Ever wondered who would come out on top in a battle between interactive investor (ii) vs Vanguard? Well, read on to find out how they compare for features, fees and much more.
Vanguard and interactive investor (ii) are two of the most well-established investing providers available to UK retail investors. They’re fairly comparable some ways but quite different in others in terms of what they offer and their target audience. But, who comes out victorious when its ii vs Vanguard?
Both interactive investor and Vanguard offer a decent range of account options, including a stocks and shares ISA and a self-invested personal pension (SIPP). However, they’re very different when you look at the fees and choice of investments.
So, check out our breakdown of interactive investor (ii) vs Vanguard and hopefully this will help you pick who’s best, depending on what’s most important to you – whether that’s fees, investment choice, account types or anything else.
interactive investor (ii) vs Vanguard: At a glance
Vanguard and interactive investor are pretty close when it comes to their Finder scores, with interactive investor scoring a solid 4.1 out of 5, and Vanguard scoring a slightly higher 4.3 out of 5.
Both interactive investor and Vanguard tick most boxes when it comes to account types available on each platform. The only account each provider is lacking is a lifetime ISA (LISA).
So, in this category it’s hard to separate ii vs Vanguard.
This category is an easy win for interactive investor, it has one of the largest investment selections around with over 40,000 investments.
interactive investor’s investing options covers a wide choice of markets and assets. The only downside with ii is that it doesn’t offer fractional shares.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest drawbacks with Vanguard is that you can only invest in index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), on top of this, you’re also limited to Vanguard’s own funds. So there’s roughly about 85 options and that’s it.
This is an easy win for Vanguard. If you look at Vanguard’s fees vs ii’s, there’s no comparison (and this is reflected in the overall Finder fee score).
Vanguard’s platform fee is extremely cheap at 0.15%, whereas ii charges a flat fee starting at £4.99 a month but rising to £11.99 a month once your portfolio reaches £50,000. The benefit with ii’s flat fee structure is that it can be good value for those with larger portfolios, however, Vanguard’s fees are also capped at £375 per year.
You can avoid ii’s commission fee by arranging a regular scheduled investment, but otherwise its commissions for shares and funds are a bit steep.
interactive investor and Vanguard offer quite similar tools, but ii has a bit more to help investors research and dig into investments. It also offers plenty of expert analysis and insights on the platform.
Both are lacking any sort of social features and Vanguard has no tools for investing or trading (because you can’t trade most assets or investments with Vanguard).
Winner: interactive investor (ii)
Overall winner: Is interactive investor better than Vanguard?
If you want a platform brimming with features and investments to choose from, then ii could be the way to go.
However, if you want to keep things simple and cheap, then Vanguard might better suit your needs.
It’s quite hard to separate these two because they both offer different advantages to suit different types of investors.
Vanguard edges a slight win here in large part due to the excellent value it provides investors with extremely low fees and this is reflected in its overall Finder score.
Winner: Vanguard
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 176 Finder guides across topics including:
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