10 Best Investment Apps UK: Which One is Right for You?

When it comes to investment apps, there is plenty of choices. It's easier than ever to invest in the stock market, but how do you know which investment app is right for you?

In this article, we will go over 10 of the best investment apps in the UK and explain what they do. We will help you decide which app is best for your needs.

So, whether you are a beginner or an experienced investor, an investment app is out there for you!

Note: This article is not meant as investment advice but for informational purposes. With any investment, capital at risk. Past performance is not an indicator of future returns. Always remember that investments can go down as well as up in value, so you could get back less than you put in.

Overview

Plum is an intelligent money app and one of the popular investment platforms aimed at people who want a low-cost and straightforward introduction to the world of investing. Plum utilises open banking and Robo Advisor tech to help you calculate how much you can afford to set aside and invest. The app connects to your bank account and analyses your spending habits to suggest 'little and often' auto savings that won't make a big dent in your budget but will all add up over time, resulting in you building a pain-free savings stash that can be invested. 

You can get started with Plum from as little as £1, and you can choose to invest across a range of 12 funds depending on what you feel best aligns with your financial goals.  

Check out this useful video to get a overview of Plum:

Fees

Plum charges annual average fund management and product provider fee of 0.48%

They also offer a selection of paid tiered accounts, costing from £1 to £9.99 a month. They give you access to a broader range of features and investment funds the further up the tiers you go. 

Account Options

Plum offers a range of investment accounts to UK customers, including:

• General Investment Account (GIA) - access to all 12 funds
• Stocks & Shares ISA - access to all 12 funds
• Self Invested Private Pension (SIPP) - access to a select eight funds

Related article: Plum app review

Overview

Chip first launched as, and is probably best known for being, an automatic savings app. It's very similar to Plum in that it uses Robo advisor tech to help analyse how much you can afford to save based on your spending habits and regular outgoings.

Chip now also allows you to invest those savings in either a GIA or Stocks & Shares ISA.

Fees

Chip, as a savings platform, is free to use. 

With Chip Basic, you can open a savings account (3 to choose from) and a General Investment Account (GIA). Still, you are restricted to only being able to invest in a select few funds. 

Chip offers an upgrade to ChipX membership for £3.00 a month, giving you everything on the basics plan plus access to the Stocks & Shares ISA functionality and the full range of investment funds.

A GIA with Chip will incur an annual fee of 0.5% on invested money, collected as a minimum £1 monthly fee. However, if you are a ChipX user, the annual platform fee is reduced to 0.25% with no minimum monthly fee.

Account options

Chip offers two different investment options:

• General Investment Account (GIA)
• Stocks & Shares ISA 

Related article: Chip App Review

Overview

Nutmeg was one of the first digital wealth management platforms in the UK. Since its launch in 2012, they have helped over 200,000 customers get to grips with investing and start an investment portfolio. Their goal is to help you feel empowered about educated about how investing works and offer you complete transparency on how your investments are performing.

Fees

Nutmeg has no set-up, exit, transaction or trading fees. They only charge a price for managing your investments and are very clear and upfront on how these fees are structured. 

Nutmeg has four separate fee tariffs that are based on your investment style and the amount invested, with fees ranging from 0.25% -1.1%. 

Account Options

Nutmeg offers a range of investment accounts to UK customers, including:

• Stocks & Shares ISA - minimum £500 investment
• Lifetime ISA - minimum £100 investment
• Junior ISA - minimum £100 investment
• Pension - minimum £500 investment
• General Investment Account (GIA) - minimum £500 investment

Overview

Trading 212 is ranked as the number one mobile trading app in the UK after it disrupted the investing industry by being the first to offer zero-commission trading and making stock market investing affordable for everyone. Trading 212 allows you to support over 10,000 EFT and share options for just £1. 

Fees

Trading 212 is currently the cheapest investment platform offering completely fee-free trading. They only charge fees of 0.15% on trades that require a currency conversion and a deposit fee of 0.70% for debit/credit cards once you have deposited over £2,000 (bank transfers remain fee free)

Account options

Trading 212 offers three different accounts for UK customers

• Trading 212 CFD - allows you to trade and sell stocks, indices, forex, commodities and cryptocurrency
• Trading 212 Invest - will enable you to invest in EFT and over 10,000 share options
• Trading 212 ISA - invest in shares and EFTs
• Suitable for beginner and experienced investors
• Unlimited commission-free trades
• Choose your own investments or pick a pie from the social forum.

Overview

Moneyfarm is yet another Robo advisor-based platform, but unlike Plum and Chip, they have always been investment based from their inception. 

Launching into the UK market in 2016, Moneyfarm's primary goal is to help people improve their financial well-being by making investing simple and accessible. 

When you start with Moneyfarm, their clever system will help you create an investor profile based on how you answer a series of questions looking at your current circumstances, your money goals and your attitude towards investing (basically, how risk-averse you are). 

You can then choose if you want to manage your investment activity or if you'd instead take a hands-off approach, and it will match you with the perfect fund profile to suit your needs. 

If you have questions about the system or how your portfolio might be doing, Moneyfarm has dedicated investment consultants to chat with whenever needed.

Fees

Moneyfarm requires a £500 minimum investment to get started.

Management fees on the Moneyfarm platform vary depending on how much is invested and range from 0.35% to 0.75%. There is also a fund fee of 0.20% and transaction fees of up to 0.09%. A complete fee pricing breakdown can be calculated on the Moneyfarm site.

Account Options

Moneyfarm offers investors four different account options:

• General Investment Account (GIA)
• Stocks & Shares ISA 
• Junior ISA
• Self-Invested Private Pension (SIPP)

Overview

If you've not looked into investing apps and platforms before, you might not have heard of Wealthify until now. Still, chances are you are well aware of their backer Aviva! 

Wealthify is a simple-to-use Robo advisor platform that offers low-fee investments with plans tailored to fit your investing style and needs. You can choose to build an 'Original' plan, with funds from leading providers across a broad market section, or an 'Ethical' plan, with funds that allow you to invest in organisations committed to positively impacting the environment and society.

You can invest from just £1 (unless you want to invest in a pension where the minimum is £50) and withdraw your money without penalty fees.

Fees

Wealthify charge an annual management fee of 0.60% plus a fund charge that averages out at around 0.16% for funds in the Original Plan and 0.70% for funds in the Ethical Plan.

Account options

Wealthify has four different account options:

• General Investment Account (GIA)
• Stocks & Shares ISA 
• Junior ISA
• Self-Invested Private Pension (SIPP)

Overview

Stake is a relative newcomer to the British market, having only launched to UK customers in February 2020. It initially launched in Australia and was designed to make buying and selling US stocks and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) accessible to non-US residents. Stake trades and operates solely in the US market and, as such, has to keep to the US trading hours. Still, you can buy and sell at any time via the app or desktop platform, and your trades will be completed when the market opens.

Fees

Stake offers a very competitive fee structure that many other platforms are hard-pushed to beat. There are no brokerage fees or trade fees to be paid with Stake; the only fees that are charged are foreign transaction (FX) fees, as trades are made in US dollars, of 0.50% on the deposit and withdrawal of funds to your account. 

Account options

Stake offers UK customers two account options:

• Free Account - suitable for the majority of Stake users, give you access to purchase over 3,800 shares and ETFs.
• Stake Black - charged at $9 monthly or $90 annually, offers some more functionality to access enhanced financial data/analysis and Instant Buying Power (funds from trades reflected in your balance immediately so that it can be reinvested) 

Overview

eToro has been around since 2007 and has amassed a global customer base of over 25 million users. 

It's a great investment and trading app to check out as a beginner if you're interested in learning more about the trading side of things. eToro is a social trading platform (basically, it's like social media for traders) where people can share how their trades are performing. You can replicate what they've done using the 'CopyTrader' function. There is also the option to give the platform. Trading/investing in general, a trial run by having a play around with an eToro demo account - you'll get access to a dummy eToro account credited with $100k so that you can try out building your virtual portfolio and practise investing in a variety of assets to see how you get on. 

retail investor accounts

Fees

eToro accounts are free to set up but require a £10 minimum when starting to invest. There are no management fees and 0% commission charges on trades, but there are spread fees ranging from 0.09% to 4.9%, depending on the type of investment; more details can be found here. There is a 0.5% fee each time you deposit funds to your account, a $5 withdrawal fee and a $10 a month inactivity fee if your account has been inactive for over a year. 

Account options

eToro doesn't offer ISAs like many other platforms; instead, it has a free eToro Money account. eToro Money is a separate app that works seamlessly with your eToro investment account. You can use your eToro Money account to send/receive money, pay direct debits and even get an eToro debit card to spend directly from it.     

Overview

Wombat is an award-winning auto investment app that simplifies saving, investing and growing your money. To make the introduction to investing more accessible, Wombat have created Themed Funds, which are collections of different investments grouped as theme bundles so that you can easily invest in things that suit your personality or what matters most to you. 

With themes such as 'The Techie' including brands such as Apple, Tesla and Beats and 'The Foodie' with shares in Twinings, Nespresso and Pimms, there is something to suit everyone.

Fees

Wombat requires a £10 minimum investment and charges a monthly £1 subscription fee for their standard plan account. This gives you access to commission-free trading and the ability to invest in their Themed collections and fractional shares of some big-name brands. Additional fees associated with the Standard plan are 0.75% FX fees, 0.10% platform fees and 0.07%-0.75% fund management fees.

Account options

Wombat offers two types of investment accounts:

• General Investment Account (GIA)
• Stocks & Shares ISA 

Overview

Freetrade is the investment app you're most likely to see shared around on social media as they have a long-standing promotion of new users receiving a free share worth between £3 and £200 when referred by a current Freetrade user. 

The free share offer has made them one of the most popular tradings and investing platforms in the UK market; add to that the fact that they are simple to use and offer commission-free trading, and they are an excellent option for anyone wanting to start trading and investing for absolutely free. 

Fees

Freetrade has three different plans available depending on the features you want access to. 

Their Basic account is free and provides you with a GIA, so you can start investing commission free from as little as £2. 

The Freetrade Standard plan costs £4.99 a month, has the same features as the Basic plan, and allows you to open an ISA, gain 1% interest on up to £2000 of uninvested cash, and get access to more features and the full range of stocks. 

Their Plus account, priced at £9.99 a month, includes everything that the Standard plans do; plus will give you access to open a SIPP and gain 3% interest on up to £4000 in uninvested cash.  

Account options 

Freetrade offers three account options to its UK customers:

• General Investment Account (GIA) - Basic, Standard and Plus plans
• Stocks & Shares ISA - Standard and Plus plans
• Self-Invested Private Pension (SIPP) - Plus plan only

Overview

Suppose you've heard of the Vanguard before. In that case, it's probably a group of funds rather than an individual investment platform. Vanguard is well known for being a US asset management company that allowed people to invest in low-cost index-tracking funds. Before the launch of their Vanguard Investor, you could only ever invest in Vanguard funds through a third-party broker or platform; now that they have their app and platform, it's easy to create your own portfolio from the selection of Vanguard funds.   

Fees

Vanguard Investor requires a £500 minimum initial (or £100 monthly) investment. They have account fees of 0.15% per year (capped to £375 per year if your account is worth over £250,000) and fund management fees ranging from 0.02% to 0.78%

Account options

Vanguard Investor offers four different accounts:

• General Investment Account (GIA)
• Stocks & Shares ISA 
• Junior ISA
• Self-Invested Private Pension (SIPP)

The first thing you need to do is assess what your investment goals are. Do you want to save for retirement? Or are you looking to make some quick, short-term profits? (When it comes to investing we recommend only putting money in which you do not need access to for years to come, as a rule of thumb 5 years).

Once you know your investment goals, finding an app that suits your needs will be much easier.

For example, if you are a beginner, you might consider an investment app offering a lower-risk portfolio.

If you are an experienced investor, you might be looking for an investment app that offers a more diverse investment opportunities.

Here are some recommended features to look at when comparing different investing apps:

• How user-friendly is the app? - You want an app that works for you, not against you. The last thing you want is an investment app that is difficult to use or navigate.
• What investment products are available? - Make sure the investment app offers the investment products that you are interested in. For example, if you want to invest in stocks and shares, make sure the investment app offers this option.
• Is there a minimum investment amount? With many apps listed in this article you can start investing with just £1, but some investment apps have a minimum investment amount of £500 or more.
• What fees are associated with the investment app? - Many investment apps will charge you a fee for using their service. This can be a percentage of your investment, a flat fee or even both. It is important to compare the fees charged by different investment apps before deciding. It's good to know roughly how much you plan to invest to really understand the fees associated.
• What kind of customer support does the app offer? At the end of the day you are investing to protect your future, you want the company behind the app to get that and be there should you have any questions or need support.
• Is the app FCSC protected? Whatever the amount you are investing the money needs to be safe so make sure the app you pick is legitimate.
• Tax friendly account options: If you don't have any other ISA set up, it's possible with many of the apps featured to set up a Tax-free ISA which allows you to invest up to £20k tax-free each year.

Once you have considered all of these factors, you should be well on finding the best investment app for you!

So, without further ado, here are our top investment apps in the UK.

Note: This article is not meant as investment advice but for informational purposes. With any investment, capital at risk. Past performance is not an indicator of future returns. Always remember that investments can go down as well as up in value, so you could get back less than you put in.

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