Freetrade Review 2026: Is the Free ISA & SIPP Worth It?

Freetrade is a good, simple app for long-term investors, and its free Basic plan now includes a Stocks and Shares ISA, a SIPP and a Junior ISA with no account fee and no dealing commission (checked 29 October 2026). The catch is the currency fee: 0.99% each time you buy or sell shares priced in dollars or euros on the free plan, against 0.15% at Trading 212.

I’ve used Freetrade on and off for years, including running a general investment account on it for nine months, and I rate it 4.4 out of 5. It’s owned by IG Group, regulated by the FCA, and your investments are covered by the FSCS (the UK’s compensation scheme) up to £85,000 if Freetrade fails.

Best for a free ISA, SIPP and Junior ISA

Freetrade

4.2 on Trustpilot

Commission-free investing app with a free ISA on the Basic plan

Offer: Free share worth £10 to £100 when you sign up and fund at least £50 within 30 days (share goes into the GIA). Capital at risk, T&Cs apply.

What I like

• Free Basic plan includes ISA, SIPP and Junior ISA
• £0 dealing commission
• Interest on cash up to 3.5% AER on Plus

Watch out for

• 0.99% FX fee on the free plan
• Cash interest capped at small balances
• Paid plan needed for lower FX fees

Free

platform fee

Basic; Standard £4.99/mo, Plus £9.99/mo billed annually

£0 commission

trading fee

FX fee 0.99% Basic / 0.59% Standard / 0.39% Plus

Visit Freetrade (opens in a new tab)

Affiliate link. Capital at risk.

Freetrade review: my verdict at a glance

Freetrade earns its place as one of the better beginner-friendly investing apps in the UK, and the move to a genuinely free ISA and SIPP is a real upgrade since I last reviewed it.

What changed at Freetrade

IG Group, a FTSE 100 trading and investment company, bought Freetrade in 2025. Since then Freetrade has rebuilt its pricing around the free plan:

• 1 September 2025: the Stocks and Shares ISA joined the free Basic plan.
• 22 January 2026: the SIPP, mutual funds and gilts opened to every customer, not just paid plans.
• 1 April 2026: a Junior ISA launched with £0 account fees and £0 commission.

Freetrade also now lets you invest on the web as well as in the app. Previously you needed a paid plan to get an ISA or SIPP at all, which is the main reason I’ve rewritten this review.

Who Freetrade suits (and who it doesn’t)

Freetrade suits you if

• You want a free ISA, SIPP and Junior ISA under one login.
• You mostly buy UK shares, investment trusts or ETFs priced in pounds, where there’s no FX fee.
• You want a simple app for steady, long-term investing rather than trading in and out.
• You want to start small with fractional US shares (a slice of one share).

Look elsewhere if

• You buy a lot of US shares every month: the 0.99% FX fee adds up fast.
• You want to take an income from your pension by drawdown, or have your employer pay into it.
• You want a Lifetime ISA or Cash ISA.
• You rely on in-depth charts and research.

Plans and pricing

Freetrade runs three plans. Every plan includes the GIA, ISA, Junior ISA and SIPP, commission-free trading, mutual funds, gilts, and limit, stop loss and recurring orders. What you pay for is a lower FX fee, more interest on cash and extra features.

Is the Freetrade ISA really free?

Yes. Since 1 September 2025 the Stocks and Shares ISA has been on the free Basic plan with no account fee and no minimum to open. You can pay in up to £20,000 in the 2026/27 tax year, and gains and dividends inside it are tax free. Transferring an ISA in is free from Freetrade’s side (your old provider may charge) and can take four to six weeks.

The trade-off is the FX fee. If most of what you buy is UK-listed, it barely matters. If you’re buying US shares like Apple or Nvidia every month, that 0.99% adds up faster than a flat annual fee would. Our round-up of the best Stocks and Shares ISAs covers the full market, and our beginner’s guide to opening an ISA explains how the tax wrapper works.

Does Freetrade have a SIPP?

Yes, free on every plan since 22 January 2026. A SIPP (self-invested personal pension) lets you choose your own investments, and you can run one alongside a workplace pension. Freetrade claims basic rate tax relief for you, which usually takes 6 to 11 weeks to land. Transfers in are free from Freetrade’s side for most personal pensions, but not final salary schemes.

Two catches. Freetrade doesn’t accept employer contributions, and there’s no drawdown (taking an income while staying invested): you can only take lump sums, at £240 per withdrawal, or transfer out. You can normally access a pension from 55, rising to 57 from April 2028. Our SIPP vs ISA guide helps if you’re weighing them up.

Freetrade Junior ISA

The Junior ISA launched on 1 April 2026 with no account fee and no commission. Parents can pay in up to £9,000 a year for a child in 2026/27, and the money is locked until they turn 18. Our guide to Junior ISAs explains the rules.

Fees: the honest version

Freetrade doesn’t charge commission on trades, and there’s no account fee on any plan. When you invest, your capital is at risk, and the fee that actually matters is the foreign exchange charge whenever you buy or sell something priced in another currency. Stamp duty of 0.5% applies to UK share purchases on every platform, and funds and ETFs have their own yearly charges.

• £1,000 of US shares: £9.90 on Basic, £5.90 on Standard, £3.90 on Plus, and the same again when you sell. At Trading 212 it would be £1.50.
• When Standard pays off: it cuts the FX fee by 0.40%, so the £59.88 yearly price is covered once you convert about £15,000 a year (buying and selling both count).
• When Plus pays off on FX alone: it saves 0.60% against Basic, so £119.88 is covered at about £20,000 of conversions a year.
• Cash interest helps a little: £3,000 of uninvested cash earns about £105 a year on Plus, against about £10 on Basic (1% on the first £1,000 only), if rates don’t change.

Is Freetrade Plus worth it?

For most beginner or casual investors, I don’t think Plus pays for itself. You’d need a fairly large uninvested cash balance or a lot of overseas trading before the extra cost works in your favour. Where it starts to make sense is if you’re building a US-heavy portfolio and the FX saving alone outweighs the subscription. Mutual funds used to be a reason to upgrade, but they’re now on every plan.

Read nextSnoop App Review: Is It Safe To Connect Your Bank Account?

What can you trade on Freetrade?

Freetrade lists more than 9,000 investments: UK, US and European shares, ETFs, investment trusts and mutual funds, plus UK government bonds (gilts) and Treasury bills. Fractional shares are available on US stocks on every plan, so you can buy a slice of a company like Amazon for a few pounds rather than the full share price.

Is Freetrade safe?

This is the question I get asked most. Freetrade isn’t a bank. Freetrade Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA (number 783189) and is a member of the London Stock Exchange.

• Your investments are held in a nominee account (an account that holds them on your behalf), kept separate from Freetrade’s own assets.
• Your cash sits in dedicated client money accounts, also separate from Freetrade’s money.
• If Freetrade failed, accounts would most likely be moved to another provider, and the FSCS covers up to £85,000 per person for investments if anything were missing. That’s the investment limit, not the £120,000 limit for money in a bank account.
• Ownership: being part of IG Group, a FTSE 100 company, adds backing that Freetrade didn’t have as a standalone start-up.

None of this protects you from investments falling in value: that risk is always yours. You can check any firm with the FSCS protection checker.

How long do Freetrade withdrawals take?

Freetrade says withdrawals typically take 2 to 3 working days but can take up to 5. If you’ve just sold investments, the sale has to settle first. Money in a SIPP can’t be withdrawn until pension age.

My experience with Freetrade

I ran a general investment account on Freetrade for nine months, and the app was easy to live with day to day. Buying and selling is quick: trades show up in your portfolio almost instantly, and you can see exactly what you paid for each holding in a couple of taps.

When I signed up I got a free share through their referral promotion, and mine landed as a small stake in Nike. Today’s offer gives you a free share worth £10 to £100 if you fund your account with at least £50 in your first 30 days. The share goes into your GIA (not your ISA or SIPP), and you can’t withdraw it, or the cash from selling it, for 180 days.

The one thing that used to bother me is that Freetrade was app only. I like comparing charts side by side, and that’s awkward on a phone. Freetrade now offers a web version too, which I haven’t tested yet, so I’ll update this once I have. For straightforward long-term investing it was rarely a deal breaker.

Freetrade reviews: what customers say

On Trustpilot, Freetrade scores 4.2 out of 5 from 7,484 reviews, with 69% giving five stars and 13% giving one star (checked 29 October 2026). Freetrade lists Finder’s 2025 Provider of the Year and boring money’s 2026 Value for Money award on its site.

The recurring complaints in recent one star reviews are delays getting money out or seeing deposits arrive, slow and generic replies from support, and account transfer or paperwork problems since the IG takeover. Freetrade’s priority support sits on the Plus plan only.

Freetrade vs Trading 212 vs Lightyear

Each provider’s own pages, checked 29 October 2026:

Freetrade vs Trading 212

Both are solid, FCA-regulated, commission-free platforms, and I’ve used them both. Trading 212 wins on cost if you trade in foreign currency: its 0.15% FX fee beats even Freetrade Plus at 0.39%. Freetrade’s advantage is simplicity, and it’s now the only one of the two with a Junior ISA. If you’re US-stock heavy, read my Trading 212 review. If you want the simplest free ISA, SIPP and Junior ISA setup, Freetrade is hard to beat.

Freetrade vs eToro

eToro also offers commission-free shares and a Stocks and Shares ISA, but no SIPP. See how they compare in our Freetrade vs eToro comparison.

Freetrade vs Hargreaves Lansdown

Freetrade is cheaper for most people. Hargreaves Lansdown charges a 0.35% yearly platform fee (capped at £150 a year for shares) plus £6.95 per online share deal, while Freetrade’s Basic plan has no platform fee and only charges FX on foreign trades.

How I tested Freetrade

I’ve used Freetrade on and off for years, including nine months running a GIA: signing up, funding, buying and selling shares, and claiming the free share. I scored it with our six pillar method, which rates suitability for beginners, useful features, user experience, customer service, price and fees, and customer feedback. Freetrade scored 4.4 out of 5.

Every fee, rate and product on this page was re-checked on Freetrade’s own website and help centre on 29 October 2026. If you sign up through our link, we may earn a reward. That never changes the score.

Verdict: is Freetrade worth it?

For beginners who want a free ISA, SIPP and Junior ISA in one simple app, and who mostly buy UK-listed investments, yes. It gains points for being free where it used to charge, for FCA and FSCS protection, and for sitting inside a much bigger, more established parent company.

It loses points on the 0.99% FX fee for Basic users, and when I scored it, the lack of a desktop platform, which Freetrade has since added. If you invest heavily in US shares, check our favourite investing apps to compare it with the rest of the market.

FAQs