Freetrade review: Is the low-cost investing platform worth another look for DIY investors?
Products featured in this article are independently selected by This is Money’s specialist journalists. If you open an account using links which have an asterisk, This is Money will earn an affiliate commission. We do not allow this to affect our editorial independence.Freetrade is a home-grown investment platform that launched in 2018 and stakes a claim as a pioneer of commission-free investing in the UK, hence the company’s name. It’s now owned by online trading firm IG Group.Since 2018, several other investment platforms have boomed in popularity, each offering its own spin on Freetrade’s selling point. Commission-free investing is no longer anything special.And with investors generally enjoying zero account fees on these newer platforms, Freetrade has lagged on cost – until recently.Over the last few months, Freetrade has been removing its account fees. It made its stocks and shares Isa free in the latter half of 2025, and now its self-invested personal pension (Sipp) is free too.Freetrade has also opened its whole range of investments to those on its free plan. This means you can invest in mutual funds while paying no account fees.Mutual funds aren’t available on the likes of Trading 212 and Etoro, while access to Sipps often means paying an account fee. In our view, all this makes Freetrade worth another look in 2026.Is Freetrade running any deals? You can currently get 1 per cent cashback, capped at £5,000, when opening or transferring to an Isa or a Sipp. This is per account, which means £10,000 is up for grabs – although you must invest a large sum to qualify for this amount.> Open an account with Freetrade*Freetrade: Who does this investment platform suit?Good for investors who want a no-nonsense low-cost platform Simple and straightforward platform to useNo account fees, unless you want enhanced featuresMutual funds are now available on its free planPreferential foreign exchange rates are locked behind paid subscriptionsFractional shares are only available for US stocksPerforms well but little that makes it stand out among a growing range of platformsThis is Money’s view: Freetrade has improved its offering recently, with the addition of funds making it worth considering as a low-cost alternative to the likes of Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor. The platform is straightforward to use on both desktop and mobile, but doesn’t do anything special in terms of features.> Learn more about Freetrade and open an account*You can open these accounts with Freetrade:Unlike other platforms, Freetrade doesn’t offer a cash Isa. Read our round-up of the best cash Isas.Why you can trust usThis is Money has been covering investing and personal finance since 1999, and our editorial independence means we can give our honest views. Read more about how we test and review investment platforms.About our writer: Sam has been helping people make the most of their money for more than a decade and has written extensively about investment accounts and types of investments. He’s a DIY investor and enjoys tracking economic news and market developments. He’s written for organisations including NerdWallet, the Financial Ombudsman Service and Simply Business.How we tested FreetradeI’ve opened a general investment account and a stocks and shares Isa with Freetrade, and spent several hours testing its features.I’ve searched for investments using Freetrade’s ‘discover’ tab and tried the platform on both desktop and mobile. I’ve bought an investment and set up a limit order to sell when it reaches a certain price.I’ve spoken to This is Money team members who use the platform and have included their opinions in this review.Freetrade’s feesFreetrade’s basic plan is free and allows you to open each one of its accounts – a general investment account, a stocks and shares Isa and a Sipp.You can access Freetrade’s whole range of investments on its free plan, with the paid tiers giving you access to better features, plus preferential rates on foreign exchange and interest on uninvested cash. Basic StandardPlus Monthly cost Free £4.99 (billed annually), £5.99 (billed monthly) £9.99 (billed annually), £11.99 (billed monthly) Accounts General investment account, stocks and shares Isa, Sipp General investment account, stocks and shares Isa, Sipp General investment account, stocks and shares Isa, Sipp Investment choice 6,500+ UK, US, and European stocks and ETFs, plus mutual funds and gilts As on basic plan As on basic plan FX fee 0.99% 0.59% 0.39% Interest on cash 1% up to £1k2.5% up to £2k 3.5% up to £3k Source: This is Money based on Freetrade’s published fees. This is Money’s view of Freetrade’s fees Scrapping account fees for the majority of investors means that Freetrade can compete much more effectively with the likes of Trading 212 and InvestEngine, which boast zero account fees as a selling point.You should only pay them if the lower foreign exchange fees and increased interest on uninvested cash cancel out the subscription fee.It’s great for investors, who can access both a pension and mutual funds with no account fees to pay.Adding funds is a savvy move for the platform. There’s over 500 to choose from, and considering it also offers thousands of other investments, it’s possible to access a wide range at low cost.Fund investors who have traditionally used platforms such as Bestinvest, Hargreaves Lansdown, and Interactive Investor could save money with Freetrade.Especially considering there are no dealing fees, which some platforms charge for funds – for example Interactive Investor at £3.99 a trade and AJ Bell at £1.50 a trade. What is Freetrade’s investment choice like?Freetrade says it has more than 6,500 UK, US and European stocks, investment trusts and ETFs to choose from.It also offers over 500 funds, and has gilts available too. In our view, this is more than enough for most investors to build a diversified portfolio. By comparison, with Trading 212 you can pick from more than 13,000 global stocks and ETFs, but it doesn’t offer funds. That being said, with more stocks available elsewhere, it’s possible that more experienced investors may not be able to find certain niche investments on Freetrade.> Read more: Investing for beginners It’s great that Freetrade has added funds to the platform, with options currently available from investment houses such as Aegon, Trojan and Vanguard.The platform has said that it wants to expand the number of funds available to around 2,000.Until this happens, more experienced fund investors may not be able to find what they’re after on Freetrade. You can check to see which investments are available by setting up an account and using Freetrade’s ‘discover’ tab.What about fractional shares? Freetrade’s fractional share trading is limited, but the platform says it’s aiming to add fractional share trading in UK and EU stocks and ETFs in the future. Buying investments is straightforward enough, though fractional shares are only available for US stocks, with no option to buy fractions of UK and European ones. Harvey Dorset, Reporter at This is MoneyWhat is Freetrade’s customer service like?Like many app-based investment platforms, Freetrade funnels you to a chatbot when you have a question, which you can access through your account.If you have a more general question, the chatbot attempts to match your question to a response in Freetrade’s help centre.But during my testing, it wasn’t obvious how to get put through to a real customer service agent, or whether they would read my messages. It’s not the best experience when it’s unclear how to get connected to a human and whether you’re chatting to an AI or not.Someone did reply to my question about the choice of investments available through Freetrade a day later. You can also email Freetrade with your questions or get in touch with the team using social media.There’s no phone-based support, so Freetrade may not be the right platform for you if you prefer to speak with customer service in real time. I, robot: It’s not always clear whether your question will get through to a humanWhat is Freetrade’s platform like to use? Freetrade is one of the more straightforward platforms to use, on both mobile and desktop.It lacks frills, but this means it’s uncluttered and simple to navigate.Within moments of joining, I’d funded my Isa by connecting my bank account to the platform using a QR code.Searching for investments is a better experience on Freetrade than most other platforms I’ve tested. The ‘discover’ tab allows you to find investments by popularity, sector and theme, with the platform highlighting particularly distinctive ones – such as cannabis companies.When searching for companies, Freetrade helpfully gives a short summary of what each one is known for.In most instances, these are dry. But Freetrade has injected frivolity into some, making your search – dare I say it – fun. Sausage rolls: Freetrade describes companies by what they’re known forI bought two shares in a UK company using Freetrade, with the transaction occurring instantly after placing the order.If you place an order outside of market hours, Freetrade queues it so it goes through when the market opens.Freetrade also has extended hours orders on certain US stocks, meaning you can place orders before the market opens. You can search for these investments using the ‘discover’ tab. I like the ‘discover’ function where you can search for stocks by sector and region, and I also like that this function allows you to find stocks in more niche categories such as companies with female founders. I found it fiddly to update my address but managed to do it without contacting support. Helen Crane, Deputy Editor at This is MoneyDoes Freetrade have any useful features for investors? Freetrade is fairly bare bones when compared with options from rivals such as Trading 212 and Etoro.But as I mentioned in my InvestEngine review, a streamlined platform is no bad thing – especially for novice investors who may be overwhelmed by lots of bells and whistles.The main drawback with Freetrade is that it doesn’t allow you to build distinct portfolios for your investments. Other platforms let you add investments into a portfolio and buy them according to target weights. This is a simplified example, but on Trading 212 you could create a more cautious investment portfolio – or Pie as the platform calls them – with an ETF that tracks global stocks at a 75 per cent target weight, and an ETF that tracks bonds, or fixed income, at 25 per cent.When you add money into the Pie, Trading 212 then allocates the investment according to these targets.There’s no similar feature on Freetrade. This isn’t the end of the world, but the Pie feature is useful if you’re investing with different financial goals in mind.That being said, Freetrade does give you a portfolio breakdown, which allows you to track performance and to easily see how you’re invested – including across investment types and sectors.Otherwise you can expect the usual essential features in Freetrade:Recurring investments: You can set a single recurring order for up to 50 investments, choosing target allocations for each.Advanced order types: Extended trading hours, plus limit, stop and triggered orders to help you control how and when Freetrade places your orders – these are now available to free users as well as paid ones.Watchlist: You can track investments you’ve got your eye on by ‘starring’ them and adding them to your watchlist at the bottom of your main portfolio screen.What is Freetrade’s research and educational content like? There’s enough data available through Freetrade itself to research investments, but again, this is quite bare bones when compared with other platforms. Freetrade has a learning hub on its website that gives useful information, especially for those just starting their investment journey.It has a news section of the website, where it publishes regular weekly articles about timely topics. However you won’t generally see news about specific investments, like you will on Trading 212 and Etoro.There isn’t a dedicated news section within Freetrade’s app, however. It would be great to have relevant content featured under the ‘insights’ tab of your account.When I signed up and logged into the desktop version of Freetrade for the first time, the platform pushed relevant articles at the bottom of the screen, which is useful when choosing your first account and investment.Other investing platforms have more extensive research and educational content. In particular, investment platforms such as AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor produce their own research and analysis to help you choose your investments.But they generally charge more in fees, letting them employ entire teams of investment researchers and analysts and offer these extra trimmings.App-focused platforms like Freetrade, Trading 212, Prosper and InvestEngine can’t generally compete with the established ones on content like this.Freetrade: This is Money’s overall reviewThere was little to make Freetrade stand out before it cut its fees and widened its investment universe. But it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on if you’re keen to slash costs and are willing to forego certain bells and whistles that other platforms provide.I can see myself using the platform more regularly because of its simplicity. The platform itself is less fiddly to use than others, and I was set up and investing very quickly. We also expect to see Freetrade expand its choice of funds even more, so we’ll be watching the platform throughout 2026. The changes mean that Freetrade could appeal to two types of investor – those who prefer app-focused, low-cost platforms like Trading 212 for trading stocks, and those who want low-cost access to funds.> Learn more about Freetrade and open an account*SAVE MONEY, MAKE MONEY4.36% cash Isa4.36% cash IsaTrading 212: 0.76% fixed 12-month bonus£100 cashback£100 cashbackTransfer or fund at least £10,000 with Prosper4.49% cash Isa4.49% cash IsaIncludes 12-month boost for new customers£2,000 cashback£2,000 cashback1% cashback up to £2,000 when transferringSipp transfersSipp transfersGet between £100 and £3,000 cashbackAffiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence. Terms and conditions apply on all offers.
已发布: 2026-01-23 11:45:00
