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What a portfolio costs a year at UK investment platforms
Choose a portfolio to compare a year of platform fees, dealing charges and currency costs at 15 UK investment platforms, A to Z from AJ Bell to Vanguard. No platform is recommended.
Portfolio
Accounts
Holdings
Trading
£250,000 · ISA · No funds · 12 trades a year
| Platform | A year | % of portfolio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AJ Bell | £307 | 0.12% | |
| Barclays Direct Investing | £357 | 0.14% | |
| Bestinvest | £1,315 | 0.53% | Platform fee at its published maximum |
| Charles Stanley Direct | £1,020 | 0.41% | |
| eToro | £210 | 0.08% | |
| Fidelity | £381 | 0.15% | |
| Freetrade | £249 | 0.10% | |
| Hargreaves Lansdown | £503 | 0.20% | |
| IG | £210 | 0.08% | FX at its published maximum |
| Interactive Brokers | £57 | 0.02% | |
| Interactive Investor | £437 | 0.17% | |
| J.P. Morgan Personal Investing | £825 | 0.33% | Managed service |
| Saxo | £450 | 0.18% | Classic, Platinum or VIP by portfolio size |
| Trading 212 | £45 | 0.02% | |
| Vanguard | £375 | 0.15% | Own funds and ETFs only |
How UK platform charges work
Platform fee. A yearly charge for holding your investments: a percentage of their value, often tiered or capped, sometimes with the cap only on shares, or a flat monthly fee. Some platforms charge none. A percentage grows with the portfolio, up to any cap; a flat fee weighs most on a small one.
Dealing charges. A fee for each buy or sell at some platforms, often lower or nil for regular monthly investing. Others charge none.
Currency conversion. Where a platform charges for it, a percentage on each trade in another currency, such as buying US shares.
Fund managers' own charges are left out; they are usually the same at every platform.
Your portfolio is not a preset. Fairworth prices your own accounts, holdings and trades at every platform here.
How the figures are worked out
One account of each type at one platform. Shares, ETFs and investment trusts are 50% UK and 50% US, and funds are all UK funds, so a currency conversion is charged on the US trades only; 25% of trades are regular investing; the average trade is 2% of the portfolio (£500 to £10,000). Standard published charges, no offers. Fund charges, taxes and levies, transfer and exit fees are left out. A dash means the platform cannot hold this portfolio.
Sources, checked between 20 October 2026 and 24 October 2026: AJ Bell, Barclays Direct Investing, Bestinvest, Charles Stanley Direct, eToro, Fidelity, Freetrade, Hargreaves Lansdown, IG, Interactive Brokers, Interactive Investor, J.P. Morgan Personal Investing, Saxo, Trading 212, Vanguard.
Worked out with the same calculation as the Fairworth app. Platforms change their charges, so check theirs before acting. Information, not advice, and not a recommendation of any platform or account. Fairworth is paid by its subscribers and takes nothing from any platform listed. A figure looks wrong? contact@fairworth.io. Quoting these figures: using our data.