- Richard Berry
- Updated
Investing apps are the mobile version of an investment account’s platform, which allows investors to buy and sell investments like shares, bonds, ETFs and funds through a general investing account, stocks and shares ISA, SIPP or pension.
Our experts have tested and ranked the UK’s best investment apps – all regulated by the FCA for your peace of mind.
Compare The Best UK Investing Apps
In our comparison of UK investing and stock investing apps, we compare accounts based on what different types they offer. You can also see which apps let you choose your own investments and which accounts are managed by professional fund managers.
Investing App | App Account Fee | Min Deposit | DIY or Managed | GMG Rating | More Info |
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£24 per quarter | £250 | DIY & Managed | See App* Capital at risk |
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From £4.99 a month | £1 | DIY | See App Capital at risk |
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Shares: £0 Funds: 0.45% | £1 | DIY | See App Capital at risk |
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0.25% (capped at £3.50 pm) | £500 | DIY | See App Capital at risk |
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0.75%-0.45% | £500 | Managed | See App Capital at risk |
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0.75% | £500 | Managed | See App Capital at risk |
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£0 | £1 | DIY | See App Capital at risk |
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€10 per month or 0.12% | £1 | DIY | See App Capital at risk |
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0.6% | £1 | Managed | See App Capital at risk |
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0.2% to 0.4% | £1 | DIY & Managed | See App Capital at risk |
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0.15% | £1 | DIY | See App Capital at risk |
Our picks of the best investing apps in the UK
❓Methodology: We have chosen what we think are the best UK investing apps based on:
- Over 30,000 consumer votes and reviews in the prestigious Good Money Guide awards
- Our experts’ own experiences testing the investing apps accounts with real money
- An in-depth comparison of their stand-out features compared to alternative investment apps
- Good Money Guide’s exclusive interviews with the investment app company CEOs and senior management
Summary:
- IG: Best UK app for a mixture of short & long-term investing
- Saxo: Best investing apps for beginners & professional investors
- Interactive Investor: Excellent fixed-fee investing app
- AJ Bell: Best UK low-cost app investing for funds
- Nutmeg: Best UK investment app for managed accounts (passive investing)
- Hargreaves Lansdown: Great full-service UK investing app for DIY investors
- Moneyfarm: Best investing app for simple risk-based portfolios
- Interactive Brokers: Best app for international investing
- Wealthify: Start investing from just £1
- Dodl: Best UK investing app for beginners
IG: Best UK App For A Mixture Of Short & Long-Term Investing
👍Featured👍
- Investments: Shares, ETFs, investment trusts & pre-made portfolios
- Minimum deposit: £250
- Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, derivatives
- Account charge: £24 per quarter
- Dealing fee: Shares £3 – £8
IG’s investing app is a good choice if you are a regular trader and are more interested in high-risk products like CFDs and spread betting but also want to invest in the long-term. IG’s app offers a very cheap way for you to include physical shares and funds in your portfolio without the need to run multiple accounts.
IG App Fees:
IG charges a flat custody fee of £24 a quarter (£96 a year) for general investing accounts. However, if you have more than £15,000 in a Smart Portfolio managed fund or place over three trades per quarter that fee is waived. Standard dealing fees are £8 for UK and £10 for US shares. Smart Portfolio fees are 0.5% – capped at £250 per year. Fund management charges are 0.13% and transaction costs are 0.09%.
IG Review
Name: IG
Description: Founded in 1974 as Investors Gold Index, then IG Index, now just “IG” is one of the world’s largest margin trading brokers. IG offer CFDs, FX and Spread Betting (in the UK) alongside share trading and prime brokerage to over 313,000 active clients and offers 17,000 tradable markets. IG also recently introduced physical share dealing and smart portfolios for longer-term investors.
69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Is IG a good trading platform?
Yes, IG provides an excellent all-round trading and investing brokerage service. IG pioneered online trading and financial spread betting for private clients and remains not only one of the largest online trading platforms, but also one of the best. IG stands out through deep liquidity, high market range and excellent added value such as trading tools and analysis.
Pros
- Vast range of markets
- Excellent liquidity & DMA equities
- Listed on the London Stock Exchange
Cons
- Customer service can be slow
- No DMA futures trading
- Still charges inactivity fee
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.7IG Investing App
Saxo: Best Investing Apps For Beginners & Professional Investors
🏆Award Winner🏆
- Investments: Shares, ETFs, funds, bonds
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, derivatives
- Account charge: €10 per month or 0.12%
- Dealing fee: Shares 0.1% – 0.05%
Saxo’s SaxoInvestor app won “Best Investing App” in our 2024 awards as it helps connect new and beginner investors through a simple interface to one of the most advanved platforms in the industry.
Saxo apps are a good choice if you are a sophisticated investor and want to manage every aspect of your portfolio actively and need an established platform. Saxo Markets app also has some of the best pricing and order execution types, meaning you can work large orders on the move as well as from their standard desktop platform.
Saxo App Fees:
Saxo Markets charge EUR10 a month or 0.12% a year based on the value of your portfolio (depending on which is higher). If you have a VIP account this fee is reduced to 0.08%. Dealing charges are commission based as a percentage of transaction size. They are very competitive, though and UK shares trading commission starts at 0.1% (£100 if you buy £100,000 worth of stock) and drops to 0.05% for more active traders.
Saxo Review
Name: Saxo
Description: Saxo is one of the largest CFD brokers worldwide and provides direct market access to equities, bonds, forex, futures and options as well as being a major liquidity and infrastructure provider to wealth managers, banks and smaller brokers.
65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Is Saxo Markets a good broker?
Yes, Saxo is a good choice for more sophisticated traders. The platform, analysis, and direct market access may be too complicated for beginners. But, for experienced traders its coverage, commissions and research are unrivalled.
Pros
- Direct market access
- Low commissions
- Robust trading platform
Cons
- Seen as a trading platform for professionals
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.6Saxo Investing App
Interactive Investor: An Excellent Fixed-fee Investing App
- Investments: Shares, ETFs, bonds & funds
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, JISA
- Account charge: Shares £0, funds 0.45%
- Dealing fee: £3.99 – £5.99
Interactive Investor is a good investing app for active investors who want to make their own investment decisions and will be adding a lot of funds as well as shares to their portfolio as fees are capped. II’s app also has a wide range of news and analysis with a particular focus on educational videos and investment editorials.
Interactive Investor App Fees
It costs £9.99 a month for a general investing account with Interactive Investor. Dealing commissions are a free trade every month, then UK Shares and Funds, US Shares charged £7.99 or upgrade to a £19.99 “Super Investor” account 2 free monthly trades and deal for £3.99. Regular investing is free.
If you want level-2 pricing, you can also add Quotestream for £20 per month.
Interactive Investor Review
Name: Interactive Investor
Description: Interactive Investor or II as its known is one of the UK’s largest self-determined investor platforms. II can trace its roots back to 1995 and the startup floated on the London stock exchange back in the year 2000 before being bought by the Australian business Ample in 2002. Today, Interactive Investor is a owned by abrdn with assets under administration of more than £50 billion and 400,000 customers to whom II offers share trading and investment services including, ISAs SIPPs and share dealing, alongside research and analysis. Including model portfolios, selected funds and thematic investments.
Why we like them
Interactive Investor differs from other investment platforms as it charges a fixed account fee, rather than a percentage of the funds you have on account. Which, over time, could save you thousands in costs.
Pros
- Fixed account fees
- Easy to use
- Good research
Cons
- No Lifetime ISA
- Expensive for very small accounts
- No derivatives for hedging
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4Interactive Investor App
AJ Bell: Best UK Low-Cost App Investing
- Investments: Shares, ETFs, bonds & funds
- Minimum deposit: £500
- Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, JISA, JISA, JSIPP
- Account charge: 0.25% annual charge
- Dealing fee: Shares £3.50 – £5, funds £1.50
AJ Bell’s investing app is a good choice for anyone who is more interested in keeping costs at a bare minimum whilst still having access to a huge range of markets and account types. It’s not quite as suitable for very active investors as II and HL due to the lack of execution order types, but for those who just want to build a portfolio without trying to time the market too much, it is a very good option.
AJ Bell Investing App Fees:
AJ Bell charges 0.25% of the value of your for a general investment account, but share account fees are capped at £3.50 a month. Dealing costs are £1.50 for funds and £5 for shares but drop to £3.50 where there were 10 or more online share deals in the previous month
AJ Bell Review
Name: AJ Bell
Description: AJ Bell is an award-winning, low-cost online investing platform for UK DIY investors. Founded in 1995, AJ Bell has grown to become one of the UK’s leading investment platforms. Today, it has more than 440,000 customers and assets under administration (AUA) of over £150 billion.
Summary
AJ Bell is an excellent full-service stock broker that offers access to UK and international shares, bonds and funds with some of the lowest fees in the industry.
Pros
- Wide range of investments
- Low account costs
- Discounts for frequent investors
Cons
- High charge when you deal over the phone
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.4AJ Bell Investing App
Nutmeg: Best UK Investment App For Managed Accounts (Passive Investing)
Approved by Nutmeg on the 11 September 2023
- Investments: Pre-made portfolios
- Minimum deposit: £500
- Account types: GIA, ISA, Pension, JISA, LISA
- Management fee: 0.75% – 0.45%
- Dealing fee: £0
Capital at risk. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may change in the future
Nutmeg Investing App Fees:
Nutmeg charge 0.75% for their managed portfolios which drops to 0.35% for balances over £100k. For their fixed allocation portfolios, they charge 0.45% dropping to 0.25% for balances over £100k. For all portfolios, there is an additional charge by the investment fund managers of around 0.2% and the market spread on buying and selling portfolios is currently between 0.04% and 0.09%. More information on fees and products can be found here.Nutmeg Review
Name: Nutmeg
Description: Nutmeg were among the first digital wealth managers set up in the UK, known as “robo-advisors”. Despite the term robo-advisors being used, it is an investment team that makes the investment decisions. The term robo-advisors refers more to taking the process of building a diverse portfolio automatically online.
Capital at risk. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may change in the future.
Is Nutmeg any good for investing?
Yes, Nutmeg is very easy and low-cost way to invest in a range of diverse pre-made portfolios created by experts and are part of J.P. Morgan.
- Investments: 5 investment styles are made up of 34 individual portfolios
- Account types: GIA, ISA, Pension, JISA, LISA
- Management fee: 0.75% to 0.45%
Fees: Nutmeg charge 0.75% for their managed portfolios which drops to 0.35% for balances over £100k. For their fixed allocation portfolios, they charge 0.45% dropping to 0.25% for balances over £100k. For all portfolios, there is an addition charged by the investment fund manager of around 0.2% and the market spread on buying and selling portfolios is currently between 0.04% and 0.09%. More information on fees and products can be found here.
Pros
- Great for beginners
- Risk-based funds
- Socially Responsible Portfolios
Cons
- High £500 minimum investment
- 0.75%* account fee higher than Wealthify
- Cannot invest in individual shares
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.2Nutmeg Investing App
Hargreaves Lansdown: Great UK Investing App For DIY Investors
- Investments: Shares, ETFs, bonds & funds
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, JISA, JISA, JSIPP
- Account charge: Shares £0, funds 0.45%
- Dealing fee: Shares £5.95 – £11.95, funds £0
We have ranked Hargreaves Lansdown as the best investing app for those that want to make their own investing decisions. HL offers some of the best analysis and research on it’s app, as well as stock screeners, buy and sell signals and company fundamentals. For longer-term investors, it also offers the widest range of funds and international markets.
HL App Fees:
There is no account charge for shares in a general investment account with Hargreaves Lansdown. Funds are charged at 0.45% for the first £250,000. There is no charge for buying funds, but shares are charged at £11.95 per deal or £5.95 if you do over 20 deals per month.
Hargreaves Lansdown Review
Name: Hargreaves Lansdown
Description: Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK. They offer investing, savings, ISAs and SIPP account to over 1.8 million clients with 142bn in assets under management. The company was founded by Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown in 1981 and is now listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Is Hargreaves Lansdown a good broker?
Yes, Hargreaves Lansdown is one of our best-rated stock brokers and investment platforms. HL offers access to a huge range of investment types, through a wide range of general and tax-efficient accounts and is suitable for almost all types of investors.
Pros
- Wide range of investments
- Most investment account types
- Excellent research and analysis
Cons
- There are cheaper options for fund investing
- Limited portfolio hedging tools
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.8Hargreaves Lansdown Investing App
Moneyfarm: Best Investing App For Simple Risk-Based Portfolios
- Investments: Pre-made portfolios
- Minimum deposit: £500
- Account types: GIA, ISA, Pension, JISA
- Account charge: 0.75% annual charge
- Dealing fee: £0
As a robo-advisor, Moneyfarm’s digital wealth management investing app makes personal investing simple as you don’t have to pick your own investments. You just decide how much risk you want to take. You can invest in any of their seven risk-based portfolios through a stocks and shares ISA, a pension or a general investment account.
Moneyfarm Investing App Fees:
Moneyfarm investing account fees are scaled between 0.75% for accounts between £500 and £50,000, then above £100k are 0.45% to 0.35%. Average investment fund fees are 0.2% and the average market spread when buying and selling is 0.10%.
Moneyfarm Review
Name: Moneyfarm Review
Description: Moneyfarm is a digital wealth manager that aims to make personal investing simple and accessible. It was launched initially in Italy in 2012 by Italian bankers Paolo Galvani and Giovanni Dapra and entered the UK in 2016 and has big-name financial backers such as Allianz Global Investors, Cabot Square Capital, United Ventures and Poste Italiane.
Is Moneyfarm any good?
Yes, Moneyfarm is more of a digital wealth manager rather than a robo-advisor as the portfolios are put together by investment managers, rather than automatically. The automation, as it where, is fine-tuning your portfolio to match your risk/reward choices. As opposed to other robo advisors you can also top-up your portfolio with individual shares and ETFs.
- Investments: 7 pre-made portfolios
- Account types: GIA, ISA, Pension, JISA
- Costs: 0.75% to 0.6%
Fees: Moneyfarm charges 0.75% to 0.6% up to £100k then 0.45% to 0.35% over £100k. Moneyfarm investing account fees are scaled between 0.75% for accounts between £500 and £50,000, then above £100k are 0.45% to 0.35%. Average investment fund fees are 0.2% and the average market spread when buying and selling is 0.10%.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Low fees
- Diverse portfolios
Cons
- High £500 minimum investment
- 0.75%* account fee is relatively high
- No individual US shares available
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.4Moneyfarm App
Interactive Brokers: Best App For International Investing
- Investments: Shares, ETFs, bonds & funds
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: GIA, ISA, SIPP, derivatives
- Account charge: £0
- Dealing fee: Shares £1 – 0.05%
Interactive Brokers GlobalTrader app is an excellent choice for investors who are just starting out (as it is so cheap) but will become larger and more sophisticated as their portfolio grows and want to access more sophisticated investment products. You can access thousands of markets around the world and have a wide range of investing tools. A good choice for most types of investors.
IBKR Investing App Fees:
There is no account charge for general investment accounts at Interactive Brokers. When you buy and sell shares minimum, dealing commissions are £1 in the UK or 0.05% of the deal size.
Interactive Brokers Review
Name: Interactive Brokers
Description: Interactive Brokers is a major US online automated electronic broker company. The financial broker is listed on the Nasdaq Exchange with ticker IBKR. The firm operates in 150 electronic exchanges in 34 countries, and offers trading in 28 currencies. Interactive Brokers has more than 3.19 million institutional and retail customers.
Why we like them
Interactive Brokers is an exceptional trading platform that offers institutional-grade trading capabilities to private clients around the world. IBKR has some of the lowest trading and investing fees and the widest market range in the industry.
Pros
- Very low dealing fees
- Wide market range
- Direct market access
- Complex order types
Cons
- Customer services can be slow
- No financial spread betting
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Apps & Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.8Interactive Broker Investing App
Wealthify: Invest From Just £1
- Investments: Pre-made portfolios
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: GIA, ISA, Pension
- Account charge: 0.6% annual charge
- Dealing fee: £0
Wealthify Review
Name: Wealthify
Description: Wealthify is a digital wealth manager or “robo-advisor” that offers low-cost pre-made portfolios through their Original or Ethical investment plans. Wealthify is now owned by Aviva, and customers can set their own risk/reward threshold and invest through a general investment account, stocks and shares ISA, junior ISA or pension.
Capital at risk
Is Wealthify good for investing?
Yes, Wealthify is a great investment option for people who want a simple, low-cost investment account. They offer pre-made diverse portfolios to invest in where you can set your own goals, risks and potential returns. Fees are low at 0.6% of your portfolio value, but there are also investment costs of on average 0.16% for original plans and 0.7% for ethical plans. Fees do drop to 0.3% above £100k for pensions though.
Pros
- Owned by Aviva
- Simple investment options
- Low-cost
Cons
- Cannot buy individual shares
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.5Wealthify Investing App
Dodl: Best UK Investing App For Beginners
- Investments: Shares, ETFs, funds
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: GIA, ISA, Pension, LISA
- Account charge: 0.15%
- Dealing fee: £0
In our 2023 awards, Dodl won “best investing app” as they have a real emphasis on making investing accessible and easy to understand for young people. You can see them collecting their award for best investing app in the video below.
AJ Bell Dodl Review
Why we like it
AJ Bell Dodl is a great way for the next generation of investors to invest with a “low-cost, little effort” app which focuses on making investing easy. Which it does well, Dodl is very user-friendly, has great educational content and is one of the cheapest ways to start investing.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Low cost
- Great for beginners
Cons
- Limited range of investments
- App only
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.5Dodl Investing App
Which Investing App Gives You The Most Market Access?
Hargreaves Lansdown offers access to the most funds, UK and international shares, bonds and ETFs.
You can see here how many investments different UK investment apps offer.
Which Investment App Has The Most Account Types?
From our expert comparison of investing apps in the UK both Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell offer access to the full suite of account types including a general investment account, SIPP, ISA, Junior ISA, Junior SIPP and Lifetime ISA. However, we rank Hargreaves Lansdown as the investing app with the most account types as they also offer cash savings though their Active Savings product.
Account Types | |||||||||
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GIA | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
ISA | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
SIPP | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Pension | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Junior ISA | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
Junior SIPP | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Lifetime ISA | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
⚠️ FCA Regulation
All investing apps that operate in the UK must be regulated by the FCA. The FCA is the Financial Conduct Authority and is responsible for ensuring that UK investment apps are properly capitalised, treat customers fairly and have sufficient compliance systems in place. We only investing apps that are regulated by the FCA, where your funds are protected by the FSCS.
Investing App FAQs:
Only investing apps that are regulated by the FCA are safe. If you invest with an FCA-regulated investing app your funds are covered up to a certain amount by the FSCS.
- Further reading: Are investing apps safe?
Yes, investing apps are an essential tool for making and maintaining a successful portfolio. Everyone should download an investing app as soon as possible. Investing apps provide a very low cost and often free way to start investing. By starting small and early you can use compounding returns to maximise your investments for later on in life.
Investing apps, are particularly worth it if you have a small starting balance, a five-year + investment time frame and are prepared to take some risk to get better returns than in savings accounts.
Even if you are a large investor, that uses your brokers main platform investing apps provide an excellent way to remain connected to the markets and check on performance wherever you are.
However, there is a downside to investment apps. Because you have constant access to your long-term investments, you may be tempted to buy and sell on a more regular basis. Which is more of a trading strategy, rather than investing.
Investing apps make money through commission when customers buy and sell investments as well as account charges. You can see a comparison of account charges and commission in our investment account comparison table.
Investing apps, are different to trading apps, in that investing apps are for long term capital growth where you can invest in normal investing accounts, stocks and shares ISAs and SIPPs, whereas trading apps are more for short term speculation like financial spread betting and CFDs.
Yes, generally investing apps are free to download from the relevant app stores. The providers of the investment apps will charge for the services that are on offer through the app. This charge is usually deducted from your investment account, rather than charged through an app store.
Yes, you can make money with an investing app. However, when investing you only make money if you choose good investments. the value of any investment can go up as well as down.
Investing apps connect to investment platforms and allow you to monitor your portfolio and make trades on the go via devices such as smartphones and tablets. All you need is your device and an internet connection. The key advantage of apps is the level of convenience they provide – you can invest wherever you are and react quickly to opportunities if you need to.
AJ Bell Youinvest is the cheapest investing app, with account fees starting from 0.25%. It is important to note that some other investing apps like IG and Interactive Brokers offer free investing accounts, but as they are primarily derivatives platforms they have been discounted from this comparison.
Richard Berry
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