Ever wondered who would come out on top in a battle between Moneybox vs Hargreaves Lansdown (HL)? Well, read on to find out how they compare for features, fees and much more.
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) and Moneybox are two popular investing platforms available to UK retail investors. They’re slightly different in their approach as Moneybox is largely a robo-advisor with some share dealing available, and HL is a fully-fledged stockbroker with loads of investment options. However, there is some crossover, so we’re going to pit Moneybox vs Hargreaves Lansdown against each other in a head-to-head battle.
Both HL and Moneybox offer a range of investments and plenty of account options, including a stocks and shares ISA and a self-invested personal pension (SIPP). So, check out our breakdown of Moneybox vs Hargreaves Lansdown 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.
Moneybox and HL are pretty similar when it comes to their Finder score, with Moneybox scoring a solid 4.1 out of 5, and HL scoring an equally respectable 4.2 out of 5.
Moneybox and HL were both reviewed positively in the most recent Finder Investing Customer Satisfaction Awards 2024 results. However, HL was the overall winner with 97% of customers saying they’d recommend the platform to a friend, making it our best trading app for customer satisfaction.
The platforms go slightly different ways with their fees score. When you look at Moneybox fees vs HL fees – Moneybox has a score of 4.3 out of 5 and Hargreaves Lansdown has a lower score of 2.4 out of 5.
These are two of the best platforms available when it comes to account options, both Moneybox and Hargreaves Lansdown offer a wide range of accounts and tax wrappers.
Although Moneybox doesn’t pay interest on cash in your investment account, it does off the option to use a cash ISA or a savings account and has some of the best rates around.
This is an easy win for HL. By design, Moneybox offers a simple and basic approach to investing, which means limited choice.
HL on the other hand has over 11,000+ investments to choose from.
Both platforms make it easy to open an account and start investing from just £1. However, only Moneybox offers fractional shares, with HL you’d need to buy whole shares.
Sadly, this is the weakest area for HL. Although it offers a great customer service, loads of account options, and heaps of investments – some of its charges are pretty steep.
The platform fee for HL isn’t bad, starting at 0.45%, which is similar to Moneybox. Moneybox charges 0.45% plus £1 per month for most accounts (the SIPP doesn’t have the extra £1 monthly subscription fee).
However, Moneybox offers 0% commission investing, with no fee to buy or sell investments other than a 0.45% FX fee, which is less than half the cost of HL’s 1% FX fee.
Another pain point with HL is the share dealing commission of £11.95, which is the highest from any UK platform. It does offer free fund trading, zero commissions if you set up a regular monthly investment, and lower commissions for frequent investing – so there are some tactics to minimise your fees with HL.
For Moneybox vs Hargreaves Lansdown, when it comes to ease of use, it’s a narrow win for HL.
Although Moneybox has a fantastic app that’s excellent to use, especially for beginners, but it is app only. Whereas HL offers a desktop and app experience to serve a wider audience.
Both these platforms offer excellent customer service, but with HL it’s easier to ring up and have a phone call with its support team based in Bristol.
Another fairly easy win for Hargreaves Lansdown (HL). Moneybox is great, but it’s pretty basic (on purpose).
HL on the other hand is a much more diverse platform in terms of the tools it offers for investing and analysis.
Both platforms lack a social investing element, but its HL that has more for you to dig into if you really want to engage as an investor, whereas Moneybox is handier if you want more of a passive approach.
Winner: Hargreaves Lansdown (HL)
Overall winner: Is Moneybox better than Hargreaves Lansdown?
Moneybox is an excellent finance and investing app, but the investing side of things is just a portion of what Moneybox offers. Whereas investing is Hargreaves Lansdown’s bread and butter.
Although some of the HL fees are expensive, there are strategies to reduce them. And it offers loads of investments, account options, and resources.
Winner: Hargreaves Lansdown (HL)
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 190 Finder guides across topics including:
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