Trading 212 is our pick overall: its currency fee is a fifth of eToro’s (0.15% vs 0.75%), and it gives you a Stocks and Shares ISA, Cash ISA and a pension with no account fees. eToro wins if you want to copy other investors’ trades or buy real crypto alongside your shares. Both charge no commission on real shares and ETFs, and both are FCA regulated. Figures below are from each provider’s own site, checked 29 October 2026.
The quick call, by type of investor:
- Long-term ISA investor buying US shares or global ETFs: Trading 212 (0.15% currency fee, in-house ISA from £1).
- Wants a pension in the same app: Trading 212 (eToro has no SIPP).
- Wants to learn by copying others: eToro (CopyTrader, from $200).
- Wants real crypto next to shares: eToro (Trading 212 UK only offers crypto ETNs).
- Cash ISA saver chasing the top first-year rate: eToro’s boosted 4.94% for eligible new customers, with conditions; Trading 212 pays 3.85% with no strings.
- Thinking about CFDs: most retail accounts lose money on both (55% at eToro, 77% at Trading 212). Read the CFD section first.
Best overall
Trading 212
Commission-free shares and ETFs in an ISA, Invest account or SIPP
Offer: Free fractional shares worth up to £100 with promo code GAINS (code must be used within 10 days of registering; value is random, most awards £8 to £25). Capital at risk, T&Cs apply.
- Commission-free trading, no account fee
- Pays interest on uninvested cash
- Stocks ISA and SIPP in one app
- CFDs in the same app: 77% of retail accounts lose money
- 0.15% FX fee each way on non-GBP trades
- Card deposits cost 0.7% after your first £2,000
- No Junior ISA or Lifetime ISA
- £1
- minimum
- Free
- platform fee
- Free
- trading fee
- 0.15% FX fee on non-GBP trades
Affiliate link. Capital at risk.
Best for copy trading
eToro
Social investing app with copy trading
- 0% commission on stocks
- Low minimum investment
- Copy other investors
- 0.75% FX fee each way on non-GBP trades (0.70% in the ISA)
- CFDs in the same app: 55% of retail accounts lose money
- Crypto has no FSCS or Financial Ombudsman cover
- Cash ISA: over 3 withdrawals in 12 months loses the boost
- $50
- minimum
- Top-ups; first deposit set by country
- Free
- platform fee
- Free
- trading fee
- 0% commission on stocks
Affiliate link. Capital at risk.
eToro vs Trading 212 side by side
| eToro | Trading 212 | |
|---|---|---|
| Commission on real shares and ETFs | £0 | £0 |
| Account and custody fees | None | None |
| Currency (FX) fee | 0.75% (0.70% on non-GBP assets in the ISA) | 0.15% |
| Stocks and Shares ISA | Yes, run with Moneyfarm; no commission or custody fee | Yes, in-house, from £1 |
| Cash ISA | 4.94% AER variable for 12 months (eligible new customers), then 3.62%; £500 minimum | 3.85% AER variable (Bank Rate minus 0.15%); from £1 |
| Pension (SIPP) | No | Yes, no account, custody or trading fees |
| Junior ISA | No | No |
| Crypto | Real crypto, 1% fee each way | Crypto ETNs only |
| Copy trading | Yes | No |
| CFDs | Yes: 55% of retail accounts lose money | Separate CFD account: 77% lose money |
| Card deposits | Pounds into your GBP account: no conversion fee | Free up to £2,000 in total, then 0.7% |
| Withdrawals | Free from GBP account; $5 from USD account | Free |
| FSCS (if the firm fails) | Up to £85,000 on investments | Up to £85,000 on investments; cash at partner banks up to £120,000 per bank if a bank fails |
| Trustpilot | 4.0 (32,276 reviews) | 4.6 (106,915 reviews) |
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Fees: which is cheaper?
Trading 212 is cheaper for most people. Neither charges commission, account fees or custody fees, so the real difference is what you pay to swap pounds into dollars or euros when you buy overseas shares.
- Buying £1,000 of US shares: £1.50 at Trading 212 (0.15%) vs £7.50 at eToro (0.75%), and roughly the same again when you sell.
- Inside the ISA: £1.50 at Trading 212 vs £7.00 at eToro (0.70%).
- Investing £500 a month into US shares for a year: about £9 at Trading 212 vs £45 at eToro, just on the way in.
- UK shares bought with pounds: no currency fee at either, just the 0.5% government stamp duty on UK shares.
eToro’s other costs: 1% each way on crypto, CFD spreads and overnight fees, and $5 for each withdrawal from the USD account. eToro Club members get 20% to 80% off conversion fees depending on their tier. Trading 212’s other cost: card, Apple Pay and Google Pay deposits are free until you’ve paid in £2,000 in total, then 0.7%. Bank transfers stay free.
ISAs: Stocks and Shares ISA and Cash ISA
Both let you use your £20,000 ISA allowance for 2026/27 on shares or cash, and both ISAs are flexible (you can take money out and put it back in the same tax year).
Stocks and Shares ISA
eToro’s ISA is run with Moneyfarm, a separate regulated firm, inside the eToro app. Since 29 July 2026 it charges no commission and no custody fee, with 0.70% on non-GBP assets, and eToro says you can choose from over 1,000 stocks, ETFs, bonds and mutual funds. If you transfer an existing ISA in, eToro says the investments are sold and moved as cash.
Trading 212 runs its own ISA, from £1, with shares, ETFs and ready-made Pies, and only the 0.15% currency fee. Trading 212 doesn’t offer a managed ISA; eToro does, through Moneyfarm, for an extra fee.
Cash ISA
eToro’s Cash ISA pays a boosted 4.94% AER (variable) for the first 12 months for eligible new customers, made up of a 3.94% standard introductory rate plus a 1% boost, then 3.62%. You need £500 to open it (£5,000 to transfer in), you keep the boosted rate only if you make three or fewer withdrawals in 12 months, and eToro says the boost is paid after 12 months. The money sits in a money market fund (a low-risk fund holding cash-like investments), so it’s covered by the FSCS investment limit of £85,000.
Trading 212’s Cash ISA tracks the Bank of England base rate minus 0.15%, which is 3.85% AER today with Bank Rate at 4.00%. It’s open from £1, has unlimited withdrawals and pays interest monthly. If the boost matters to you, £10,000 earns about £494 in a year at 4.94% vs about £385 at 3.85%, if rates didn’t change. For more on how these work, see how a cash ISA works.
The Budget on 28 October 2026 scrapped the planned cut to the cash ISA limit, so you can still put the full £20,000 into a cash ISA from April 2027. Our 2027 ISA changes guide has the detail.
Pensions: only Trading 212 has one
Trading 212’s SIPP (a personal pension you run yourself) has no account, custody or trading fees, just the 0.15% currency fee. It claims basic rate tax relief for you, which usually lands within 6 to 11 weeks, so £80 you pay in becomes £100. Interest on uninvested SIPP cash dropped from 3.80% to 3.00% AER on 26 October 2026. eToro doesn’t offer a pension. Our SIPP vs ISA guide explains the difference.
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When you invest, your capital is at risk.
There’s real overlap: both give you major global shares, a wide spread of ETFs, and commodities and currencies through CFDs. The clearest split is crypto. eToro lets UK customers buy real crypto, which has no FSCS or Financial Ombudsman protection. Trading 212 UK customers can get crypto exposure through crypto ETNs (exchange traded notes that track a crypto price) in the Invest account, but new crypto ETN purchases inside an ISA stopped on 6 April 2026.
Trading 212 has Pies, a fantastic feature that lets you build a portfolio and automatically invest into it each month. eToro has CopyTrader, which copies another investor’s trades automatically (minimum $200 per investor), and a social feed where investors post about what they hold. eToro also says it has over 7,000 tradeable assets.
What are the apps like to use?
Both apps are fast, well designed and easy to navigate on mobile. eToro’s layout is a little more visual and social-feed-like, which suits people who like seeing what others are trading. Trading 212 leans on icons and a denser interface, so there’s a slightly steeper first-time learning curve, but once you know your way round it’s just as quick.
eToro now gives UK customers a GBP account, so you can hold pounds without converting. Both have a practice account with virtual money, and both have solid charts.
Research and education
eToro’s research tools include analyst estimates, curated articles and sentiment data showing what other eToro users think about an asset, and its academy is one of the more thorough in the market. Trading 212 is lighter here: it’s more of a do-it-yourself platform, so you’ll lean more on outside research.
CFD risk: read this before you trade
Both apps let you trade CFDs (contracts for difference) alongside real shares, and CFDs are a different, much riskier product. You don’t own anything; you’re betting on price moves with leverage (borrowed money), so losses happen fast. These are each provider’s own warnings, word for word:
eToro: “CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 55% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.”
Trading 212: “CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.”
Either way, most people trading CFDs on either platform lose money. Under FCA rules, ordinary customers can’t lose more than the money in their CFD account. One thing to watch on eToro: short or leveraged positions are always CFDs, and eToro says some non-leveraged buys are also carried out as CFDs and labelled “CFD” on the trade screen.
Is eToro or Trading 212 safer?
Both are FCA regulated and members of the FSCS, and both keep client money separate from their own.
- eToro: eToro (UK) Ltd, FCA number 583263. Investments covered up to £85,000 if it fails. ISAs are with Moneyfarm (MFM Investment Ltd), which has its own £85,000 limit. Crypto isn’t covered.
- Trading 212: investments and cash held with Trading 212 are covered up to £85,000 in total if Trading 212 fails. Cash it holds at banks such as J.P. Morgan and Barclays is covered up to £120,000 per banking licence if one of those banks fails (that limit includes your own money at the same bank). Shares are held with custodians The Bank of New York Mellon and Interactive Brokers.
The FSCS never covers losses from prices falling. You can check any firm with the FSCS protection checker.
Opening an account, deposits and withdrawals
Opening an account with either is quick, usually same day, though extra ID checks can add a day or two. My unusually long name has tripped up verification on Trading 212 before, so don’t be surprised if you need to send an extra document. You’ll need photo ID and your National Insurance number for either. Both use Face ID and two-factor login. One quirk: Trading 212 can stay logged in on desktop between sessions, which isn’t to everyone’s taste when money’s involved.
We tested withdrawing from both apps and the difference was marginal: Trading 212 landed the next working day, eToro the morning after. Trading 212 is free to withdraw from; eToro is free from the GBP account and $5 from the USD account.
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Customer reviews
On Trustpilot (checked 29 October 2026), Trading 212 scores 4.6 out of 5 from 106,915 reviews (79% five star, 5% one star), and eToro scores 4.0 from 32,276 reviews (66% five star, 20% one star). Trading 212 is still clearly the stronger of the two on customer feedback.
eToro vs Trading 212: the winner
It’s closer than it was, but Trading 212 is our pick overall. The 0.15% currency fee (versus eToro’s 0.75%), the fee-free SIPP alongside its ISA and Cash ISA, and the higher Trustpilot score make it the stronger all-round platform for most UK investors. Read more in my Trading 212 review.
eToro still wins if copy trading is what you’re after: CopyTrader remains unmatched for mirroring experienced investors’ trades. Its fee-free ISA and boosted Cash ISA make it a much more competitive option than it was. If crypto or social trading matter to you, it’s worth a look: see my full eToro review. There’s nothing stopping you having both: some investors use Trading 212 for their core ISA or pension and keep a smaller eToro account for copy trading.
Best Investing Apps UK 2026
Trading 212, eToro, Freetrade and more, compared side by side.
Compare the appsAlso comparing Freetrade? See eToro vs Freetrade.
FAQs
Is eToro or Trading 212 cheaper?
Trading 212 for most people. Neither charges commission or account fees, but Trading 212’s currency fee is 0.15% against eToro’s 0.75% (0.70% in the ISA). On £1,000 of US shares that’s £1.50 vs £7.50.
Which is better for beginners?
Both work well. eToro’s CopyTrader, social feed and academy suit people who want to learn by watching others. Trading 212 is more do-it-yourself, with lower fees and Pies for automatic investing.
Which has the better ISA?
Trading 212’s Stocks and Shares ISA is cheaper to use for overseas shares (0.15% vs 0.70%). For a Cash ISA, eToro’s first-year boosted rate is higher (4.94% on 29 October 2026 vs 3.85% on 10 November 2026), but it needs £500, limits you to three withdrawals and pays the boost after 12 months.
Does eToro have a SIPP like Trading 212?
No. Trading 212 has a SIPP with no account, custody or trading fees. eToro has no pension, Junior ISA or Lifetime ISA, and neither has a Junior ISA.
Can I buy crypto on Trading 212?
Not directly as a UK customer. You can get exposure through crypto ETNs in the Invest account. eToro sells real crypto with a 1% fee each way, with no FSCS cover.
Can I have both eToro and Trading 212?
Yes. Just remember your £20,000 ISA allowance is shared across all your ISAs, wherever they are. Our what is an ISA guide covers the rules.
Are eToro and Trading 212 FSCS protected?
Yes, both are covered up to £85,000 on investments if the firm fails. Trading 212 cash held at partner banks is also covered up to £120,000 per bank if a bank fails. Crypto isn’t covered, and the FSCS never covers market falls.
