £9.50 | n/a | Variable | As above | - |
Trading | £0 | £18 per cash withdrawal | £9.50 | £9.50 | n/a | Variable | As above | - |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
X-O.co.uk | - | - | n/a | £5.95 | n/a | Variable | - | - |
Shares ISA | £0 | n/a | n/a | £5.95 | n/a | Variable | Exit: £18 per holding +£60 | Cheapest stocks and shares ISA hack |
Trading | £0 | n/a | n/a | £5.95 | n/a | Variable | Exit: £18 per holding | - |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
HSBC Invest Direct | Single £42 fee if you hold ISA & trading account | n/a | No funds | £10.50* | n/a | Variable | Exit: £15 per holding | - |
Shares ISA | £42 | n/a | n/a | £10.50* | n/a | Variable | As above | - |
Trading | £42 | n/a | n/a | £10.50* | n/a | Variable | As above | - |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
Money Farm Share Investing | - | ETFs, UK shares and individual bonds | n/a | £3.95 (£5.95 for bonds) | - | 0.7% | - | - |
Flexible shares ISA | 0.35% | £45 fee cap | n/a | £3.95 | - | 0.7% | - | - |
Trading | £0 | - | n/a | £3.95 | - | 0.7% | - | |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
Flat-fee investment platforms charge a fixed cost for their services. This pricing model is typically better for investors with large portfolios.
That’s because percentage fees can carve off huge chunks of cash from your wealth if your platform doesn’t cap them.
Percentage-fee broker comparison
Platform | Annual fee | Fee notes | Trading: Funds | Trading: ETFs, ITs, & shares | Regular investing | FX fee | Entry/exit fee | Good for |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Investor | 0.15% <£250k, 0% >£250k. Max £375 | Tiered fee charged on sum of all accounts | £0 | £0 at fixed times, otherwise £7.50 | £0 | £0 | £0 | - |
Flexible shares ISA | As above | Vanguard investments only | £0 | As above | £0 | £0 | £0 | Restricted fund portfolios <£27k |
Trading | As above | Vanguard investments only | £0 | As above | £0 | £0 | £0 | As above |
SIPP | As above | Vanguard investments only. £0 drawdown/UFPLS | £0 | As above | £0 | £0 | £0 | Restricted fund portfolios <£115k, ETF portfolios <£80k |
Dodl by AJ Bell | 0.15%. Min £12 p.a. per account | Restricted fund/ETF list | £0 | £0 | £0 | 0.75% <£10k transaction. Cheaper tiers above. 0.5% dividends | £0 | - |
Shares ISA/LISA | As above | n/a | £0 | £0 | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | n/a | £0 | £0 | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
SIPP | As above | No drawdown | £0 | £0 | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
AJ Bell | 0.25% <£250k, 0.1% £250k – £500k, 0% >£500k. Tiered fee per account | 0.25% on ETFs, shares, ITs, & bonds, capped as below | £1.50 | £5* | £1.50 | 0.75% <£10k transaction. Cheaper tiers above. 0.5% dividends | £0 | - |
Shares ISA/LISA | As above | £42 fee cap as above | £1.50 | £5* | £1.50 | As above | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | £42 fee cap as above | £1.50 | £5* | £1.50 | As above | £0 | - |
SIPP | As above | £120 fee cap as above. £0 drawdown/UFPLS | £1.50 | £5* | £1.50 | As above | £0 | - |
Fidelity | £90 <£25k, 0.35% £25k – £250k, 0.2% £250k – £1m, 0% >£1m | Fee not tiered below £1m, charged on sum of all accounts | £0 | £7.50 | £1.50 (£0 for funds) | 0.75% <£10k transaction. Cheaper tiers above | £0 | - |
Shares ISA | As above. 0.35% <£25K with monthly savings plan. JISAs are free | £90 fee cap ETFs, ITs, shares | £0 | £7.50 | £1.50 (£0 for funds) | As above | £0 | Unrestricted fund portfolios <£11k on monthly savings plan |
Trading | As above. 0.35% <£25K with monthly savings plan | £0 fee for ETFs, ITs, shares | £0 | £7.50 | £1.50 (£0 for funds) | As above | £0 | As above |
SIPP | As above. 0.35% <£25K with monthly savings plan. Junior SIPPs are free | £90 fee cap ETFs, ITs, shares. £0 drawdown/UFPLS | £0 | £7.50 | £1.50 (£0 for funds) | As above | £0 | Unrestricted fund portfolios <£25k on monthly savings plan |
Bestinvest | 0.4% <£250k, 0.2% £250k – 500k, 0.1% 500k – £1m, 0% >£1m | Tiered fee charged per account | £0 | £4.95 | £0 | 0.95% | £0 | |
Flexible Shares ISA | As above | n/a | £0 | £4.95 | £0 | 0.95% | £0 | |
Trading | As above | n/a | £0 | £4.95 | £0 | 0.95% | £0 | |
SIPP | As above. Min £120 charge | £0 drawdown/UFPLS | £0 | £4.95 | £0 | 0.95% | £0 | |
Charles Stanley Direct | 0.3% | Min £60. Max £600. £50 of trades free every 6 months | £4 | £10 | £10 (£0 for funds) | 1% <£10k transaction. Cheaper tiers above | Exit: £10 per holding | - |
Flexible Shares ISA | As above | As above | £4 | £10 | £10 (£0 for funds) | As above | As above | - |
Trading | As above | As above | £4 | £10 | £10 (£0 for funds) | As above | As above | - |
SIPP | As above +£120 - waived if all accounts sum £30k+ | +£60 p.a. drawdown | £4 | £10 | £10 (£0 for funds) | As above | As above +£150 | - |
HSBC Global Investment Centre | 0.25% on all investments | Restricted number of non-HSBC index funds | £0 | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | - |
Shares ISA | As above | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | - |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | £0 | n/a | n/a | - |
Close Brothers | 0.25% <£500k, 0.2% £500k – £1m, 0.1% 1m – 1.5m, 0% >£1.5m | Tiered fee charged on sum of all accounts | £0 | £8.95 | £8.95 (£0 for funds) | Not mentioned | £0 | - |
Shares ISA | As above | n/a | £0 | £8.95 | £8.95 (£0 for funds) | Not mentioned | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | n/a | £0 | £8.95 | £8.95 (£0 for funds) | Not mentioned | £0 | - |
SIPP | As above +£180 | £0 drawdown bar £60 set up, £60 per UFPLS | £0 | £8.95 | £8.95 (£0 for funds) | Not mentioned | £0 | - |
Santander Investment Hub | 0.35% <£50k, 0.2% £50k – £500k, 0.1% >£500k | Tiered fee charged per account. Funds only | £0 | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | - |
Shares ISA | As above | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | Unrestricted fund portfolios <£11k |
Trading | As above | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | As above |
SIPP | As above | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | n/a | £0 | Unrestricted fund portfolios <£25k |
Hargreaves Lansdown | 0.45% <£250k, 0.25% £250k – £1m, 0.1% £1m – £2m, 0% >£2m | Tiered fee charged per account. Fee cap on ETFs, shares, ITs, & bonds | £0 | £11.95* | £0 | 1% <£5k transaction. Cheaper tiers above. 1% dividends | £0 | - |
Shares ISA | As above except LISA is 0.25% <£250k. JISAs are free | £45 fee cap as above | £0 | £11.95* (£0 for JISAs) | £0 | As above. £0 for JISAs on standard trades | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | £0 fee cap as above | £0 | £11.95* | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
SIPP | As above | £200 fee cap as above. £0 drawdown/UFPLS | £0 | £11.95* | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
Aviva | 0.4% <£50k, 0.35% £50k – £250k, 0.25% £250k – £500k, 0% >£500k. Tiered fee charged on sum of all accounts | 0.4% on ETFs, shares, and ITs, capped as below | £0 | £7.50 | £7.50 (£0 for funds) | n/a | £0 | - |
Flexible Shares ISA | As above | £45 fee cap as above | £0 | £7.50 | £7.50 (£0 for funds) | n/a | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | £45 fee cap as above | £0 | £7.50 | £7.50 (£0 for funds) | n/a | £0 | - |
SIPP | As above | £120 fee cap as above. £0 drawdown/UFPLS | £0 | £7.50 | £7.50 (£0 for funds) | n/a | £0 | - |
Plum | Varies by account type | 0.15% + £119.88 Premium plan (+26 funds, UK shares) | £0 | £0 | Premium only | 0.45% | Exit: £25 per holding | - |
Shares ISA | 0.45% + £35.88 Basic Plan, US shares, no funds | 0.45% + £59.88 Pro Plan (+17 funds) | £0 | £0 | £0 | 0.45% | As above | - |
Trading | £35.88 Basic Plan, US shares, no funds | Percentage fee charged on funds not shares | £0 | £0 | £0 | 0.45% | As above | - |
SIPP | 0.45% (no plan required) | Choice of 3 funds. No drawdown | £0 | £0 | £0 | 0.45% | As above | - |
NuWealth | 0.1% + £12 per account | Restricted ETF list | n/a | £0 at fixed times | £0 | 0.75% | £0 | - |
Shares ISA | As above | - | n/a | As above | £0 | 0.75% | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | - | n/a | As above | £0 | 0.75% | £0 | - |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | £0 | n/a | n/a | - |
Barclays Smart Investor | 0.25% <£200k, 0.05% >£200k | - | £0 | £6 | £0 | 1% <£5k transaction. Cheaper tiers above | - | - |
Flexible Shares ISA | As above | As above | £0 | £6 | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | As above | £0 | £6 | £0 | As above | £0 | - |
SIPP | As above +£150 | As above +£120 p.a. drawdown, £90 per UFPLS | £0 | £6 | £0 | As above | Entry: £90 per transfer, £450 max. Exit: £90 | - |
Percentage-fee platforms are best for people starting out with relatively little invested. That’s because you’re only losing a modest amount of actual cash when a percentage charge is skimmed from your small pot.
Conversely, flat fees take a disproportionately large bite out of a diminutive portfolio. That sets you back because you’ve got less wealth compounding.
We’ve previously explained how to calculate whether or not you should use a flat-fee or percentage-fee broker.
Trading fees are also typically charged at a fixed rate. Try to keep these costs under 1% of your monthly investment contributions. Look out for cheap regular investing plans and zero commission trading in funds or ETFs to staunch your percentage loss to dealing fees.
Trading platform comparison
Platform | Annual fee | Fee notes | Trading: Funds | Trading: ETFs, ITs, & shares | Regular investing | FX fee | Entry/exit fee | Good for |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Interactive Brokers | - | £1 per monthly BACs cash withdrawal after first | Varies | UK shares: 0.05% of trade, £3 minimum. Rates vary by country. Also see tiered option | UK shares: 0.05% of trade, £3 minimum. Rates vary by country. | - | £0 | International shares |
Shares ISA | £3 monthly inactivity fee | £3+ monthly trades = £0 inactivity fee | As above | As above | As above | 0.03% | £0 | - |
Trading | £0 | As above | As above | As above | As above | 0.03% | £0 | - |
SIPP | Varies | n/a | As above | As above | As above | 0.03% | £0 | - |
Trading 212 | £0 | - | n/a | £0 | £0 | 0.15% | £0 | - |
Flexible Shares ISA | £0 | n/a | n/a | £0 | £0 | 0.15% | £0 | - |
Trading | £0 | Securities lending scheme. Opt in only | n/a | £0 | £0 | 0.15% | £0 | - |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | £0 | n/a | n/a | - |
Degiro | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Shares ISA | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
Trading | £0 with securities lending. 0.2% for funds | No securities lending: €1 + 3% (max 10%) per dividend distribution | €4.90 | €1 core ETFs, €3 other ETFs, £2.75 UK shares, €2 US shares | n/a | 0.25% | Entry/exit: €20 per holding | - |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
IG | £96 (£24 per quarter minus trade fees) | 3+ quarterly trades = £0 fee | n/a | £8* | n/a | 0.5% | £0 | - |
Flexible Shares ISA | As above | As above | n/a | £8* | n/a | 0.5% | £0 | - |
Trading | As above | As above | n/a | £8* | n/a | 0.5% | £0 | - |
SIPP | As above +£210 | As above +£150 p.a. drawdown, £100 per UFPLS | n/a | £8* | n/a | 0.5% | Entry: £240 | - |
Saxo | 0.12% <£1m, 0.08% >£1m | Funds only: 0.4% <£200k, 0.2% £200k – £1m, 0.1% >£1m | £0 | 0.08% of transaction, min £3** for LSE (varies by stock exchange) | n/a | 0.25% | - | |
Shares ISA | As above | As above | £0 | As above | n/a | 0.25% | £0 | |
Trading | As above | As above | £0 | As above | n/a | 0.25% | Exit: €50 per holding. Max €160 | |
SIPP | As above + £426 | As above +£186 p.a. drawdown, £248 per UFPLS | £0 | As above | n/a | 0.25% | Exit: €50 per holding (Max €160) + £389 | |
Robinhood | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Shares ISA | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
Trading | £0 | US shares only, securities lending scheme | n/a | £0 | £0 | 0.03% | £0 | - |
SIPP | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | - |
We define a trading platform as a stock broker that encourages its users to buy and sell frequently.
To this end, some trading platforms promote speculative instruments such as Contracts For Difference (CFDs), currencies, and crypto.
They also provide a fast-moving, information-saturated environment that emphasises hyperactivity.
Platform fees are low-to-zero in this space. Revenue is instead generated by trading fees, spreads, and other methods.
Stick to the top two tables if your focus is on investing for the long-term in funds and ETFs.
Investment platforms comparison notes
Charges may actually be due per month, quarter, six-monthly, or annually. Our broker comparison tables simplify that into an annual cost of service, including VAT.
Other charges may be applicable that aren’t included.
Asterisked (*) trading fees indicate that a frequent trader rate is available. (**) Transaction price cheaper when account balance passes certain thresholds.
Zero commission brokers generally make money from spreads, foreign exchange fees, and cross-selling of other services. (You’re not getting something for nothing!)
Accounts held with Halifax / Bank Of Scotland, Lloyds Bank, and iWeb count as one for the purposes of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Like other price comparison websites, we may be paid a bonus if you sign-up via a link. This does not affect what you pay.
This table is edited by fallible human beings. Do your own research. We fix mistakes as soon as possible but we cannot be held liable or accountable for any errors. Please add updates or erratas in the comments below.
Cheap investment platforms: Good for column
The Good for column indicates the cheapest investment platform for each account type (ISA, Trading and SIPP) depending on whether you invest in funds or ETFs.
The cheapest percentage-fee broker for funds is Vanguard. However, it only stocks Vanguard funds.
If you’d prefer a broker that also offers non-Vanguard funds, then look out for the Unrestricted fund portfolios label in the Good for column.
The portfolio value (e.g. £18k) indicates the approximate threshold at which an investment platform is cheaper than its rivals. In each scenario:
- The flat fee broker is cheaper than its percentage fee competitor above the given value (e.g. £18k).
- The percentage fee platform is more cost effective below the given value.
This broker comparison is offered for ISAs, SIPPs, and trading accounts. We also show the breakpoint vs Vanguard’s cheaper rate.
Our calculations assume one purchase per month and four sales per year. And also that you take advantage of lower-priced regular investment schemes when available.
The investing platform comparison threshold shifts, depending on how much you trade.
Cheapest broker FX fees
Foreign exchange charges are paid for trading in securities that are listed in currencies other than sterling (GBP). Typically those securities are international shares and some ETFs.
FX fees are also due when a broker converts overseas dividends and interest into GBP.
- These costs are levied as a percentage of each transaction.
- Assume they’re layered on top of the FOREX spot price.
- If we list an FX fee of £0, you’ll still pay the spot price where FX fees are applicable.
Please see our tips for avoiding FX fees. If your fund’s base currency is GBP then this cost won’t apply at the broker level.
Variable FX fees means you’ll have to contact the broker for its in-house rate before every trade if you want to know exactly how much you’ll pay in advance.
Not mentioned in the table means the platform does not disclose FX fees prominently on its website. It has also not responded to our enquiries about its rates.
FX fees aren’t an issue if a broker only stocks funds with a GBP base currency. This should be noted on a fund’s factsheet.
Some brokers use a tiered FX fee rate card. In other words, the percentage rate decreases on the amount of a transaction that falls into higher tiers. Please refer to your broker’s website for its full schedule where our table indicates it operates tiered pricing.
What matters when comparing brokers
Investment platforms, stock brokers, and share dealing services are interchangeable names for websites or apps that enable you to trade and manage your portfolio of shares, funds, ETFs, and other investments online.
When you compare brokers, bear in mind that there isn’t a best investment platform out there that suits everybody. The stock broker market is competitive. Players try to standout by offering different pricing models and market niches.
The total price you pay for brokerage services is critical. That’s because controlling costs is a crucial factor in determining your long-term investment performance.
As investing luminary John Bogle said:
The two greatest enemies of the equity fund investor are expenses and emotions.
Our UK stockbrokers list can’t take the emotion out of investing but it can help you find the cheapest investment platform.
The best UK broker for you is likely to provide:
- Low fees for the services you use most.
- The shares, funds, ETFs, and other investments you want. Platforms do not all carry the same range of products.
- The right level of customer service for your needs – don’t expect the lowest-cost platform to respond like lightning when you want it to handle complicated arrangements over the phone.
- The right user experience – if you want a flashy website and app then you’ll be able to tell who provides that from its home page. A broker with a clunky website and dirt-cheap fees is unlikely to prioritise investing in cutting-edge tech.
Check your investment platform is authorised by the FCA
If your investment platform is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) then you may be entitled to compensation using the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Check a broker’s status using the FCA register.
Some platforms are owned by the same financial group. You do not diversify your risk by splitting assets across brands owned by the same group. Our investor compensation scheme guide (linked to above) explains how you can identify these brands.
Some brokers are based abroad – especially those listed in the Trading platforms table. Double-check they’re eligible for the FSCS compensation scheme.
Broker comparison: costs and fees
The annual fee category is intended to capture the various types of service fee typically levied by investment platforms. For example custody fees, platform charges, administration fees, inactivity fees and so on, until the end of time / your tether.
Fee notes includes extra charges, options, inclusions, and exclusions that make a material difference to the price you pay.
A tiered fee means you’ll pay different amounts depending on the total value of your account(s).
For example:
- 0.25% <£250,000 (tier 1)
- 0.1% £250,000 – £500,000 (tier 2)
If your account was worth £250,500 then you’d only benefit from the lower charge on the £500 that fell into tier 2. The remaining £250,000 would still be charged at the tier 1 rate of 0.25%.
Some brokers add up the total value of all your accounts with them when applying their tiers.
However others assess each account separately.
In this scenario (still using our tiered example rate above), you’d pay the tier 1 rate of 0.25% on your entire balance if you had £200,000 in an ISA and £200,000 in a SIPP.
Assume brokers count joint accounts separately from your individual account balances.
SIPP charges on the table don’t include all the various additional fees levied for services once you’re in drawdown.
The drawdown figure we do include is the annual charge you’ll pay for flexi-access drawdown. We’ll also include the fee for taking 25% tax-free uncrystallised funds pension lump sum (UFPLS) payments, if available.
Platforms levy various additional costs for extras such as telephone trading.
Check their full rates and charges schedule before committing.
Brokers also run temporary offers and discounts from time-to-time. Don’t let these sway your decision.
(Obviously they’re a lovely “How Do You Do?” if you were going to choose that brokerage anyway.)
Investment fees for funds, ETFs, and other products
Stockbroker charges come on top of the investment fees you pay to fund providers for the management of their funds, ETFs, and investment trusts.
To ensure you’re paying competitive management fees compare:
- Low cost index funds and ETFs
- Best global tracker funds
- Best bond funds and ETFs
- Best multi-asset funds
- Vanguard LifeStrategy funds
Certain big name brokers sometimes negotiate small discounts on fund charges. If you’re tempted by those ‘bargain’ offers then make sure that your total cost of investment isn’t more expensive once you load on the investment platform’s fees.
This post shows you how to calculate a total portfolio cost for all the products you own.
Understanding account names
Accounts names vary across the online broker universe. However they typically conform to the following types:
- Trading – a taxable account often known as a General Investment Account (GIA) or brokerage account. Your investments are not tax-sheltered as they would be in a stocks and shares ISA or a SIPP. You will incur dividend income tax and capital gains tax on your investments if you exceed your allowances.
- Shares ISA / Flexible Shares ISA – a stocks and shares ISA. Tax-sheltered. Sometimes known as a Self-select ISA. A Lifetime ISA (LISA) is a special variant of a stocks and shares ISA.
- SIPP – Self-Invested Personal Pension. Tax-sheltered.
Switching investment platform
Once you’ve decided to move, it’s fair to say that switching investment platforms isn’t as simple as it is with bank accounts.
For starters, beware of entry and exit fees when transferring your investments. These charges are shown in our broker comparison tables.
Entry fees may be charged by your new platform and exit fees may be charged by your old one.
You can expect a transfer to take several weeks and involve some form filling.
- Always tick the box that requests your investments are transferred ‘in specie’ rather than sold down to cash as part of the switch.
- Make a record of everything you own in your portfolio, including how many shares / units you have.
- Finally, double-check your instructions have been carried out to the letter. Mistakes are surprisingly common.
Take a look at our specialised guides before you make a move:
Why are there only links to some brokers?
Links to brokers and investment platforms are affiliate links, where we may be paid a fee if you go on to open an account with them.
However we do not choose to include platforms in our table based on whether such affiliate fees are on offer, nor does the existence of such an arrangement change the fees you pay. It is a marketing payment made by the companies as an incentive for websites to drive traffic to their site.
We’d like more brokers to pay us when we introduce new customers. It helps us pay our way on Monevator!
Including all brokers – but only linking where an affiliate agreement is in place – is the best compromise we could come up with.
What this UK stockbrokers list won’t tell you
For in-depth customer feedback on individual platforms, ask away in our comments or at Money Saving Expert’s Savings & Investments board, the ex-Motley Foolers on the Lemon Fool board, or reddit for a broader opinion.
Where is my missing trading platform?
We haven’t included every last option in our broker comparison table but we have included the most competitive players in the market.
We filter out any broker that:
- Is too expensive
- Excludes index funds and London Stock Exchange ETFs
- Provides an extremely narrow investment range to the point that diversification is hampered
We also don’t currently include platforms that exclusively provide managed investment services such as ‘robo-advisors’.
That’s because we believe most people are better off managing their own investments at a lower cost using a DIY passive investing strategy.
Do let us know if you think we’ve missed anyone or anything important.
@The Accumulator I cannot see Chip in the list. They have 0% Platform and Trading fees. A Stocks and Shares ISA with Chip is included as part of a ChipX membership (£65.05 paid annually, or £5.99 / 28 days).
https://www.barclays.co.uk/smart-investor/investments/investment-costs/
Barclays Smart Investor has removed minimum £4 per month fee. Its just 0.1% pa for stocks and 0.2% pa for funds.
@Fiz: I clicked on the link and it asks for a platform fee of 0.25% for the first quarter mil. Trades are £6.
It states:
Customer fee
The customer fee applies to all investments held across your individual Barclays Smart Investor accounts. This fee is 0.25% up to £200,000 and 0.05% on investments over £200,000.
Am I missing something? Thanks.
You are correct @Onedrew
It will be the existing customer vs new customer differences. @Fiz must be an existing customer, as for them it is:
“No minimum monthly fee – We’re removing the £4 minimum monthly fee.
We are freezing Customer fees for existing customers: 0.2% pa for funds. 0.1% pa for all other investments. The maximum monthly fee remains capped at £125.
New trading fees: Existing customers will be charged the same as new customers for any investments they buy or sell.”
Would be good to indicate whether SIPP platform fees are deducted from within the tax-sheltered SIPP environment, or paid out of net cash. Might make a big difference on how cheap different brokers look for SIPPs. For a higher rate tax payer, AJ Bell fees might work out to net income of £72/year or less, making them significantly cheaper than Freetrade, which will only collect platform fees via a debit card.
This platform comparison page is brilliant, I make regular use of it.
But I have a question: shouldn’t you add another column, namely the “bid-ask spread” policy/practice? I have accounts with Lloyds Investment (where I normally buy OEIC funds) and HL (GIA, ETFs) … but recently I have discovered the amazing, seemingly-too-good-to-be-true “free” platforms InvestEngine and Trading212. In addition to the “no annual fee” and “no transaction charge”, it appears that, on ETFs at least, they also have a zero bid-ask spread. At least that’s what my experience this morning (of initiating first a SELL and then a BUY at Trading212) seems to show.
Love to know what you might have to say about this.
Does anyone know of any UK broker that specifically accepts a transfer of a matured SAYE employee share scheme (“sharesave”) into a SIPP? Doesn’t seem to be an issue for transferring into a S&S ISA, but certainly interactive investor won’t do that going into a SIPP. Has anyone successfully done this and who did you use?
I don’t fully follow why Trading 212 is separated out and almost warned against? It seems to have a similar model to investengine. I understand it may encourage other products but if it’s fund range is good then it’s a good option on top of 5.2% interest on uninvested cash and 1% cashback for new customers?
@ Mike – I’m very glad you find the page helpful. Re: spreads – they vary every second by every product. I’ve read some research into spreads and the best anyone can do is to sample. We don’t have the resources to keep track and neither of those brokers claims to offer zero spreads. I’d be surprised if they can because the spread is the fee claimed by market-makers for matching buyers and sellers i.e. it’s out of the hands of the brokers. Moreover, zero fee brokers have to make their money from somewhere. The question is where? Some make it by inflating the spread. I’m not saying InvestEngine or Trading 212 do that. It’s just one method that some brokers use to square the ‘zero fee’ circle.
@Algernond isn’t this because HL are routing orders via market makers? These venues are providing liquidity so would explain why your orders execute quicker.
I see Robinhood have launched in the UK :-). No ISA offered only a GIA but they allow you to hold funds in USD with an FX conversion fee of only 0.03%. Also 5% interest on cash.
Investengine entry here states 0.15% £133.33k. Max £200 . But in their website there is no mention of 0% for amount greater than 133k. Am I missing something or IE has changed the pricing structure?
@SIPPvestor:
https://investengine.com/sipp/
“You’ll pay 0.15% for your InvestEngine SIPP, capped at £200 per year”. If they cap fees at £200 per year then you’re not paying anything once your assets grow beyond £133,333.33.
I’m a passive investor mainly buying LifeStrategy and other index funds, and I use regular investing with the occasional lump sum deposit. I imagine I’m fairly typical of Monevator readers. Once over ~£27k the best option seems to be Lloyds. Have most readers come to this conclusion, or have I missed something.
@ ADT – I’d agree for ISAs.
Broker table updated:
Most of the cost-cutting action is around ETF SIPP portfolios.
Freetrade have introduced an annual subscription fee for their SIPP of £119.80. As in: you get a reduced rate versus their monthly subscription fee if you pay for the whole year in a one-er.
That makes it the cheapest SIPP for investors with assets valued over £80,000.
Under £80,000, InvestEngine are now neck and neck with Vanguard on cost but don’t restrict you purely to Vanguard ETFs.
I’ve added Robinhood UK to the trading platforms table. They’re only offering US stock trading in a GIA for now.
Finally, iWeb is waiving its £100 account signing-on fee but only until 30 June.
That offer is well worth a look if you hardly ever trade or fancy pulling off the ‘cheapest stocks and shares ISA hack.’
https://monevator.com/cheapest-stocks-and-shares-isa-hack/
Freetrade may be the cheapest SIPP for ETF portfolios but at £120/yr it can still be beaten if you’re open minded.
For example: Switching to Interactive Investor (£156/yr) and from VWRP, which has a 0.22% fee, to the HSBC FTSE All World Index Fund, which has a 0.12% fee, would be competitive.
OEICs shouldn’t be forgotten in all the ETF app hubbub!
@Andrew. You’re the second person in the matter of a few days that has mentioned the HSBC FTSE All World C fund as having an OCF of 12 bps. You made me look it up to check. And indeed it is 12 bps. This is a 1bp decrease, which must have happened very recently. So at least heading in the right direction. Perhaps along with the launch of the other All World products recently from Amundi and Invesco – albeit they’re too small really currently – it’ll encourage Vanguard to take a look at its pricing of its All World / All Cap products.
@TA: Isn’t Fidelity the cheapest SIPP for large ETF portfolios with a cap of £90?
@WinterMute — I believe it comes down to whether you trade or not. @TA assumes some (small) number of trades per year, as detailed somewhere in the voluminous copy here 🙂
Thanks @TI. You are indeed correct:
“Our calculations assume one purchase per month and four sales per year. And also that you take advantage of lower-priced regular investment schemes when available. “
Is it possible to get MoneyFarm (classic) on this list?
Just a suggestion. Would it be worth including some information regarding which platflorms allow you to hold GILTs (including the index-linked variety), their dealing costs and holding costs?
According to the iWeb and Lloyds websites, you can’t hold LifeStrategy funds through their ISAs:
https://www.markets.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/funds-centre/fund-supermarket/detail/GB00B4R2F348
https://www.investments.lloydsbank.com/funds-centre/full-fund-range/details/GB00B4R2F348
Under eligibility, there’s a big red cross next to ISA. In fact, it looks like all Vanguard funds are not eligible with an ISA. Seems strange.
@ADT #3024. Empirically you can hold Vanguard OEICs and ETFs with iWeb. Must be a data error.
@ADT weird – I’ve held Lifestrategy in an ISA at iWeb since 2014. Haven’t tried to buy any recently though, so maybe something has changed on the compliance side, or a temporary problem on the platform side?
Whilst Interactive Investor indeed offer £0 dealing fee for regular investing via DD, their SIPP has no automatic investment of the tax relief they claim so it just sits there as cash – you have to regularly log-in and request it be invested.
I’ve not lumbered myself with this monthly manual task yet but I hope that can be done free of dealing fee too.
The x-o ISA is NOT a flexible ISA (confirmed by email from x-o today). Their Sharedealactive ISA is flexible. I think it perhaps was in the past or there was some confusion. A search for x-o flexible ISA has a hit for the application form saying Flexible ISA, but when you follow the result to their site there’s no mention of flexible.
Interactive Investors Friends and Family deal is not available if the family member has a SIPP (trading and ISA OK). Bizarre since the SIPP is an extra fee in any case.
@murky – I suspect you will need to contact each broker directly to ask if they accept SAYE share transfers to an ISA or SIPP and whether it can be “in specie” or cash only. If it’s cash only, and you still wanted to hold the shares, then you will likely be pay stamp duty, trading fees and bid/offer spread to do the transfer. I’m assuming the shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The comparisons you list are very helpful.
Just thought you might want to include Moneyfarm. I know they were “robo” so outside your criteria. However, I’ve just noticed they now have a Share Investing option where you pick your own. I don’t know when they launched this. Dealing fee is £3.95. As far as I can see there’s no platform fee for the GIA but a “custody fee” of 0.35% for the ISA. They say they offer stocks, ETFs and UK funds, although I don’t know how wide the range is.
@ Fletch and ChrisO – thank you for the Moneyfarm tip! I’ll take a look.
@ Stuart B – Thank you for the X-O info. Much obliged. Will update the table.
I have an ISA and a SIPP with Halifax. They provide Trade Plans which let you set a Stop Loss limit on UK stocks (anything on Crest). I have a significant exposure to US tech stocks, does anyone know of a platform that lets you set a Stop Loss limit on US stocks?
Anyone else aware of Charles Stanley Directs new charging structure? I got an email from them yesterday. They have reduced their platform fee from 0.35% to 0.3% with a minimum charge of £5 per month up to a maximum of £50 per month. They have also introduced a £50 credit for each 6 month period, credited in April and October, to use for purchases. Costs are £4 for funds, £10 for shares. Automated monthly investing doesn’t eat into this £50 trading credit from my understanding.
Broker table updated. Lots of small changes. Interactive Investor are now very good for SIPP fund portfolios above £25k. Below £25k, Fidelity are reasonable as long as you contribute monthly.
@ Chris O – Money Farm are in. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.
Thanks for updating this again @TA.
On Interactive Brokers, isn’t there an FX fee of 0.03%?
Hello
If I read the tables correctly, the cheapest platforms for a portfolio made up exclusively of ETFs is AJBell for ISAs and Fidelity for SIPPs. Am I correct? Thanks
@ Delta Hedge – yes, the IBKR 0.03% fx fee is in the table.
@ Marc – cheapest ETF portfolio is InvestEngine / Vanguard for ISAs. For SIPPs, it’s InvestEngine below about £80k in assets and Freetrade beyond that point. See the Good For column for more.
@ all – Santander Investment Hub is a good low cost option for newbie fund investors.
Many thanks @TA and my apologies for my missing it. Now I search against “0.03” and see multiple brokers offering this rate 🙂 How long can the likes of HL keep charging 0.25% to 1.5% (8x to 50x as much!)
Many thanks @TA
For ISA I had missed InvestEngine. But how is Vanguard better than AJBell? For SIPPs, Freetrade seems more expensive than Fidelity and its £90 cap. Maybe I’m not reading the tables correctly.
thank you
@Marc: Regarding Fidelity, the calculation considers trades. Please see my question and TI response above – https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/#comment-1770509.
Before I forget, you can bring down Fideltiy cost to £72/year by contributing it to the SIPP (tax relief will bring it up to £90) and have the fees collected from there. It works well.
Many thanks Winter Mute.
@ Marc – I assume a base case of 1 trade a month and 4 sells per year – otherwise brokers that charge dealing fees look unrealistically good. Obvs, you can recalculate based on a trading schedule that more closely resembles your own. I use each broker’s regular investing charge when one is available.
Sorry, I did make a mistake mentioning Vanguard as vying with Invest Engine for cheap ISA. VG are actually the same price as InvestEngine for a SIPP – until Freetrade takes over at the £80K mark. Fidelity price rises once you factor in trades.
Trading 212 is as cheap as InvestEngine for ISA but they’re not passive investing focussed.
V helpful comparison and comments, as usual. Thanks a lot.
Q: is Interactive Brokers evaluated as providers in the SIPP session, albeit with the need for an external manager?
The logic being that they offer competitive terms on generic accounts and potentially for ISAs.
Cheers
@TA
> Index funds are HSBC only
HSBC offer some index funds from other providers (albeit not a comprehensive range), you can see the full list here: https://www.hsbc.co.uk/investments/products/global-investment-centre/funds/
Couple of data points which may be helpful
1) If your accounts hold on ETFs and cash Fidelity fees are capped at £7.5/month and this is pooled across ISA and SIPP accounts. Even with their higher dealing charges they would beat most other platforms as long as you are doing <50 deals a year
2) Interactive Brokers accounts can be linked to Wise debit cards which allows you to make free / cheap withdrawals in multiple currencies (one free withdrawal per month and £1 fee for any subsequent withdrawals). This is by far the cheapest way to buy currency for spending or sending abroad (essentially market rate + $2 IBKR commission vs 1.5% fx conversion charged by the cheapest cards)
Is it worth adding the a section on Junior ISAs. HL seem to have all transaction costs and custody fees set to zero. https://www.hl.co.uk/partners/search/jisa?partners=1&theSource=PCHLJ&Override=1&adg=G+HLBJ+JIS&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADwZS0864tSL4nWAxQJTliXqp_RfC&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3uWF5rHYiAMV25RQBh2WYSmZEAAYASAAEgJcMvD_BwE
@ Simone – I couldn’t get to the bottom of the additional charges for Interactive Broker’s SIPP partners. I put the link in for completion sake as some people are particularly into Interactive Brokers. There’s more here: https://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/en/general/sipp-administrators.php
@ Cafabra – Ooh, thanks for the link. I’ve added that to the HSBC entry in the table. It’s still a very restricted list but definitely an improvement. Thank you!
@ Vishal – Nice!
@ Wired Investor – I have got those deets in the HL entry but it’s easy to miss. I try to fit good JISA terms into the ISA row when they come up. I’m generally reluctant to add extra rows/columns cos the table already has so much going on.
It is partly documented , but for the ii SIPP there is effectively a £10.99 per month fee band for portfolios between £50k – £75k as they increase the portfolio limit from £50k to £75k if you add a trading account and/or ISA for a £5 fee (this can be unfunded). When you hit the £75k can then close the trading/ISA account and go on to Pension Builder for £12.99.
I can’t see any mention of Prosper.co.uk. Looks too good to be true? SIPP and ISA with zero platform and transaction fees. They don’t have all the funds but there are plenty over Fidelity/HSBC/L&G/BlackRock/Vanguard. AND for some reason they refund the OCF and transaction costs on 30 funds!
I can’t see a suggestion of how long they intend to discount those funds but even without that they save II’s Pension Builder £155/yr and IWeb’s £5/trade.
They use ‘Seccl Custody Limited’ who are owned by Octopus Group.
What’s the catch?
Another query about the intrinsically unsustainable prosper.co.uk.
Is it worth listing here? Has any part of a due diligence process led Monevator to believe it should not be listed here? Or is it that it has only started marketing relatively recently?
My research into Prosper so far indicates that they’re offering to refund OCFs until they’ve £20,000,000 under management. [Source: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7176172822803681280/%5D After that point, “we will charge members a fair platform fee and low, fair and transparent fees for any other investment products we think represent great value.”
Other points of note:
– They’ve raised from several respectable sources (including execs from Monzo and CapitalOne).
– The founding team has plenty of experience (including in finance).
– They’re FCA approved, which means they’ve passed the regulatory sniff test.
– Funds aren’t held by Prosper, but rather safeguarded with Seccl Custody Ltd…
– … which is also FCA regulated and FSCS protected. This is the same ‘wrapper’ that Revolut (and other e-money institutions) uses for customer funds while awaiting their UK license.
– Seccl Custody is well-established and provides the back-end muscle for lots of fintechs.
I would imagine this initial fee-free environment is being paid for by investor cash, but once they’ve £20m under management, switching on low fees will cover that gap.
While remaining cautious, I think it’s a legitimate and potentially useful platform. There’s so much legacy tech in finance – and, thus, inefficiency – that the challengers emerging with built-from-scratch platforms can genuinely afford to cut customer costs this way.
Very interesting and thank you for your summary and link, Joe.
Zero commission brokers aren’t new. Trading 212, Robinhood and InvestEngine all operate versions of that model.
All brokers have to make money though, whether they’re transparent about it or not:
https://monevator.com/how-do-zero-commission-brokers-make-money/
Alternatively, as Joe says, this is an introductory offer intended to build market share (and backed by their investors).
I’ll take a deeper look and likely add to the table as they have FSCS protection.
Re: Zero commission brokers. A good rule of thumb is to identify the revenue model and then only participate if your investment style runs counter. For example, if the broker funds itself through high spreads then you’ll probably get a good deal if you don’t trade much.
As Monevator said Prosper.co.uk may be yet another “fee free” broker which is hoping to make money “somehow”. In the meantime it has painted itself into a corner. It has a zero fee SIPP, which is what T212 were promising, but never got. It offers OEICs denominated in GBP so it is hard to hide spread and forex fees. As a headliner it offers a rebate on a few low and moderately priced developed world equity and bond fund fees.
To retort to Monevator at present Prosper.co.uk are offering all things to all people. Their offering is “optimal” for any serious long term investor (but not traders). However its savings rates can be beaten and it doesn’t have JISAs or LISAs. I’d say it would be a tough one to put in the table so I don’t envy Monevator.
Re: Prosper – it’s like many of these newer digital platforms – look good at first glance with no fees and attractive offers until you look below the surface. They are attempting to pull in many customers then probably increase fees later on – if it works – but there are many others doing this and if they don’t go bust in the meantime. From what I remember when I looked I think their last accounts showed a loss of 1.8m in last year and only employ a few staff, about seven IIRC . Many of these companies operate like this – was similar when I looked at InvestEngine who have never made a profit – just big losses. How long can they continue this as Directors seem to be pumping money in to fund these (and also crowdfunding) but it can’t go on forever. IE say they make money on their “managed” portfolios but they don’t seem to make much at all from this looking at their accounts and so how that’s going to sustain them is anyone’s guess.
I even opened an InvestEngine account some time ago but then never funded it. Decided against it when I asked some questions on their chat and found their customer service totally hopeless. They seem to be only able to answer the easiest of questions (i.e “how do I deposit money” or something – which you can easily find out on website anyway) but anything bit more involved – you get a fob off stock answer that isn’t an answer – you are back and forth and get nowhere. So then I looked at reviews and some say the same and apparently that withdrawals are sometimes problematic but wouldn’t know on that score. Also then looked at the accounts and found they always only made fairly large losses and IIRC, they have been going for about 9/10 years. Didn’t seem like a risk worth taking – poor customer service for one usually means bad company and don’t touch with a bargepole.
Seems you are just trading safety and any decent customer service for low fees. We may be protected if you stay below the 85k FSCS but who needs the hassle if they do go bust and worry when you might get anything back (and if the FSCS scheme will work exactly as it’s meant to as being a public body – not much associated with this current Govt. or the last seems to work anymore or be free from corruption/sleaze) but God help if you go above that as most likely will be lost when one of them blows up.
Hi, If i have 100k GBP and i want to actively trade around a maximum of 8 trades (sell / buys) per month due to re-balancing my portfolio, what would be the cheapest option in the UK?. I want to trade stocks listed in the S&P500. I want to keep the fees to a minimum taking into account spread and trade costs.
Thanks,
I’ve just opened an ISA with investEngine a couple of weeks ago.. :/ Now I’m not sure it was a wise move.
@The Accumulator Lot of scare mongering going on about InvestEngine on this thread. Can someone more experienced comment on it to allay the fears? I have got a significant investment in IE and would like to get an expert opinion to decide on whether to leave or stay.
Why is it scaremongering to point out the facts? And most of the comments are not just about IE (started with Prosper) but about most of these digital platforms in general that have sprung up over recent years and how they operate – i.e. no fees but fail to make a profit year after year – just take a look at their accounts on Companies House and some of these don’t offer great service either e.g. reviews not good or mixed, no phones to contact, not many staff (gives numbers employed in accounts) etc.
They are only pointing this out to others that don’t seem to be aware who are saying “what a brilliant platform with no fees” more or less. They can’t go on forever making losses – something has to give in the end – they either come good/taken over or are finished. These are not tier 1 brokers in terms of safety and are more risky by their nature – this doesn’t mean they are all going to go bust overnight but just stating the facts and why you need to be careful and spread risk across a few – especially with these. It’s just informing people and actually doing them a service as otherwise seems some don’t do their research and due diligence. Some of them are only seemingly keeping going by directors putting money in to cover losses and as someone said at least one of them has done public crowdfunding.
If I was to invest with any of these, which I don’t currently, but if you do want to take a punt on them – I would not go above the FSCS protection limit and then you should be okay anyway if anything happens. But putting all your eggs in one basket/very large amounts with one of these is not very sensible. That’s all they are pointing out to others when they are saying look at this new brilliant platform here with no fees – platforms have to make money somehow. I’d rather pay a small reasonable amount rather than be over greedy/not want to pay anything and have plenty of competition in the market than them go bust leaving us with less choice of good brokers offering a good service. I think for buy/hold passive investors brokers like IWeb and ii are pretty cheap and also HL and AJ Bell are good value for ETFs and less likely to go up the swanee. (Traders might need to look elsewhere with lower dealing but I think they are not the majority on this site.)
@ Rajesh and MOG – InvestEngine are in start-up mode. They haven’t been around for that long and have been through multiple funding rounds to support their operation as they bid to reach profitability. So far, so normal.
As Confuzed says, they can’t burn investor cash for ever. Hopefully they become profitable. If not, then they’ll likely be taken over. After all, the platform is good. It’s unlikely they’ll just be allowed to go bust because that undermines confidence in the UK fintech sector. The two retail brokers that have gone bust over the last decade did so because of irregular practices that caused an abrupt and messy shutdown. Even then, the FSCS compensation scheme kicked in and their customer books were taken over. IIRC it was such a mess that some HNW individuals did lose money, though I’d want to fact-check that.
So nobody can tell you bad things can’t happen. However, there are safeguards in place.
Is a start-up broker a bad idea? I hope not or else the industry is doomed to stagnate. The two brokers mentioned above weren’t start-ups. I can’t think of a cautionary tale centred on a challenger broker operating in the UK. The “buyer beware” poster children of late have come from the crypto-space.
Are zero-fee brokers a bad idea? I think you have to understand how they make money.
InvestEngine charge fees for managed accounts. Either those fees subsidise free accounts, and they hope to cross-sell, or they make money some other way from free accounts – for example on spreads.
None of which sounds like madness or a scam.
People are naturally drawn to companies with an established track record. Fair enough. Though we all know that scandals can emerge from the most respected institutions e.g. The Post Office.
Much depends on what you can live with. I don’t see a lot of scare-mongering on this thread which suggests you’re personally uncomfortable with the amount of money you’ve committed to one firm.
If that’s true, then Confuzed offers excellent advice: don’t invest more than £85K (the FSCS compensation limit) with any one broker.
I hope that helps.
@The Accumulator I always thought that FSCS compensation is only for cash and all investments are not covered as they have to be kept on the ledger books and don’t even belong to the broker? So it’s kind of always better be invested with brokers.
re MoneyFarm. This seems like a new addition. I’m just looking for a new platform for a GIA, having become a bit annoyed by T212 and InvestEngine.
You’ve put MoneyFarm in the “fixed fee” category, and £0 as the fixed fee for a GIA. This doesn’t seem to match what I see here: https://goodmoneyguide.com/review/moneyfarm/ … it seems to say that a % fee of 0.25% to 0.75% is charged (plus transaction fee).
Is this wrong? If not could you justify its inclusion in this (prestigious) list of yours? There are an awful lot of platforms these days. One has to be very good indeed to get added here.
@Mike – Good Money Guide are referring to the wealth management part of the Money Farm operation. Money Farm’s execution-only side is relatively new, GIA is £0 platform fee, you can see more here: https://www.moneyfarm.com/uk/share-investing/
@Ramzez – FSCS covers a lot more than cash. Here’s their investments page: https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/investments/
Morning,
In regards to the table format, when I search for “shares ISA” to compare just the ISA costs, it hides the brokers name, like this https://i.postimg.cc/J7y5Qwvx/Screenshot.png.
Could you add the broker name into an extra column, for each entry. This means when I search for “shares isa” it will show just the ISA costs but it will be easy to see which broker it is for?
The Vanguard fee structure got my hopes up for a minute that there was no charge over £250k
“0.15% £250k. Max £375”
Would this read better as “0.15% £250k” or similar to reflect that it goes from % to flat rate after £250k
@Trevor – thanks for the screenshot. That is poor. I’ll have a play with that and see if I can restructure to fix. I may be limited by what the table allows me to do but I’ll take a look.
@Robin – are you not seeing what I see? Annual fee column: 0.15% £250k. Max £375
>@Robin – are you not seeing what I see? Annual fee column: 0.15% £250k. Max £375
I think the comment box is stripping out what it thinks of are HTML statements.
What I see is in the Annual Fee column is”0.15% < £250k, 0% &g;£250k. Max £375″ which is what I meant to post above, I found that to be misleading and why I thought it might be better to explicitly say its variable rate up to £250k and then flat rate from £250+ up.
Just want to say, I love this page, I’ve been following it for many, many years and it has helped me manage brokers as the value of my SIPP and ISAs exceeded certain levels, the above feedback is given as a soft suggestion and not as a compliant on what is still an unbelievably useful article that I find myself sharing with so many people I know the subject of investing comes up.
Are there any brokers that can automate SIPP drawdown? I’m with interactive investor and I’d like to take a monthly or quarterly income whilst leaving the balance fully invested. The platform allows me to automate monthly cash withdrawals, but these will fail if don’t log on each month to sell enough shares to make the cash available. They can all automate share purchases – why not sales?
“why not sales?”
Haha, how long have you been investing? Some time, I’d wager, if you’re talking about drawing from a SIPP…
Some of hungrier newer lads on the block (T212 etc.) actually make it perfectly perfunctory to get money out (doubt whether they allow you to automate it). But it’s my experience that getting the hard stuff out of platforms’ clutches when you want it has traditionally usually involved jumping through hoops. Almost like they don’t want to let go, and are not entirely convinced it’s your money any more. I mean: you transferred it to them, right?
My SIPP is also with Interactive Investor: please keep us informed of any results.
“not entirely convinced it’s your money any more”
I’ve always had that feeling about pensions – governments, pension companies – everyone has their beady eyes on your money! The budget was the latest manifestation of this, and it was the trigger for my decision to put my SIPP into rapid drawdown. The kids will get it sooner rather than later. Money from regular income can be passed on free of IHT.
When asked, Interactive Investor just say they don’t have that facility. However, I have discovered that Vanguard can do it, and I’m leaning towards switching to them if I don’t find a decent alternative.
I still find it astonishing that II cannot do this – what do all of their other draw-down customers do?
I have power of attorney for my mum.
Which ISA account is the least painful to open for her?
@ Robin – thank you for the positivity and for the feedback. Can I ask one more question, are you on mobile? It’s useful to know the greater than / less than symbols are screwing up in places. I even borked my own cut and paste in my previous message to you, it should have been: 0.15% <£250k, 0% >£250k. Max £375.
That formatting style was always about trying to achieve concision on a ridiculously convoluted table but maybe it does more harm than good.
It could say:
0.15% up to £250k. Max £375.
Or
0.15% up to £250k. £0 thereafter.
Or something like that. The first alternative is actually more concise and probably a lot more readable than what we have now. Plus no symbols to go awry.
Thank you. This is great. I’ll play around with this during the next update but seems like a really positive change.
@Matthew – if I’m reading you right, you’re not asking about the difference between a stocks and shares ISA or a cash ISA but which broker to open a stocks and shares ISA with?
If you want an account with a broker that scores highly for customer service then Hargreaves Lansdown generally score well here.
It’s not the cheapest but that’s why they can invest in customer service, I guess.
@Matthew. I’ve not tried this for an ISA account, so cannot give you a specific recommendation.
When I had PoA for my mum, I managed her other affairs (banks, savings, pensions etc), but only a cash ISA. In that case, the building society was happy for me to complete the forms and I supplied a certified copy of the PoA.
It’s often technically possible to open and manage an account without even referencing the Power of Attorney (some platforms use other means to identify applicants such as a debit card). This could, however, put you in breach of the broker/platform’s terms so it’s worth treading carefully.
I know that interactive investor allow you to register a LPoA (scroll down on this page for the form: https://www.ii.co.uk/useful-forms/account-admin)
If doing this, I strongly recommend getting a certified copy of the LPoA rather than sending the original (forgive the unsolicited advice). The LPoA may literally be irreplaceable.
Good luck and best wishes – been there.
Thanks for the response, I think the first alternative suggestion works better.
I had problems with greater and lesser symbols using Chrome on a Mac
Blimey. I use Chrome on a Mac. There are no rules!
@Matthew Ease of use and customer service are really important for many of us and hard to reflect in guides like this. FWIW I have had accounts with Bestinvest, Vanguard, Lloyds, Iweb and AJ Bell. I have no experience with Hargreaves Landown
Bestinvest were fine but their charges rocketed some years ago and their service went down the pan at the same time. Vanguard were very restricted, have a truly terrible website, and disappointing for various reasons. Iweb are cheapest but the site is clunky. Lloyds uses the same software and seems similar but a bit dearer. However AJBell have been head and shoulder over the rest in terms of website functionality, ease of use, research, efficiency, and speed and quality of response to queries. With my portfolio their fees are cheap provided you stick to ETFs/ITs to take advantage of their capped platform fee (£42 pa for ISA, £120 pa for ISA), particularly since they reduced dealing fees to £5 for ETF.