Investing8 providers Updated May 2026

Best UK Investment Platforms 2026

Quick answer - our pick

Trading 212

Best for: Cost-conscious passive investors with portfolios under £100k

For the typical UK retail investor with a portfolio under £100,000 holding global tracker ETFs, Trading 212 is impossible to beat on cost: 0% platform fee, 0% dealing, on ISA AND SIPP AND Cash ISA under one login. The honest catch is that they do not offer a Lifetime ISA or Junior ISA, so anyone who needs those wrappers needs a second provider. Beyond £100,000 the maths shifts toward Interactive Investor (whose £4.99/month plan stops scaling with pot size) and beyond £250,000 toward Vanguard if you only hold Vanguard funds. For the largest pots and the broadest wrapper coverage including LISA and JISA, AJ Bell is the cleanest single-provider answer.

Visit Trading 212 See full comparison

Referral link. Capital at risk. Not financial advice.

An 'investment platform' is the broker that holds your investments in whatever tax wrapper you choose. Trading 212, AJ Bell, Vanguard and the others on this list each support a different combination of Stocks and Shares ISA, SIPP, Lifetime ISA and General Investment Account. Picking a platform usually comes before picking a wrapper, because most readers eventually want more than one wrapper at the same provider. We rank the main UK platforms on the headline cost on a typical mid-sized portfolio, the breadth of the fund universe, and which combinations of wrappers they actually support. For wrapper-specific deep dives, see our [Stocks and Shares ISA](/compare/stocks-shares-isa), [SIPP](/compare/sipp), [Stocks and Shares LISA](/compare/stocks-shares-lisa) and [Cash ISA](/compare/cash-isa) comparisons.

Annual platform fee on a £20,000 Stocks and Shares ISA

£20,000 (full-year ISA)

Free

Free

£30/yr

£50/yr

£60/yr

£90/yr

£70/yr

Free (post-trades)

£100,000 portfolio

Free

Free

£150/yr

£250/yr

£60/yr

£450/yr

£350/yr

Free (post-trades)

Indicative platform fee only. Excludes fund OCFs (typically 0.10% to 0.25% for trackers), dealing fees, and FX charges. Passively-held portfolios. Provider names link to each platform's published fee schedule.

Full comparison

Provider	Wrappers offered	Headline ISA fee	Fund universe	Min investment	Best for
Trading 212 We use this	Cash ISA, S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA	0% platform, 0% dealing	ETFs and shares only	£1	Cost-conscious passive investors with portfolios under £100k
InvestEngine	S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA	0% (DIY) / 0.25% (managed)	ETFs only (700+)	£100	DIY ETF investors who want zero cost without owning individual shares
Vanguard	S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA	0.15% (capped at £375/year)	Vanguard funds + ETFs only	£100	Vanguard fund loyalists with £20k-£250k pots wanting a hard fee cap
AJ Bell	Cash ISA, S&S ISA, LISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA	0.25% (capped at £42/year on shares)	Broad (2,000+ funds)	£25	Investors who want one login for every UK wrapper including LISA and JISA
Interactive Investor	S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA	£4.99/month (Investor) + SIPP £10/month	Broad (40,000+ instruments)	£25	Investors with £50k+ pots, especially those wanting both ISA and SIPP
Hargreaves Lansdown	Cash ISA, S&S ISA, LISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA	0.45% (capped at £45/year on shares)	Very broad (3,000+ funds)	£100	High-balance investors who genuinely value premium service and tooling
Fidelity	S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA	0.35% (capped at £90/year on ETFs and shares)	Broad	£25	Fund-focused investors with £250k+ pots seeking the lower fee tier
iWeb	S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA	£0 platform, £5 per trade	Broad (funds and shares)	No minimum	Buy-and-hold passive investors with £100k+ pots making rare trades

Provider details

Trading 212 We use this

Cost-conscious passive investors with portfolios under £100k

Wrappers offeredCash ISA, S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA

Headline ISA fee0% platform, 0% dealing

Fund universeETFs and shares only

Min investment£1

Pros

Zero platform fee across every wrapper they offer
Free dealing on shares and ETFs
Same login for ISA, SIPP and Cash ISA, with Pies for set-and-forget allocations

Cons

No mutual funds, only ETFs and shares (fine for index investors)
No LISA, no Junior ISA
0.15% FX fee on USD or EUR holdings

Trading 212 fees page Visit Trading 212 → Referral link. Capital at risk. Not financial advice.

InvestEngine

DIY ETF investors who want zero cost without owning individual shares

Wrappers offeredS&S ISA, SIPP, GIA

Headline ISA fee0% (DIY) / 0.25% (managed)

Fund universeETFs only (700+)

Min investment£100

Pros

Zero platform fee for DIY portfolios
No dealing fees, no withdrawal fees, no exit fees
Free regular investing and rebalancing

Cons

ETFs only - no mutual funds, no individual shares
No Cash ISA, no LISA, no Junior ISA
SIPP launched recently and has fewer drawdown features than incumbents

InvestEngine fees page Visit InvestEngine →

Vanguard

Vanguard fund loyalists with £20k-£250k pots wanting a hard fee cap

Wrappers offeredS&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA

Headline ISA fee0.15% (capped at £375/year)

Fund universeVanguard funds + ETFs only

Min investment£100

Pros

Hard fee cap at £375/year above £250k pot
Free dealing on Vanguard funds (£4 per ETF trade)
Direct access to LifeStrategy and Target Retirement funds

Cons

Locked into Vanguard products; no third-party funds
No LISA, no Cash ISA
Drawdown tooling is basic compared to AJ Bell or HL

Vanguard fees page Visit Vanguard →

AJ Bell

Investors who want one login for every UK wrapper including LISA and JISA

Wrappers offeredCash ISA, S&S ISA, LISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA

Headline ISA fee0.25% (capped at £42/year on shares)

Fund universeBroad (2,000+ funds)

Min investment£25

Pros

Most complete wrapper coverage of any UK platform
£42/year cap on share/ETF custody fees
Solid app, research content and customer support

Cons

No cap on platform fee for fund holdings
£1.50 per fund trade adds up for monthly investing
SIPP drawdown phase has additional charges

AJ Bell charges page Visit AJ Bell →

Interactive Investor

Investors with £50k+ pots, especially those wanting both ISA and SIPP

Wrappers offeredS&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA

Headline ISA fee£4.99/month (Investor) + SIPP £10/month

Fund universeBroad (40,000+ instruments)

Min investment£25

Pros

Flat monthly fee scales beautifully with pot size
One free monthly trade included in the Investor plan
Junior ISA is free with a parent account

Cons

Most expensive option for small pots under £30,000
No LISA, no Cash ISA
Extra £10/month for SIPP on top of the base plan

Interactive Investor charges page Visit Interactive Investor →

Hargreaves Lansdown

High-balance investors who genuinely value premium service and tooling

Wrappers offeredCash ISA, S&S ISA, LISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA

Headline ISA fee0.45% (capped at £45/year on shares)

Fund universeVery broad (3,000+ funds)

Min investment£100

Pros

Most polished UX and best customer service of any UK platform
Tiered fund fee: drops to 0.25% above £250k, 0.10% above £1m, 0% above £2m
Full wrapper coverage including LISA

Cons

0.45% headline fee is roughly 2x cheaper alternatives on small pots
£11.95 per share trade is high
Often promotes own-brand funds and views in research content

Hargreaves Lansdown charges page Visit Hargreaves Lansdown →

Fidelity

Fund-focused investors with £250k+ pots seeking the lower fee tier

Wrappers offeredS&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA

Headline ISA fee0.35% (capped at £90/year on ETFs and shares)

Fund universeBroad

Min investment£25

Pros

Free fund dealing with regular investing
Tiered platform fee drops to 0.20% above £250k and 0% above £1m
Strong research and educational content

Cons

0.35% sits mid-table for smaller pots
£7.50 per share trade is uncompetitive
No LISA, no Cash ISA

Fidelity service fee page Visit Fidelity →

iWeb

Buy-and-hold passive investors with £100k+ pots making rare trades

Wrappers offeredS&S ISA, SIPP, GIA

Headline ISA fee£0 platform, £5 per trade

Fund universeBroad (funds and shares)

Min investmentNo minimum

Pros

Zero ongoing platform fee on any pot size
One-off £100 account opening fee (currently waived)
Owned by Lloyds, well-established back-office

Cons

£5 dealing fee per trade is painful for monthly investing
Basic interface and limited research
No LISA, no Cash ISA, no Junior ISA

iWeb Share Dealing site Visit iWeb →

Honourable mentions

Interactive Investor

Runner-up

Best for: Investors with £50k+ pots, especially those wanting both ISA and SIPP

The flat-fee structure dominates every percentage-based competitor above ~£50,000. At £200k you pay around £180/year on the ISA versus £900 at Hargreaves Lansdown. The bigger your pot, the more this matters.

Visit Interactive Investor →

AJ Bell

Runner-up

Best for: Investors who want one login for every UK wrapper including LISA and JISA

The only mainstream platform that offers Cash ISA, S&S ISA, LISA, SIPP, GIA and Junior ISA under one login. Slightly more expensive than Trading 212 but the wrapper completeness is worth real money to families managing several pots.

Visit AJ Bell →

InvestEngine

Runner-up

Best for: DIY ETF investors who want zero cost without owning individual shares

Trading 212 with even fewer features but the same 0% cost story on ETFs. Worth a look if you have ideological reservations about Trading 212 specifically and want a pure-ETF alternative.

Visit InvestEngine →

How we picked

Wrappers supported and fee schedules verified from each provider's public fees page, last reviewed May 2026. The headline annual cost figures assume passive index-fund holdings; active traders should run their own numbers. Robo-advisor platforms have their own [comparison page](/compare/robo-advisor) - this list focuses on self-directed platforms.

What is a UK investment platform?

An investment platform is the broker that holds your investments inside whatever tax wrapper you choose. Vanguard, AJ Bell, Trading 212, Hargreaves Lansdown - they all do the same fundamental job: custody your funds and shares, settle your trades, file the wrapper paperwork with HMRC, and charge you a fee for the privilege. The wrapper (ISA, SIPP, LISA, JISA, GIA) is a UK tax shelter set by Parliament. The platform is the commercial vehicle you choose to access it. The same ISA allowance is identical on every platform; the difference is what fund universe you get, what the platform charges, and how good the tooling is. Most UK retail investors eventually want more than one wrapper at the same provider - ISA for the accessible portion, SIPP for the tax-relief-amplified pension portion. That is why picking a platform usually comes before picking a wrapper: switching platform later means a transfer of every wrapper you hold, which is fiddly enough that most people just stay put.

Choose the platform first, then the wrappers

The conventional UK personal-finance order is to pick the wrapper first ("I want a Stocks and Shares ISA"), then shop platforms within that wrapper. This is backwards if you plan to invest seriously for more than five years. Why: the wrapper is a tax shelter that has the same rules across every platform. The £20,000 ISA allowance, the £4,000 LISA cap, the 25% LISA bonus, the SIPP tax relief mechanics - all of these are HMRC rules that work identically wherever you hold the account. The platform is the part of the decision that actually differs. The right order: 1. Pick the platform first based on cost, fund universe and which wrappers it offers. 2. Then open the wrappers you need on that platform, in the priority order that matches your tax band and life stage. 3. Only use a second platform if your first choice doesn't offer a wrapper you genuinely need (the LISA gap is the most common reason). The one exception is workplace pensions, which are determined by your employer and rarely worth optimising over because of the employer match. Pull that match in full before considering anything else.

The priority order for UK tax wrappers

Once you've picked a platform, the contribution priority order for most UK readers is: 1. **Workplace pension up to the employer match.** A 100% return on day one before any tax relief. Never give this up. 2. **Emergency fund in a Cash ISA.** Three to six months of essentials in easy-access. The emergency fund calculator sizes this for your household. 3. **Lifetime ISA up to £4,000/year** if you're under 40 and either saving for a first home (£450k cap) or want a tax-free pension supplement at 60. 4. **Stocks and Shares ISA up to your £20,000 annual allowance.** This is the workhorse wrapper. 5. **SIPP beyond that** if you're a higher-rate taxpayer where pension relief beats ISA flexibility. The ISA vs SIPP calculator sizes the trade-off for your specific tax band. 6. **GIA only after** ISA, SIPP and LISA allowances are exhausted. The GIA has no tax wrapper and capital gains plus dividend tax eat into the long-run return. Most UK households never get past step 4. If you're in that majority, the platform decision is essentially "which platform has the cheapest S&S ISA" - which is the question Trading 212 wins for portfolios under £100,000.

Why platform cost matters more than people realise

Platform fees compound the wrong way. On a £100,000 portfolio held for 30 years at 7% real return, the difference between a 0% platform fee and a 0.45% platform fee is roughly £100,000 of end value. That is one platform fee delta paying for an entirely separate retirement home over a working life. The headline numbers across the major UK platforms span 0% to 0.75%. A 0.45% gap looks small until you remember it compounds annually on every pound in the wrapper: - £20,000 pot, 10 years at 5% real: £900 cost difference - £100,000 pot, 20 years at 5% real: £18,000 cost difference - £250,000 pot, 30 years at 5% real: £125,000 cost difference This is why the cost decision dwarfs almost every other platform consideration for passive investors. The premium-service argument for paying 0.45% to Hargreaves Lansdown is genuine for some people - their app, research and customer service are meaningfully better than the budget competitors - but anyone making the choice should know what the premium actually costs in end-of-life pounds. The compound interest calculator lets you size the platform-fee compounding cost on your own numbers. The structural fee schedule is what compounds; promotional cashback offers expire.

Which platforms support which wrappers

No UK platform offers every wrapper. The most common gap is the Lifetime ISA, which Trading 212, Vanguard, Interactive Investor, Fidelity, iWeb and InvestEngine all skip - leaving only AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and a few LISA-specialist apps (Moneybox, Tembo) for under-40s building first-home or retirement savings via the 25% bonus. The wrapper-coverage shape of each major platform: - **Trading 212**: Cash ISA, S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA. No LISA, no JISA. - **AJ Bell**: every wrapper. Cash ISA, S&S ISA, LISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA. - **Hargreaves Lansdown**: every wrapper. Same as AJ Bell. - **Vanguard**: S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA. No LISA, no Cash ISA. - **Interactive Investor**: S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA. No LISA, no Cash ISA. - **Fidelity**: S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA, JISA. No LISA, no Cash ISA. - **iWeb**: S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA. No LISA, no Cash ISA, no JISA. - **InvestEngine**: S&S ISA, SIPP, GIA. No LISA, no Cash ISA, no JISA. If you're under 40 and want the LISA, the practical choice is to either accept running two providers (Trading 212 for the cost-efficient ISA/SIPP plus Moneybox or Hargreaves for the LISA) or pick AJ Bell as a single-provider answer. The convenience of one login is worth real money for some households; the £200-£500/year cost of paying AJ Bell's 0.25% on a £100k+ pot versus Trading 212's 0% is the price of that convenience.

When to switch platform (and when not to)

Platform switching in the UK is genuinely fiddly. ISA and SIPP transfers between platforms take 2 to 8 weeks, often involve being out of the market briefly while funds settle, and require paperwork at both ends. The friction is real, and it's the main reason the incumbents charge what they do. Reasons to switch that justify the friction: - Your platform fee has been outgrown by your pot. A £40k pot at Hargreaves Lansdown at 0.45% is £180/year; the same pot at Trading 212 is £0/year. Switching saves the cost of a foreign holiday every year, recurring. - You need a wrapper your current platform doesn't offer (typically the LISA at age 39 with a year to use it). - Your current platform is being acquired, merged, or has had a significant security incident. - The fund you want isn't available on your current platform. Reasons NOT to switch: - Saving 0.05% in fees on a £5,000 pot (the saving is £2.50/year; the friction is hours of your life). - Chasing a sign-up bonus that expires in 12 months but locks you into a higher long-run fee. - A friend told you their platform's app is nicer (it might be; check whether you actually care). Most UK retail investors stay on their first platform for life because the friction is too high. That makes the first choice the most important one. The Stocks and Shares ISA comparison and SIPP comparison drill into the wrapper-specific decisions; this umbrella page is for the prior question of which provider to enter the wrapper system through.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best UK investment platform for beginners?

For most UK beginners with portfolios under £100,000, Trading 212's S&S ISA wins on cost (0% platform fee, 0% dealing) and the Pies feature makes building a passive portfolio genuinely simple. InvestEngine is the cleanest ETF-only alternative with the same 0% cost story. If you specifically want mutual funds rather than ETFs, or want a single provider for ISA plus LISA plus JISA, AJ Bell is the next-best choice at 0.25%.

What is the cheapest UK investment platform?

Trading 212 and InvestEngine both charge 0% platform fee with no dealing costs. iWeb has zero ongoing platform fee but charges £5 per trade, which works out cheapest for buy-and-hold investors with large pots making rare trades. Above ~£50,000 portfolios, Interactive Investor at £4.99/month plus £10/month for SIPP becomes the cheapest flat-fee option compared to percentage-based competitors.

Can I have ISAs at more than one provider?

From April 2024 you can pay into multiple Stocks and Shares ISAs in the same tax year, so yes - you can run a Trading 212 ISA alongside a Vanguard ISA simultaneously without restriction. The combined £20,000 annual allowance is shared across all ISAs. The exception is the Lifetime ISA: you can still only fund one LISA per tax year.

How do I transfer my ISA or SIPP to a different platform?

Use the receiving platform's ISA or SIPP transfer form. Cash transfers complete in 2 to 4 weeks, in-specie (keep the same investments) transfers can take 4 to 8 weeks. ISA and SIPP transfers do NOT count as new contributions and do NOT use any of your annual allowance. The HMRC clock keeps running, so you don't lose your tax-free status during the transfer. Some platforms cover the exit fees of your old provider if you transfer more than a set minimum.

Should I split my investments across multiple platforms?

For most readers, no. Two platforms means two logins, two sets of paperwork, two transfer headaches if either platform fails, and double the chance of making an admin mistake. The £85,000 FSCS limit applies per institution, but for typical investment platform holdings the FSCS protection is on cash balances and platform failure, not on market losses, so spreading for FSCS reasons rarely matters. The realistic case for two platforms is when one offers a wrapper the other doesn't - typically the LISA at AJ Bell or Moneybox alongside a cheaper main ISA at Trading 212.

What is the difference between an ISA and a SIPP?

An ISA shelters contributions made from already-taxed income; withdrawals at any age are 100% tax-free. A SIPP gets income tax relief on the way in (25% gross-up automatic plus higher- or additional-rate relief via self-assessment); withdrawals from age 55 (57 from April 2028) are 25% tax-free, 75% taxed as income. The ISA vs SIPP calculator sizes the trade-off for your specific marginal tax band and retirement timeline.

Are robo-advisors investment platforms?

Yes, technically. Robo-advisors like Nutmeg, Wealthify and Moneyfarm are investment platforms that bundle the platform with a managed portfolio service, typically charging an extra 0.30% to 0.65% on top of the underlying fund OCFs. The honest framing is that robo-advisors are convenience products, not edge products: paying 0.65% all-in to be invested in a global tracker beats paying 0% to leave the money in cash, but paying 0.22% all-in for a DIY global tracker beats both. The robo-advisor comparison covers them separately.

Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links, which means we receive a small commission if you sign up. This never affects the rankings or which platforms we recommend. We only feature platforms that meet our editorial standards.