Freetrade vs interactive investor

Freetrade and interactive investor are both share dealing providers that let you buy and sell several investment types, such as shares and exchange-traded funds on a range of different stock exchanges. Despite having very similar offerings, these providers are actually very different. Freetrade is commission free, while interactive investor charges a flat monthly fee that entitles you to a certain number of trades each month. Freetrade is a great choice for beginner investors, while interactive investor is better suited to those with more experience. Find out which platform came out on top when we compared Freetrade and interactive investor’s investments available, fees and features.

Freetrade vs eToro: Vital stats

When you look at the vital stats, Freetrade and interactive investor look very similar — both scored very highly when we anakysed them using 83 different metrics to find the best trading apps in a number of categories, with both getting 5 stars out of 5. Both providers also offer individual savings accounts (ISAs), so you can invest up to £20,000 in each tax year without having to pay capital gains tax on your profits. Freetrade’s ISA comes at an additional cost of £3 per month.

Both Freetrade and interactive investor are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which means your deposits are protected by up to £85,000 if either provider were to go bust.

Round 1: Stock exchanges

Both providers offer most of the major stock exchanges, including the London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, so you’re able to invest in most popular shares. Interactive investor has a slight advantage over Freetrade as it offers shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange as well.

Winner: interactive investor

Round 2: Types of investments

In terns of investment types, interactive investor has a really great range. You can invest in company shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), bonds and funds. It also has a range of ready-made portfolios available to invest in. Freetrade has shares and exchange-traded funds, including a range of ETFs that invest in bonds.

Winner: interactive investor

Round 3: Fees

In terms of fees, Freetrade is commission-free, so you won’t pay commission to buy or sell shares. You’ll still need to pay a foreign-exchange fee if you trade overseas shares, which is 0.59%. Interactive investor charges a flat monthly fee, which gets you a certain number of included trades per month, depending on which level you choose to go for. We explain the different service levels in our full review. interactive investor also charges a foreign exchange fee of 1.5%.

If you want to invest in an ISA with Freetrade, you’ll need to pay £3 per month, or subscribe to its Plus account. With interactive investor the ISA is free.

Winner: Freetrade

Round 4: Mobile and web features

One of the biggest benefits of interactive investor is that you can access your investments on desktop, which allows you to get a more detailed view of performance. This is something that Freetrade is testing in beta with its Plus users, but it isn’t widely available yet. Both of these providers have mobile apps, so you can trade on the go. You can access watch lists with both, and with Freetrade you can receive notifications about stock price movements. Both providers have forums to chat with other investors, either for support, to discuss ideas for the app or to chat about stocks.

Winner: Tie

Round 5: Learning resources

If you’re just starting out with investing, learning resources are a great tool to give you the know-how. One of our favourite resources to learn how to invest is a demo account, which interactive investor offers. This lets you invest with virtual funds, which can be replenished if you find yourself losing all of your money (don’t we all wish our real accounts did that?). This way, you can have a go at investing without using real money.

Both interactive investor and Freetrade have a selection of guides to help you learn. interactive investor’s got videos to walk investors through each journey.

Winner: interactive investor

Bottom line: Is interactive investor better than Freetrade?

On the whole, interactive investor is better than Freetrade. It’s a really comprehensive platform with a great range of investments available. We really like that it has a demo account to let you try out the platform before you begin.

That being said, Freetrade is a very good alternative platform to interactive investor, with comparable features and investments available. Freetrade’s fees are a huge benefit of the platform, and it is regularly adding new features that are likely to eventually bring it in line with interactive investor.