Best Online Broker UK 2026: Fees, ISAs and FSCS Compared

The best online broker UK for you depends almost entirely on how much you’re investing and how often you trade, not on any single “winner.” A small, regular ISA contributor is usually best off on a zero-fee app like Trading 212 or Freetrade, someone with a larger, share-heavy portfolio tends to do better on a flat monthly fee like interactive investor, and a fund-only passive investor is often cheapest on a low percentage platform like Vanguard.

This guide compares the main UK investment platforms on dealing charges, platform fees, ISA and SIPP availability, foreign exchange spreads on overseas shares, and FSCS protection, with cost tables at several portfolio sizes so you can see where each one actually lands for your situation. It also covers the regulatory position directly, since a few well-known trading apps serve UK customers through non-UK entities with weaker protection than you’d get here.

Best online broker UK: quick comparison

Figures above come from each provider’s own charges page as of the review date at the bottom of this article. Fees move often in this market, several of the platforms above changed their pricing within the last twelve months, so check the live schedule before you open an account.

How we compared these platforms

We looked at five things: the platform fee model (percentage of your portfolio, flat monthly subscription, or genuinely free), dealing charges for shares and funds, the FX spread charged on overseas share trades, whether an ISA and a SIPP are available, and the regulatory entity actually serving UK customers along with the FSCS position that follows from it. We didn’t crown one overall winner, because the honest answer changes with your pot size and trading habits, which is why the cost tables below are organised by scenario rather than by platform ranking.

Best investment platform UK by cost, at different portfolio sizes

Small, regular investor: £5,000 portfolio, monthly contributions

At this size, a genuinely free platform tends to win outright. Trading 212 and eToro charge no platform fee and no share dealing commission, so your only regular cost is the FX fee if you buy anything priced outside sterling, 0.15% at Trading 212 and 0.70% at eToro. Freetrade’s Basic plan is also free, though its 0.99% FX fee is noticeably higher than Trading 212’s.

Percentage-fee platforms are cheap here too in absolute terms: AJ Bell’s 0.25% on a £5,000 pot works out at roughly £12.50 a year. But a flat monthly fee like interactive investor’s £5.99 (£71.88 a year) is disproportionately expensive against a small balance, and isn’t the right fit until your pot is considerably larger.

Mid-size investor: £50,000 portfolio, occasional trading

This is where the calculation shifts. On AJ Bell, 0.25% on £50,000 is £125 a year plus dealing. On Hargreaves Lansdown, 0.35% is £175 a year plus dealing. On interactive investor’s Core plan, the flat £5.99 a month (£71.88 a year) plus dealing at £3.99 a trade starts to look competitive, particularly if you trade only a handful of times a year.

At this size, Vanguard’s 0.15% fee (£75 a year) remains attractive if you’re happy holding only Vanguard’s own fund range, and Trading 212 or Freetrade Basic stay genuinely free of platform charges regardless of pot size, which is a real structural advantage once your portfolio starts to grow.

Larger investor: £200,000 portfolio, active trading (12+ trades a year)

Above roughly £100,000 to £150,000, flat-fee and zero-fee platforms usually pull ahead of percentage-based ones. On AJ Bell, share holdings are capped at £120 a year in a SIPP, so the fee stops scaling once you hit that cap, keeping it competitive even at this size. On Hargreaves Lansdown, the equivalent share cap is £150 a year, with funds continuing to attract 0.35% up to £250,000.

Interactive investor’s flat fee genuinely shines here: £71.88 to £179.88 a year regardless of whether you hold £150,000 or £300,000, which comfortably undercuts a 0.25% to 0.35% platform fee at this size. Trading 212 stays free of platform charges at any size, meaning the FX fee on overseas trades becomes your main ongoing cost if you’re buying US or European shares regularly.

Cheapest share dealing account UK: what actually drives the cost

Three things determine your real cost on any platform: the platform fee (percentage or flat), the per-trade dealing charge, and the FX spread if you buy anything outside sterling. Getting fixated on just one of these can be misleading. A platform with no headline platform fee, like Trading 212 or eToro, can still cost more overall than a low percentage-fee platform if you trade non-GBP shares frequently and pay a wide FX spread each time.

For UK-only, buy-and-hold investors trading rarely, Trading 212, eToro and Freetrade Basic are typically the cheapest options, since there’s no platform fee eating into the pot at all. For investors mixing UK and US shares with occasional trading, compare the FX fee closely: Trading 212’s 0.15% is markedly lower than Freetrade Basic’s 0.99% or eToro’s 0.70%, and that gap compounds if you’re a frequent US stock buyer.

Best trading platform UK for active traders

If you’re placing many trades a month rather than buying and holding, dealing charges and FX spreads matter more than the platform fee. Interactive investor’s £3.99 per trade (dropping further on higher-tier plans) and AJ Bell’s £5 online dealing charge are both competitive against Hargreaves Lansdown’s £6.95. For genuinely frequent traders, Interactive Brokers offers UK share dealing from 0.05% of trade value (minimum £1) and one of the tightest FX conversion rates in the market, though its interface suits experienced investors rather than beginners.

Zero-commission apps like Trading 212 remove the per-trade cost entirely, which suits frequent small trades well, provided you’re comfortable with a simpler feature set than a full-service platform like Hargreaves Lansdown or interactive investor offers.

Investment platform fees comparison: percentage vs flat vs zero

There are three broad pricing models on the market, and each suits a different investor. A percentage fee (AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity, Vanguard, Charles Stanley) charges you a proportion of your portfolio each year, cheap for small pots, more expensive as your balance grows unless there’s a cap. A flat monthly fee (interactive investor, IG’s SIPP) charges the same regardless of size, expensive for small pots, increasingly good value as your pot grows.

A zero-commission model (Trading 212, eToro, Freetrade’s Basic tier) charges no ongoing platform fee at all, making money instead through FX spreads, and sometimes interest on uninvested cash. This suits almost any pot size, provided you’re not trading heavily in foreign currency, where the FX spread becomes the deciding factor rather than a platform fee.

There’s no single “cheapest” model in the abstract. Run your own numbers against your actual pot size and trading pattern using each provider’s own calculator, since a small shift in fund mix or trade frequency can flip which platform wins.

Which markets can you actually access?

Most mainstream UK platforms cover UK shares, US shares, and a broad range of funds, ETFs and investment trusts. Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell both offer several thousand funds alongside international shares across multiple exchanges. Interactive Brokers offers the widest market access of any platform covered here, spanning dozens of global exchanges, which suits investors who want direct access to less common overseas markets rather than just UK and US large caps.

Trading 212, eToro and Freetrade focus mainly on UK, US and European shares and ETFs, with a narrower international spread than the full-service platforms. Vanguard is the most restricted of the group, limited to Vanguard’s own roughly 85 funds, with no access to individual shares or third-party fund managers at all.

FSCS coverage and the regulatory position

This is the part that gets overlooked in most broker comparisons, and it matters more than it looks. If your UK investment platform fails, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) covers eligible investments up to £85,000 per person, per firm, a figure that hasn’t changed even though the separate FSCS deposit protection limit for cash savings rose from £85,000 to £120,000 on 1 December 2025. Investment protection and cash deposit protection are two different limits, so don’t assume the higher figure applies to your shares and funds.

Crucially, that £85,000 protection only applies if you’re served by a UK, FCA-authorised entity. AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown, interactive investor, Vanguard, Fidelity, Charles Stanley Direct, Trading 212, Freetrade and IG all serve UK customers through FCA-regulated UK entities, giving you the full FSCS position described above.

eToro is a more nuanced case worth understanding properly. UK residents are served by eToro (UK) Ltd, which is FCA-authorised, so you do get UK FSCS protection, but eToro also operates eToro (Europe) Ltd, regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) for EU customers, where the equivalent Investor Compensation Fund covers only €20,000, considerably less generous than the UK’s £85,000. The distinction matters if you’ve opened an account while living abroad or you’re weighing eToro against a UK-only platform: check which entity your specific account sits under, since it isn’t always obvious from the app itself.

Interactive Brokers shows a similar pattern at a larger scale. UK residents use Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited, FCA-regulated with the standard £85,000 FSCS cover on investments, while EU clients typically sit with Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, covered by the Central Bank of Ireland’s compensation scheme up to a lower €20,000. DEGIRO, by contrast, isn’t authorised by the FCA at all and doesn’t offer a UK stocks and shares ISA, which rules it out for most UK readers regardless of its pricing, since you’d lose the ISA tax wrapper entirely by using it.

The takeaway: don’t assume every platform with a UK-facing website and marketing gives you the same protection. Check the specific entity name in the terms and conditions or on the FCA register before committing meaningful sums, particularly with platforms that also operate under Cyprus, Irish or other overseas licences.

FAQs

What is the best online broker in the UK? 

There’s no single best online broker UK, it depends on your pot size and trading habits. Small, regular ISA savers tend to do best on a zero-fee app like Trading 212, while larger, more active portfolios usually do better on a flat-fee platform like interactive investor.

What is the cheapest share dealing account in the UK? 

For most investors trading UK shares occasionally, Trading 212, eToro and Freetrade’s Basic plan are the cheapest, since none charge a platform fee or share dealing commission. If you trade non-GBP shares regularly, compare the FX fee closely, since it varies from 0.15% at Trading 212 up to around 1% at some competitors.

Is my money safe with an online broker in the UK? 

If your broker is authorised by the FCA, your eligible investments are protected by the FSCS up to £85,000 per person, per firm, should the firm fail. This doesn’t protect against normal market losses, only against the broker itself becoming insolvent.

Do I need to pay tax on shares bought through a broker? 

Outside a tax wrapper, you may owe capital gains tax above the £3,000 annual exempt amount for 2026/27 and dividend tax above the £500 dividend allowance, according to GOV.UK. Held inside a stocks and shares ISA or SIPP, both income and gains are completely tax-free.

Can I hold both an ISA and a SIPP on the same platform? 

Most of the platforms compared here, including AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown, interactive investor, Vanguard, Fidelity and Trading 212, let you hold an ISA and a SIPP under one login, often for a single combined platform fee. eToro currently offers a stocks and shares ISA but not a SIPP.

What’s the difference between a UK-regulated broker and one based overseas? 

A UK-regulated (FCA-authorised) broker gives FSCS protection up to £85,000 on eligible investments if the firm fails. A broker whose relevant entity is regulated overseas, for example under CySEC in Cyprus, may offer a materially lower compensation limit, so it’s worth checking which entity actually serves UK customers rather than assuming the UK website reflects UK regulation.

Do I pay stamp duty when buying shares through a broker? 

Yes, UK share purchases carry Stamp Duty Reserve Tax (SDRT) at 0.5% of the transaction value, which brokers add automatically at the point of purchase. This doesn’t usually apply to fund purchases, gilts, or most overseas shares, though other local taxes can apply abroad.

Which broker has the lowest FX fees for buying US shares? 

Among the platforms compared here, Trading 212’s 0.15% FX fee is the lowest, followed by Freetrade’s Plus plan at 0.39% and eToro and IG at around 0.70%. Interactive Brokers offers institutional-grade FX pricing that undercuts all of these for frequent traders, though it suits experienced investors more than beginners.