Looking for the cheapest investment platform for your portfolio? The most cost-effective option will depend on the value of your investments and how often you plan to trade. We’ve analysed the top investment platforms available now to help you find the cheapest provider.
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4.5/5
InvestEngine – Low-fee, great for ETF investors.
Welcome Bonus of up to £100
Refer a friend and get Up to £100 free
With investments, your capital is at risk. This could mean the value of your investments goes down as well as up. T&Cs apply.
4.5/5
Trading 212 – Beginner-friendly, low-cost platform, competitive interest on uninvested cash.
Free fractional shares worth up to £100
4.05% AER on cash, paid daily
When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results
4.5/5
XTB – Powerful platform, global stock options, compettive interest on uninvested cash.
0% commission investing/trading
4.5% on GBP uninvested funds held in a Flexible Stocks and Shares ISA
Capital at risk. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
4.5/5
IG – Zero commission trading, no latform fees, ready-made portfolios available.
Out of hours US stock trading
GIA / ISA / SIPP: Receive up to £100 in free UK shares until 31 August 2025
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
4.5/5
eToro – Great for beginners, commission free trading, stellar copy trading fuctionality.
0% commission on stocks and ETFs
Innovative social trading
Warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with eToro. Consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
4.5/5
– Low-fee, great for ETF investors.
Welcome Bonus of up to £100
Refer a friend and get Up to £100 free
With investments, your capital is at risk. This could mean the value of your investments goes down as well as up. T&Cs apply.
InvestEngine offers a low-cost trading option that focuses on ETFs. There are no platform fees or trading costs, making this provider one of our top picks for offering the best value.
It offers both a Stocks and Shares ISA and a SIPP, allowing you to shield your returns in a tax-efficient account.
Although there aren’t any set up fees, there’s a minimum investment of £100 to open an account. After which you can keep topping up your account by depositing money or by setting up a regular payment such as a direct debit or standing order.
InvestEngine is user-friendly and a good option to consider for new traders. However, the educational resources available, aren’t as comprehensive as some other platforms such as e-Toro and Freetrade.
Another thing to bear in mind is that InvestEngine only offers ETFs so if you’re looking for a wider range of investment assets this platform might not be suitable.
InvestEngine also has an excellent Trustpilot score of 4.5 stars out of 5. Customers with a positive experience of the platform rated its cost-effective fees and ease of use highly.
Those with a negative experience using the platform highlighted issues with administrative and technical errors.
For a detailed analysis of InvestEngine services, check out our review for 2025
Read full review
4.5/5
– Beginner-friendly, low-cost platform, competitive interest on uninvested cash.
Free fractional shares worth up to £100
4.05% AER on cash, paid daily
When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results
Trading 212 is a user-friendly platform which offers a wealth of investment assets for traders to choose from. This includes shares, ETFs and investment trusts.
There is no custody (or platform) fee to pay and there are low FX trading fees of around 0.15%. It also offers really good value for money on uninvested cash. Currently, you can earn 4.35% on any cash that isn’t traded in your account.
Trading 212 provides top notch educational resources, which are great for helping beginners learn the basics. There is an extensive article library and videos available on YouTube.
These resources only cover entry-level subjects though, so more experienced traders may have to look elsewhere for more advanced or technical queries.
Compared to other platforms, Trading 212 has limited customer support options, only providing email and online chat to manage queries.
Trading 212 has an excellent Trustpilot score of 4.6 stars out of 5. Customers with a positive experience of the platform ranked its ease of use highly while those with a negative experience using the platform highlighted issues with customer service.
Read my full review of Trading 212
Read full review
4.5/5
– Powerful platform, global stock options, compettive interest on uninvested cash.
0% commission investing/trading
4.5% on GBP uninvested funds held in a Flexible Stocks and Shares ISA
Capital at risk. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 72% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
XTB offers a powerful, low-cost trading platform with no annual account fees and 0% commission on stocks and ETFs. It offers really good value for money and you can earn a competitive rate of 4.5% interest on unvested cash. There are also no charges to withdraw sums of over £50 from your account. (Withdrawing less than £50 will incur a £5 charge!)
It charges competitive FX fees of 0.5% if you want to trade in a non-GBP currency. As a workaround however, you can set up accounts in different currencies to help lower your conversion fee costs or avoid them!
XTB is a great option for experienced traders as it offers advanced tools and resources to help you make the best decisions with your money. For example, there is a stock screener and daily market news to give you in-depth analysis.
It also provides free eBooks, trading guides and advanced strategies to help you develop a suitable investment plan to achieve your goals.
Trading 212 has a great Trustpilot score of 4 stars out of 5. Customers rated its customer support and comprehensive platform positively. Customers with a negative experience pointed out delays in receiving withdrawals from the platform.
Read Clare’s full review of XTB’s commission-free investing
Read full review
4.5/5
– Zero commission trading, no latform fees, ready-made portfolios available.
Out of hours US stock trading
GIA / ISA / SIPP: Receive up to £100 in free UK shares until 31 August 2025
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Traders can get great value for money with IG which offers zero commission trading. There are also no annual fees to pay for your account.
New customers can earn interest of up to 4.25% on uninvested cash, If you opened an IG account and placed an investment between 1-30 May 2025, you may be eligible to get up to 8.5% univested balances of up to £100,000 until 31 August 2025. IG charges an inactivity fee of £12 per month if you don’t use the account for 24 consecutive months.
IG has an extensive investment asset offering, with over 12,000 stocks to choose from. Traders can also access, ETFs, funds, investment trusts and ready-made portfolios.
Customers can also benefit from IG’s 24-hour customer service which is available from Monday to Friday.
The IG Academy offers a suite of educational resources to help traders of all levels get to grips with trading and develop more advanced strategies. There are lots of resources to choose from, including online courses, live sessions, webinars, articles and videos.
For a detailed analysis of IG, check out our review for 2024
Read full review
4.5/5
– Great for beginners, commission free trading, stellar copy trading fuctionality.
0% commission on stocks and ETFs
Innovative social trading
Warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with eToro. Consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
e-Toro offers 0% commission on stock trades and ready-made portfolios, making it one of the better value platforms out there. However, it does charge FX fees of 1.5%, which is on the higher end compared to other platforms.
There are no platform fees or management fees to pay. Withdrawals are also free when you take out $30 USD or more from your account. (Withdrawals of less than $30 USD will incur a fixed fee of $5 USD.
e-Toro charges customers an inactivity fee of $10 per month if they don’t use their account for 12 consecutive months.
The platform offers stellar educational resources, including videos, guides and courses. One of e-Toro’s standout features is its copy trading functionality, which allows users to mimic the trades of successful investors on the app. Overall, it’s a good value trading app to consider for users of all experience levels.
Read our full review of eToro
Read full reviewWe analysed a wide range of ethical funds and chose the best ones based on the following criteria:
The table below shows a comparison of the platform fees you might expect to pay with some of the most popular trading platforms. Remember, these figures are for illustrative purposes.
Cheapest for portfolios under £50,000
The cheapest platforms for investors with a portfolio of under £50,000 tend to be those with low percentage annual fee or no fee at all.
Platforms including Trading 212, XTB and IG don’t charge a platform fee and offer zero-commission or low-fee trading.
Cheapest for portfolios over £50,000
The cheapest platforms for portfolios over £50,000 typically charge a fixed monthly fee.
That’s because the fee is capped and isn’t charged as a percentage of your portfolio – which increases as your portfolio gets bigger.
Platforms including Interactive Investor and Hargreaves Lansdown offer fixed fee pricing structures which could work out cheaper for a larger portfolio.
Not necessarily. It’s important to remember that cost and value are two very different things. While taking the overall fees associated with a platform into consideration is important, it’s not the only factor to think about. Other things to bear in mind are the variety of assets available, the level of customer service and how accessible the platform is. Another thing to consider is whether the platform allows you to invest in line with your values, for example, do they offer ethical investment funds.
Zero-commission trading or commission-free trading means that the investment platform or broker doesn’t charge you for the service of buying and selling shares. This means that more of your money goes towards purchasing investment assets rather than covering fees. However, it’s important to remember that there’s no such thing as a free lunch and these platforms need to make money somehow. Some platforms may recoup costs by charging higher fees elsewhere, such as foreign exchange fees. It’s important to check and understand the fee structure of an investment platform before signing up. This will ensure that you know how the fees could affect your returns.
Vanguard introduced a new minimum platform fee. Portfolios under £32,000 have a £4 a month account fee (£48 per year) and a fund management fee of 0.06% to 0.79%. For portfolios of £32,000 and over a 0.15% annual fee applies (up to £375) and a fund management fee of 0.06% to 0.79%. Here’s an example of how this could affect your portfolio if you invested in a LifeStrategy Fund:
| If you invested £20,000: | If you invested £50,000: |
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Foreign exchange fees or FX fees, are charged by platforms when you buy or sell investments that aren’t in your home currency. For example, if your account is held in GBP but you want to buy US stocks, valued in USD, there is usually a fee to convert the currency. Foreign exchange fees affect the amount of profit you make from your investments.
It’s possible to switch platforms without losing money if neither platform charges a transfer fee to move your investments from one to the other. Some providers, such as foreign exchange fees. and foreign exchange fees., don’t charge a transfer fee but others do. So it’s important to check before starting a transfer, as these fees will eat into the value of your portfolio.
