interactive investor Review 2026

• Both experienced and new investors

interactive investor is that rare thing – an option that works for highly experienced investors as well as those brand new to the markets.

There is plenty of choice to satisfy experienced investors but for those not comfortable making their own investment decisions, the low-cost Quick Start funds offer hassle-free access to Vanguard’s popular LifeStrategy® funds. There’s also a great selection of educational materials, which are helpful in explaining your options if you’re just starting out.

• Investors with £50k+

interactive investor is best suited to investors with a substantial portfolio. For this group, ii offers a wide range of share dealing options plus the greatest potential cost-saving benefits. Investors looking to invest less than £50,000 may find the subscription charges prohibitive.

• Families

With free Junior ISAs and free accounts for up to five family members for those with Plus or Premium accounts, this is a great option if you’re looking for a great value way to open several accounts.

Investors at interactive investor enjoy access to the following range of products:

• General investment account (GIA) is an account designed to provide access to investments. You may be liable for tax on any income or capital gains earned within a general investment account but this can be a useful vehicle for anyone who has maxed out their ISA allowanceGeneral investment account
• Sometimes called an investment ISA, a stocks and shares ISA is an individual savings account that allows you to invest in shares, unit trusts, investment funds, and bonds. You will not need to pay tax on any income or capital gains earned on investments within an ISAStocks and shares ISA
• A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSelf-invested Personal Pension (SIPP)
• A junior self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a way of investing money for your child’s future retirement, free from capital gains and dividend tax. As it is designed to be started before a child turns 18, it must be opened by a parent or guardian although anyone can contribute. Once the beneficiary turns 18, they take control of the account, however, the money within the account cannot usually be accessed until age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028 and likely to rise further)Junior ISA

Here’s how that compares to other UK investment platforms:

ii also offers a cash savings account, which I’ll also take a look at in this section.

Assets

If you choose to build your own portfolio, you’ll have an enormous range of potential assets to consider:

• UK shares
• US shares
• European shares
• Rest of the World shares
• Funds
• Trusts
• ETFs
• Bonds and gilts
• An Initial public offer (IPO) is when shares in a company are made available to investors. It’s sometimes known as either a ‘listing’ or ‘floating’ on the public market.IPOs
• Indices
• VCTs

In total, ii offers investors a staggering choice of more than 40,000 investment options including over 3,000 funds, 1,000 ETFs, and more than 600 investment trusts.

The inability to buy Fractional shares are portions of shares (or ETFs) that are smaller than one whole share. They are designed to make ownership of large, expensive shares more accessible. fractional shares is a real shame, however, as it means investors on smaller budgets who cannot afford whole shares are prohibited from investing in the bigger name, more expensive stocks. While competitors such as Hargreaves Lansdown and Fidelity also don’t offer fractional shares, some newer competitors, such as Nutmeg, eToro and Freetrade, do.

A ready-made portfolio is a pre-made collection of investments that have been put together by investment experts. They are designed to be a simple option for those who don’t want to choose individual stocks or funds for themselves.Ready-made options

If you don’t want to select your own investment assets, there’s a range of ready-made options to consider instead:

Quick-start funds

These are six low-cost funds: 3 x Vanguard LifeStrategy funds, and 3 x sustainable funds from Columbia Threadneedle.

Vanguard’s popular LifeStrategy funds include options for three different risk profiles: lower (20% equity weighting), moderate (60% equity weighting), and higher (80% equity weighting).

These are passively managed funds that follow the performance of the market and don’t require a fund manager. That’s what helps to keep their charges lower.

The three Columbia Threadneedle sustainable funds are cautious, balanced, and growth and can, therefore, be chosen to align with your risk appetite as well as your sustainability values.

Investment Pathways

These ready-made options are designed for those moving into the pension drawdown phase.

The Super 60 investment list

These are a range of selected, highly recommended funds, including both active and passive funds. You can filter your search by asset group, investment group and performance to find a fund that suits your investment goals and styles. The list includes ETFs and investment trusts.

The ACE 40 ethical list

A list of rated and recommended sustainable investments to meet different risk profiles and goals.

With this large range of ready-made options, ii is a good place for those who have cash to invest, but either don’t feel confident choosing their own asset selection, or who believe that a fund offers the best way to meet their investment goals.

Stocks and Shares ISA

A stocks and shares ISA is what’s known as a ‘tax wrapper’ – that means it can be wrapped around a wide range of different investment products. Any investment growth or interest earned within a stocks and shares ISA is tax-free, which makes them a popular way to invest up to £20k per year. You can only have one stocks and shares ISA open per tax year, however, so choose carefully (although it’s possible to transfer between providers once you’ve started saving).

ii operates a slightly unusual way of charging for the use of different products. It can be a bit confusing and might cloud decisions on which is the right provider for you, as comparing like-for-like isn’t easy when everyone charges differently!

It offers 3 different tiers including:

• Core (£5.99 per month) if you invest up to £100,000
• Plus (£14.99 per month) if you invest over £100,000
• Premium (£39.99) there’s an unlimited portfolio limit

Each tier gives you access to the following accounts:

• Stocks and Shares ISA
• Managed ISA
• SIPP
• General Investment Account

To access a Junior ISA, you’ll need to sign up to the Plus or Premium tier.

Important: Your capital is at risk. Investments can go down in value as well as up, and you could get back less than you invest.

Web platform

ii’s proprietary platform is straightforward and user-friendly, although it’s not terribly pretty and definitely looks a bit outdated when compared to competitors’ designs.

Mobile platform

The ii mobile app is available on iOS and Android. As with the web platform, it’s relatively easy to get to grips with, although it’s not the greatest design. Having an app means you can check in on your investments, update account information, or buy and sell on the go. There are a couple of differences between the web platform and the app, however, which you’ll want to know about if you’re thinking of using it for trading on the go: You won’t have the ability to set price alerts on the mobile app, and you also won’t have access to the technical indicators, which is annoying.

Demo account

Unfortunately, ii no longer offers access to new clients to their demo account (called a research account), which is a real shame. I was directed towards the Watchlist feature instead when I contacted customer services about this subject, but it isn’t a replacement for a full demo account with virtual money that allows you to test trading strategies in real-time and makes this platform a less attractive proposition for new traders.

interactive investor is relatively unusual in using a flat-fee pricing model. This has benefits for some, and disadvantages for others and really pays to know which group you fall into.

It’s beneficial if you are a high-value investor as it means you’re paying proportionally less, the more you invest. However, there’s a big jump from £5.99 monthly fees to £14.99 per month once your account tips over the £100k mark as you’ll be required to step up from the Core to the Plus plan at this point.

As an ii investor, you’ll have a choice of three payment plans, depending on how much you have to invest and what your preferences are. All plans include access to a Sometimes called an investment ISA, a stocks and shares ISA is an individual savings account that allows you to invest in shares, unit trusts, investment funds, and bonds. You will not need to pay tax on any income or capital gains earned on investments within an ISAStocks and Shares ISA, A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPP (personal pension), and General investment account (GIA) is an account designed to provide access to investments. You may be liable for tax on any income or capital gains earned within a general investment account but this can be a useful vehicle for anyone who has maxed out their ISA allowancegeneral trading account.

• The Core plan: This £5.99 a month plan is billed as a low-cost plan for those investing up to £100,000.

Which it is, if you have £50k+ invested. However, it’s not great value if you have a smaller portfolio. That’s £71.88 over the course of one year. On a £5,000 pot, that’s 1.4% as an equivalent percentage-based fee. For comparison, AJ Bell charges 0.25%, which on £5k would work out as £12.50 per year.
A big difference.

In addition, you’ll need to factor in trading costs. Buying or selling funds or UK/US stocks costs £3.99 per trade on this plan, which is relatively low for a traditional investment platform (although some of the newer platforms such as Freetrade and Trading 212 offer zero dealing fees). Even at a relatively competitive £3.99 per trade, your £5.99 per month suddenly becomes much more expensive if you plan on regularly trading. Especially if those trades are on international assets as they’ll also run up currency conversion (FX) costs with are lower than they used to be at ii, but still a potentially significant cost at 0.75%.

• Plus plan: £14.99 per month.

This plan is for investors with over £100,000 to invest who want access to lower trade costs. With this plan you’ll get your first trade free every month. You can add as many Junior ISAs as you have children, as well five free family accounts, making this great value for those with not just large portfolios, but large families too.

£1.49 per trade on funds and £3.99 per trade on UK and US shares, makes it reasonable on dealing costs too. Although other, non-US international shares are a hefty £7.99 and you’ll still be paying FX fees of 0.75% on trades under £50k (0.25% over £50k).

• Premium plan: £39.99 per month

The highest-priced subscription ii used to offer was the Super Investor plan, which was £19.99 per month, so this new top-price plan is a significant step up. It’s clearly intended to be a much more advanced offering, however, in terms of what you’ll have access to.

ii describes it as “best for active investors who trade frequently and want the best features and rates available.”

You’ll get: fee-free accounts for unlimited number of family members, unlimited free Junior ISAs, two trades per month free of charge, 0.25% flat FX fees, free fund trades, £2.99 UK and US trades, and £5.99 international trades.

You’ll also get access to ii’s new ‘i360 advanced trading platform’, which they’ve promised is coming soon, and which I suspect, will have a greater range of tools and features for those who are more experienced investors and traders.

For SIPPs

Thanks to ii’s new fee structure, the fees for opening a SIPP are no longer headache-inducingly complicated!

All the new plans come with access to a Stocks & Shares ISA, Personal Pension (SIPP), and Trading Account.

A foreign exchange (FX) fee is added to all trades involving foreign currencies. If you buy a stock that trades in US dollars, for example, and your home account is in GB pounds, you’ll need to pay an FX fee.FX fees

You’ll need to pay these fees if you want to buy or sell assets that aren’t traded in Great British pounds, so anytime you trade a US stock, for example.

The fees you pay at ii will vary according to the plan you subscribe to:

• Core plan = 0.75%
• Plus plan = 0.75% (for trades under £50k) or 0.25% (for trades over £50k)
• Premium plan = 0.25%

These are vastly reduced from ii’s old FX fees which is great news if you plan on trading overseas assets, although 0.75% is mid-table when compared to competitors, as you can see from this chart:

All figures were correct at the time of publishing. While we attempt to update figures as soon as we become aware of changes, the most accurate way to obtain the latest data is to check with the provider directly.

ii’s trading platform isn’t actually designed for day-trading. Rather, it’s set up for longer-term investors, so you won’t find all the sophisticated charting and analytic tools you’ll find on a platform like Interactive Brokers, IG or Saxo. But that’s perfectly understandable as the average ii investor is just that – and investor, and not a trader. For that reason, there’s no shorting stocks on this platform.

Technical analysis comes courtesy of Trading Insights™, which you’ll be able to access when registered to use the platform. It’s engineered to be useful for investors of all skill levels and has tools for actionable technical analysis, educational guidance and customisable alerts.

Trading Insights provides valuable intraday data, some simple risk management tools, and a ‘technical score’ that displays the directional outlook of either bullish, bearish or neutral across short to long timeframes.

You can also set price alerts and notifications on the web version of the platform, although you can only set alerts for price movements; nothing else, and it’s not available on the mobile app.

Research tools include heat maps, the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which can help in determining potential overbought or oversold conditions in the market and determine a trend’s strength, and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator which can help traders identify potential trend reversals.

What I couldn’t find, was a calendar for crucial dates, such as ex-dividend dates and earnings announcements. This could be a drawback for income-focused and event-driven investors.

And there’s no demo platform any more, as ii has removed the feature unfortunately.

On the plus side, ii’s news service is great. There are real-time updates on market trends and events that may impact your portfolio and strategy, backed up by expert analysis and helpful commentary, as well as expert picks and news on An Initial public offer (IPO) is when shares in a company are made available to investors. It’s sometimes known as either a ‘listing’ or ‘floating’ on the public market.IPOs. It’s all presented in a user-friendly, if not very pretty or innovative, way.

When selecting a provider for your investments, it is very important to first ensure they meet certain minimum safety standards. We judge interactive investor to meet the threshold for a ‘safe’ provider because:

• interactive investor is regulated by the top-tier UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Investors are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which protects investments up to a value of £85,000 in the event the company liquidates
• ii has been in existence for more than 25 years and currently administers over £50 billion in customer assets
• interactive investor is now a part of the larger FTSE 100 company, abrdn, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• ii holds a strong record where regulatory compliance is concerned with no major regulatory incidents or fines.

Account security

Two-factor authentication is required when you log in to the web platform from a new device or browser. You can then choose to switch to a two-factor login after that if you wish.

Remember that investing involves risk. The value of your investment can go up as well as down, and you could get back less than you put in.

More information on interactive investor and whether this platform might be a good addition to your portfolio can be found here:

interactive investor: Company performance analysis

Investors are well served by a good choice of trade execution tools at ii, although it should be remembered that this is primarily a platform for investors, and therefore isn’t set up with the range of tools a professional trader would expect.

A bar at the bottom of your screen allows you to search and get a quote for any tradeable asset listed on the platform. You can trade at the current market price via:

• A At-best orders (also known as ‘market orders’) instruct a broker to buy / sell at whatever the most advantageous price is at the time of dealing.market order

Or you can set up automated trading via either:

• A limit order: a direction to purchase or sell a stock or other security at a specified price or better.
• Or, a ‘fill or kill’ order: a type of order you can give to buy or sell at a specified price. If your order can’t be ‘filled’ at this price, it will be ‘killed’ or cancelled.

Once you have set up a trade, you can keep track of your order within your account.

Your order status will show as either:

• Executed
• Pending
• Failed (for example, a fill or kill order that could not be dealt at the limit price)
• Cancel Pending (the order may have been in the process of being executed when you requested cancellation)
• Cancelled

Risk management tools

ii customers can use A stop-loss order is an instruction to sell an asset automatically once it reaches a certain price point. The aim of a stop-loss order is to limit losses. stop-loss orders to help manage the risk of runaway losses.

A common fear among investors is that a stock they own goes into a downward spiral and they fail to get out in time, losing the gains they might previously have made. A stop-loss order can help you manage this risk by triggering a sale of your stock once the price reaches a certain point.

interactive investor has recently launched ii Community, a social media app which allows existing ii customers to discuss investments, stock picks, and portfolio strategies.

While eToro remains the king of social trading, ii has clearly taken what eToro and Trading 212 do well and aimed to enhance it. ii Community users can share trading ideas and follow others’ strategies, although this isn’t quite the same copy-trading concept that eToro excels in. You can get breakdowns of others’ portfolios and track the performance of those who are posting the best returns, but you can’t set up a copy portfolio that automatically mirrors their moves. One place the ii app goes a step further than competitors’, however, is in allowing users to benchmark their own portfolio performance. That’s a really nice touch.

Users can anonymously ask questions and share tips, therefore potentially making investing less intimidating for those who find the process complicated.

And unlike eToro and Trading 212, as an interactive investor customer, you have access to a broader range of investment accounts and investment opportunities. You’ll also gain access to ii’s top-notch customer service. All-in-all, this is a big selling point for ii if they can get through a couple of teething issues with the app launch. (One user I chose to follow was showing a 302.91% return – something the user said wasn’t the case, and was clearly a bug.)

Account opening

Opening an account is a little on the clunky side with ii. I needed my National Insurance number and my bank account details, which ii assured me was just for identity verification purposes but, as ii is a subscription service, I was confused as to whether simply registering for an account meant that the first month’s subscription would be taken automatically from my bank account now the company had my bank details. That was fuelled by a message warning me that if I didn’t then go on to commit to which level of subscription I wanted, I risked being charged for a higher level than I wanted. I didn’t rush into a decision and, as it turned out, I wasn’t billed until I deposited some money and decided exactly what I wanted to do with my account, but it was all a bit off-putting and the messaging could definitely be clearer on that.

Transferring an account

The process for transferring an account was explained slightly better.

You might want to transfer investments into ii if:

• you are paying too much in fees elsewhere
• you want to explore the possibility of better returns from investing rather than cash savings (although, note, returns are not guaranteed)
• Or, you have other products with ii and want to consolidate your investments within the same account.

ii’s online transfer process is pretty simple. When you open an account, you will be asked whether you want to transfer any existing accounts and given instructions to follow on how to do this. If you prefer, you can transfer later in your journey, instead. It’s free to do.

I don’t have personal experience of transferring an ISA to ii, however, ii states that transfer times are around 4 weeks if you’re transferring cash, and up to 6 weeks where investments are transferred across. Pension transfers to the ii SIPP are reported to take around 2 to 6 weeks to complete, although if you’re transferring in existing investments, that can take longer – typically 8 to 12 weeks.

Deposits

You can add money to your ii account by debit card or by monthly Direct Debit. You’ll need to commit to a minimum of £25 if you want to set up a DD.

Withdrawals

You can withdraw cash from your account by bank transfer. All you need is your bank details and the mobile phone you have registered with ii. Withdrawals generally go through by the end of the next working day if requested before 2 pm. If you request your withdrawal after 2 pm, you will receive your cash two working days later.

There is no charge for withdrawals in sterling or euros, but there is a £15 charge if withdrawing cash in any other currency.

If you need your cash urgently, you can request an urgent, same-day withdrawal. You’ll need to make your request before 2 pm and it costs £15.

Account closure

Account closure is easy and can be done online. That’s a welcome change from some other big name providers which insist you go through customer service.

The ‘Knowledge Centre’ is a great place to start if you have questions about your A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPP, Sometimes called an investment ISA, a stocks and shares ISA is an individual savings account that allows you to invest in shares, unit trusts, investment funds, and bonds. You will not need to pay tax on any income or capital gains earned on investments within an ISAISA, Junior ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) (JISAs) are tax-free savings accounts for children under the age of 18. Only a parent can open a JISA but anyone can contribute. You can choose to save for your children through either a cash Junior ISA where you will earn interest on any cash in the account, or a stocks and shares Junior ISA where you will invest your child’s savings on their behalfJISA, or you want to learn more about investing and build a strategy for growth. There are ‘Quick Guides’, videos, recorded tutorials, podcasts, useful articles and a whole section on investing for beginners. It is very much aimed at those who are still learning (aren’t we all?). There’s a great ‘Don’t be shy, ask ii’ message facility which actively welcomes all your ‘stupid’ questions, and which will, ii promise, be answered without fear or prejudice.

‘Lunchtime live’ sessions with Bloomberg’s Merryn Somerset Webb bring a live event aspect to the education offering too, with an expert’s take on moves in the markets.

ii uses simple language and explains jargon where it is used, which makes it a good platform for less experienced investors and traders. There is a glossary of terms so you can get to grips with the many acronyms and terms used by financial professionals.

ii also produces daily newsletters to help you stay on top of events that could impact your personal finances or investment outlook.

All in all, it’s a great place to start or continue, your financial education, and it’s all freely available.

ii is an award-winner for the work it does to encourage shareholder engagement with investment companies, winning the ‘AIC Shareholder Engagement Award’ for four consecutive years.

Assuming you want to vote on corporate actions is now the default setting. Those customers who don’t want it as their default setting can opt out.

You can sign up to ii’s free Voting & Information Service to receive information about shareholder meetings, subscribe for and receive shareholder materials, and get notifications for votes on decisions directly affecting your UK registered shareholdings.

As a shareholder, you can attend an AGM and vote in person. ii allows you to confirm your intention to attend through the customer portal. Alternatively, you can send someone to attend on your behalf – or vote online, which, again, you can do through the customer portal.

Customers wanting to vote on corporate actions can now do so via the portal. That’s all great news if having your say on matters that could affect the share price of your stocks matters to you – no more needing to ask customer services to arrange for you to vote.

Customer service at ii has a good reputation.

Help can be accessed via:

• The ‘Customer Hub’ and Common Questions areas of the website. There is a dedicated section for new customers’ commonly asked questions.
• Secure message – For non-urgent enquiries. When I tested this, it took just over 24 hours to receive a reply. This service is only available for registered account holders, however.
• Phone support – For immediate support that anyone can access, customer support is available via telephone between 7:45 am and 5:30 pm, Monday to Friday.
• Social media – interactive investor is active on Twitter and Facebook.

interactive investor has an excellent score on Trustpilot. At the time of writing, it is 4.7/5, which, when based on more than 24,000 reviews, is a strong indicator of a well-trusted brand that most users are happy with. The telephone support is particularly highly praised. When I called ii’s customer service team, I was waiting less than one minute and found the agent very helpful.

Have a question about interactive investors that I haven’t covered? Ask it here and we’ll come back to you with an answer.

This review is the result of my first-hand experience as an account holder at interactive investor and in no way represents financial advice.