Freetrade Review – Should You Use It in 2023?

	Name	Score	Visit	Disclaimer
	Freetrade	7.6	Visitfreetrade.io					The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.

Investment Products – 7.5/10

Freetrade doesn’t have the biggest choice of investment products on the market, but it’s more than sufficient for beginner DIY investors.

Assets Available

Freetrade gives you access to over 6,000 UK, EU, and US stocks and ETFs. Let’s look at its range of products:

• Shares: Over 6,000 US, EU, and UK stocks (including the biggest companies such as Tesla, Apple, or Amazon), as well as dual-listed global companies (e.g. Nintendo).

• OTC Stocks: 23 Over-the-Counter stocks are currently listed on Freetrade’s website. OTC stocks are traded directly through decentralised markets.

• Fractional US shares: They let you purchase fractions or parts of whole shares. It’s not such a common feature on investment platforms and is great for those with tight-budgets or beginners, so it’s a plus for Freetrade.

• SPACs: Over 200 Special Purpose Acquisition Companies are available on Freetrade.

• ETFs: 400+ available. Exchange traded funds allow you to buy a collection of assets through a single investment (great way to diversify your portfolio).

• REITs: Real Estate Investment Trusts (companies) let you invest in properties without directly owning them.

• Investment Trusts: 150+ Investment Trusts or collective investment funds that pool money from multiple investors to invest in a diversified portfolio of assets.

• IPOs: Initial Public Offerings happen when a company lists its shares for the first time to raise capital: Freetrade offers a calendar of these events.

While a Freetrade account promises a range that is enough for a vast majority of investors, some cons give it a lower score compared to the competition:

• Freetrade Basic plan offers a limited 1,500 stocks and ETFs.

• There’s no access to funds.

• Freetrade has a more limited offer compared to platforms such as AJ Bell (2,700 funds, 2900 ETFs, 8,200 shares) and Interactive Investor (with over 40,000 investment products).

Will this be a problem?

Probably not. If you are a beginner investor, this might even be helpful as you will be more able to focus on the most popular products.

On the other hand, experienced investors might find the range limited. Most notably, Freetrade doesn’t offer cryptocurrencies and high-risk products such as CFDs, but some of its competitors do — such as Trading212 and eToro.

Market Reach

Freetrade is focused on the UK, US, and European markets. It gives you access to the following 11 major exchanges:

• London Stock Exchange

• AIM (small UK-listed companies)

• NASDAQ

• New York Stock Exchange

• Euronext Amsterdam

• Euronext Brussels

• Euronext Lisbon

• Deutsche Börse Xetra

• Wiener Börse (Vienna)

• Nasdaq Stockholm

• Helsinki

Let’s see how it stands against other platforms: Its biggest competitor Trading 212, provides access to 14 exchanges. The difference is subtle, but it may be decisive for some investors.

But Fretrade has a strong advantage when it comes to foreign markets: its foreign exchange fees are exceptionally affordable, starting at 0.39%.

Account Types

Freetrade has three account types, a GIA, an ISA, and a SIPP.

Investors who need other types of accounts may need to look for them elsewhere. For example, Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell offer a wider range including LISAs and junior accounts, whereas Saxo Markets and eToro offer corporate accounts.

Freetrade General Investment Account

The GIA, available in all of Freetrade's plans, charges no commission to trade stocks and ETFs without any limitations on the number of trades.

However, any profit is not tax-free. In fact, you may be subject to Capital Gains Tax, which applies to gains over the annual tax-free allowance of £6,000 (which will be cut again to £3,000 in the tax year of 24/25).

This type of account is mostly used by investors who have already used up their ISA allowance for the year.

Stocks and Shares ISA

A stocks and shares ISA is a tax-free individual savings account where you can invest up to £20,000 each year and keep most of your gains free from the taxman. Keep in mind you can only pay into one ISA per year.

While there are free ISAs available on the market, commission-free trading on FT lets you save up more than enough to pay off the monthly fee. For example, just a single share trade on Hargreaves Lansdown ranges between £5.95 and £11.95, making this account great value for money.

The ISA is included in Freetrade’s Standard Plan (£5.99) and its Plus plan (£11.99).

Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP)

A SIPP is a type of personal pension that lets you choose your investments, and Freetrade includes it in its Plus plan along with the Stocks and shares ISA and GIA. And if you already have a SIPP, you can transfer it to Freetrade for free.

The Freetrade SIPP would cost you £11.99 per month or £119.88 if you pay annually. Again, you can save this amount on commissions given that you only pay the flat monthly fee, especially if you have a sizable portfolio.

When it comes to taxes, pensions (including SIPPs) are quite tax-efficient: You only pay tax if you exceed your annual allowance of £60,000 in the 23/24 tax year. However, you cannot access the money until you’re 55.

On the plus side, it’s worth noting that not all platforms offer SIPPs, which is too bad given their tax-wrapper status. So looking at commission-free platforms, this is another advantage of Freetrade over Trading 212.

Features – 6/10

The platform is good for beginners given its affordability, simplicity, and features such as interest and fractional shares. However, it falls short in educational materials and research and trading tools.

For example, copy trading can be an exceptional tool for beginners, as they can see more experienced investor’s portfolios.

So in short, the platform is basic, simple, and made for DIY investors, which may or may not be your cup of tea.

Trading Tools

Here are the tools available on Freetrade:

• Basic charting

• Stock fundamentals

• Buy/sell limit orders

• Stop loss orders

• Recurring orders

• Fractional shares

• Interest on uninvested cash

• Gain/loss reporting

Basic Charting

There are no advanced analytics tools on Freetrade, just some basic historical share performance and portfolio performance graphs. These can provide you some necessary insight, which would be sufficient for beginners, but more advanced investors may find it lacking. However, Plus members do get access to more tools.

Stock Fundamentals (on Plus only)

Stock fundamentals are metrics used for evaluating companies, helping investors decide whether to buy or sell.

These include:

• Company financials

• Forecasts for earnings per share (EPS) and share price

• Key ratios, such as price-to-book (P/B) and price/earnings-to-growth (PEG)‍

Stock fundamentals are fairly essential and usually available free of charge with many other competitors like eToro.

Stop-Losses

A stop-loss order does exactly what it says: it stops you from losing too much money. With this order, you choose a certain price level, and if the stock price drops to that level, the system automatically sells your stocks to prevent further losses.

Limit Orders

You do have the ability to set buy and sell limit orders on Freetrade. That is, you can set your preferred price for any of these actions, and once the share reaches the price, your order will be automatically completed.

Recurring Orders

Set a date on which you want your order to be placed, and Freetrade will place it for you if you have sufficient funds on that day. Another useful tool, but since share prices change, it does come with some risks as well as benefits.

Fractional Shares

The ability to buy fractions of expensive US shares can help you own stock of some of the biggest, most expensive companies, and it’s one of Freetrade’s biggest perks. In fact, you can buy parts of expensive stock for as little as £2.

While the other features are a bit limited, this incredibly useful option certainly helps Freetrade’s score in this section.

Interest on Uninvested Cash

With a 1% interest rate on Standard and a 3% rate on Plus, you can pay off your monthly fees by having a few thousand pounds in your account. If it’s important to you, you should know that AJ Bell and Trading 212 also offer this feature, with 2.2% over £10,000 and 1.65% APY on Trading 212 (earned and paid daily) for ISAs.

Gain/Loss Reporting

Gain/Loss reporting lets Freetrade customers see how their investments are doing:

• Increases and decreases in stock prices gathered from all investments the customer holds,

• Gains in respect of income received from dividends.

Market Research

Freetrade doesn’t offer a lot of market research resources, leaving (and asking) investors to do their own research.

However, the app does have a feature called Analyst Ratings for Plus members, which lets you see how experts rated a given asset (favourable, neutral, or negative).

While this is not ideal, it’s usually on brand with low-cost investment platforms.

Educational Materials

Freetrade’s educational materials provide a solid foundation for beginner and intermediate-level investors. The offer is mostly published on Freetrade’s website in the form of articles and FAQs. Unlike some other platforms, it doesn’t offer an academy-type learning platform or a lot of video content.

The articles are, however, clear, straightforward, and easy to follow. They cover asset basics and investment ideas, with some market commentary and ways to adjust your investment strategy to new circumstances (such as inflation).

However, Freetrade’s community offers the platform an advantage, as the forum contains plenty of investor discussions, resources, and places to have a conversation.

Also, customers get their daily market news email called Honey by Freetrade, to help them out along with Invest Hub.

Fees – 8/10

With very few additional costs and a flat fee structure, Freetrade’s pricing is simple and transparent. It has three plans, fee-free trades, and solid exchange fees. It deserves a high score of 8/10, with two points deducted as exchange fees are slightly high and the shares are limited on Basic.

Let’s sum it up before we go into the numbers:

Freetrade Plans

You can start investing on Freetrade with one of three plans: Basic (Free), Standard (£5.99/month), and Plus (£11.99/mo). Also, customers that pay an annual subscription get a 17% discount.

However, all three plans offer commission-free trades.

Here’s what each of them offers:

Freetrade Trading and Non-Trading Fees

Trading fees on investment platforms vary from buying/selling fees to expense ratios for ETFs and mutual funds. Other trading fees such as margin fees do not apply to Freetrade, and Freetrade also doesn’t make money from spread.

Freetrade doesn’t have any non-trading fees: it’s free of charge to make a bank transfer to fund your account, as well as withdraw your earnings to your bank account.

The platform mostly makes money from FX fees and subscriptions, so these are the only fees that are somewhat more expensive. However, given the current pricing on the market, they are still accessible, especially paired with free dealing.

Here’s how it compares to its two toughest zero-commission rivals:

So, to sum up:

The low minimum investment and no non-trading fees make Freetrade more affordable than eToro, but on par or slightly more expensive than Trading 212, depending on the plan and your investment needs.

Usability – 9.5/10

The investing app is so easy to use and get around that it deserves the highest score on its own. However, the website still being in Beta requires us to take away half a point.

Freetrade App Review

Freetrade’s app boasts excellent reviews, easy navigation, and just an all-over user-friendly design. If you’re concerned about its learning curve, I can assure you that while investing itself requires extensive research and education, learning how to navigate the app itself requires very little effort.

Freetrade Design and Navigation

Freetrade’s app has a simple interface with a clean design and easy navigation.

Account top-up takes a few taps, with both bank transfers and Apple/Google Pay supported. Also, the app lets you save your favourite companies or ETFs you would like to buy in the future and create a Watchlist. Buying and selling also take no more than three taps, so its not hard to see why the app is so popular.

Login and Security Features

The security and login features include both a digital password and biometric authentication: face recognition and touch ID. The sign-up process doesn’t last long, but you may need your NI number ready.

Search Functionality

The search functionality is excellent. You can find popular shares and ETFs in the Discover section, find them by sector, or you can look for them yourself in the Search bar by name or category.

Alerts and Notifications

Price alerts are not available at Freetrade, although you may receive investing tips and other news if you enable Push notifications in the app.

Portfolio Management

The Portfolio tab lists all your investments and their current price, while the Insights tab lets you look at its performance.

Earning Reports & Fees Breakdowns

Any time you earn dividends, Freetrade lets you know in the following ways:

• push notifications,

• through the app’s activity feed,

• Email (with detailed information).

You can request monthly statements from Freetrade for your tax returns.

Trading Breaks

Investing can be quite stressful, so Freetrade incorporated 24-hour trading breaks or blocks into its app that customers can activate on their own. It’s a simple but useful feature.

Proxy Voting

Freetrade customers can take part in meetings and vote on corporate matters put to a shareholder vote in the US companies they invest in, all through Freetrade’s proxy voting service.

Freetrade Website Platform

Freetrade’s website platform is still in its Beta and only available to Plus members. Moreover, you can not trade on it and you cannot access your SIPP. The website has been exceptionally slow to roll out fully. But if it’s anything like the app, once it does, I expect it to have a superb user experience.

Customer Satisfaction & Reputation – 7.3/10

Freetrade is safe and regulated – so your money is protected. When it comes to service, the reviews are good, but some do point to flaws that Freetrade will need to work on.

Safety & Regulations

Freetrade is a safe investing platform, offering security features such as 2FA and digital passwords.

Is Freetrade Regulated?

Freetrade is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, as well as the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) in Sweden.

Your funds are also protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

Is Freetrade Safe?

Yes, Freetrade is a fairly safe platform. Here's what it does to protect its customers:

• Segregates client funds so even if Freetrade goes bust, your funds will not,

• Holds UK-listed stocks or ETFs that you buy with its non-trading company Freetrade Nominees Limited with you as the beneficial owner in CREST (UK’s central security depository),

• Holds your US-listed stocks in custody at a third-party SEC-registered broker (the Security and Exchange Commission, which regulates US securities markets),

• Runs soft credit checks during onboarding (which don’t affect your credit),

• Performs FCA-required ‘Know Your Customer’ and anti-money laundering checks.

Freetrade Background

In 2016, Freetrade’s Founder & CEO Adam Dodds started the company and has been leading it since. It’s a privately owned, independent startup based in London.

When it comes to funding, Freetrade raised its initial capital through equity crowdfunding, gathering support from more than 19,000 shareholders (many who are a part of Freetrade’s helpful and vibrant community forum).

Since then, it has received funding from venture-capital firms, listing each investor on its website. Its current investor is Molten Ventures.

The company’s info is easy to find online, and the app has been featured on sites like Forbes and Business Insider.

Customer Reviews

On all three platforms, Freetrade responds to almost every complaint. These responses aren’t generic but tailored to the customers’ problems. I also came across plenty of updated comments saying the company fixed their issues.

Here are the ratings:

Freetrade on Trustpilot

Trustpilot describes Freetrade’s reviews as ‘great’ and I agree. Here are some common positive experiences I came across in a myriad of comments. Intuitive trading process, app design, and ease of use are common sources of praise, along with the welcome absence of trading fees, and finally, positive customer support experiences.

However, I need to mention the negatives, too. Not all customers liked Freetrade’s exchange fees, calling them too high. They also mentioned the limited use of the web platform and the impression that features roll out too slowly.

But here’s a giant green flag: Freetrade responded to 99% of negative reviews (an incredible response rate), and its response time is under 24 hours.

Freetrade on Google Play

Now let’s see what Android users have to say about their experiences with Freetrade.

Good things first: they enjoy the way the app functions, and even when there were issues, users commented they were fixed in no time. Just like Trustpilot reviewers, Google Play Store commenters praised Freetrade’s value for money.

And now for the complaints. Customers do not appreciate Freetrade’s lack of analytical tools, although it’s quite common for zero-commission platforms. The recent ISA price increase also didn’t sit well with many investors, just like the app’s recent slowdown in customer support response time.

However, Freetrade again responded to all of the negative reviews, either explaining the delay or concern or fixing the issue internally. Kudos for that!

Freetrade on App Store

Finally, on to the App Store reviews.

According to a sizable chunk of comments, these were the most common positive experiences with Freetrade – many praise the ease of use of the platform and the extremely low costs which results in a very low entry barrier.

Common complaints are as expected; many flags the long response times from the customer service and the lacking features like real-time pricing or detailed charts. While the lack of analytical tools is quite common for low-cost platforms, we’re hoping Freetrade will improve its resources to meet its increasing user base.

Customer Service

Freetrade’s customer service has mixed reviews, ranging from outstanding to the occasional complaint about it being too slow. In our opinion, it is pretty solid, especially for a growing startup.

Here is the contact info for all customer service channels:

Customer service reviews of Freetrade are mostly positive – short response times, with helpful and friendly staff.

However, during busier times, customers have reported waiting several days to get a response which Freetrade has also said in replies to comments (to expect a response time of three to five working days when there are delays).

However, some reviewers did rightfully complain about the lack of a phone line, which would help immensely especially as the number of clients grows (currently, Freetrade has 1.4 million users).

Still, given that Freetrade is a young startup that has been growing rather quickly, I'm expecting it to improve these aspects in the future.

Freetrade Alternatives to Consider

Trading 212

Freetrade’s biggest rival lets you trade commission-free as well. However, its FX is lower, making it better for investors who frequently buy or sell foreign stock. Also, it has a more diverse range of assets, so it may be more appealing to experienced investors.

	Name	Score	Visit	Disclaimer
	Interactive Investor	7.6	Visitii.co.uk

eToro

If you don’t need an ISA, but you want fee-free dealing and a wide range of assets, eToro might be the right choice for DIY investors. It has a demo account, outstanding social trading features (meaning you can copy portfolios from investing superstars), and it includes assets like crypto. Finally, its investing Academy has the edge over Freetrade’s educational materials.

	Name	Score	Visit	Disclaimer
	eToro	8.7	Visitetoro.com					Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest.

Should You Invest With Freetrade?

Freetrade is excellent for beginners and people with large portfolios who want DIY investing for a flat fee. While it does have some growing pains (none affect customers much), its simplicity, efficiency, and security make it one of the best investing apps in the UK.

FAQs