Trading 212 vs Interactive Investor 2023

Trading 212 offers low-cost trading without lots of bells and whistles. Though tools, research and investments are limited, its user-friendliness and pricing may be an attractive option for the beginner trader.

Interactive Investor is a solid option for investors looking for strong in-house recommendations for funds and well-put-together research reports. Fees, although lowered from last year, are still fairly high, especially considering the less-than-impressive platform, mobile app and tools available. Interactive Investor struggles to remain competitive with the best trading platforms in the U.K.

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, Trading 212 offers better pricing than Interactive Investor 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 - Trading 212 would cost £0 per year, while Interactive Investor would cost £79.83 (Essentials plan); £143.88 (Investor plan); £239.88 (Super Investor plan) per year.

12 trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £0 per year, while Interactive Investor would cost £107.76 (Essentials); £143.88 (Investor plan); £239.88 (Super Investor plan) per year.

36 trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £0 per year, while Interactive Investor would cost £239.64 (Investor); £287.76 (Super Investor) per year.

120 trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £0 per year, while Interactive Investor would cost £574.80 (Investor) or £622.92 (Super Investor) per year.

3 fund trades per year - Trading 212 would cost £1.0 per year, while Interactive Investor would cost £0.0 per year.

Trading 212 requires a minimum deposit of £1.0, while Interactive Investor requires a minimum deposit of £0.0. From our testing we found for accounts between £0 - £250,000 Trading 212 charges annual custody fees of £0 (Other Fees Apply), while Interactive Investor charges annual custody fees of £143.88 (Investor Plan - £11.99 monthly).

Trading 212 offers investors access to ISA, Share Trading, CFD Trading and ETFs, while Interactive Investor offers investors access to ISA, SIPP, Share Trading, Funds, ETFs, Bonds - Corporate, Bonds - Government (Gilts) and Investment Trusts. Neither have Spread Betting, Crypto Trading 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 Trading 212 offers traders access to ISA accounts, while Interactive Investor 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 neither Trading 212 and Interactive Investor offer crypto investing.

Our testing concluded that Interactive Investor is better for research than Trading 212. Interactive Investor offers more research options, including research reports, articles, and analyst ratings.

To compare the trading platforms of both Trading 212 and Interactive Investor, we tested each broker's website, trading platform, trading tools and stock trading app. All features compared, our analysis finds that Trading 212 offers a better share dealing platform and Trading 212 offers a better stock app for mobile trading.

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 Trading 212 offers traders access to Education (Share Trading), while Interactive Investor offers access to Education (Share Trading), Education (Funds) and Education (Retirement). Neither have Client Webinars and Client Webinars (Archived).