Interactive Investor
vs Hargreaves Lansdown
Updated August 2026 · Fees verified against official pricing pages — see our methodology
The decision between these two platforms comes down to one question: does a flat monthly fee beat a percentage account charge at your portfolio size? Updated for HL’s 1 March 2026 charges overhaul and ii’s 1 February 2026 price plans.
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TL;DR
- Your shares and ETF portfolio is above roughly £20,500 — the flat fee beats the percentage
- You hold funds at any size above about £20,500 — HL’s fund charge is uncapped
- You hold an ISA, SIPP and Trading Account in the same name — one monthly fee covers all three
- You trade overseas from a SIPP or Trading Account and want to park foreign currency rather than convert twice
- You want the lower headline FX rate: 0.75% on Core against HL’s 0.99% on the first £10,000
- Your portfolio is under roughly £20,500 — the percentage is lower in absolute terms
- Your shares and ETF holdings are above £100,000 — HL’s £150 cap beats ii Plus at £179.88
- You want a Lifetime ISA or a Junior SIPP — ii offers neither to new customers
- You buy funds as one-off trades — £1.95 against ii’s £3.99
- You want a Junior ISA without upgrading — ii’s requires the Plus or Premium plan
Why the fee model is the decision
Everything else — platform quality, research tools, app design — is secondary to pricing structure. That structure determines which broker costs you less, and the gap compounds over decades.
£5.99 a month on Core for portfolios up to £100,000, then £14.99 on Plus. A £25,000 portfolio and a £100,000 portfolio pay the same £71.88 a year. The structural point most write-ups miss: one plan fee covers a Trading Account, Stocks & Shares ISA, Managed ISA, SIPP, Managed Portfolio and Junior ISAs held in the same name. There is no separate pension administration charge on top — the £2.50 a month pension admin fee on Core is carved out of the £5.99, not added to it.
HL charges 0.35% a year on both funds and shares, but treats them differently. Shares, ETFs, investment trusts, bonds, gilts and VCTs are capped at £12.50 a month — £150 a year. Funds are not capped: 0.35% applies on everything up to £250,000, then 0.25% to £1mn and 0.10% to £2mn. The charge is calculated per account, not across your accounts combined, so an ISA and a SIPP each carry their own cap and their own tiers.
Full fee comparison
ii’s Core plan against HL’s Stocks and Shares ISA and SIPP pricing. ii also offers Plus at £14.99 a month and Premium at £39.99 — Core covers most long-term passive investors up to its £100,000 ceiling.
| Charge | Interactive Investor (Core) | Hargreaves Lansdown |
|---|---|---|
| Platform / account charge | £5.99/month (£71.88/year flat) | 0.35% a year |
| Cap on shares & ETFs | N/A — flat fee model | £12.50/month (£150/year), per account |
| Cap on funds | N/A — flat fee model | No cap — 0.35% to £250k, 0.25% to £1mn, 0.10% to £2mn |
| Portfolio ceiling | £100,000 on Core, then Plus at £14.99/month | None |
| Share & ETF dealing | £3.99 (UK & US); £9.99 (other international) | £6.95; £3.95 with 20+ trades last month |
| Fund dealing | £3.99/trade | £1.95 one-off; free by monthly Direct Debit |
| Regular investing (Direct Debit) | Free on all plans — purchases only | Free |
| FX charge on trades | 0.75% on Core, on top of a rate carrying an undisclosed spread | 0.99% first £10k / 0.50% £10k–25k / 0.20% above, applied per deal in bands |
| FX on overseas dividends | Not separately stated | 1% added to the interbank rate |
| Free monthly trades | None on Core (1 on Plus, 2 on Premium) | None |
| Telephone dealing | £49, in addition to the online commission | £29 per trade |
| Non-UK resident charge | £5/month | Not published |
| Minimum to open | Not stated on ii’s rate card | £100 (ISA); £0 (Fund and Share Account) |
| Exit and transfer-out fees | None, including in specie | None |
What does each platform actually cost at your portfolio size?
Scenario one: a Stocks & Shares ISA held entirely in ETFs. Account and platform charges only — dealing commissions are added separately below.
| Portfolio size | HL annual charge (ETFs, ISA) | ii Core annual charge | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £17.50 | £71.88 | HL saves £54.38 |
| £10,000 | £35.00 | £71.88 | HL saves £36.88 |
| £20,000 | £70.00 | £71.88 | About equal |
| £25,000 | £87.50 | £71.88 | ii saves £15.62 |
| £50,000 | £150.00 ← capped | £71.88 | ii saves £78.12 |
| £100,000 | £150.00 ← capped | £71.88 | ii saves £78.12 |
| £250,000 | £150.00 ← capped | £179.88 (Plus tier) | HL saves £29.88 |
This is where the two structures diverge hardest, because HL’s cap does not apply to funds:
- £50,000 in funds: HL £175.00 · ii Core £71.88 — ii saves £103.12
- £100,000 in funds: HL £350.00 · ii Core £71.88 — ii saves £278.12
- £250,000 in funds: HL £875.00 · ii Plus £179.88 — ii saves £695.12
- HL claws some of this back on dealing: one-off fund trades cost £1.95 against ii’s £3.99, and monthly Direct Debit fund investing is free on both
If you make 12 one-off share or ETF trades a year rather than using Direct Debit:
- ii Core: 12 × £3.99 = £47.88 dealing + £71.88 platform = £119.76/year
- HL: 12 × £6.95 = £83.40 dealing, plus the account charge
- On a £25,000 ETF ISA: ii £119.76 · HL £170.90 — ii saves £51.14 a year
- HL’s £3.95 rate needs 20 or more trades in the previous month, which rarely applies to a long-term investor
The FX layer neither broker headlines
If you hold US or European shares and ETFs, currency conversion is often a larger annual cost than the platform charge. Both brokers have a second layer sitting on top of the published percentage.
- 0.75% on all conversions on Core; 0.75% on the first £50,000 then 0.25% on Plus; 0.25% flat on Premium
- ii’s terms state the rate used is a bid or offer rate to which ii applies a spread, and that ii may earn revenue in addition to the commission
- ii also discloses a revenue-sharing agreement with a third party on the currency exchange charge
- The size of that spread is not published anywhere and cannot be calculated from the stated figures
- The ISA is sterling-only. Foreign currency can only be held in the SIPP and Trading Account, in up to 9 currencies
- 0.99% on the first £10,000 of a deal, 0.50% from £10,000 to £25,000, 0.20% above
- The bands apply within each deal: a £15,000 trade costs 0.99% of £10,000 plus 0.50% of £5,000 — £124, an effective 0.83%
- Overseas dividends and corporate action proceeds are converted automatically with a 1% spread added to the interbank rate
- HL holds no foreign currency in any account — every deal converts in and out of sterling
- Prices are converted by a UK-based market maker at the prevailing interbank rate
Regular investing: free on both, restricted on both
Both platforms advertise free monthly investing. Neither offers it across the whole market, and the eligible lists are narrower than most comparisons suggest.
- Eligible universe: FTSE 350 shares, a range of popular investment trusts and ETFs, and all sterling-listed funds
- That excludes the FTSE SmallCap, AIM, all US and international shares, and every non-sterling fund
- Minimum £25 a month; up to 25 instructions per account; Direct Debit on the 12th
- Available in the ISA, Trading Account, SIPP and Junior ISA
- Selling is not free. A holding built at zero cost over five years still costs £3.99 to exit on Core
- Limit and stop orders are not accepted; orders are aggregated with other customers’ on the purchase date
- Eligible universe: ready-made investments, funds, FTSE 350 shares, certain investment trusts, and a published list of ETFs
- The ETF list is a named selection, not the full HL range — check your holding is on it before assuming zero cost
- Minimum £25 per investment, per month, not £25 in total
- Direct Debit is taken on the 7th; investments are placed on the 10th
- HL buys whole shares only, so a remainder is left as cash in the account each month
- Selling is a one-off trade — £6.95 for shares and ETFs, £1.95 for funds
Accounts and investment universe
| Feature | Interactive Investor | Hargreaves Lansdown |
|---|---|---|
| Stocks & Shares ISA | Yes | Yes |
| Junior ISA | Plus or Premium only — not on Core | Yes — no annual charge to hold shares |
| Lifetime ISA | No | Yes — 0.25%, capped £3.75/month |
| SIPP | Yes — included in every plan | Yes |
| Junior SIPP | Legacy only — closed to new customers | Yes |
| General investment account | Yes (Trading Account) | Yes (Fund and Share Account) |
| Joint account | Yes — £14.99/month, charged separately | Yes — postal application only |
| Company / trust account | Yes — charged separately, plus £30/month surcharge | Not listed among HL’s published accounts |
| Cash savings | Yes — provided by Flagstone, separate from the plan fee, 0.25% management fee | Yes — Active Savings and Cash ISA |
| Multi-currency holding | SIPP and Trading Account only — up to 9 currencies. ISA and Junior ISA are sterling-only | No — converts at the point of every deal |
| UK & US shares | Yes | Yes |
| International markets | 16 exchanges named by ii, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia | US, Canada and 15 European exchanges — no Asia-Pacific |
| ETFs | Yes — over 1,000 | Yes — count not published |
| Investment trusts | Yes | Yes |
| Bonds & gilts | Yes | Yes |
| Fractional shares | Not offered on the ii platform | No — whole shares only |
SIPP comparison
Platform costs in a pension compound over decades. The flat-versus-percentage difference matters more here than anywhere else, and each side has one structural advantage the other cannot match.
- The same £5.99 Core fee covers the SIPP, ISA and Trading Account held in the same name — no separate pension administration charge
- No percentage charge at any portfolio size, and no cap needed
- Multi-currency: up to 9 currencies can be held inside the SIPP, unlike the ISA
- Free regular investing suits monthly pension contributions, within the eligible list
- No W-8BEN required to trade US shares inside the SIPP, unlike the ISA and Trading Account
- UK residency is required at the time of application, and property and non-standard investments cannot be held
- 0.35% on shares and ETFs, capped at £12.50 a month — the cap fell from £200 to £150 in March 2026
- Funds in the SIPP are not capped: 0.35% to £250,000, then 0.25% and 0.10%
- Junior SIPP available — the clearest account-level advantage over ii
- US and Canadian income inside the HL SIPP is paid free of withholding tax, against 15% in the ISA and Fund and Share Account
- Free regular investing by Direct Debit, within the eligible list
- Drawdown, annuities and UFPLS all supported in-house
What you actually get on each platform
Both are full-service UK investment platforms rather than neobrokers. For a passive investor who logs in twice a year this section matters far less than the fee structure. Awards below are each firm’s own published claims.
- Highly Rated Funds tool: replaced the Super 60 and ACE 40 lists. Screens funds, trusts and ETFs on Morningstar Medalist ratings, 3 stars or better, £100mn minimum size, across around 30 sectors
- Quick-start Funds and Managed Portfolios for hands-off investors; managed portfolio costs run 0.13% to 0.21% on stated typical total cost of investments
- ii states it does not use payment for order flow, and routes eligible international orders directly to the home exchange rather than through UK-listed depositary interests
- UK-based support by phone and secure messaging; a dedicated SIPP line operates 8am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday
- ii states it has over 500,000 investors and over £100bn invested
- ii’s own awards claims: Which? Recommended SIPP Provider five years running, and Boring Money Best Buy ISA and Value for Money 2026
- Disclosed conflict: ii is an Aberdeen company, and its managed portfolios hold predominantly Aberdeen-managed funds. ii discloses and oversees this itself
- Wealth Shortlist: funds researched and selected by HL’s own analysts, alongside HL Building Blocks and Ready-Made Investments
- Extensive guides, market commentary and calculators, plus research coverage of more than 10% of investment trusts across AIC sectors
- Dividend and fund income reinvested automatically once it reaches £10 per holding, at no charge
- UK-based helpdesk by phone and secure message; free to open an account and no exit fees
- HL states it serves over 2 million clients
- HL’s own awards claims: Boring Money Best for Investment Trusts 2025, Best Online Stockbroker at the Personal Finance Awards 2023/24, and Best UK Pension Provider 2024
- Active Savings: access to fixed and easy-access rates from partner banks alongside the investment accounts
If you are not a UK resident
Both are UK-only platforms, and neither says so prominently. If you are a British expat or a European investor, the residency rules matter more than the fee comparison above.
- ii Trading Account: the terms exclude only US persons and residents of Canada. No UK-residency requirement is stated. ii charges non-UK residents £5 a month on top of the plan fee — on Core that is £10.99 a month, or £131.88 a year, an 83% uplift on the headline price
- ii ISA: UK tax residency or Crown-employee status required, and you must notify ii in writing if you cease to be UK resident
- ii SIPP: you must be a UK resident at the time of application — a separate gate from the ISA rule and easy to miss
- ii’s documents nowhere state affirmatively that EU residents are accepted, and no country list was published at the time of writing. Do not assume acceptance from the absence of an exclusion
- Hargreaves Lansdown: HL publishes no equivalent non-resident surcharge. Its overseas dealing forms distinguish UK-resident from overseas-resident individuals, but no eligibility country list was located on its public pages — contact HL directly before applying from abroad
Who should pick which broker
The right answer depends on portfolio size, what you hold, and which accounts you need. Run through this before opening anything.
- Holding shares and ETFs between roughly £20,500 and £100,000 — the flat fee wins by up to £78 a year
- Holding funds at any size above the break-even — HL’s fund charge has no cap and the gap widens fast
- Running an ISA, SIPP and Trading Account together in the same name under a single fee
- Trading overseas from a SIPP or Trading Account, where currency can be parked instead of converted twice
- Investing in Asia-Pacific markets — Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia are on ii’s list and not on HL’s
- Consolidating several old pensions into one flat-fee account
- Starting out under roughly £20,500 — the percentage is lower in absolute terms
- Holding shares and ETFs above £100,000 — the £150 cap beats ii Plus at £179.88
- Under 40 and want a Lifetime ISA, or opening a Junior SIPP for a child
- Opening a Junior ISA without wanting to pay for ii’s Plus plan to unlock it
- Buying funds as one-off trades at £1.95 rather than ii’s £3.99
- Holding US dividend stocks in a pension — HL’s SIPP receives that income free of withholding tax
The March 2026 restructuring changed the calculation for anyone holding active funds rather than ETFs, but not in the direction most coverage suggested. HL’s new £1.95 fund dealing charge applies to one-off trades only — monthly Direct Debit fund investing remains free, so a regular monthly fund buyer pays nothing extra. The real change is on the holding side: HL’s 0.35% fund charge is not capped, so a £100,000 fund portfolio costs £350 a year at HL against £71.88 at ii Core. If you hold funds rather than ETFs, the cap that makes HL competitive at scale simply does not apply to you.
Ready to open your account?
Both platforms are established, FCA-regulated, and covered by the FSCS up to £85,000 for investment business. The right choice is largely a question of portfolio size and what you hold in it. Run your numbers in the cost calculator first.
Go deeper
Frequently asked questions
Is Interactive Investor cheaper than Hargreaves Lansdown?
For a shares and ETF portfolio above roughly £20,500 and up to £100,000, ii Core at £71.88 a year is cheaper than HL’s 0.35% annual account charge. Below that, HL’s percentage is lower in absolute terms. HL’s cap on shares and ETFs is £12.50 a month, or £150 a year, which bites once a portfolio passes about £42,857. Above £100,000 ii moves to Plus at £179.88 a year, at which point HL’s £150 cap is cheaper. For funds the answer flips: HL charges 0.35% on funds with no cap up to £250,000, so a £50,000 fund portfolio costs £175 at HL against £71.88 at ii.
Which is better for a large Stocks and Shares ISA?
Between roughly £20,500 and £100,000, ii Core is cheaper for shares and ETFs at £71.88 a year against HL’s £150 cap, a saving of £78.12. Above £100,000 ii moves to Plus at £179.88 a year and HL’s capped £150 becomes cheaper. If the ISA is held mostly in funds rather than ETFs, ii stays cheaper well past £100,000, because HL’s fund charge is uncapped at 0.35% up to £250,000. One further point for anyone holding overseas assets: ii’s ISA is sterling-only, so every international trade converts in and out of currency, exactly as it does at HL.
Which is better for SIPPs?
Both offer full SIPPs. Up to £100,000 in shares and ETFs, ii Core costs £71.88 a year against HL’s £150 cap, saving £78.12. Above £100,000 ii auto-upgrades to Plus at £179.88 a year and HL’s £150 cap wins. Two structural differences matter beyond price. ii bundles the SIPP, ISA and Trading Account held in the same name under one monthly fee, with no separate pension administration charge on top. HL offers a Junior SIPP — ii’s is legacy only and closed to customers who do not already hold one — and US and Canadian income inside the HL SIPP is paid free of withholding tax.
Is Hargreaves Lansdown better for beginners?
For someone starting under about £20,500, HL is cheaper in absolute terms, because a percentage of a small portfolio is less than £5.99 a month. HL also offers two accounts ii does not: the Lifetime ISA and the Junior SIPP. Its fund dealing is free by monthly Direct Debit and £1.95 for one-off trades, against £3.99 at ii, and its Junior ISA carries no annual charge on shares. The calculation reverses as the portfolio grows past the break-even point, and it reverses much earlier if you hold funds rather than ETFs.
Do Interactive Investor or Hargreaves Lansdown offer fractional shares?
Neither platform offers fractional dealing. HL deals in whole shares: its Direct Debit service buys as many whole shares as your monthly amount covers and leaves the remainder sitting as cash. No fractional dealing appears anywhere in ii’s rate card or terms of service. If fractional investing matters to you, it is worth looking at platforms built around it instead — InvestEngine offers fractional ETF investing, and several neobrokers do the same for individual stocks.
QuantRoutine provides educational content only. Nothing on this page is an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell any security or to open an account with any specific broker. Investments can lose value, and past performance does not guarantee future results. You are responsible for your own investment, tax, and legal decisions. Always review each broker’s current terms, fees, and eligibility on their official website before opening or funding an account.