Freetrade review 2025

Yes, your deposits and assets up to £120,000 are protected under the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme). Freetrade is regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) to comply with all the regulatory standards.

Just keep in mind the value of any of your investments can still go up or down.

For the most part, yes. It’s free to be a member of Freetrade’s “Basic” plan, which includes the use of a general investment account (GIA) or stocks and shares ISA account.

However, if you want to buy overseas shares, you’ll have to pay an FX (foreign exchange) fee on your trades. It’s also worth factoring in costs like Stamp Duty and ongoing fees from the investment (like with ETFs and investment trusts).

Also, you’ll have to pay if you want to upgrade to the “Standard” or “Plus” plan. These plans include access to a broader range of assets, cheaper FX fees, additional features, and the inclusion of a a SIPP (just the Plus plan).

Yes! Freetrade has been around since 2017 and launched its iOS app in 2018. Since then, it’s attracted over 1 million investors and raised plenty of funding through crowdfunding (over 13,000 people) and investment from private equity and venture capital firms. It was recently bought by IG.

At the moment, you can invest in 3 account types with Freetrade:

• General investment account (GIA)
• Stocks and shares ISA
• Self-invested personal pension (SIPP)

The GIA is free with the Freetrade Basic plan, a the ISA wrapper is also now included with Basic. If you want to access the SIPP, you need to be a Plus subscriber.

This is included with all of Freetrade’s plans – you can trade as many stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as you like, commission-free. However, you can't access gilts or mutual funds if you're on Basic.

People usually choose to go with the GIA after they have used up their ISA allowance for the year, as you may need to pay capital gains or dividend tax on any profits you make.

One relatively new feature is the ability to lend out the shares in your GIA to earn a small level of passive income.

The Freetrade stocks and shares ISA lets you invest up to your yearly allowance each tax year and protect the majority of your profits from tax. The allowance for the 2025/2026 tax year is £20,000. This means you can invest £20,000 in the available stocks and ETFs and minimise the tax on the profits you make.

You can open an ISA with the Freetrade app. It’s part of all the Freetrade plans, so you can use an ISA wrapper for no cost with the free Basic plan. However, if you want to access all of Freetrade's assets and features with the ISA, you'll need a Standard or Plus subscription.

On cost it’s tough to beat, especially if you’re looking to invest serious money over the long-term. You can also transfer your existing ISA into your Freetrade account. Recently, Freetrade has made changes to make its ISA flexible, this means you can withdraw money and replace it within the same tax year without impacting your yearly allowance.

Freetrade has a SIPP available for Plus subscribers. A SIPP is a type of personal pension that allows you the freedom to choose what you want to invest in.

How much does the Freetrade SIPP cost?

The Freetrade SIPP is included in the Plus subscription, so it costs £11.99 per month (or £119.88 if you pay annually).

The basic plan costs nothing to open and hold and includes a GIA or ISA for investing. Here are the main features of Basic:

• Commission-free investing
• No platform fee
• 0.99% FX fee
• Fractional US shares
• Access over 6,500 investments
• Free ISA wrapper
• 1% interest on cash (up to £1,000)

This is the middle ground between the free Basic plan and the premium Plus plan. Here’s what's included and the key points:

• £5.99 monthly platform fee (or £59.88 paid annually)
• 0.59% FX fee
• 3% interest on cash (up to £2,000)
• Access over 6,500 investments
• Ability to use automated order types
• Advanced stock fundamentals
• ISA wrapper
• Access to mutual funds and gilts

This is Freetrade’s premium subscription and comes with all the bells and whistles Freetrade has to offer:

• £11.99 monthly platform fee (or £119.88 paid annually)
• 5% interest on cash (up to £3,000)
• 0.39% FX fee
• Access over 6,500 investments
• Access to mutual funds and gilts
• Ability to use automated order types
• Advanced stock fundamentals
• ISA wrapper
• A SIPP
• Web desktop beta trading platform
• Priority customer service

On top of this all, Freetrade creatively refers to you as a "Plustomer". If that doesn’t sell it to you then I don’t know what will.

Setting up is super easy. You can download the Freetrade app on the App Store and Google Play.

Once you open the app, you’ll need to provide:

• Your name
• Your address
• Your national insurance (NI) number

Some of our team also had to provide additional info:

• Proof of address
• ID (driving licence or passport)

Once you’ve done that, you can then choose an account type and link up your bank account.

Along with the free share you get when you join using our link, after you buy your first share, you’ll be able to refer a friend. Send your lucky pal a link, and once they’ve signed up, filled out the W-8BEN form and funded their account, you’ll both get a free share worth between £10 and £100.

You can get up to 10 free shares each month. Your friend will need to fund your account within 30 days of signing up.

Freetrade dishes out the free shares on Fridays.

Here are some of the features of the Freetrade SIPP:

• Flat fee. Some SIPPs are charged as a percentage of what you invest – a flat fee can work out cheaper if you have a bigger retirement portfolio.
• Fractional shares. You can buy fractions of shares of US stocks – great for when one share of a company is expensive.
• Transfer in other pension pots. You can transfer in other pension pots to Freetrade.
• Tax relief. You can claim tax relief on up to £60,000 of contributions each year.
• Mutual funds. You can now access a small range of Vanguard mutual funds with the Freetrade SIPP.
• Share lending. You can earn a small amount of passive income by lending out shares in your SIPP.

Keep in mind, with a SIPP, your money is locked in until you turn 55 (rising to 57 in 2028).

Yes, Freetrade fully complies with all the rules and regulations set out by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) here in the UK.

In our 2025 Finder Customer Satisfaction Awards, 77% of customers said they’d recommend Freetrade. We gave Freetrade a 9.1 Excellent score in our review, and the app is highly rated on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Trustpilot.

The company has its headquarters in London. It holds regular meet-ups and events at 10 Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4YP, if you want to say hello to the team there.

Freetrade is also working on international expansion, with additional offices in Budapest, Brisbane, and Stockholm.

It depends on what you’re looking for. The Plus plan can be worthwhile if you want to use one platform for everything. Because you get a GIA, stocks and shares ISA, and SIPP (self-invested personal pension) – all under one roof.

You also get added perks like a larger asset universe, lower FX fees, share analysis, and higher interest on your idle cash. If you plan on using Freetrade as your one-stop-shop for all things investing (and plan to invest regularly), it could be worth it.

If you don’t plan on buying overseas shares, don’t want access to loads of investments or stock analysis, and only plan on investing occasionally – then Freetrade Plus may not be worth it.

Dividends are paid into your Freetrade account as cash. You'll get an email, notification and an activity feed item when those are paid.

Yes, Freetrade now offers desktop trading.

Very. It's regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), and it has over 1 million users.

Yes, but how much money you make depends on the choice of your investments and their performance over time.

Yes. When you buy an investment on the app, you become the "beneficial owner" and the shares are held in a segregated nominee account on your behalf. Freetrade is just a brokergae (which means a middle-person).

Yes, we rated Freetrade as the best trading app for beginners because the platform is easy to use, the fees are cheap, and it doesn't overcomplicate the investing process.

No, Freetrade is not a financial advice service and does not provide investing advice. Investors are responsible for their own purchasing and trading decisions.

Yes, you will likely need to pay tax on any gains you make from buying and selling shares, although this will depend on your personal tax rate. However, you can invest up to £20,000 per year in stocks and shares ISA, or £60,000 in a SIPP which be protected from most tax.

You can withdraw your money using the app directly into your bank account. Normal withdrawals are free but there's a £5 fee for same-day withdrawals (or free with Plus), you need to contact Freetrade in advance to arrange this.

Here's a quick overview:

• Market capitalisation. This is the market value of the company. It’s worked out by multiplying the share price by the number of shares outstanding.
• Dividend yield. This is the dividend amount shown as a percentage and relative to the share price and is calculated by dividing the total dividends by the number of shares outstanding.
• Price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. This is a ratio to represent the stock price relative to its earnings per share (EPS). Earnings per share is the total profit after tax divided by the number of shares outstanding. P/E ratio is the stock price divided by the EPS.
• Beta. This is an indication of the market risk that the stock faces. It assesses how exposed a company is to factors that are impacting the whole market.
• Price-to-book (P/B) ratio. This assesses the stock price in relation to its “book value” per share (BVPS). Book value per share is common equity (assets minus liabilities) divided by shares outstanding.
• Price-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio. This is the P/E ratio divided by the growth rate of earnings over 3 or 5 years. The growth rate is either average growth or compound annual growth (CAGR).
• Standard and Plus only. Analyst ratings and advanced stock fundamentals. This shows how analysts rate individual shares (favourable, neutral and unfavourable), which it refreshes daily. You can also use automated order types.

Freetrade has launched analyst ratings, showing how analysts feel towards stocks – between favourable, neutral and unfavourable. Analysts will constantly research certain stocks in order to determine a current view (a rating) on the company and its share price, stating whether it believes the stock is undervalued (likely to rise in price), overvalued (likely to decrease in price) or just right (like Goldilocks’ porridge).

There are a few different ways this might be presented. Some companies label stocks as “overweight”, “buy”, or “outperform” – these are all positive terms to use about stocks. In contrast, you may hear a stock labelled as “underweight”, “sell” or “underperform”, which are all negative terms to use about stocks.

Freetrade’s analyst ratings tell you how analysts feel about the future prospects of the company in relation to the current stock price.

Yes you can! Download Freetrade either on the App Store or get it on Google Play.

The company was founded by Adam Dodds and Davide Fioranelli in 2015.

The Freetrade community is a forum for all Freetraders to share investing tips, chat about other startups, the economy and share their ideas on what can help make Freetrade better.

You can also make stock requests and stay up to date with the latest platform updates.

Once your account is set up you can use Apple Pay, Google Pay or a bank transfer to fund it.