ii Referral GuideIndependent

Charges checked on each provider's site, Charges checked

Interactive Investor fee calculator: ii vs HL, AJ Bell, Vanguard

Is Interactive Investor cheaper than HL, AJ Bell or Vanguard?

For funds, ii is cheaper than HL from about £20,600, AJ Bell from about £28,800 and Vanguard from about £48,000 (except about £100,000–£120,000). For shares and ETFs only, AJ Bell’s £42 ISA cap is cheaper at any size; enter your own portfolio below.

Updated

Your portfolio

Start from a typical portfolio

Mix and trading

100% funds · 0% shares/ETFs
Include one-off trades

Regular monthly investing is free on all four platforms, so only count one-off buys and sells.

ii uses Core up to £100,000 and Plus above; one plan fee covers ISA, SIPP and Trading Account, and the £100,000 limit counts your total portfolio across all your ii accounts. All four platforms' charges for all three accounts checked .

You'd save
£278 a year

on ii compared with Hargreaves Lansdown.

ii £72 a year (Core)HL £350 a yearii year one with referral £35.94

£0£200£400£600£5k£20k£100k£250k£1mHLAJ Bell£100,000
ii Core£72LowestHL£350
Annual cost by portfolio size, ISA, all in funds. ii is cheaper than Hargreaves Lansdown from £20,600. The scale zooms to your size; HL and AJ Bell rise above it at larger sizes (see the numbers below).
Numbers behind the chart
Annual cost, ISA, all in funds. Charges checked .
PortfolioiiHLAJ BellVanguard
£10,000£72£35£25£48
£25,000£72£88£63£48
£50,000£72£175£125£75
£100,000£72£350£250£150
£250,000£180£875£625£375
£500,000£180£1,500£875£375
£1,000,000£180£2,750£875£375
ii is the cheapest of the four at £100,000.

The referral then waives six months of the Core fee.

Annual cost by provider, cheapest first
#ProviderPlatformDealingTotal a year
1Interactive InvestorCore plan£72£0£72
2VanguardVanguard funds/ETFs only£150£0£150
3AJ Bellfunds 0.25%, tiered£250£0£250
4Hargreaves Lansdownfunds 0.35%, tiered£350£0£350
Year one on ii with the referral: £35.94Six months of the Core fee waived (£35.94 saved). That's below all three alternatives for year one.

Where ii isn't the cheapest, for your mix and trading

  • Hargreaves Lansdown costs less than ii under £20,600.
  • AJ Bell costs less than ii under £28,800.
  • Vanguard costs less than ii under £48,000 and £100,000–£120,000.

Computed from each provider's published charges (see “How this is worked out” below). A gap of £30 a year or less is shown as a close call.

Over 10 years at today's value

£683ii over 10 years
£3,500HL over 10 years
£2,500AJ Bell over 10 years
£1,500Vanguard over 10 years

ii's total includes the referral's six free months in year one. Portfolio value is held constant, so this shows fee drag, not growth.

Where ii becomes cheaper, for your mix and trading

  • ii is cheaper than Hargreaves Lansdown from £20,600.
  • ii is cheaper than AJ Bell from £28,800.
  • ii is cheaper than Vanguard £48,000–£100,000 and from £120,000.

If ii suits your portfolio, the referral waives the first six months of its fee: £35.94 on Core or £89.94 on Plus. Add or transfer £5,000+ within 12 months. Until 30 November 2026, ii’s separate £100–£5,000 cashback (minimum £20,000) can apply too. Details.

Get 6 months free

Capital at risk. New ii customers only. We may earn a reward if you sign up through this link. Full terms

How this is worked out
  • HL: funds 0.35% to £250,000, 0.25% to £1m, 0.10% to £2m, nil above; shares/ETFs 0.35% capped at £150/yr. Dealing £1.95 per fund, £6.95 per share trade (£3.95 at 20+ a month).
  • AJ Bell: funds 0.25% to £250,000, 0.10% to £500,000, nil above; ISA shares 0.25% capped at £42/yr. Dealing £1.50 per fund, £5.00 per share trade (£3.50 at 10+ a month).
  • Vanguard: £48/yr under £32,000, then 0.15% capped at £375/yr, on the whole portfolio. No dealing charge on its funds; ETF spreads aren't modelled. It only offers Vanguard funds and ETFs.
  • ii: £71.88/yr on Core up to £100,000, £179.88/yr on Plus above. Dealing as shown; Plus includes £3.99 of trading credit a month, which referral customers don't get during the six free months.
  • SIPP and Trading Account (GIA), checked : ii's plan fee covers every account, with the pension admin fee included. HL's SIPP and Fund and Share Account have the same charges as its ISA, applied to each account separately. AJ Bell's SIPP uses the same fund tiers with shares capped at £120/yr; its Dealing account matches the ISA (£42/yr cap). Vanguard charges one fee across all accounts.
  • The mix splits your portfolio by value between funds and shares/ETFs, and each charge applies to its own part. Fund management charges (OCFs) aren't included; they're set by each fund manager, and HL says it negotiates discounts on over 500 funds.