Detailed costs
Detailed charges for holding investment companies on different platforms.
The following table shows the detailed charges for holding investment companies on different platforms. These include:
- Core charges. You pay these for using the platform, even if you make no trades. Typically, these will either be based on a percentage of your assets on the platform, or a flat fee.
- Pension charges. You will pay these in addition to the core charges if the account you hold on the platform is a pension (SIPP).
- Ad hoc investment company transactions. These are the charges you will pay for buying or selling (“trading”) investment company shares on the platform. The more you trade, the more you pay.
- Regular investing charge. Some platforms offer heavily discounted trading charges if you set up a regular monthly purchase. But be aware: the investment companies you are allowed to buy at these discounted rates may be limited. For example, some platforms' monthly trading plans only cover investment companies in the FTSE 350.
- Automatic dividend reinvestment fee. Some platforms allow you to reinvest your dividends automatically rather than take the income and offer discounted trading charges for this. Others do not offer this service (indicated by “N/A”).
Where parts of the table are left blank, this indicates the platform in question does not offer the relevant service, or does not offer investment companies.
(Financial advisers: to see our research on advised platforms, please visit the Financial adviser centre.)
This table has been produced by the lang cat, a platform consultancy, in association with the AIC.
| Platform | Core charges | Pension | Ad hoc investment company transactions | Regular investing charge | Automatic dividend reinvestment fee | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJ Bell | 0.25% platform charge for non-fund investment (capped at £42 for general investment account/ISA and £120 for pension). | No additional charge | £9.95 a deal, reducing to £4.95 if there were 10 or more deals in the previous month. | £1.50 | £1.50 |  |
| Aviva Consumer Platform |  |
|||||
| Barclays | 0.10% platform charge. Minimum of £48 pa and maximum of £1,500 pa. Collected monthly. | £31.25 + VAT per quarter (=£150 p.a). | £6.00 | £1.00 | N/A | |
| Bestinvest |
Value : Charge (pa) Up to £250k : 0.40% |
SIPP minimum administration fee of £120 | £4.95 | No discount | N/A | |
| Charles Stanley Direct | There is a charge of 0.35% for investment company investment with a minimum of £24 and maximum of £240 per year. This is waived if you trade in the month. | £120 annual fee applies, which is waived if you hold a total portfolio (across all investment and wrapper types) of £30,000 or more. | £11.50 | No discount | N/A | |
| Close Brothers A.M. Self Directed Service |
Value : Charge (pa) Up to £500k : 0.25% |
£180 annual service charge | £8.95 | No discount | N/A | |
| Fidelity Personal Investing | There is no fee for holding investment companies in a general investment account. For holding investment companies within an ISA or SIPP, there is a "service fee" of 0.35% capped at £90 (£7.50 a month) if you have a regular savings plan. If you do not have a regular savings plan, you will pay a flat fee of £90 (£7.50 a month). | No additional charge | £7.50 | £1.50 | £1.50 | |
| Freetrade | Basic access to Freetrade is free and allows trading in a restricted list of investment companies. Freetrade Standard service costs £5.99 a month and includes access to a Freetrade ISA as well as trading in Freetrade's full range of investment companies. | Freetrade Plus service includes access to SIPP and ISA, and costs £11.99 a month. | £0 | £0 | N/A | |
| Halifax Share Dealing | £36 per year charge for ISA or share dealing account. |
Value : Charge (pa) Up to £50k : £90 |
£9.50 | Free | 2% (max £9.50) | |
| Hargreaves Lansdown | 0.45% pa for investment companies (capped at £45 for ISA and £200 for SIPP with no charge for general investment account.) | No additional charge | £11.95 a trade reducing to £8.95 if there were 10-19 trades in the previous month, reducing further to £5.95 if there were more than 20 trades. | £1.50 | no charge | |
| iDealing | 20p per security per month | £4.99 | No discount | N/A | |
|
| IG | £96 per year, charged if you hold shares and/or ISA investments at the end of each quarter. | £210 a year (provided by Options UK) | £8.00 per trade reducing to £3.00 if 3+ trades were placed in the previous month. | No discount | N/A | |
| Interactive Investor |
Investor Essentials plan - £4.99 a month (available for pots under £50,000) Investor plan - £11.99 a month with one free trade per month Super Investor plan - £19.99 a month with two free trades per month |
£5.99, or £12.99 per month for accounts valued above £50k (Pension Builder plan) Existing ISA and/or Trading Account customers with an Investor Essentials plan can add a SIPP for an extra £5 per month, or £21.99 per month if they hold total investments of more than £75k (Investor + SIPP plan) |
Investor plan - £7.99 Super Investor plan - £3.99 Pension Builder plan - £7.99 |
No charge | 99p | |
| iWeb | £100 one-off account opening fee for ISA and dealing account. |
Value : Charge (pa) Up to £50k : £90 |
£5.00 | No discount | 2% (max £5) | |
| Santander |  |
|||||
| shareDeal active |
Trading account carries no fee. £60 pa ISA fee applies. |
£118.80 pa fee applies although this will be refunded in the first year. | £9.50 | No discount | N/A | |
| Willis Owen |
Value : Charge (pa) Up to £50k : 0.40% |
Value : Charge (pa) Up to £100k : 0.40% |
£7.50 | No discount | N/A | |
| X-O | £0 | £118.80 pa fee applies. This will be refunded in the first year only | £5.95 | No discount | N/A | |
Source: AIC/the lang cat (last update 17/11/2023)
