Ever wondered who would come out on top in a battle between Vanguard vs Nutmeg? Well, read on to find out how they compare for fees, accounts and plenty more.
Vanguard and Nutmeg are two of the most well-established investing providers available to UK retail investors. They’re slightly different in their approach as Nutmeg is basically a robo-advisor, where as Vanguard offers a platform where you get to hand-pick your index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). However, there is some crossover, so we’re going to pit Vanguard vs Nutmeg against each other in a head-to-head battle.
Both Vanguard and Nutmeg offer a limited range of investments and plenty of account options, including a stocks and shares ISA and a self-invested personal pension (SIPP). So, check out our breakdown of Vanguard vs Nutmeg and hopefully this will help you pick who’s best, depending on what’s most important to you – whether that’s fees, investment choice, account types or anything else.
Nutmeg vs Vanguard: At a glance
Finder Score
8.7Great
9.1Excellent
Customer satisfaction survey
★★★★★
★★★★★
Fees score
9.1Excellent
9.5Excellent
Stocks and shares ISA available?
FSCS protected?
Vanguard and Nutmeg are pretty neck and neck when it comes to their Finder score, with Nutmeg scoring a solid 4.1 out of 5, and Vanguard scoring a slightly higher 4.3 out of 5.
Vanguard and Nutmeg scored pretty differently in their most recent Finder Investing Customer Satisfaction Awards 2025 results. Our survey showed 97% of Vanguard customers would recommend the platform to a friend, compared to 87% of Nutmeg customers.
However, where the platforms go slightly different ways is with the fees score. When you look at Nutmeg fees vs Vanguard fees – Nutmeg has a score of 4.1 vs Vanguard’s 4.7 score for fees (both out of 5).
Round 1: Products
General investment account
Stocks and shares ISA
Lifetime ISA (LISA)
Pension (SIPP)
Junior ISA (JISA)/Junior SIPP (JSIPP)
Interest on cash balances
Keep in mind
Capital at risk
Capital at risk
Both Nutmeg and Vanguard offer a wide range of account options, with plenty of tax-efficient options available.
The only key difference between the two is that Nutmeg offers a lifetime ISA (LISA), but this is something Vanguard doesn’t have in its account lineup.
However, one thing Vanguard has going for it that Nutmeg doesn’t is that Vanguard will pay interest on cash in your accounts. But, this isn’t enough to tip the scales in its favour.
Winner: Nutmeg
Round 2: Investment choice
Investment choice score
5.9Standard
7.8Great
Available markets
1 (global funds)
4+
Number of investments
38
85+
Number of ETFs/funds
38
85
Fractional shares
Min. initial deposit
£500
£500 lump sum (or £100/month)
Keep in mind
Capital at risk
Capital at risk
Both Nutmeg and Vanguard offer a limited range of investments. Vanguard has funds you can pick yourself (or a managed stocks and shares ISA for an added fee that basically works like a robo-advisor).
Nutmeg mostly offers ready-made portfolios of funds, as a robo-advisor platform but it did recently add the ability to customise your portfolios by picking from a few thematic investment options.
Nutmeg actually has one of the largest range of portfolios for a robo-advisor, but its investment choice (which is all made up of funds) pales in comparison to Vanguard. The drawback with Vanguard is that you can only use Vanguard funds, but these are some of the cheapest and the best around anyway.
It is a bit easier to get started with Vanguard because you can set up a £100 monthly investment, but you need a £500 lump sum to kick off your Nutmeg portfolio.
Winner: Vanguard
Round 3: Portfolios
Portfolios rating
★★★★★
★★★★★
Risk assessment quiz
Number of portfolios on offer
38
21
Ethical portfolios on offer
Managed portfolios on offer
If we’re just looking at Nutmeg vs Vanguard for the ready-made portfolios available, Nutmeg edges it with 38 options in total.
Vanguard has 5 managed portfolios, 5 LifeStratgey portfolios and 11 target retirement options. Whereas Nutmeg has 10 fully managed portfolios, 10 fixed allocation portfolios, 10 socially responsible portfolios, 5 Smart Alpha portfolios, and 3 thematic portfolios.
Winner: Nutmeg
Round 4: Fees
Fees score
9.1Excellent
9.5Excellent
Platform fees
0.25% - 0.75%
0.15%
Price per trade
N/A
Funds/ETFs
0.17% – 0.32% (ongoing, plus market spread of 0.04%)
£0
Foreign exchange fee
0%
0%
Regular investing
Yes
Yes
Withdrawal fee
£0
£0
Deposit fee
£0
£0
Inactivity fee
£0
£0
Keep in mind
Capital at risk
Capital at risk
Nutmeg offers pretty good value across its portfolios with the fees ranging from around 0.25% to 0.75% for the basic platform fee.
However, even at its cheapest, Nutmeg is still more expensive than Vanguard.
So, when we compared Nutmeg fees vs Vanguard’s, it’s Vanguard that comes out as the winner.
Winner: Vanguard
Round 5: Ease of use
Ease of use score
10Excellent
9.6Excellent
Apple iOS rating
4.8/5
4.4/5
Google Play rating
4.5/5
3.7/5
Ways to contact customer service
Phone, in-app chat, secure messaging, email, post and in-person
Secure message, email, phone, chatbot
UI/UX
Good
Good
Desktop or web access
Mobile app
Keep in mind
Capital at risk
Capital at risk
Neither Nutmeg nor Vanguard offers a particularly fancy investing experience that will blow your socks off.
However, both these platforms offer a robust mobile app and desktop platform for investing. If you want a slicker and simpler mobile experience, you might want to check out some other trading apps that have more bells and whistles.
Nutmeg and Vanguard both try to offer solid but basic customer service and this is how they can try and keep fees low while providing a decent experience.
Winner: Tie
Round 6: Tools, resources and features
Features score
6.7Standard
6.7Standard
Analysis features
Tools for investing/trading
Social features
Learning resources
Keep in mind
Capital at risk
Capital at risk
Both Vanguard and Nutmeg have pretty similar offerings when it comes to the investing tools and resources available.
These platforms aim to keep things simple, so you’re not going to find loads of detailed research and analysis here and it’s hard to separate them.
Winner: Tie
Overall winner: Is Vanguard better than Nutmeg?
Vanguard and Nutmeg both offer a fairly limited investing experience with plenty of similarities.
However, the greater investment choice and lower fees offered by Vanguard makes it our winner (which is also reflected in the overall Finder scores).
Winner: Vanguard
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.
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.
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