Best free trading apps

Fees suck. Unfortunately they’re not completely avoidable when it comes to share trading… BUT, there’s plenty of good trading apps out there that have done away with most of the fees. What a time to be alive! In this guide, we cover 5 great apps offering unlimited commission-free trades and not charging a regular account fee or “custody” fee.

Best for beginners

Go to Site

Capital at risk. T&Cs apply.

Free share up to £100

Commission-free trades
Free ISA & SIPP
8,200+ investments

Best for overall trading platform

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Capital at risk. T&Cs apply.

Free SoFi share with code 'FINDER'

Commission-free trades
Fractional shares
8,400+ stocks/ETFs

Best for 0% commission stocks

Finder Award

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Capital at risk. T&Cs apply.

Copy picks from top traders

Commission-free trades
Fractional shares
Free to open an account

These apps are good options for first-timers getting their heads around how trading works. But don’t forget: it’s perfectly possible to lose money investing, without fees being the problem.

• Freetrade
• Trading 212
• XTB
• eToro
• InvestEngine

Finder Score	Price per trade	Min. initial deposit	Platform fees
Freetrade
9.5Excellent Freetrade Free Trades	9.5Excellent	£0	£0	£0	Free share: Get a free share worth up to £100 when you sign up and deposit at least £50. Capital at risk. T&Cs apply.	Go to Site Capital at risk More info Compare product selection Compare	loading	Why we like it As it happens, (*blushes*) Freetrade was my first. And that's actually true for a lot of people, because Freetrade really started the whole new wave of low-cost, app-first trading platforms. It attracted a generation of hobby traders with a super-easy UX that’s a pleasure to use. Like your Spotifys and your Stravas, Freetrade stayed profitable by reserving lots of features for paid plans. But now, with several other apps following suit and offering commission-free trading, Freetrade is managing to stay in front by shifting more and more features across from paid plans to the 'Basic' (£0/mo.) plan. ISA wrapper? Check. SIPP? Check. Full range of stocks and ETFs to trade? Check. In fact it's now just the FX fee that's a little higher on the free plan, and the interest on uninvested cash a little lower. Freetrade ticks all the beginner must-haves: it's super-approachable and non-aggressive, with a straightforward yet versatile app. Pros & cons Pros Free to open and hold a Basic account Over 8,200 investments 0% commission No fee to use a stocks and shares ISA No fee to use a SIPP or JISA Cons Analysis and research is fairly basic FX fee is relatively high on the free plan Interest on uninvested cash is capped Fractional shares for US stocks only
Trading 212
10Excellent Trading212 Free Trades	10Excellent	£0	£1	£0	Free share: Get free fractional shares worth up to £100 when you sign up with Finder’s link or use the code “FINDER”. T&Cs apply.	Go to Site Capital at risk More info Compare product selection Compare	loading	Why we like it Trading 212 was my second trading app, and I still swear by it today. It does a good job of offering some more slightly advanced features but without feeling overwhelming. For example, I like the fact that I can set a target price which triggers a trade (i.e. buy x stocks if the prices goes below £y)... ...although I was a bit miffed to discover that that money isn’t treated as “uninvested cash” (which can earn interest). Trading 212 costs nothing to open and hold an account (including a stocks and shares ISA), and you can invest from £1 into any of the thousands of investments on the platform. The Trading 212 app is nice and simple to use but there are also cool features like the 'pies' where you can copy portfolios created by other investors or create your own. If you're just looking to get started with small investments, you'll probably like what the platform has to offer. At 0.15% the currency-conversion fee is super-low too. Pros & cons Pros No platform fee and free ISA 0% commissions Fractional shares from £1 Low 0.15% FX fee 13,000 stocks and ETFs Cons No pension or SIPP Limited learning and research tools Withdrawing funds takes up to 3 business days
XTB
9.2Excellent XTB Free Trades	9.2Excellent	£0	£0	£0	Free share: Free SoFi share with code 'FINDER'. Limited Availability. T&Cs apply.	Go to Site Capital at risk More info Compare product selection Compare	loading	Why we like it XTB’s not as well-known as Freetrade and Trading212, but it’s been offering quite a similar service and poaching customers with some very punchy introductory offers. It’s got a bit of a human touch too (expect a welcome phone call when you sign-up, where your dedicated account handler – oooh – will introduce themselves). Like the other apps here, XTB offers commission-free trades and doesn't charge a regular account fee or custody fee. It's another well-designed app, if not quite as slick as Freetrade and Trading 212 (we did encounter a couple of glitches in road-testing, like "that features not available right now"). There's also an inactivity fee to watch out for after 12 months without trading. There might not be masses to set XTB apart from others, but that's good company to be in! And when it's running a strong welcome promotion, as it frequently does, XTB's likely to appeal. Pros & cons Pros 0% commission on stocks and ETFs Free stocks and shares ISA Demo account available Excellent trading app No minimum deposit Fractional shares Cons Emphasis on trading and CFDs £10 minimum trade value Large orders over £100,000 incur extra fees Lots of analysis is price-movement focused
eToro
9Excellent eToro Finder AwardFree Trades	9Excellent	£0	$50	£0	Go to Site Capital at risk More info Compare product selection Compare	loading	Why we like it eToro’s a bit more bullish, if the horns didn’t make that obvious. It offers commission-free trading and even a great virtual account where you can lose pretend money to your heart’s content. eToro's popular CopyTrader feature that lets you copy the moves of other more experienced traders. It's a feature that’s well designed and straightforward enough to get to grips with quickly. It’s free to open and hold an account with eToro and trades are commission-free. A key thing to take note of is that everything on eToro is denominated in USD and you do pay a foreign exchange (FX) fee of 0.75% each time you convert your pounds into dollars and vice versa. Pros & cons Pros Commission-free stock trading Over 5,500+ stocks from 20 exchanges Fractional shares from $10 Social features like CopyTrading and News Feed Cons $5 withdrawal fee Emphasis on trading over long-term investing Inactivity fee after 12 months $50 minimum first deposit No in-built ISA
InvestEngine
9.3Excellent InvestEngine Finder AwardFree TradesFunds Only	9.3Excellent	£0	£100	0% - 0.25%	Welcome bonus: Get a welcome bonus of up to £200 when you invest at least £100. Use code 'FINDER'. Capital at risk. T&Cs apply.	Go to Site Capital at risk More info Compare product selection Compare	loading	Why we like it With InvestEngine you don't trade individual stocks, you trade ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) – which are bundles of stocks on a particular theme. The idea with funds is that you're less exposed to the fortunes of any individual company. I got into InvestEngine after losing faith in my ability to pick winning companies! It routinely offers good welcome bonuses, and it's another well-built app – with great features like auto-investing. InvestEngine's DIY account, where you choose the funds, has no regular account fee. It also doesn't charge trading commissions, however the ETF provider does charge a small annual "TER" fee (Total Expense Ratio). That's standard stuff, alas. Because you don't pick individual stocks, for many hobby traders (myself included) InvestEngine might not be their only trading app. But what it does, it does very well. Pros & cons Pros Build your own portfolio Over 700 ETFs The platform interface and features are excellent No fee for a stocks and shares ISA or SIPP Low fees all around Cons Percentage fees can add up for managed portfolios You can only invest in ETFs Limited learning resources and tools Relatively small range of ready-made portfolios £100 initial minimum investment

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Are these apps completely free?

No. Among the fees that are unavoidable – but nominal – are forex fees (when you buy a stock traded in a different currency) and stamp duty (a tax on shares in UK-incorporated companies).

Why don’t these apps charge fees?

In some cases, it’s “The Spotify Play”, AKA “The WhatsApp Play”, AKA “Get loads of customers first, and work out how to make money later (ideally after selling the business and making it somebody else’s problem)”.

In others, it’s because trading stocks for free is just the gateway drug that can lead to the hard stuff: “leveraged trading”. Leveraged trading makes these companies big bucks (because most of the traders lose some or all of theirs – literally). Don’t get into that until you really know what you’re doing (and then you’ll probably know not to get into it).

So what don’t you get with free trading apps?

You might not get access to the full range of stocks or features.

Want to buy 1 Apple share today? No problem. Want to buy a fraction of a share, in a little-known Dutch start-up, when it hits the target price you’re looking for, and hold it in an ISA? Maybe not possible with a free platform.

Written by

Chris Lilly

Head of publishing

Chris Lilly is Head of publishing at finder.com. He's a specialist in personal finance, from day-to-day banking to investing to borrowing, and is passionate about helping UK consumers make informed decisions about their money. In his spare time Chris likes forcing his kids to exercise more. See full bio

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Chris has written 516 Finder guides across topics including:

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