Best Investment Apps 2024

Is your Money Safe in the HL app?

Yes, HL’s investing app is one of the best and most secure apps for investing, as the company is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the most popular investing apps in the UK. For instance, did you know that at its peak, the app and website were used every 9.6 seconds to top up an HL Stocks & Shares ISA.

Fees: There is no account charge for shares in a general account with HL. Funds are charged at 0.45% for the first £250,000. There is no charge for buying funds, but shares are charged at a relatively high £11.95 per deal or £5.95 if you do over 20 deals per month.

Hargreaves Lansdown has recently improved it’s app and now allows users to open several products directly. The HL app now allows clients to open its ISA, LISA and Fund & Share accounts through the app, with more products to become accessible shortly.

In a LinkedIn post revealing the update, Hargreaves Lansdown product leader Michael Loberman said it came as part of the company’s “wider efforts to transform our app and web experience”.

He added: “Keep an eye out for further changes in the coming months. Exciting times ahead!”

In its latest quarterly trading update in November, Hargreaves Lansdown reported client numbers grew by 18,000 in the second financial quarter, up from 8,000 in Q1. 

The growth was attributed to new clients setting up SIPP, ISA and Active Savings accounts.

The firm also revealed its clients had been switching their investments to cash in that update. Client cash balances rose to £12.7 billion during the three months to the end of September, up from £12.4 billion.

The £300 million shift towards cash was driven by net selling of investments by clients in September on fears the government’s annual Budget could include a tax raid, which largely failed to materialise.

Earlier in November, Hargreaves Lansdown launched its Global Income fund on the platform, bringing another easy-to-use portfolio building tool to do-it-yourself investors.

The new Global Equity Income fund invests in a portfolio of dividend-paying companies around the world favoured by selected expert managers. 

In February the firm teamed up with rival platform Interactive Investor to open up the UK Gilt-edged or government bond auctions to retail traders through a partnership with market marker Winterflood Securities.

The group’s revenue rose to £196.5 million in the second quarter of this financial year from £183.8 million in the previous three months, driven by increased dealing volumes and higher assets under administration levels.

What is the App Like to Use?

Is ii's App Any Good and is it Safe?

The app is one of the best ways to invest on mobile, based on our analysis, as it has loads of research, screeners and market data. And as ii is regulated by the FCA and owned by ABRDN, an LSE-listed company currently worth more than £2.8bn, the ii app is one of the safest around.

Fees

It costs from £4.99 a month for a GIA with ii. With the basic plan, trading on UK and US stocks is £3.99. There are two plans above that which include free trades. If you upgrade to a Super Investor account (£19.99 a month) you get 2 free monthly trades. Regular investing is free.

If you want UK Level 2 share pricing, you can also add Quotestream for £20 + VAT per month.

Special Offers

Free investing for your friends and family. You can give up to five people a free investment account subscription with ii’s Friends and Family plan. You pay a single extra fee of £5 a month, and their monthly cost is zero. Each member can invest up to £30,000 in an ISA or a general investing account with free regular investing and no account fees. However, they’ll still pay normal dealing commissions when they buy and sell investments.

Get £200 when you refer a friend to ii. Recommend a friend or family member and get a £200 reward. Your friend will get their first year’s service plan for free – saving £120. To qualify, your friend must transfer or fund their account with at least £10,000 in combined cash/investments.

What is the App Like to Use?

Is AJ Bell's App as Good as the Platform?

AJ Bell’s app is a good way of checking on your investments when out and about. But it’s a bit clunky compared to full-service brokers like Interactive Brokers or newer apps like CMC Invest. It’s not as good as the main website, as you don’t get the full screeners or research, plus I found it an absolute pain to log into – for some reason it seems to always wipe my login info.

Fees

AJ Bell charges 0.25% of the value of your investments for a GIA 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 if you had 10 or more online share deals in the previous month.

Special Offers

Recommend a friend, and you’ll both get £100 gift vouchers. If you recommend a friend to AJ Bell and they invest more than £10,000 in a SIPP, ISA or LISA, you’ll each get an Amazon gift card worth £100.

Switch your share dealing account and receive up to £500 to cover exit fees. If you transfer your share dealing GIA valued at more than £20,000 to AJ Bell, it will help cover any exit fees charged by your current provider. AJ Bell will cover £35 per investment moved and up to £100 for general exit fees, up to an overall maximum of £500 per person.

Free subscription to Shares Magazine worth £220 a year. Get a free subscription to Shares by maintaining a balance of £4,000 or more across your AJ Bell investing accounts.

What is the App Like to Use?

Summary

• Investments: Pre-made portfolios
• Minimum deposit: £500
• Account types: GIA, ISA, Pension, JISA, LISA
• Management fee: 0.75% – 0.45%
• Dealing fee: £0

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.

App:

Is your Money Safe in the Moneyfarm App?

Yes, the Moneyfarm app connects to all your Moneyfarm accounts and lets you view your portfolio balance and performance while on the move. As Moneyfarm is a fairly passive investment account and not that complicated, you can also use the app for making deposits and choosing investment portfolios.

Fees

Moneyfarm investing account fees start at 0.75% for accounts between £500 and £50,000, then above £100,000 it costs 0.45% to 0.35%. Average investment fund fees are 0.2% and the average market spread when buying and selling is 0.10%.

What is the App Like to Use?

How may apps does Interactive Brokers (IBKR) have?

IBKR also has two other apps, which are both good – IBKR Mobile for experienced traders and IMPACT for ethical investors.

Special Offer

$200 when you refer a friend to Interactive Brokers. IBKR clients can earn $200 for each qualified referral while giving their friend the opportunity to earn up to $1,000 of IBKR stock.

What is the App Like to Use?

Is IG Invest a Good Investing App?

You can invest with the IG app, but I would say it’s more of a trading app than an investing app. You can invest via a GIA, ISA and SIPP account, which can be used on mobile. If you like to trade and invest, then IG is a good choice to use as an investing app so you have both types of account in one place. But if you only want to invest (and not do higher-risk trading) then a dedicated investing app like Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell or interactive investor would be a better choice.

Fees

IG charges a flat custody fee of £24 a quarter (£96 a year) for its general account. However, if you have more than £15,000 in a Smart Portfolio managed fund or you 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%.

Special Offer

Free US stock investing. There is zero commission on US share trades and just £3 on UK share trades when you trade three or more times a month.

What is IG’s App Like to Use?

Are Saxo's Investing Apps Good for Longer-term Investors?

SaxoTraderGO is a good choice if you are a sophisticated investor and want to manage every aspect of your portfolio actively and need an established platform. The 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 advanced platforms in the industry.

Saxo‘s competitive pricing and range of order execution types mean you can work large orders on the move as well as from the standard desktop platform.

Even though Saxo is traditionally a trading platform for short-term speculation on the markets going up or down, it’s also an excellent choice for longer-term investors. That’s because Saxo is a well-capitalised company, heavily regulated in the UK and all the regions it operates in, and has excellent customer service for small and large customers.

Fees

Saxo charges €10 a month or 0.12% a year (whichever is higher) based on the value of your portfolio. If you have a VIP account this fee drops to 0.08%. Dealing charges are commission based as a percentage of transaction size. They are 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.

Special Offers

If you have £200,000 or more on account, you can apply for 30% lower transaction and account costs.

For accounts with portfolios over £1m, you get even better pricing, direct connection to experts, 1:1 SaxoStrats access and event invitations.

What Are the Apps Like to Use?

The images below are from the SaxoTraderGO app. You can see the Saxo Investor platform in our dedicated hands-on review.

Is Wealthify a Good Investing App?

Yes, Wealthify is an excellent app but it’s not as good as the web version, because it’s easier to explore the risk and performance tables and choose a portfolio on a bigger screen.

The Wealthify app used to be brilliant for beginner investors but since the upped the minimum deposit required to start investing, it’s not not as acceisble as it once was.

Fees: Wealthify’s app is free to download and once you start investing is fiarly cheap for a managed robbo-advisor. It costs 0.6% to start investing with Wealthify, which is one of the cheapest robo-advisor account fees. There are also investment costs of, on average, 0.15% for original plans and 0.58% for ethical plans.

Market Access: You can only invest in two portfolios, but you can choose how much risk you want to take.

App & Platform: Very easy to use, and gives you lots of information if you want to dig deeper into your portfolios.

Customer Service: Excellent – good team and friendly support.

Research & Analysis: A bit here and there, but if you are a passive investor I doubt you’ll read any of it.

Summary

• Investments: Shares, ETFs, funds
• Minimum deposit: £1
• Account types: GIA, ISA, Pension, LISA
• Account charge: 0.15%
• Dealing fee: £0

App: