Trading 212 - Best all-round stocks and shares ISA option
Trading 212 is a great option for any investor looking to save through a stocks and shares ISA. There are no account management fees and no trading fees, making it the cheapest stocks and shares ISA that I tested.
You also earn 5.2% interest on uninvested cash, paid daily. This means if you are new to investing and want to take it slow, you can still earn interest on money not yet invested. A 5.2% interest rate is higher than what many other providers are offering on their cash ISAs, so it is a great offer.
Another bonus is that Trading 212’s ISA is flexible – something only offered by a handful of investment providers. A flexible ISA means you can withdraw money and pay it back in without losing any of your ISA allowance for that year. If for some reason you need to temporarily withdraw £10,000 and pay it back before the end of the tax year, your overall £20,000 ISA allowance for the year wouldn’t fall to £10,000.
The biggest drawback is that Trading 212’s investment options are fairly limited. You can only invest in stocks or ETFs, and not mutual funds or bonds. However, you can still get diversification by choosing ETFs, rather than having to pick individual stocks yourself. Low-fee ETFs that match an index like the FTSE 100 or the American S&P 500 can serve this purpose well. Find out more about its offering in my full review of Trading 212.
Vanguard - Best for new investors
Vanguard offers a no-frills stocks and shares ISA with limited investment options. You can only invest in Vanguard funds and you cannot invest in individual stocks. But for beginner investors, that can be a benefit as the investment choice is not overwhelming.
In total, there are 85 funds to choose from. If you are saving for the long term and want to reinvest any returns, opt for an accumulation fund rather than an income fund. Vanguard offers various funds that allow you to invest in companies worldwide, such as the FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund or the ESG Global All Cap ETF.
One downside is that Vanguard currently does not have a mobile app, although one is currently being tested. Another potential drawback is that you need to either pay in a minimum £500 lump sum to get started or a minimum monthly payment of £100. Many other platforms require a much lower minimum investment amount. Learn more about the ins and outs of this fund manager for investing at my review of Vanguard.
Interactive Brokers - Best mobile app and low cost for larger portfolios
Interactive Brokers’ (IBKR) stocks and shares ISA is a strong contender for investors who have a little more experience investing in the stock market. Having said that, it’s still a good option for newer investors.
There is a £3 monthly activity fee for IBKR’s stocks and shares ISA (there are no account management fees for a general dealing account). So if you only have a small amount to invest - perhaps less than £8,000 - this can work out more expensive than a broker that charges percentage fees, such as Vanguard.
Trading fees for UK company shares are £3 with IBKR – which is cheaper than rivals AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown but more expensive than Trading 212, which doesn’t charge any trading fees at all. US shares start at $1.70 or 0.05% of the trade value.
Many fund trades are free. So if you had a portfolio worth £5,000 or £30,000, for example, and invested in a fund each month, you’d pay annual fees of £36.
IBKR has one of the best mobile apps of any broker we reviewed in our annual ranking of the best UK investment platforms. There are also extensive research materials, educational guides, and charting tools on the app. Check out more at my full review of Interactive Brokers.
AJ Bell - Best for investment choice
AJ Bell’s stocks and shares ISA is another great option. You can invest in thousands of assets through the platform, including shares, mutual funds, ETFs, and investment trusts. A simple fund that invests in companies globally, such as an all-world tracker fund, could be a good starting point.
Annual management charges are up to 0.25% a year, on top of any dealing charges or underlying fund charges. Charges are typically lower than rival platforms such as Hargreaves Lansdown or Fidelity. However, fund dealing charges are £1.50 each time you buy or sell a fund. Platforms such as Hargreaves Lansdown or Bestinvest offer free fund trading. So if you plan to invest in a fund monthly, you may be better off with another platform that doesn’t charge fund trading fees.
If you don’t want to pick your own investments, you can opt for a pre-built portfolio that includes 5-9 funds chosen by AJ Bell on your behalf. But the minimum investment is £1,000 and annual fund charges are on the higher end at 0.6% to 0.8%.
AJ Bell’s low-cost app Dodl also offers a stocks and shares ISA. You can invest in a limited range of funds or shares through the Dodl stocks and shares ISA. Annual management charges are lower at 0.15%. However there is a minimum charge of £1 a month, so if you are investing less than £5,000 you may be better off with AJ Bell’s main platform or another provider. Minimum starting amounts are £100 or £25 a month. You also earn interest of 5% on uninvested cash. Visit my full review of AJ Bell to read more about its platform.
What is the average return on a stocks and shares ISA?
The average return on a stocks and shares ISA was 9.6% a year over the past 10 years, according to the financial adviser comparison website Unbiased. However, this figure should be taken lightly. It is hard to give an average return in general, as everyone’s ISAs may hold different investments. The top-performing investment fund returned 59% last year but the worst lost 30%, per the data company Morningstar. Read my article on how to open a stocks and shares ISA to learn more about the ins and outs of this type of ISA.
warning_amberRemember: Investing in the stock market can be risky
Be aware that, unlike cash ISAs, you are not guaranteed a return on your money with a stocks and shares ISA. Your investment is likely to go up and down each day so you should be comfortable with taking some risk.
Can I pay into two stocks and shares ISAs?
Yes, you can pay into multiple stocks and shares ISAs. Thanks to new flexible ISA rules introduced in April 2024, there are no restrictions to how many stocks and shares ISAs pay into each year. It used to be the case that you could only pay into one each tax year.
shopping_cart_checkoutShopping around?
There is nothing to stop you from opening and paying into several investment ISAs if you want to test out more than one platform. Just be sure to stay below the annual limit of £20,000 for individuals or £40,000 for married partners.
Can I transfer money from a stocks and shares ISA to a cash ISA?
Yes, you can transfer money from a stocks and shares ISA to a cash ISA. However, make sure your chosen provider accepts transfers in as not all providers do. Also, your investments in the stocks and shares ISA will need to be sold and held as cash before being transferred to your new provider. Make sure to keep the money in the ISA wrapper, rather than withdrawing the money to your bank account. You can also make partial transfers, so you don’t need to transfer the full amount. Check out my complete guide to ISAs in the UK to learn about all of the different options.
How much can you withdraw from a stocks and shares ISA without paying tax?
All withdrawals from an ISA are tax-free. This is the main benefit of ISAs as growth and withdrawals aren’t subject to capital gains tax, income tax, or dividend tax. In other words, you won’t pay any tax on the money you take out regardless of how much your investments grow.
What happens if you invest more than your ISA allowance?
The annual ISA allowance is £20,000 a year per adult, or £9,000 a year for a child under the age of 18. If you go over your ISA allowance, you should contact your ISA provider and explain the situation. The excess will have to be removed from your ISA, including any returns made from that money, and paid into your bank account. You should also contact HMRC by calling the income tax helpline on 0300 200 3300.
What is the best stocks and shares ISA for beginners?
Vanguard is my top pick for beginners due to the uncomplicated investment choices and low fees despite its larger minimum deposit requirements. If you are new to investing, you are likely to want a platform that either charges no fees or low percentage fees rather than a fixed fee. This means you won’t pay any charges, or if you are charged fees it’ll be a small percentage of your investment. For example, if you invest £200 in a platform that charges an overall percentage fees of 0.30%, you’d only pay 60p (compared to a flat fee of £4.99 a month at a different ISA provider).
Providers offering no charges or low charges for their stocks and shares ISAs also include Trading 212, AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown, and Bestinvest. These platforms could all be a good starting point for beginners.
Other stocks and shares ISAs we rate
- Interactive Investor: Good value for portfolios of £20,000 and up due to flat fees starting from £4.99 a month.
- Bestinvest: Offers a flexible stocks and shares ISA with low charges and a free coaching session to get started.
- Hargreaves Lansdown: Has a wide range of investment options and great customer support.
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. . on the top forex brokers and monitor dozens of international regulator agencies (read more about how we calculate Trust Score here).
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 macOS 14.5, and the iPhone 15 running iOS 17.6.1
- For Android, we use the Samsung Galaxy S9+ and Samsung Galaxy S20 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.
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