What Freetrade actually does
Freetrade is a UK investment app offering commission-free trading in stocks, ETFs and investment trusts, wrapped around the country's main tax-advantaged accounts: a Stocks and Shares ISA, a Junior ISA, a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) and a general investment account. Founded as an independent, venture-backed challenger, Freetrade was acquired in full by IG Group plc in April 2025 for around £160 million, after IG had built up a minority stake over the preceding years. IG Group is a London-listed derivatives and trading-platform group that joined the FTSE 100 in 2025, and Freetrade now operates as its wholly owned retail-investing subsidiary while continuing to trade under its own brand and its own FCA authorisation.
The core product
All three of Freetrade's plans, Basic, Standard and Plus, give access to the same account types and to commission-free trading across a stated universe of more than 8,600 stocks, ETFs and investment trusts, including fractional shares, treasury bills, mutual funds and gilts. What changes between tiers is cost and convenience: the foreign-exchange fee charged on non-GBP trades drops from 0.99% on Basic to 0.59% on Standard and 0.39% on Plus, and the AER paid on uninvested cash rises from 1% capped at £1,000 on Basic to 2.5% capped at £2,000 on Standard and 3.5% capped at £3,000 on Plus. Standard and Plus also add features aimed at more active users, enhanced stock fundamentals data, automated order types, extended trading hours and priority customer support, with Plus additionally getting early access to beta features.
What's new or notable
The most significant recent change isn't a feature but an ownership change: IG Group's full acquisition of Freetrade closed on 1 April 2025, ending Freetrade's run as an independent scale-up and folding it into a listed, FTSE 100 financial group. Freetrade has framed this as bringing the financial strength and long-term stability of a larger, regulated group to a customer base that had watched several UK investment-app peers face funding pressure in recent years.
Who should use Freetrade
Great fit if…
- You want ISA, SIPP and a general account under one FCA-regulated roof — most UK investors' core tax wrappers are covered without needing a second platform.
- You trade mostly in GBP — the FX fee tiers matter far less if most of your holdings are UK-listed, so the free Basic plan can be genuinely sufficient.
- You want the reassurance of a larger corporate parent — being wholly owned by a FTSE 100 group is a meaningful stability signal after a run of UK fintech consolidation.
Skip it if…
- You trade a lot of non-GBP stocks on the free plan — a 0.99% FX fee on every US or European trade adds up quickly compared with the paid tiers.
- You want to keep a large cash buffer earning interest — the enhanced AER rates are capped at fairly small balances, £1,000 to £3,000, so they don't help much once cash holdings grow.
- You'd rather deal with a fully independent company — Freetrade's decisions on product direction and pricing now sit inside IG Group's broader corporate strategy.
Pricing in detail
Freetrade runs three monthly plans with no trading commission on any of them; what's charged instead is a subscription fee, a tiered FX conversion fee on non-GBP trades, and a cap on interest-bearing cash. Annual billing on Standard and Plus carries roughly a 17% discount versus paying monthly.
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Free | ISA, SIPP, GIA access; 0.99% FX fee; 1% AER up to £1,000 cash |
| Standard | £4.99/month (£59.88/year) | 0.59% FX fee; 2.5% AER up to £2,000; enhanced fundamentals, automated orders |
| Plus | £9.99/month (£119.88/year) | 0.39% FX fee; 3.5% AER up to £3,000; extended hours, priority support, beta access |
Where it falls short
- Free-tier FX costs are steep — 0.99% on every non-GBP trade is high compared with the lower tiers Freetrade itself offers for a subscription.
- Interest caps favour small balances — the improved AER rates on paid tiers apply only up to a few thousand pounds of cash, limiting their value for larger portfolios.
Privacy & data
Freetrade is subject to UK GDPR and FCA client-money and data-handling rules, with cash held in segregated client-money accounts, separate from Freetrade's own funds, and investments held in nominee accounts. Since April 2025 the business also sits within IG Group's group-wide data and compliance structure, meaning certain data and infrastructure practices may follow IG Group policy rather than Freetrade's earlier standalone approach.
How we checked this
Pricing was checked against Freetrade's own pricing page on 2026-09-05, and client-money and FSCS protection details were confirmed on Freetrade's "keeping you safe" page. The IG Group acquisition details, announcement and April 2025 completion, were confirmed via public company announcements; this is desk research against the company's own current pages rather than an in-app test of every tier.
What you get, what you give up
What you get
- One app covers ISA, Junior ISA, SIPP and a general account, so most UK tax wrappers are available without switching platforms.
- Now backed by IG Group's balance sheet after the April 2025 full acquisition, which the company frames as added financial stability.
What you give up
- The free Basic plan carries the highest FX conversion fee (0.99%) and the lowest cash-interest cap, so cost-conscious frequent traders often end up needing a paid tier anyway.
- Interest rates on uninvested cash are tiered and capped at low balances (up to £1,000–£3,000 depending on plan), so they matter little once a portfolio's cash buffer grows.