eToro vs AJ Bell 2024

EToro offers a wide range of assets and instruments and is well-known for its ‘social trading’ approach. It has among the lowest fees and best mobile app experiences of brokers we tested in the U.K., and offers a great starting point for those new to stock trading. Our analysis finds it better suited to short-term traders than long-term investors.

You can invest in an extensive range of investments through AJ Bell. Charges are on the high side for those with large portfolios in mutual funds and those looking to execute one-off share deals; but its new app, called Dodl, offers much lower fees and also offers a more slim-lined and user-friendly service. Educational and research materials are strong, too.

Alongside the cost per trade, most UK online brokers also charge a monthly, quarterly, or annual management fee, which varies based on the account type and balance. Based on our thorough review, eToro offers better pricing than AJ Bell for share dealing.

Assuming a £30,000 portfolio size, here are the total annual costs for share dealing with both brokers, given different monthly activity scenarios.

5 trades per year - eToro would cost £0 per year, while AJ Bell would cost £100 per year.

12 trades per year - eToro would cost £0 per year, while AJ Bell would cost £135 per year.

36 trades per year - eToro would cost £0 per year, while AJ Bell would cost £255 per year.

120 trades per year - eToro would cost £0 per year, while AJ Bell would cost £495 per year.

3 fund trades per year - eToro would cost $50 per year, while AJ Bell would cost £0 per year.

eToro requires a minimum deposit of $50, while AJ Bell requires a minimum deposit of £0. From our testing we found for accounts between £0 - £250,000 eToro charges annual custody fees of £0, while AJ Bell charges annual custody fees of £0 - £625.

eToro offers investors access to ISA, Share Trading, CFD Trading, ETFs and Crypto Trading, while AJ Bell offers investors access to ISA, SIPP, Share Trading, Funds, ETFs, Bonds - Corporate, Bonds - Government (Gilts) and Investment Trusts. Neither have Spread Betting and Advisor Services. Investing encompasses a wide variety of asset classes, so finding a broker that offers every investment type you are interested in is important.

Self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) and individual savings accounts (ISAs) are tax-advantaged savings accounts that are an important tool for many individual investors. You can read more about how these accounts operate at Gov.UK: Click here for SIPP information and here for ISA information. Our analysis finds that eToro offers traders access to ISA accounts, while AJ Bell offers traders access to SIPP and ISA accounts.

In our analysis of top brokers for share dealing in the U.K., we research whether each broker offers the ability to trade cash cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin and ethereum, which is still a somewhat rare offering amongst major U.K. brokers. Our review finds that eToro offers crypto investing, while AJ Bell does not.

Our testing concluded that the website of eToro is better than the website of AJ Bell. eToro offers more functionality, is cleanly designed, and is, overall, easier to use for beginners and casual investors.

To compare the trading platforms of both eToro and AJ Bell, we tested each broker's stock trading app. All features compared, our analysis finds that AJ Bell offers a better mobile app. Dive deeper: Best Stock Trading Apps UK.

Educational offerings are of particular importance to those who are newer to investing, and we examine the availability of several different types of educational materials in our analysis. Our research finds that eToro offers traders access to Education (Share Trading), while AJ Bell offers access to Client Webinars, Client Webinars (Archived), Education (Share Trading), Education (Funds) and Education (Retirement).