- Experts rate Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP & Pension highly, noting its competitive pricing structure and excellent customer service. The platform offers a wide range of investment options, making it particularly suitable for beginners, while also providing robust research tools and a user-friendly app. However, it may become expensive for larger portfolios, especially after promotional discounts end.
- Across 1779 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 3.8/5, customers frequently highlight the platform's ease of use and excellent customer support, with many praising the intuitive app and comprehensive investment options. However, some users express concerns about high fees for trading and difficulties with account management, indicating a mix of positive experiences and frustrations with service efficiency.
Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP & Pension Expert rating
Our expert rating is the average of the areas listed here, each scored out of 5 by our team.Our experts have rated Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP & Pension across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing4.0
- Market Access5.0
- Online Platform5.0
- Customer Service5.0
- Research & Analysis5.0
Pros
- Widest range of shares, bonds and funds to invest in.
- Get started with as little as £100 or a £25 regular investment
- Share fees capped at £200
- Excellent research & data to help you choose what to invest in
Cons
- Can be expensive for large fund portfolios
See full expert review
Our verdict
Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP & Pension is great for those that want excellent service & research. We consistently rank Hargreaves Lansdown as one of the best SIPP providers in the UK (HL won best SIPP in our 2022 Awards). The main advantage of Hargreaves Lansdown’s SIPP is that it offers access to a vast range of investments. Investors have access to domestic and international equities, over 3,000 funds, bonds, as well as plenty of research and investment tools. Customer service is also top notch, with really helpful and knowledgable staff that can provide guidence if needed.
Capital at risk
Is Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP (Pension) Any Good?
Yes, Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP costs start at 0.45% of your portfolio value. The account charge for shares is capped at £200 per year. Funds are charged at 0.45% for the first £250,000, then 0.25% between £250k and £1m, then 0.1% between £1-£2m. There is no charge above £2m. 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.
But, if you open a SIPP with HL before the 30th June with £10k or more you'll get a discount of 40% on account fees. As HL is generally quite expensive, this is a great deal, and could save you £180 in fees. But keep in mind that when this discount ends in 2026, if you have £100,000 in your SIPP with HL it will cost £450 a year, versus £155.88 with interactive investor.
For beginners and smaller accounts Hargreaves Lansdown, is a great choice, as HL offer one of the best apps on the market and provide stock research and analysis on the most heavily traded stocks in the UK and US. Hargreaves Lansdown is also good for beginners because they are quite simple to use and have an excellent reputation for customer support from their Bristol based offices.
They may be a little more expensive that some of the other platforms, but you certainly get what you pay for.
Some SIPP accounts are better suited to beginners than others. Generally speaking, beginner investors require a SIPP that is easy to use, cost-effective, and offers access to products that are well suited to beginners such as ready-made portfolios.
So, if you are a complete beginner to SIPP investing and are not confident enough to choose what individual stocks and shares you want to own in the long term. A private pension may be more appropriate. One private pension account (which is not actually a SIPP because you can’t buy individual shares) that is well suited to beginners is Wealthify. Wealthify is a robo advisor (or digital wealth manager) that offers a managed pension product. With Wealthify, you choose an investment style based on your risk tolerance. However, the disadvantages of Wealthify are that the minimum pension investment is £5,000 and there are only a few investment portfolios to choose from.
Customer reviews for Hargreaves Lansdown
Customer ratings come from reviews left on this site. Every review is read and approved before it is published.Based on 1,779 reviews
- Excellent27%
- Very good38%
- Basic24%
- Poor7%
- Bad4%
Read customer reviews
3/5
Pros:
Haven't got one
Cons:
Simplify use - hardly used this account
3/5
4/5
Pros:
use it rarely
Cons:
no thoughts on it
2/5
Cons:
be more like J M Finn
3/5
Pros:
Clear website information
Cons:
Be more competitive on fees
3/5
3/5
3/5
Pros:
Easy to use
Cons:
Improve value for money
2/5
Pros:
Their research interface is by far the most pleasant to use
Cons:
Lower fees
3/5
Pros:
Security
Cons:
Reduce costs to customers
3/5
Pros:
HELPFUL
Cons:
LOWER MARGIN
5/5
Pros:
Good for isa interest rates
Cons:
Not sure
2/5
Pros:
fact sheet for funds
Cons:
not make such profit at customer expense
2/5
Cons:
flat fee
4/5
Pros:
Their capped fee of £45 per annum for holding Investment Trusts and shares in an ISA.
Cons:
Reduce their transaction fees for shares.
3/5
Pros:
Sleek website; good communications
Cons:
Lower its costs
5/5
4/5
Pros:
Simple to use
Cons:
Lower trading charges
4/5
Cons:
Reduce the fees. It's expensive.
5/5
Pros:
Good interface, easy to use
Cons:
No specific problems