Cheapest Brokers in the UK (2026)
We ranked 8share-dealing platforms available to UK investors by their real annual cost — commission, currency-conversion (FX) and withdrawal fees combined — computed from each platform's published fee schedule. For a regular investor placing 24 trades of £1,000 a year with currency conversion, InvestEngine is the cheapest, at about $0 a year — $238 less than the most expensive platform in the table for exactly the same trades. Fees verified June 2026.
Reviewed by Yaniv Barshaf · Fees verified June 2026 · Our methodology
Disclosure: FeesWizard may earn a commission if you open an account through links on this page. This never affects our fee data or rankings — how we make money.
Best overall: InvestEngine
InvestEngine tops all three of our cost profiles below. It charges no dealing commission and no currency-conversion fee, which is what decides the winner for investors who buy overseas — FX is the largest recurring cost for most UK portfolios. Confirm it fits how you invest before opening an account.
- Casual: InvestEngine
- Regular: InvestEngine
- Active: InvestEngine
Capital at risk. This is not financial advice. Investing involves risk of loss.
The cheapest UK brokers, by investor profile
Published fees applied to three concrete trading patterns. Each total combines commission, currency conversion and withdrawal charges. Model your own numbers with the trading cost calculator or the interactive tool further down this page.
Cheapest for a casual investor
£500 average trade, 6 trades a year, 2 withdrawals, buys US/overseas assets (needs currency conversion)
| # | Broker | Commission | FX | Withdrawals | Est. annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | InvestEngineCheapest | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 2 | Lightyear | $0 | $3 | $0 | $3 |
| 3 | Trading 212 | $0 | $5 | $0 | $5 |
| 4 | Webull | $0 | $11 | $0 | $11 |
| 5 | XTB | $0 | $15 | $0 | $15 |
| 6 | Revolut | $8 | $15 | $0 | $23 |
| 7 | Freetrade | $0 | $30 | $0 | $30 |
| 8 | eToro | $6 | $23 | $10 | $39 |
Cheapest for a regular investor
£1,000 average trade, 24 trades a year, 4 withdrawals, buys US/overseas assets (needs currency conversion)
| # | Broker | Commission | FX | Withdrawals | Est. annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | InvestEngineCheapest | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 2 | Lightyear | $0 | $24 | $0 | $24 |
| 3 | Trading 212 | $0 | $36 | $0 | $36 |
| 4 | Webull | $0 | $84 | $0 | $84 |
| 5 | XTB | $0 | $120 | $0 | $120 |
| 6 | Revolut | $60 | $120 | $0 | $180 |
| 7 | eToro | $24 | $180 | $20 | $224 |
| 8 | Freetrade | $0 | $238 | $0 | $238 |
Cheapest for a active investor
£2,500 average trade, 100 trades a year, 6 withdrawals, buys US/overseas assets (needs currency conversion)
| # | Broker | Commission | FX | Withdrawals | Est. annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | InvestEngineCheapest | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 2 | Lightyear | $0 | $250 | $0 | $250 |
| 3 | Trading 212 | $0 | $375 | $0 | $375 |
| 4 | Webull | $0 | $875 | $0 | $875 |
| 5 | XTB | $0 | $1,250 | $0 | $1,250 |
| 6 | Revolut | $625 | $1,250 | $0 | $1,875 |
| 7 | eToro | $100 | $1,875 | $30 | $2,005 |
| 8 | Freetrade | $0 | $2,475 | $0 | $2,475 |
Percentage fees are currency-neutral; flat fees are shown in USD as published by the platforms. Totals exclude UK stamp duty, fund/ETF ongoing charges and the bid–offer spread, which apply on any platform.
Why InvestEngine comes out cheapest
Look down the commission column in the tables above and a pattern jumps out: almost every UK platform now advertises "commission-free" share dealing, so headline commission is no longer where the money is lost. The decisive cost for a UK investor buying US or overseas shares is the currency-conversion (FX) fee — it applies to the whole converted amount, on the way in and again on the way out, and it scales with everything you trade. InvestEngine charges no FX fee at all, so as soon as a profile involves currency conversion it pulls clear of rivals that are also commission-free but still take a slice on every conversion.
The runner-up on the regular profile, Lightyear, makes the point precisely. It is also commission-free, yet its 0.1% conversion fee means a regular investor pays about $24 a year against InvestEngine's $0 — the entire gap is currency conversion, not dealing charges. This is the single most misunderstood thing about broker pricing: zero commission does not mean zero cost, and a smaller FX fee routinely beats a flashier "free trades" headline for anyone with an internationally diversified portfolio.
The ranking does shift with usage, which is why we publish three profiles rather than one verdict. Flat per-trade commissions and fixed withdrawal fees barely register for a casual investor placing a handful of trades, but they compound for an active trader placing a hundred — and a percentage FX fee that looked trivial on a small pot becomes the dominant line once the traded value climbs into five figures. Read the profile that matches your own behaviour, not just the top of the first table. For the full anatomy of every charge across the market, see our UK Broker Fee Index, and to understand the mechanics of the fee that decides most of these rankings, read how FX fees work.
What "cheapest" leaves out
Cost is decisive, but it is not the whole decision. The cheapest platform is only the right one if it also offers the accounts you need — a Stocks & Shares ISA or SIPP for tax-efficient investing, the markets and instruments you want to hold, and FSCS protection you are comfortable with. A rock-bottom fee on a platform that does not support your goals is a false economy. Weigh the annual cost figures here against account features, and if you are unsure whether a "free" product is really cheaper, learn the difference between spread and commission pricing before you commit.
Run your own numbers
Our profiles are illustrative. Enter your real trade size, number of trades and withdrawals below — set the region to United Kingdom — and the calculator recomputes the cheapest platform for exactly how you invest, from the same fee dataset behind the tables above.
Broker fee calculator
See the real annual cost of each broker for how you invest. Commission-free rarely means free — FX and withdrawal fees add up.
Cheapest for your profile
InvestEngine — $0/year
That's $238/year less than Freetrade.
| Broker | FX | Withdrawals | Est. annual cost | Visit broker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CheapestInvestEngine | $0 | $0 | $0 | Visit |
| Lightyear | $24 | $0 | $24 | Visit |
| Trading 212 | $36 | $0 | $36 | Visit |
| Webull | $84 | $0 | $84 | Visit |
| XTB | $120 | $0 | $120 | Visit |
| Revolut | $120 | $0 | $180 | Visit |
| eToro | $180 | $20 | $224 | Visit |
| Freetrade | $238 | $0 | $238 | Visit |
Estimates based on published fee schedules (verified June 2026) and your inputs. This calculator covers share-dealing (stock/ETF) brokers only; FX applies when funding in a different currency. CFD and spread-based brokers are excluded because their leveraged, spread-based costs are not directly comparable to share-dealing accounts. Actual costs vary by instrument, region, and account tier. Capital at risk. This is not financial advice. Investing involves risk of loss.
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk. 50% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
Cheapest UK brokers: frequently asked questions
Which is the cheapest broker in the UK?
On our computed rankings, InvestEngine is the cheapest UK share-dealing platform for a regular investor (24 trades of £1,000 a year with currency conversion), at an estimated $0 a year — versus $238 for the most expensive of the 8 platforms we ranked. "Cheapest" depends on how you invest, so we also rank a casual and an active profile below.
Is a commission-free broker actually free?
Rarely. Most UK 'commission-free' platforms still charge a currency-conversion (FX) fee when you buy US or overseas shares — typically 0.15% to 0.99% each way — plus, in some cases, withdrawal or inactivity fees. For anyone buying US stocks, the FX fee is usually the largest single cost, which is why a platform with zero commission can still be far from the cheapest.
Why does the cheapest broker change with how much I trade?
Because fees scale differently. A percentage FX fee grows with the value you convert, a flat per-trade commission grows with the number of trades, and inactivity or withdrawal fees are fixed. A platform that looks cheap for six small trades a year can become the dearest for someone trading a hundred times — so we rank three distinct profiles rather than declaring a single winner.
Do these costs include stamp duty or fund charges?
No. These figures cover only broker-level charges from our dataset — commission, currency-conversion (FX), withdrawal and inactivity fees, verified June 2026. They exclude UK stamp duty (0.5% on eligible UK share purchases), fund or ETF ongoing charges (OCF), and the bid–offer spread, which apply regardless of which platform you use.
How are these rankings calculated?
Every figure is computed at build time by applying each platform's published fee schedule to a fixed investor profile — there are no opinions or estimates typed in by hand. The same engine powers our on-page calculator, so you can reproduce any number by entering your own trade size, trade count and withdrawal count.