Freetrade to hike fees: How to keep your costs low

New annual plan from Freetrade effectively cancels price hikes.

Commission-free stock broker Freetrade has announced that it will be upping the price for paid plans in May, but it’s also launched a new annual deal that saves you money.

Currently, Freetrade has 3 plans: Basic (free), Standard (£4.99 a month) and Plus (£9.99 a month). In May, although Basic will remain free, Standard will become £5.99 and Plus will be £11.99.

But there’s a way to swerve this price increase. Freetrade is now introducing the option to pay annually for each plan. If you pay for your Standard or Plus plan annually, the cost will be £59.88 and £119.88, equal to the existing prices.

If you pay monthly on the new fees, it would cost £71.88 (up £12) for Standard and £143.88 (up £24) for Plus.

FX fees to rise

There will also be changes to the foreign exchange (FX) tiers. Every plan currently pays a 0.45% FX fee on international stock orders. The FX fees will now be tiered: Basic will be 0.99%; Standard will be 0.59% and Plus will be 0.39%.

So, if you like trading US stocks or other international shares, it may be worth checking out the Standard and Plus tiers that come with lower FX fees and all the other extra plan benefits.

You can see full details of features and prices in our Freetrade review.