Offering free stocks is a popular way for share dealing platforms to entice hopeful investors to sign up. This can come from referrals, or sometimes you can get free shares just for signing up and funding your account.
It’s worth knowing the restrictions around free stocks or shares, how long you need to stay invested for, and any other criteria you need to meet.
How to get free shares in a few simple steps
Most of the time, getting free stocks is really simple and requires little effort. The process for each provider is slightly different, so check out our individual guides below for provider specific how-to lists.
Check the free offers available. We’ve listed some of the best ones below with the things you’ll need to consider.
Get a referral link (and click on it!) You might need to ask a friend to refer you. We have some referral links too.
Sign up. You’ll often need to be a new member for this process to work.
Deposit the minimum amount. A lot of providers have a minimum deposit. You’ll need to put this amount into your account before you get the shares.
Satisfy any additional conditions. There might be additional things you’ll need to do – such as keep your money invested for a certain period.
Get your free shares. See! We told you it was easy.
Best platforms for free stocks and shares in the UK
We’ve looked at all the free share bonuses and referral offers in the UK. They’re ranked alphabetically, so take a look down the full list to choose the offer that works best for you.
Platform
Finder score
Offer
Link
★★★★★
£30 gift voucher for you and your friend. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
★★★★★
Free stock worth £10-£100. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
★★★★★
Welcome bonus of £10-£50. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
Referring a friend will get you more free stock in one of Nike, Dropbox, GoPro or a mystery stock. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
★★★★★
Refer a friend and both you and they will get £50 cashback.
★★★★★
Invite a friend to join Wealthyhood, and you’ll both get a free ETF share worth up to £200. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
Dodl: Free £30 gift voucher
Benefits
Commission-free trading
Easy to use
Disadvantages
UK stocks only
Not many shares available
Dodl has launched a referral promotion that lets you claim a free £30 Blackhawk voucher if you refer a friend or are referred by a friend. Blackhawk’s a gift card and reward provider that offers vouchers for a wide range of retailers and service providers, such as TK Maxx and Spotify.
The referred friend has to open a general investment account, ISA, LISA or pension and add at least £500 to the account within 120 days – this can either be with an account top-up or by transferring an account, but it can’t be transferred from AJ Bell.
How to get your gift voucher
Open an account with Dodl. You can choose any of the accounts that Dodl has on offer.
Fill out the referral form on Dodl’s website. It asks for the details of the person who referred you and the details you signed up with.
Deposit at least £500. This can be either with a brand transfer or by transferring your account from another provider.
Get your voucher. You and your friend will receive an email with a voucher code in the calendar month after your deposit.
How easy is it to get the free share?
It’s a doddle – you just need to fill out a form and you’re good to go.
Something to consider
You’ll need to be a Dodl customer with at least £500 in your account when the voucher arrives and your voucher may be reclaimed if you close your account or transfer out within 12 months.
Freetrade: Free stock worth £10-£100
Benefits
No commissions
Easy to use app and sign up process
Disadvantages
Limited analysis tools
Need to subscribe to a paid plan to access all features
You need to be a new Freetrade customer to get this deal. If you’ve got an account already, you can refer friends to get free shares (see the last step in the “how to” guide), but you can’t get one for opening your account.
The free share you receive will be worth at least £10. You can refer up to 10 friends to get additional free shares.
How to get the free stock
Open an account. You’ll need a referral link – this could be one sent to you by a friend or you can use our link
Fund your account. You usually have to deposit at least £50 within 30 days of opening an account. Freetrade sometimes has “special offer” periods when the minimum funding is lower.
Fill out your W-8BEN form. This means you’re able to get a US share.
Get your shares. Between 7 and 10 days later, both you and the friend that referred you will get a free share added to your accounts.
The fun doesn’t stop there. You can get more free shares by referring your friends to Freetrade. They’ll need to follow the above steps in order for you both to get your free shares.
How easy is it to get the free share?
Pretty easy. You don’t have to deposit a significant amount into your account to get the free share, and there’s the chance to continue getting free shares until Freetrade pulls the offer (or you run out of friends).
Something to consider
Your free share won’t be put into your ISA, if you’ve got one. The stock is placed into your general investment account (GIA), so there might be tax implications when you sell. You’re more likely to get a lower value than a higher value share, as the probability is weighted.
InvestEngine: Sign up and invest for a free £10 to £50 bonus
Benefits
Low fees
Free stocks and shares ISA
Both ready-made portfolios and DIY investing available
Disadvantages
Welcome bonus and your original deposit must stay invested for at least 12 months
You can’t invest in individual shares with InvestEngine
Limited range of investments
Sign up to InvestEngine using our link and you’ll receive a bonus of between £10 and £50 (randomly generated) when you deposit and invest £100. InvestEngine also has a referral programme where both you and the person you refer will receive a bonus of between £10 and £50, paid into your InvestEngine accounts. You can refer up to 25 friends to InvestEngine to keep receiving referral bonuses.
How to get the InvestEngine welcome bonus
Use our link and create an account. Follow our unique referral linke and create your account by clicking “get started”.
Complete registration and choose investments. After completing the sign up process, you need to deposit and invest at least £100, in line with InvestEngine’s T&Cs.
Claim your bonus. You’ll get a notification to claim an extra £10 to £50 and it will be added to your account with 5 business days.
Remain invested. You need to leave it invested for 12 months to keep your bonus, but you can refer friends and family to earn up to 25 more bonuses.
How to get the InvestEngine referral bonus
The person referred needs to open an account. If you’ve been referred, you’ll need to use the referral link your friend sends you from within their account.
Fund your account. You need to deposit at least £100, in line with InvestEngine’s T&Cs.
Choose your investments. This can be ready-made portfolios or you can create your own portfolio of exchange-traded funds.
Get your referral bonus. This usually happens fairly promptly, though you need to leave it invested for 12 months.
How easy is it?
It’s easy to get the welcome bonus but you do have to keep it invested with your original £100 for 12 months before you can withdraw it.
Something to consider
You need to fund your portfolio with £100 within 30 days, and it must stay invested with the welcome bonus for a year, or InvestEngine may take away your bonus.
You need to be a new Robinhood user to get this deal. If you’ve got an account already, you can refer friends to get free stocks (see the last step in the “how to” guide), but you can’t get one for opening your account.
The free stock you receive will be worth at least $7 and the maximum value is $175. You can refer as many friends as you like until you hit $1,500 in bonus stock.
How to get the free stocks
Open an account. You’ll need a referral link – this could be one sent to you by a friend.
Refer friends. Once your account is open you’ll get a unique referral link that you can send to friends and family.
Wait until they sign up. Once your referral signs up, opens their account and deposits any amount you’ll be eligible for a reward.
Get your free stock. You’ll each get a fractional share of your choice (from a few leading companies) worth between $7 and $175.
Keep referring friends. You can get more free stocks by referring your friends to Robinhood. You get 60 days to claim each reward before it expires but you can the stock straight away if you want.
Something to consider
You’re more likely to get a lower value than a higher value share, as the probability is weighted. Also, once you qualify, you need to claim the reward in “Earn stock” in the app or “Rewards” on the desktop, you won’t be automatically credited with the stock.
Scottish Friendly: £75 My Rewards gift voucher when you take out a My MoneyBuilder Select (ISA)
Benefits
You can invest in an ISA
Ethical investment options
Disadvantages
Only ready made investments available
The welcome bonus isn’t a free share – it’s a shopping voucher
This isn’t really a free share, but it is a freebie.
You’re eligible for this reward when you add a My MoneyBuilder Select ISA to your account. The £75 My Rewards gift voucher can be redeemed at a range of outlets throughout the UK, including the Apple Store, John Lewis & Partners and Love2shop
How to get the freebie
Open an account. You can do this on the website. Existing Scottish Friendly customers can also get the voucher by adding the ISA to their account.
Select the My MoneyBuilder Select ISA. Make sure you haven’t already paid into an ISA in the current tax year.
You’ll receive your gift within 28 days of your first payment. Easy as that.
All that’s left to do is choose where to spend it.
How easy is it?
It’s easy, but you can’t do it if you already have an ISA open.
Something to consider
The only investment products that Scottish Friendly offers are ISAs, so this is worth bearing in mind if you want access to wider investment options.
Stake: Free Nike, Dropbox or GoPro stock
Benefits
Low commissions
Decent range of US stocks
Disadvantages
US stocks only
Funding and withdrawal fees
As with all of these, you need to be a new member to get your free stock. You have to fund your account within 24 hours of signing up. The minimum deposit is $50. There’s a small game, which gets you the free stock.
If you already have an account with Stake, you can refer friends to get free stocks. They’ll need to use your referral link. They don’t need to fund their account within 24 hours for you to get a free share, but they would if they wanted their one too. Once they’ve funded their account, you can get a free share.
Create a Stake account. You can use a referral link from a friend or go to the website and sign up.
Fund your account. You have 24 hours from when your account is ready.
Play the game. This lets you get your free stock.
You’re done! Easy as that.
If you want more free shares, you can use your own referral link to refer friends to Stake to hopefully get more shares.
How easy is it to get the free share?
Easy as pie, though you have to fund your account pretty quickly. The free stock will then take 1-2 days to be put into your account. You can refer as many friends as you like and get free shares when they fund their account, so you can keep doing this forever (as long as you have an infinite supply of friends and Stake continues the promotion).
Something to consider
Once your account is ready, you only have 24 hours to fund the account before you’ll lose the promotion.
Wealthify: Refer a friend and both you and they will get £50 cashback
Benefits
See your portfolio on your web browser and in its mobile app
You can start investing with as little as £1
Disadvantages
There’s a 3-month wait for you and your friend to receive the referral fee
No DIY portfolio option
Wealthify’s referral programme lets you refer friends after you’ve signed up.
If you’re a signed-up member with at least one invested plan, referring a friend gets both you and your friend £50 cashback. The referred friend needs to have deposited £250 and left it invested for 3 months for you to both get the referral fee.
How to get the referral bonus
The person referred must open an account. They’ll need to use the friend referral link.
Fund your account. If you’ve been referred, you need to deposit at least £250 (as a lump sum or over several deposits).
Leave at least £250 invested for at least 3 months. Then, you and your friend will both have £50 paid into your plans.
How easy is it?
Getting the referral bonus is easy, as long as you have friends to refer you to Wealthify. It takes a few months to reap the rewards and you have to deposit £250 to get the referral bonus if you are referred. There’s no limit on how many friends you can refer for them to get the bonus, but you’ll only get paid yourself for the first 30.
Something to consider
Unlike some platforms, with Wealthify you can get your bonus placed into your ISA.
Wealthyhood: Free ETF shares worth up to £200 when you sign up
Benefits
Wealthyhood is designed for those new to investing
Fractional shares let you buy as little as £1 of your favourite stocks or ETFs
Disadvantages
Currently only offers a General Investment Account – no ISA, for example
Wealthyhood is offering new customers a free ETF share worth up to £200 (though it could also be as little as £5). Plus, you can qualify for further free shares by referring friends to join (they’ll get a free share too).
How to get the free stock
Open an account. At the moment, Wealthyhood only offers a General Investment Account.
Create a portfolio. This should only take a few steps.
Fund your account. You can start investing from as little as £20.
Get your free ETF. This should only take around 5 days. You can’t sell your ETF for 60 days, and will also lose it if you close your account within 60 days.
Refer your friends. This gives you another chance at a free ETF share, and they’ll get one too.
How easy is it?
Pretty easy. Bear in mind that if you sign up through a referral link, you need to make your first investment within 7 days from the date of your signup to get your free ETF share.
Something to consider
In practice, your free ETF share may range anywhere from a minimum of £5 to a maximum of £200. Sadly, you’re more likely to get a lower-value share as the probabilities are weighted.
Bottom line
It’s possible to get free stocks and shares simply by signing up to some platforms, as long as you haven’t signed up for an account before and you meet all the criteria. Another option if you have an account is referring friends.
You should never invest in a hurry but these deals can sometimes have expiry dates or get changed at a moments notice. So act quick if you want to benefit from the cash or free stocks offer. Free shares shouldn’t be the only reason you join a platform, but it’s definitely a bonus.
Frequently asked questions
As with all investing, there’s the risk that you could lose the money that you invest. You can help to protect yourself from investment risk by diversifying your portfolio (which is investment talk for not putting all your eggs in one basket).
It could be. Some trading platforms won’t put your free share into your ISA, so any profits you make will be subject to capital gains tax, which is payable if you earn more than £3,000 in a tax year.
If the provider allows you to redeem the free share in your ISA, then you won’t have to pay tax on the profits as long as it doesn’t take you over the £20,000 allowance in a year.
You can. Some providers ask that you don’t withdraw the money for a set period, while others let you sell and cash in right away. Make sure you know what your chosen provider lets you do.
In many cases it is possible to get more than one free share — typically if the provider has some sort of referral program. You often can’t get the free share for signing up more than once, but you can refer friends for more.
There are plenty of “free” trading apps. These are typically commission free, so there could be additional charges for things like foreign exchange or withdrawing your money.
Trading 212 and eToro are two popular commission-free trading apps.
You can! These shares are often listed on the London Stock Exchange, so look out for a provider that lets you buy these shares. We’ve listed some of the best trading apps to help you find one that suits you.
There are loads of great ones. The best one for you will depend on what suits you best. Remember, you’ll likely be using the platform for a while, so choosing the right provider probably matters more than the freebies. (We won’t like though, a nice freebie is never gonna hurt).
Freetrade and Stake both give out free shares to new members. Some other providers have freebies on offer to their new members in the form of vouchers or a top-up to your account, such as Scottish Friendly and InvestEngine.
In some cases, you can get free shares just by signing up, although you may need a referral link from a friend. Some providers are giving out free shares if you refer friends, too.
Warning: The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.*Disclaimer: The offers compared on this page are chosen from a range of products finder has access to track details from and is not representative of all the products available in the market. Unless indicated otherwise, products are displayed in no particular order or ranking. The use of terms ‘Best’, ‘Top’, ‘Cheap’ including variations, are not product ratings and are subject to our terms of use. You should consider seeking independent financial advice and consider your personal financial circumstances when comparing products.
George is a deputy editor at Finder. He has previously written for The Motley Fool UK, Nasdaq, Freetrade, Investing in the Web, MoneyMagpie, Online Mortgage Advisor, Wealth, and Compare Forex Brokers. He's focused on making personal finance and investing engaging for everyone. To do this he draws from previous work and his Level 4 Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA), sharing what he’s learnt. When he’s not geeking out about money, you’ll find him playing sports and staying active. See full bio
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George has written 151 Finder guides across topics including:
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