For UK investors, using a stocks and shares ISA is a bit of a no-brainer. It allows you to invest up to £20,000 each year as you would normally, but any potential gains or dividends are shielded from the taxman. Any money you take out of your ISA won’t count as income either, so it’s a fantastic wealth-building tool.
Once you’ve learnt about the glorious benefits of ISAs, the next step is choosing the best stocks and shares ISA to suit your goals. We’ve tested more than 15 platforms offering investment ISAs and here are our top picks.
Saxo is our top pick for ETFs because it’s got more exchange-traded funds (ETFs) than you can shake a stick at. No, seriously, there are over 7,000 available on the platform.
On top of the huge catalogue of ETFs, what makes Saxo our best option for ETF investing is because of the international diversity available. You’ll find yourself swimming comfortably in international waters - take your pick of ETFs from over 30 global exchanges. Also, Saxo’s new pricing structure has made the platform more affordable to the everyday investor and not just big-time traders with deep pockets.
The exact fee you pay for an ETF will depend on the exchange location. But for UK-listed ETFs, the fee is 0.08% (with a £3 minimum). Or US ETFs cost just $0.015 per share (with a $1 minimum). Keep in mind there are other fees to think about like a foreign exchange (FX) fee of 0.25% along with a 0.12% Saxo platform fee.
“I like that Saxo’s platform straddles the (often overlooked) space between beginner and experienced investors. There’s plenty of functionality and in-depth tools for investors without an over complex or confusing interface.”
| ISA fee | 0.12% per year |
|---|---|
| Price per trade | £3 |
| Min. initial deposit | £0 |
| Offer | Get up to £200 back in online trading fees during your first 3 months with our exclusive Finder offer. T&Cs apply. |
CMC burst onto the UK investing scene in late 2022, and it's come a long way. We selected CMC Invest as our best stocks and shares ISA for US shares because you invest in over 3,000 US stocks commission-free.
On top of this, you can also hold a USD currency account to help lower your FX fees and deal with less currency fluctuations. The CMC Invest app also has plenty of other features for ISA investors like 2% uncapped interest on cash, ESG ratings, and analyst ratings.
When trying out the flexible CMC Invest ISA, the only major downside is that it costs £10 per month as part of the “Plus” plan. This could provide good value if you’ve built up a large ISA portfolio over the years, but it’s more expensive than some other providers for smaller portfolios.
| ISA fee | £10 per month |
|---|---|
| Price per trade | £0 |
| Min. initial deposit | £0 |
| Offer | Earn up to £1,000 when you transfer before 5 Aug 2024. Plus, get 12 months free when you switch to Premium plan. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk. |
We chose InvestEngine because when it comes to low fees, it’s hard to beat free.
InvestEngine is a platform that only lets you invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which is limiting. But for those of you who want to build an ETF portfolio, it costs nothing to open and hold a DIY stocks and shares ISA with InvestEngine. There’s also no commission when buying or selling ETFs.
Although the DIY option is free (where you choose investments yourself), there is a 0.25% fee if you want an expertly managed portfolio. However, this fee is competitive with most other robo-advisors and platforms offering ready-made portfolios.
| ISA fee | Managed portfolios are 0.25% |
|---|---|
| Price per trade | £0 |
| Min. initial deposit | £100 |
| Offer | Transfer to InvestEngine by 31/05/24 and receive a bonus of up to £2,500 (Capital at risk, T&Cs apply) |
We surveyed customers of the major platforms in the UK and Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) was top for customer satisfaction, making it a winner in the 2023 Finder Share Dealing Customer Satisfaction Awards.
86% of respondents in our survey said they’d recommend HL to a friend. It’s known for great service and great features - none of which comes cheap. Also, it’s worth pointing out that this research was carried out based on the overall service (it wasn’t ISA specific).
| ISA fee | 0.45% per year |
|---|---|
| Price per trade | £11.95 |
| Min. initial deposit | £100 |
| Offer | Get back up to £100 of online trading fees until 21 June. Capital at risk. T&Cs apply. |
We chose Trading 212 because along with charging no commission to buy or sell over 12,000 global stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), it offers some additional noteworthy features.
It’s free to open and hold a Trading 212 stocks and shares ISA and you can invest in fractional shares with as little as £1, and the 0.15% foreign exchange (FX) fee is one of the lowest on the market.
There are also some useful social features like “Pie” (what Trading 212 calls portfolios) copying and the Social Feed, which lets you see what other investors paying no commission are up to.
| ISA fee | £0 |
|---|---|
| Price per trade | £0 |
| Min. initial deposit | £1 |
We chose Freetrade as our best stocks and shares ISA for beginners because it’s simple to set up an account and the app is excellent.
Another great thing about the Freetrade investment ISA is that there’s no commission for buying or selling stocks and you can invest with as little as £2.
Experienced investors might find the Freetrade ISA to be too simplistic, but we think that for beginners, it will hit the mark. There’s over 6,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to choose from and the flat fee structure means you pay the same amount no matter how big your portfolio grows.
| ISA fee | £5.99 per month |
|---|---|
| Price per trade | £0 |
| Min. initial deposit | £0 |
| Offer | Get a free share worth up to £100 when you open an ISA. ISA rules & terms apply. |
Whether you’re looking for a wide range of assets, thousands of stocks to choose from, ready-made portfolios, or access to loads of ethical options - interactive investor (ii) has you covered.
We picked this as our best stocks and shares ISA for investment choice because it has an unparalleled selection of assets (over 40,000). Also, instead of leaving you to flounder within its supersize investment pool, ii does an excellent job providing insights and research to help you find the right assets for your goals.
The only drawback with ii is that the share dealing commissions are higher than some other options and the flat monthly fee for the plans will be best value if you’ve a large portfolio.
| ISA fee | From £4.99 a month |
|---|---|
| Price per trade | £3.99 (free regular investing) |
| Min. initial deposit | £0 |
| Offer | Enter a prize draw to win £100,000 if you open an ii ISA by 31 July and deposit £5,000 min. T&Cs apply. |
If you don’t want to pick your own ISA investments, robo-advisors like Nutmeg will build and manage a portfolio for you.
Nutmeg was one of the original robo-advisors to hit the UK, and it has the widest choice of ready-made investment options we’ve seen.
In total, there are 30 portfolios to choose from across a range of risk levels and investing styles (fixed allocation, socially responsible, fully managed, smart alpha). The major drawback with Nutmeg is that the fees are slightly higher than some other robo-advisor ISAs.
| ISA fee | 0.25% - 0.75% |
|---|---|
| Price per trade | N/A |
| Min. initial deposit | £500 |
We picked Vanguard as our best stocks and shares ISA for index funds because not only did Vanguard invent the whole concept of index funds, its ISA also has a low annual percentage cost of 0.15%.
There are around 75 fund options, ranging from broad index-tracking funds, to newer additions like target date retirement funds, LifeStrategy funds (a fund made up of multiple funds), and ESG index funds - covering both equities and bonds.
You can pick your own funds with the Vanguard ISA, or if you prefer, you can opt for the Vanguard Managed ISA. With this, the expert team will pick and manage a portfolio for an added fee of 0.3%, which is cheaper than many robo-advisors.
Whether you go for the Managed ISA or not, the key downside with Vanguard ISAs is that you’re limited to Vanguard funds only, and you can’t buy individual stocks or other investments.
| ISA fee | 0.15% |
|---|
Using a stocks and shares ISA usually means that you can invest tax-free – but there is an exception.
When you buy US stocks using your investment ISA, you won’t have to pay any capital gains or dividend tax in the UK. However, if your US stock pays dividends, a withholding tax (WHT) of 15% will automatically apply.
There’s nothing you need to do about this and your provider will take care of it for you but it’s worth being aware of this when people say that you pay absolutely zero tax on investments held in stocks and shares ISAs. This is true for UK investments, but you may still have to pay a little to Uncle Sam in the US.
Yes, but this is only due to recent changes made to the ISA rules in April 2024. Previously, you could only open and pay into one stocks and shares ISA each tax year. Now, the floodgates have opened and you have the flexibility to open more than one stocks and shares ISA, and as many as your heart (or wallet) desires.
We asked people who’d used a share dealing platform within the previous 12 months to rate their satisfaction with the service they received and whether they’d recommend the provider to a friend. Our independent survey of 750 share dealing customers was carried out in December 2023.
We have shown both survey results for the brands listed in the table below and used these ratings to decide the winners of our awards. Where there was a draw on the satisfaction score, we used the “would recommend” percentage as a tie-breaker.
| Rank | Trading app | Overall satisfaction | Would recommend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hargreaves Lansdown | ★★★★★ | 97% |
| 1 | InvestEngine | ★★★★★ | 97% |
| 2 | XTB | ★★★★★ | 100% |
| 3 | Revolut | ★★★★★ | 96% |
| 4 | eToro | ★★★★★ | 93% |
| 5 | Trading 212 | ★★★★★ | 90% |
| 6 | AJ Bell | ★★★★★ | 95% |
| 7 | Fidelity | ★★★★★ | 93% |
| 8 | interactive investor | ★★★★★ | 91% |
| 9 | Vanguard | ★★★★★ | 90% |
| 10 | Barclays | ★★★★★ | 87% |
| 11 | Bestinvest | ★★★★★ | 91% |
| 12 | Nutmeg | ★★★★★ | 87% |
| 13 | Wealthify | ★★★★★ | 85% |
| 14 | Freetrade | ★★★★★ | 83% |
| 15 | Moneybox | ★★★★★ | 79% |
| 16 | IG | ★★★★★ | 87% |
Once you’ve decided on the right investing platform to hold your stocks and shares ISA, the next step is to sign up and open a share trading account.
To make the process as smooth as possible, you’ll want to have your bank and personal details to hand (including your NI number). Some of the best trading apps will be able to get you up and running within minutes, but some may take a little longer.
If you’re looking to make your first investment but don’t know where to start, we have an investing for beginners hub with plenty of guides for first-time investors like you.
There’s no single “best” stocks and shares ISA for everyone. The trick is to find one that suits your style of investing. Now that you can open and pay into multiple ISAs each year, you can even try out a few accounts to find the one that best suits your needs and that you enjoy using.
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