Fractional shares
Free to open an account
Hargreaves Lansdown is the most comprehensive investment platform in the UK, offering more than 8,000 shares on its platform from stock exchanges all over the world. Trades are a little pricey, coming in at £11.95 per trade, but this is reduced if you trade regularly. If you’re tempted by Hargreaves Lansdown but want to check out some alternatives, we’ve pulled together a list of Hargreaves Lansdown alternatives in the UK.
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| Finder Score | 8.5Great | 9Excellent |
| Customer satisfaction survey | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| FSCS protected? | ||
| Stocks and shares ISA available? | ||
| Price per trade | £11.95 | £0 |
| Foreign exchange fees | 1% | 0.7% |
| UK - London Stock Exchange (LSE) | ||
| US - New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) | ||
| US - NASDAQ | ||
| App | ||
| Desktop or web access | ||
| Keep in mind | Capital at risk | Capital at risk. 68% of retail CFD accounts lose money |
| Go to Site | Go to Site |
IG is a close match to Hargreaves Lansdown, also offering a huge number of shares (more than 12,000), and allowing you to invest in a number of different accounts. IG is a little cheaper, with a trading commission of £10 for US shares and £8 for UK shares. Like Hargreaves Lansdown, you can get cheaper commission for trading regularly — US trades are commission free and UK trades cost £3 if you traded 3 times in the previous month.
You can check out our full review of IG if you want to find out more.
![]() | ![]() | |
| Finder Score | 8.5Great | |
| Customer satisfaction survey | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| FSCS protected? | ||
| Stocks and shares ISA available? | ||
| Price per trade | £11.95 | |
| Foreign exchange fees | 1% | 0.5% |
| UK - London Stock Exchange (LSE) | ||
| US - New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) | ||
| US - NASDAQ | ||
| App | ||
| Desktop or web access | ||
| Keep in mind | Capital at risk | Capital at risk. 61% of retail CFD accounts lose money |
| Go to Site | Go to Site |
eToro charges a higher foreign exchange fee than Hargreaves Lansdown, coming in at 0.75%. You’re not able to invest in an individual savings account with eToro, so you could be subject to capital gains tax if you make a profit of more than £3,000 in each tax year.
You can read our comprehensive review of eToro if you’d like to learn more about its features and fees.
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| Finder Score | 8.5Great | 9.1Excellent |
| Customer satisfaction survey | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| FSCS protected? | ||
| Stocks and shares ISA available? | ||
| Price per trade | £11.95 | £0 |
| Foreign exchange fees | 1% | 0.99% |
| UK - London Stock Exchange (LSE) | ||
| US - New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) | ||
| US - NASDAQ | ||
| App | ||
| Desktop or web access | ||
| Keep in mind | Capital at risk | Capital at risk |
| Go to Site | Go to Site |
Freetrade is a beginner friendly choice if you’re just starting out. It doesn’t have professional charting tools or expert research, but it’s commission free and charges a low foreign exchange fee of 0.45%. You can invest in an ISA with Freetrade for £3 per month, which lets you make use of your £20,000 ISA allowance in the 2025/2026 tax year.
Unlike Hargreaves Lansdown, Freetrade is app-only, but it’s reportedly testing a desktop platform with Plus users.
We have a full review of Freetrade if you’d like to know more.
Finding the Hargreaves Lansdown alternative that suits you depends on what feature of Hargreaves Lansdown you’re not convinced by, and which features you’re looking for. If you’d prefer lower fees, a commission-free stock trading platform like eToro could be suitable. If you’d prefer a beginner friendly platform, you may prefer Freetrade. IG is a close alternative to Hargreaves Lansdown and offers many of the same features.
If you’ve still not found “the one”, you can compare share dealing accounts with our comparison table. It lets you choose what’s important to you to narrow down your options.
All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.
Prosper offers commission-free investing with no platform fees. After testing and using the app, we gave our thoughts.
We tried out this cheap platform, which lets you choose from 830+ ETFs for a DIY portfolio or get a managed ready-made one.
The Lightyear app is a cheap option for investing in stocks and ETFs with a free stocks and shares ISA. We look and see if there are any catches.
Scottish Friendly is a mutual organisation in the UK that offers ISAs and investment bonds. Read our review to find out what we think of Scottish Friendly and how much it costs.
Saxo is a solid all-rounder that’s widely respected in its field, offering loads of global investment options and research tools.
We review the features and costs of Trading 212, an investment platform designed to teach you about investing and lets you buy shares with zero fees.
Our IG review looks at the features, customer reviews, fees, learning resources and some pros and cons of IG’s platform.
QuilterInvest (formerly NuWealth) lets you invest from as little as £10, with no commissions and low fees.
Online trading giant eToro lets you buy stocks with no commission, but is it the best option for traders and investors?
The Freetrade app lets you buy and sell UK, US, and EU stocks with minimal fees. We look under the bonnet to find out whether there are any catches.