Here are some of the best platforms to invest tax-free
Stocks and Shares ISAs let you invest tax-free — which means you won’t pay tax on capital gains, dividends or any interest earned on the money you put in them. You have a £20,000 ISA allowance each year, which includes any Cash ISAs or Lifetime ISAs you have. This means that you can pay up to £20,000 into ISAs each year and for as long as the money is held in them, it is tax-free.
There are broadly two types of Stocks and Shares ISA to choose between, do-it-yourself and fully managed. We explain in more detail what each of these mean below.
In this article
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Here at Be Clever With Your Cash, we’re not regulated to give you financial advice. We aim to give you the facts about a provider or investment but it’s up to you to decide if it’s suitable for you. If you’re looking for more personalised guidance, find a financial adviser who can give you specific advice. Remember that your capital is at risk when investing — don’t invest more than you are prepared to lose.
Do-it-yourself Stocks and Shares ISAs are ones where you choose the investments for your portfolio yourself. This could be a range of company shares, different types of funds and possibly even some commodities or precious metals. You’d be in control of managing your portfolio and ensuring it reflects the risk you plan to take.
Our picks below assume that you’re mostly interested in passive investing, which is mostly suited to beginners. This would mean you’d want to invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or index funds. With many of these providers, you can also invest in shares, but this takes a lot more knowledge and skill.
Top picks
Sponsored
Our top pick
Our top pick
- Annual fee£0
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£1
- OfferFree fractional share up to £100*
*New customers get a free fractional share worth up to £100 when you sign up via our link or use the code BCWYC.
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 4.05%
- Important details Remember, the value of any money invested, which includes your free share, could go up or down
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 609146
- Foreign exchange fee 0.15%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in ETFs, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Fractional shares Yes
- Offer details To get the offer, you need to open a Trading 212 Stocks and Shares ISA or Invest account and deposit at least £1 within 10 calendar days
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up
Our top pick
- Annual fee£0
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£0
- OfferUp to £100 welcome offer*
*Sign up with the code BECLEVER25 or click the button to get up to £100 in a US fractional share to your GIA. Capital at risk. Terms apply
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? If Lightyear goes out of business and there is a shortfall in the funds they are holding for customers, they may be able to claim for losses up to the value of £85,000 through FSCS
- ETF trading fee £0
- UK shares trading fee £0
- Interest on uninvested cash 1% on GBP for UK customers
- EU shares trading fee £0
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 987226
- Foreign exchange fee 0.35%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees between 0.03% and 0.78% depending on the funds you choose
- Fractional shares Available in General Investment Account only
- Offer details Sign up with the code BECLEVER25 or click the button to get up to £100 in a US fractional share to your GIA. Capital at risk. Terms apply: https://lightyear.com/en-gb/signup-promotion-terms. You must be a new user and deposit at least £100. The reward can be withdrawn 6 months after it’s credited.
- US shares trading fee £0
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up
Our top pick
- Annual fee£0
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£100
- OfferUp to £100 welcome bonus*
*Up to £100 welcome offer: Get up to £100 welcome bonus when you invest £100 or more and use the promo code BCWYC
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Important details You can't invest in individual shares with InvestEngine, just exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 801128
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees When you invest in funds you'll also have to pay fund fees between 0.03% and 0.89%, depending on which ones you choose
- Offer details To get the welcome offer, sign up via the button or use the promo code BCWYC (T&Cs apply). We may receive commission for those who sign up through our link. ETF costs apply. Offer ends 28 February 2026
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up
Freetrade Stocks & Shares ISA
- Annual fee£0
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£1
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 1% on up to £1,000
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 783189
- Foreign exchange fee 0.99%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Fractional shares Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
Other options
Sponsored
Customer rating
4.8/5
- Annual fee£8 per month custody fee**
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£0
- OfferUp to £200 of free shares*
*New customers can get up to £200 of free shares when they sign up and invest at least £50 by 30 November 2025.
**You can reduce the custody fee to £0 per month when you place more than 3 trades in the previous quarter.
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 4.5% on up to £100,000
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 944492
- Foreign exchange fee 0.70%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Fractional shares No
- Offer details You can get up to £200 of free shares when you sign up for a General Investment Account, ISA or Self Invested Personal Pension and make your first investment of at least £50 between 1 November and 30 November 2025. You have to remain invested until 31 December 2025.
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
- Annual fee£0
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£0
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 4.50%
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 522157
- Foreign exchange fee 0.50%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Fractional shares Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
Emma Stocks & Shares ISA
- Annual fee£0
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£1
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 669450
- Foreign exchange fee 0.99%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Fractional shares No
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up
Customer rating
4.8/5
- Annual fee0.15% (minimum £1 per month)
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£100 or £25 per month
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Other investment options You could also choose to invest in managed portfolios with Dodl
- Interest on uninvested cash 4.06%
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 211468
- Foreign exchange fee 0.75% (up to £10,000)
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees between 0.03% and 0.45% depending on the funds you choose
- Fractional shares No
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
Vanguard Stocks & Shares ISA
- Annual fee0.15% (minimum £4 per month)
- Trading feeup to 0.46%
- Minimum deposit£100 per month or £500
Sells its own funds only
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 2.35%
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 527839
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
NuWealth Stocks & Shares ISA
- Annual fee£2 per month + 0.25%
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£10
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 3.50%
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 955775
- Foreign exchange fee 0.40%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
AJ Bell Stocks & Shares ISA
- Annual fee0.25%
- Trading fee£5.00
- Minimum deposit£25 per month or £500
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 2.07% up to £10,000
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 211468
- Foreign exchange fee 0.75%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees between 0.04% and 1.16%
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
Charles Stanley Direct Stocks & Shares ISA
- Annual fee0.3% (min £5 per month)
- Trading fee£50 worth of free trades every 6 months
- Minimum deposit£0
- OfferUp to £1,500 cashback*
*You can get £300-£1,500 cashback when you transfer an ISA between £20,000 and £200,000
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Fees You get £50 worth of free trades every 6 months. Funds cost £4 per trade and shares cost £10 per trade
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 124412
- Foreign exchange fee 1%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose. There are no platform or trading fees when you invest in Charles Stanley Multi Asset Funds
- Fractional shares No
- Offer details The amount you'll get in cashback depends on how much you transfer. A transfer of £20,000 gets you £300 cashback
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up
Customer rating
4.5/5
- Annual fee0.45%
- Trading fee£11.95
- Minimum deposit£1
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 2.53%
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 115248
- Foreign exchange fee 1.00%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
- Annual fee£2.99 per month + 0.45% annual fee
- Trading fee£0
- Minimum deposit£1
You need a Plum Pro account which costs £2.99 per month to start investing in funds.
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes - up to £85,000
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Investments available You're limited to 16 funds to invest in, and can invest in the full range of 26 funds with the Premium plan which costs £9.99 per month
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 900573
- Foreign exchange fee 0.45%
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
- Fractional shares Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up
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Managed Stocks and Shares ISAs are where you choose from a range of ready-made portfolios made by investment experts. You’d usually choose one based on your appetite for risk and it’s already built from a range of stocks, funds, commodities and even bonds or gilts. The “robo” element that some providers offer refers to them using technology to decide when to buy and sell investments, or where technology is used to help find a portfolio to suit you.
There are a few different types of portfolios that you’ll come across – these include:
- Fully managed portfolios: these have real people managing them. They buy and sell the investments in the portfolio to make sure they perform well and reflect the risk profile.
- Fixed allocation portfolios: these have been created by experts but aren’t managed day-to-day. They get rebalanced routinely to ensure they still fit your chosen risk profile.
- Ethical or responsible portfolios: these invest in companies that are aiming to improve the world, such as by not investing in weapons or fossil fuels — you can get both fixed allocation and fully managed ethical portfolios. You can see more about what makes the funds ethical or responsible from your chosen provider.
- Thematic collections: these are collections of funds that fit specific themes, such as technology, British, woman-owned, energy or sports. You would choose a few of these that match your own values to build a portfolio with little effort. These aren’t quite the same as managed portfolios, but they still allow you to passively invest.
Top picks
Our top pick
Customer rating
4.8/5
- Annual fee0.15%
- Minimum deposit£100 or £25 per month
- Portfolios available6 risk-based portfolios and a responsible investments portfolio
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Other investment options You can also invest in individual shares and themed investments
- Interest on uninvested cash 4.06%
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 211468
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
Other options
Chip Stocks & Shares ISA
- Annual fee0.25%
- Minimum deposit£1
- Portfolios available3 risk-based portfolios and two index funds
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 911255
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down.
Customer rating
4.5/5
- Annual fee0.45%
- Minimum deposit£100 or £25 per month
- Portfolios available4 risk-based portfolios
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 2.53%
- Fees Fees are reduced the more you invest. You're charged 0.45% on up to £250,000, 0.25% on the next £750,000, and 0.1% on the next £1,000,000. For amounts over £2m there is no charge
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 115248
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
Monzo Stocks & Shares ISA
- Annual fee0.45%
- Minimum deposit£1
- Portfolios available3 risk-based portfolios
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 730427
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees You'll also have to pay fund fees of 0.14%
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down.
- Annual fee0.5%
- Minimum deposit£10
- Portfolios available2 tracker funds
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Ready-made portfolios available 2 tracker funds to choose between: an L&G cash fund and a Fidelity Global Shares fund
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 473606
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Fund fees You'll have to pay additional fund fees of up to 0.15%
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
- Annual fee0.50%
- Minimum deposit£3,000
- Portfolios availableTwo portfolios
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 984829
- Transfer in existing ISA? No
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down.
- Annual fee0.60%
- Minimum deposit£500
- Portfolios available10 portfolios based on risk and ethical options
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Important details Over 18s, UK residents and UK taxpayers only
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 662530
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down
- Annual fee0.65%
- Minimum deposit£500
- Portfolios availableA range of ethical managed portfolios, a low-risk portfolio and 4 thematic growth themes
- Flexible ISA Yes
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 629539
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down.
JP Morgan Personal Investing Stocks & Shares ISA
Customer rating
4.8/5
- Annual fee0.75%
- Minimum deposit£500
- Portfolios available30 portfolios, including fully managed, fixed allocation and ethical
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 552016
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down.
Scottish Friendly My Easy Choice ISA
- Annual fee1.50%
- Minimum deposit£20 per month or £100 lump sum
- Portfolios available1 ethical portfolio and 10 risk based portfolios
- Flexible ISA No
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash No
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 110002
- Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
- Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of your investments may go up or down.
In this article
A useful addition. But when you mention dealing fees you need to take into account that some providers charge different fees depending on what you are buying /selling. For instance, you say that the Hargreaves Lansdown trading fee is £11.95. That is true for shares/ETFs but there is no fee for trading in funds. AJ Bell is £5 for shares/ETFs but £1.50 for funds.
Also the section on fund fees is rather generic. It says “If you invest in funds, you’ll have to pay fund fees between X and Y”. It says that for Trading 212 when, in reality, Trading 212 doesn’t offer funds at all.
A couple more providers that charge no platform fee at all which you might want to consider including are Prosper and IWeb
The InvestEngine welcome bonus needs correcting, I believe it’s the “Variable Partner welcome bonus” as stated here https://investengine.com/terms-incentives/#variable-partner-welcome-bonus
I say this because I recently signed up with the code mentioned on this article, and only received a £24 bonus, not the £100 I was led to believe.
Hi, the offer is listed in our tables as “up to £100”, and the full terms are explained on the landing page when you click through, which state it’s a variable amount beetween £20 and £100
My apologies! Thanks for clarifying