We’ve tested and scored over 30 investing platforms to find the best trading apps for beginners. Our top picks are simple to use with low costs, all packed into an excellent app.
All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.
Making your first move into investing can be a small, comfortable step rather than a huge, daunting leap – with certain platforms. Ideally, you want somewhere that’s cheap, lets you invest with small amounts and has an app that’s designed with beginners in mind.
Some platforms are free to use and you can invest with just a few quid, whereas others have high minimum investment amounts and could cost you over £100 a year just for the privilege of holding an account. So, we’ve sifted out all the expensive options and tried and tested all the major UK investment platforms to bring you our picks of the best trading apps for beginners.
We’ve selected platforms that let you invest smaller amounts and those with low fees. Plus, they must be easy to use, and simplify the investing process.
We’ve hand-tested all of these apps, putting ourselves in your shoes to make an investment. Some trading apps tick a lot of boxes when it comes to the numbers, but we think they’re just not well suited for beginners, so we’ve sifted these out. The platforms we’ve picked are those we’ve evaluated to be the best for certain beginner product features or categories. If we show a “Promoted” pick, it’s been chosen from among our commercial partners and is based on factors that include special features or offers and the commission we receive.
Keep in mind that these picks are suggestions and that the exchange that is best for you will depend on your individual needs. There are other products on the market not included in our picks.
Get a free share worth up to £100 when you sign up and deposit at least £50. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
Capital at Risk.
A key part of Freetrade’s mission has always been to break down investing barriers, in terms of costs and difficulty.
It’s very simple to download the Freetrade app and get set up. Once you’ve selected a plan and registered, you can invest with as little as £2, easiest to do with US stocks because you can buy small pieces of shares (called fractional shares). It’s also free to open and hold an account on the Basic plan, so you can always give it a try and move on if you don’t like it.
We think that Freetrade has a decent range of investments to suit beginners and the process of actually making an investment just takes a few quick taps on the app.
Pros
Free to open and hold a Basic account
Over 4,700 stocks to choose from
Easy to sign up and use the app
0% commission when investing
Options for more features and tax-efficient accounts
Cons
Foreign exchange (FX) fee is quite high (especially on Basic plan)
Only US, UK and Europe markets
Analysis and research is fairly basic
Some features are behind a paywall
Platform fees
£0
Price per trade
£0
Frequent trader rate
N/A
Foreign exchange fee
0.99%
Min. initial deposit
£1
Fractional shares
FCA regulated
Price per trade
£0
Min. initial deposit
£1
Offer
Get a free share worth up to £100 when you sign up and deposit at least £50. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
Get free fractional shares worth up to £100 when you sign up with Finder’s link and use the code “FINDER”. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
Capital at Risk.
Trading 212 is our top pick for beginners looking to make smaller investments because it costs nothing to open and hold an account (including a stocks and shares ISA), and you can invest from just £1 into any of the thousands of investments on the platform.
The Trading 212 app is nice and simple to use and we think beginners won’t find it confusing to get to grips with. There are also cool features like the “pies” where you can copy portfolios created by other investors (or create your own if you’re feeling adventurous).
There are plenty of investments and features packed into Trading 212 and if you’re just looking to get started with small investments, we think you’ll like what the platform has to offer.
Pros
No platform fee to open and hold an account
0% commissions
Fractional US and UK shares
Low FX fee of 0.15%
Free stocks and share ISA
Over 13,000 investments
Interest paid on cash balances
Market-leading cash ISA
AutoInvest feature
Practice mode to get the hang of the platform
Cons
No pension
The tutorial for the practice mode isn’t very in-depth
Limited learning and research tools
Withdrawing funds takes up to 3 business days
Platform fees
£0
Price per trade
£0
Frequent trader rate
£0
Foreign exchange fee
0.15%
Min. initial deposit
£1
Fractional shares
FCA regulated
Price per trade
£0
Min. initial deposit
£1
Offer
Get free fractional shares worth up to £100 when you sign up with Finder’s link and use the code “FINDER”. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
Although interactive investor (ii) is a pretty comprehensive platform, it has a lot to offer beginners, too. It’s our top pick for investment choice because no matter what strategy you follow as a beginner, you’ll likely find the investments you want with over 40,000 to choose from.
What makes it handy for beginners is the fact that the mobile app and desktop platform are really easy to use, there’s a wide range of investments to suit whatever style you want to start with, and it has loads of great tools like fund recommendations. There’s even a free Managed ISA (where ii’s experts manage your investments) to help you get your portfolio off the ground.
interactive investor’s flat fee structure isn’t the cheapest for smaller portfolios but it’s still decent value and helpful to know as a beginner exactly how much you’ll be paying each month in platform fees. Some other platforms use percentages which means the fee can vary month-to-month.
Pros
Flat monthly fee is good value for large portfolios
There’s no point jumping in the deep end if you’re just starting to invest, and Moneybox does an excellent job of catering to beginners by keeping things simple. However, its stand-out feature is the range of account options available.
Right from the get-go, beginner investors can make the most of tax-efficient accounts like a stocks and shares ISA, an investment lifetime ISA (LISA), or a pension. Moneybox also offers loads of other accounts like a cash ISA, a junior ISA, savings accounts, and more.
Being able to access these accounts in such a beginner-friendly format is really useful and puts investors on the best path to their goals straight away.
NuWealth (previously known as Wombat) does an excellent job of catering to beginners with its slick, yet simple app.
There’s no confusing jargon or complex fee structure here. NuWealth is our best mobile app for beginners because signing up is a breeze, the account options are limited but easy to understand, and the process of making investments and managing your portfolio on the app is dead simple.
It may not be the app to use if you want to move onto more advanced investing, but this is an app clearly designed with beginners in mind. Reviewers on the App Store are also clearly impressed, rating the investing app 4.6 out of 5 (from over 800 reviews as of August 2024).
Pros
Low fees
Invest from as little as £10
Stocks and shares ISA available
Range of ETFs
Round-up option
Fractional shares
Cons
Need to subscribe to the paid plan to access funds
Dodl ticks plenty of beginner must-haves: it’s cheap, easy to use, and doesn’t have an overwhelming choice of investments. But what makes it stand out is the app's simplicity.
You’re not going to find thousands of investments here, but you will find an easy-to-use app that has a limited number of quality assets to suit most beginners.
Even though the investment choice with Dodl is simplified and streamlined, you can still use a few different types of accounts to start building a tax-efficient portfolio. On the Dodl app you can access a stocks and shares ISA, a pension, or even an investment lifetime ISA (LISA).
After bringing investing to the fingertips of beginners in the US, Robinhood is now available in the UK, and it’s our top pick for investing in stocks across the pond.
At the moment, the app is slightly limited in what it can offer UK investors, but it’s a great option if you’re looking to invest in US stocks. There’s no platform fee, no commissions, and no foreign exchange (FX) fee charged by Robinhood.
So, you can deposit and invest from as little as $1 in your favourite US stocks without worrying about a bunch of fees eating away at your portfolio. This isn’t a complete investing package for beginners, but it’s a useful place for those who want to try things out with a cheap, well-designed platform.
Get a Welcome Bonus of up to £100 when you invest at least £100 with InvestEngine. T&Cs apply.
Capital at Risk.
InvestEngine is our pick of the bunch when it comes to low-cost investing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), one of the most popular types of beginner-friendly investments. If you haven’t heard about this type of investment yet, you can find out all about them in our ETFs for beginners guide.
InvestEngine has over 600 ETFs to choose from, which isn’t the largest library around, but the platform has much more to offer beginners than most. It’s free to open and hold an account (including a stocks and shares ISA), and you can buy pieces of ETFs from just £1. It also offers actionable insights and useful tools to keep beginners on track - like automated savings plans and one-click portfolio rebalancing.
Also, if picking your own ETF portfolio sounds a bit complicated to begin with, you can let InvestEngine create and manage an investment portfolio for you for a low 0.25% annual fee.
Pros
You can build your own portfolio or get one made
Over 600 ETFs
The platform looks great, and it’s easy to use
No extra cost for a stocks and shares ISA
Low fees compared to other robo-advisors
The DIY option is one of the cheapest ways to invest
Ethical options and a great ETF screener
Cons
Percentage fees can work out expensive for large managed portfolios
You can only invest in ETFs
The risk questionnaire uses jargon that might confuse newbies
Few learning resources and tools
Limited range of managed portfolios
£100 initial minimum investment
Platform fees
0% - 0.25%
Price per trade
£0
Frequent trader rate
N/A
Foreign exchange fee
0%
Min. initial deposit
£100
Fractional shares
FCA regulated
Price per trade
£0
Min. initial deposit
£100
Offer
Get a Welcome Bonus of up to £100 when you invest at least £100 with InvestEngine. T&Cs apply.
eToro is our top pick for copying the moves of other investors because of its free CopyTrader feature that’s well designed and straightforward enough for beginners to use.
If you’re a beginner and looking to trade stocks, it might be worth piggy-backing off the knowledge of more experienced investors, and eToro lets you do this. As with all investing, success is not guaranteed. It’s free to open and hold an account with eToro and although it costs nothing to use CopyTrader, the minimum investment is slightly steep at $200.
A key thing to take note of is that everything on eToro is denominated in USD and you have to pay quite a steep foreign exchange (FX) fee of 1.5% each time you convert your pounds into dollars and vice versa. There are plenty of other great features on the eToro platform and although it might not be the overall best for beginners, it’s extremely well designed for those who want to learn the ropes of trading.
Pros
Commission-free stock trading
Over 5,500+ stocks from 20 exchanges
Fractional shares
Social features like CopyTrading and News Feed
Free to open an account
Invest from just $10
Lots of learning resources including a demo account
Ability to use GBP and USD
Cons
$5 withdrawal fee
You can't invest in an ISA
An emphasis on trading over long-term investing
Some of the trading fees are complex for certain assets like crypto
Get your first 3 months free when you upgrade to Plus plan. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
Capital at Risk.
CMC Invest is our top choice for beginners looking to invest ethically. It has a unique feature where you can set your own personalised “ESG” preferences. ESG stands for “environmental, social and governance” and it’s just a fancy term used for investments that aim to be more ethical.
On top of this, it’s a really well-built app that’s easy to navigate if you’re just starting out. There’s an option for a free account on its Core plan, and you can invest without paying commission fees on thousands of investments.
If you like CMC Invest’s trading app, you can always upgrade to one of its paid plans (Plus or Premium) later down the line to make the most of all this platform has to offer.
Pros
No minimum deposit
Free to open and hold a Core account
No investing commissions
Over 4,500 investments
2% uncapped interest paid on cash in all account plans
ISA and SIPP available
Cons
Limited range of UK stocks
No fractional shares
Costs £10 per month to use an ISA with Plus plan
Some account types and features reserved for paying subscribers
Multi-currency wallets only for Plus and Premium
Platform fees
£0
Price per trade
£0
Frequent trader rate
N/A
Foreign exchange fee
0.5%
Min. initial deposit
£0
Fractional shares
FCA regulated
Price per trade
£0
Min. initial deposit
£0
Offer
Get your first 3 months free when you upgrade to Plus plan. T&Cs apply. Capital at risk.
There are few universal elements that help make investment platforms stand out as a top option for beginners. Here are some key thing to look out for when looking for the best app:
Easy to use. First things first, a beginner-friendly app needs to be straightforward to use. This means it should be simple to sign up and open accounts, and the process of making investments should be as seamless as possible.
Low fees. Most beginners are going to start off with smaller investments, so it’s important that the platform fees and commissions (cost of buying or selling an investment) don’t take a big bite out of your portfolio before you even get started. Check out our guide on investment fees to find out more about the different types of costs you might come across.
Simple pricing. Unfortunately, some platforms are cheap, but you need a PhD to decipher all the fees. A beginner-friendly app should be both affordable and clear when it comes to fees and costs.
Beginner-friendly investments. You don’t want to jump into the deep end with complex “trading instruments”. As a beginner, you should be looking to use investments you can grasp, such as funds, ETFs and individual shares.
Learning materials. While you’re finding your feet, it can be helpful for platforms to provide learning resources or even a demo account, but you can often find this info elsewhere if you need.
How to pick a beginner-friendly platform
Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you find an app and get started investing:
Do you want an app with no platform fees? Some apps are free to download and use but there can be limitations compared to other options.
How much are you planning to invest? If it’s only a small amount to start with, you’ll want a platform that allows smaller investments, and ideally no commissions so the fees don’t erode your investments.
What do you want to invest in? Each platform will offer various types of investments. Think about what you’d like to invest in and find an app that offers what you want.
Are you looking to practise first? Some trading apps, such as eToro and Trading 212, let you use a demo account so you can learn how things work before investing with real money.
Beginner investor jargon buster
Here’s a quick overview of some key terms and phrases that you may have been scratching your head over:
Stocks and shares ISA. This is a type of investing account that’s exclusive to people in the UK. At the moment, you can put in up to £20,000 each tax year into this type of ISA (but this could change in future). It’s sometimes called a “tax wrapper” because the account itself works in the same way as a normal investing account but it’s wrapped with a layer of protection to prevent any UK taxes needing to be paid if you make profits from your portfolio.
Lifetime ISA (LISA). This is another category of ISA (individual savings account) where you can hold your savings as cash or invest them. The rules are slightly different, you need to be aged between 18 and 40 to open an account and you can only put in up to £4,000 each tax year. The main benefit is that the government will top up your deposits by 25%, so you could get an extra £1,000 every year. But, here’s the kicker – the money can only be used towards your first home or retirement. For anything else you pay a 25% penalty which would leave you with less money than you started with.
Exchange-traded fund (ETF). This is a type of investment that bundles together a bunch of investments (usually stocks) so that with one single purchase, you can own a whole basket of assets. This helps you spread your risk and stay diversified, it can also save you money in fees and commissions if you only have to make one trade (instead of multiple trades). But, it’s important to be aware you don’t get to pick the stock held in an ETF and they usually have a small ongoing fee that you’ll have to pay when holding the ETF.
Portfolio rebalancing. When you’re holding multiple investments in your portfolio, over time, you might find that things become slightly unbalanced and different to your original strategy because some investments will gain value and others might lose value. This means that occasionally you may need to even out how much you’re investing in each area with a tactic known as portfolio rebalancing.
What makes an app beginner friendly?
When analysing trading apps, our experts decide which type of investor each platform is suitable for: beginners, intermediate investors and expert investors. Beginner platforms won’t have riskier options like contracts for difference (CFDs) available, and it will have easy to read charts without too much detail.
In order to rank the beginner platforms, we use our Finder star ratings — high scoring platforms that are suitable for beginners make the shortlist of the best trading apps for beginners, with the top spot getting the title.
Frequently asked questions
This will depend on what you’re looking for as an investor. Each platform is designed with a target audience in mind, so it’s best to think about what type of investor you want to be and then you can find the best trading app to suit your style.
In most cases, yes. We only include apps and platforms on Finder that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s top tier regulator.
However, it’s worth keeping in mind that when investing, you could get out less than what you put into an investment. So always take plenty of time to research your investments and try to keep a long-term outlook.
At some stage, you might want to do this. But if you’re a beginner, try out one of the apps designed for investors like you first. You can always upgrade to a more sophisticated app once you learn more about trading and investing.
There’s usually no fee to close your account so there’s nothing to stop you from moving to another platform later.
All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.
George is a deputy editor at Finder. He has previously written for The Motley Fool UK, Nasdaq, Freetrade, Investing in the Web, MoneyMagpie, Online Mortgage Advisor, Wealth, and Compare Forex Brokers. He's focused on making personal finance and investing engaging for everyone. To do this he draws from previous work and his Level 4 Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA), sharing what he’s learnt. When he’s not geeking out about money, you’ll find him playing sports and staying active. See full bio
George's expertise
George has written 192 Finder guides across topics including:
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