Beginners will likely want to prioritise low fees which made Trading 212 my top pick for beginners in this guide. This means you can invest small amounts without being stung by high trading charges. Other U.K. brokers with the lowest stock trading fees are Freetrade, XTB and eToro.
You may also want to consider an app that offers good educational material to help you on your way. All the low-cost apps mentioned above — Freetrade, Trading 212, XTB and eToro — offer some educational content and FAQs, but you will find more in-depth articles on their websites. Other apps offering great learning resources are Dodl (run by AJ Bell) and IG Academy (run by broker IG). IG Academy has articles on how to use and trade investment products, and in-depth courses for those wanting to learn more about trading.
Of the 20+ brokers I've reviewed for UK.StockBrokers.com, Saxo, Interactive Brokers, AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown, eToro and IG all stand out for day trading. However, be mindful of trading fees if buying smaller quantities of shares. EToro, Freetrade, XTB and Trading 212 offer the ability to trade stocks commission-free, so these may be a better fit if you are starting out.
SaxoTraderGO, by Saxo, offers the best research, analysis and educational material of any app we tested. When selecting a stock, you’ll see a chart, analyst recommendations, key financials, news and general company information. You can also compare different stocks on a single chart.
In addition to my top picks above, I tested and analysed 18 other platforms. Here are my high-level takeaways for some of these other brokers.
AJ Bell: AJ Bell’s app offers essential tools for everyday investors, plus its low-cost Dodl platform is perfect for beginners. However, it lacks some common features like full-screen chart views.
Barclays: Mobile app does not function fully unless you have a Barclays current account.
CMC Invest: Great new mobile app with the ability to filter by ESG.
eToro:
eToro’s mobile app can be good for beginners, with investment tips, trending stocks, and a social news feed. Experienced traders will appreciate its advanced chart tools, including multi-company views.
Fidelity International: A basic offering compared to other platforms with more comprehensive mobile apps.
Freetrade: Great mobile app for newer investors. Low charges and easy to use.
Halifax: Limited mobile app. Your share dealing account needs to have been funded before you can use the app.
Hargreaves Lansdown: Hargreaves Lansdown’s app offers access to thousands of investments and great educational tools, including an in-app pension calculator to plan for retirement. It’s a good choice for trading on the go with more than 3,000 funds and ready-made investments.
Interactive Brokers: The IBKR app is extensive, whether viewing in demo mode or through a real trading account, with great chart tools and research. The primary thing that lets IBKR down is its current lack of educational content aimed at U.K. investors.
Interactive Investor (ii): Interactive Investor is our favourite U.K. investment platform overall but its mobile app is not as good as other platforms.
Lloyds: I found the Lloyds share dealing app to be pretty basic. Like with Halifax, you need to have paid money into your investment account before you can get full use of the app.
Vanguard UK: Vanguard recently launched a new mobile app in the U.K., but its overall investment choices remain limited.
XTB: The mobile app is nicely laid out and has low charges, making it a good choice for beginner investors.
Why you should trust us
Elizabeth Anderson has been a financial journalist for more than a decade. She’s written for major national newspapers, contributed to corporate reports and research, and reviewed dozens of share dealing platforms, SIPP providers, ISAs, and brokerage firms. Elizabeth started her career at Bloomberg and has worked for the BBC, The Telegraph, The Times and the i newspaper. She is passionate about helping people understand finance and investing. A keen investor herself, Elizabeth invests through general dealing accounts, ISAs and several SIPPs.
Steven Hatzakis is a well-known finance writer with 25+ years of experience in the foreign exchange and financial markets. He is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for Reink Media Group, leading research efforts for ForexBrokers.com since 2016. He has served as a registered commodity futures representative for domestic and internationally-regulated brokerages. Steven holds a Series III license in the US as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA).
All content on UK.StockBrokers.com is handwritten by a writer, fact-checked by a member of our research team, and edited and published by an editor. Our ratings, rankings, and opinions are entirely our own, and the result of our extensive research and decades of collective experience covering the U.K. brokerage industry.
Ultimately, our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .1% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Click here to learn more about how we test.
How we tested
At UK.StockBrokers.com, our online broker reviews are based on our collected quantitative data as well as the observations and qualified opinions of our expert researchers. Each year we publish tens of thousands of words of research and collect hundreds of data points while testing brokerage firms, share dealing platforms, SIPP providers, ISA providers, and other financial service providers relevant to U.K. investors.
Mobile testing is conducted on modern devices that run the most up-to-date operating systems available:
- For Apple, we use MacBook Pro laptops running the latest version of and the iPhone 15 running the latest version of iOS.
- For Android, we use the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra devices running Android OS 14.
All websites and web-based platforms are tested using the latest version of the Google Chrome browser.
Our researchers thoroughly test a wide range of key features, such as the availability and quality of trading platforms for web, desktop, and mobile, charting, real-time and streaming quotes, and educational resources – among other important variables. We also evaluate the overall design of the mobile experience, and look for a fluid user experience moving between mobile and desktop platforms.
Trading 212 Review
Interactive Brokers Review
Hargreaves Lansdown Review
XTB Review
IG Group Review
eToro Review
Saxo Review
CMC Invest Review
Freetrade Review
Halifax Review
Vanguard Review
