Interactive Investor’s fee changes explained: who wins, and who loses?
Financial Interest was founded by Damien Talks Money (391,000 YouTube subscribers) to teach the personal finance lessons he wished he'd been taught at school.
Last updated 4th February 2026
8 min read
Interactive Investor has rolled out a new, simplified flat-fee pricing structure that kicked in from 1st February 2026, scrapping its existing plans in favour of three updated tiers: Core, Plus and Premium.
Under the new setup, customers no longer pay separate fees for different account types. Instead, every plan includes access to ii's stocks & shares ISA, SIPP and general investment account (GIA).
And where the old plans capped investing limits at £50,000 or £75,000 before pushing you onto a more expensive tier, investors can now hold up to £100,000 without paying higher fees.
So what does all this mean in practice? If you're already an Interactive Investor customer, will you be better or worse off than before? And does the new pricing make them more appealing to new investors or those thinking of switching?
Let's break it down.
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What do Interactive Investor's new account tiers mean?
Like Freetrade, ii now offers three tiered plans, each with a different mix of features and benefits.
Under the old structure, fees depended not just on how much you had invested, but on which accounts you used:
- ISA or GIA-only customers paid £4.99 a month on balances below £50,000, rising to £11.99 once they crossed that threshold
- SIPP-only investors paid £5.99 a month up to £50,000, and £12.99 above that
- Those holding both an ISA/GIA and a SIPP paid £9.99 a month on pots up to £75,000, jumping to £21.99 for larger balances.
Under the new pricing, users can now hold investments across a GIA, ISA and SIPP – or any combination of the three – for a single flat fee of £5.99 a month on ii's Core plan, rising to £14.99 once your total balance goes above £100,000:
| Tier | Monthly charge | Investment limit |
|---|---|---|
| Core plan | £5.99 | £100,000 |
| Plus plan | £14.99 | No limit |
| Premium plan | £39.99 | No limit |
Plus and premium users get some other benefits, too – as you'd expect, at those prices. These include:
- Free family accounts
- Free monthly trades
- Free dividend re-investing
- Reduced or free trading fees, and reduced FX fees (more on these shortly).
Here's how the new fee structure impacts existing ii customers at different pot sizes:
| Account setup | Pot size | Old monthly fee | New monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISA or GIA only | £50,000 | £4.99 | £5.99 |
| £100,000 | £11.99 | £5.99 | |
| £150,000 | £11.99 | £14.99 | |
| SIPP only | £50,000 | £5.99 | £5.99 |
| £100,000 | £12.99 | £5.99 | |
| £150,000 | £12.99 | £14.99 | |
| ISA/GIA plus SIPP | £50,000 | £9.99 | £5.99 |
| £100,000 | £21.99 | £5.99 | |
| £150,000 | £21.99 | £14.99 |
As you can see, whether you're better off under Interactive Investor's new pricing depends on two things: the total size of your pot, and which accounts you're using.
If you only hold an ISA or a GIA of £50,000 or less, you'll pay £1 more per month – but, you can now invest more before being pushed onto a higher fee tier.
If you only hold a SIPP of £50,000 or less, the amount you pay will stay the same. You'll benefit from an increased investment limit, but once you hit £100,000, you'll be £2 per month worse off.
If you have a larger pot (of £100,000 or more) and previously held either an ISA or a SIPP, you'll be up to £3 per month worse off, as you'll be forced to upgrade to the £14.99 per month Plus plan, as opposed to fees of either £11.99 or £12.99.
The biggest winners are investors who hold both an ISA (or GIA) and a SIPP. At a £100,000+ balance, the new pricing works out nearly £200 a year cheaper.
Get £100 worth of free trades when you open an ISA or GIA. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 01/06/2026£100 of free trades with Interactive Investor
Get £200 cashback when you open a SIPP. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 01/06/2031Get £200 cashback with ii’s SIPP
Trading fee changes
Platform fees aren't the only thing Interactive Investor is shaking up – they've also redesigned their trading fees for buying or selling different types of investments.
However, only Plus and Premium users will benefit from price reductions here, as fees will stay exactly the same as before if you opt for the Core plan:
| Investment type | Previous fees | Core plan | Plus plan | Premium plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | £3.99 | £3.99 | £1.49 | Free |
| US & UK shares | £3.99 | £3.99 | £3.99 | £2.99 |
| Other international shares | £9.99 (£5.99 on "super" plan) | £9.99 | £7.99 | £5.99 |
| Dividend reinvesting | £0.99 | £0.99 | £0.99 | Free |
| Regular monthly investing | Free | Free | Free | Free |
Plus users will also get one monthly free trade while premium users get two – but on all tiers, you can still avoid trading fees entirely by setting up a monthly direct debit.
One question remains, though, which this Reddit user put better than we ever could:
FX fee changes
Previously, Interactive Investor had a sliding scale of foreign exchange fees (for non-US and UK shares) – 1.5% for balances between £0-£24,999, dropping to 0.25% for balances of £600,000 or more.
Now, each of the three plans has its own FX fee structure:
- Core users: 0.75%
- Plus users: 0.75% on balances up to £50,000, 0.25% on balances £50,000+
- Premium users: 0.25%
That 0.25% is a competitive rate, but still not the best – for context, Trading 212 and Lightyear have FX fees of 0.15% and 0.10% respectively, and neither charges platform fees or trading commissions.
And don't forget, you'd only get that 0.25% rate by stumping up £39.99 a month.
The 0.75% FX rate is an improvement for smaller balances, but it remains relatively expensive. For ISA-only investors with modest pots – who will now be paying an extra £1 a month in platform fees – it's hard to see a 0.75% FX saving making up the difference.
Get £100 worth of free trades when you open an ISA or GIA. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 01/06/2026£100 of free trades with Interactive Investor
Get £200 cashback when you open a SIPP. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 01/06/2031Get £200 cashback with ii’s SIPP
A market comparison: is Interactive Investor worth it?
Even if many existing customers will see their fees fall, the bigger question is: how do their fees compare to other investing platforms?
Here's how their annual charges stack up against competitors, assuming you invest monthly into ETFs inside either a stocks & shares ISA or a SIPP:
| Platform | £10k ETF pot | £100k ETF pot | £500k ETF pot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive Investor (Core/Plus plan) | £71.88 | £179.88 | £179.88 |
| Fidelity | £53 | £108 | £108 |
| Vanguard | £48 | £150 | £375 |
| AJ Bell | £25 | £42 | £42 |
| Freetrade (Basic plan) | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| InvestEngine | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Prosper | £0 | £0 | £0 |
As you can see, it's still entirely possible to pay more with Interactive Investor than with some more traditional – and typically pricier – brokers.
However, that's not necessarily always the case – those fixed fees can be a blessing as well as a curse.
Many platforms that do charge a platform fee don't have a set cap for mutual funds, but instead charge a percentage of the balance held.
For mutual fund investors with very large balances, this could make ii cheap compared to some:
| Investment platform | Once-monthly mutual fund investment, £300k pot, annual charge |
|---|---|
| Interactive Investor (Plus plan) | £179.99 |
| AJ Bell | £693 |
| Fidelity | £900 |
| Hargreaves Lansdown* | £1,000 |
However, the reverse can also be true: many platforms with account fees at least operate on a sliding scale, where costs fall as your balance grows. With AJ Bell, for example, you'll pay no platform fee at all once your balance exceeds £500,000.
With Interactive Investor, once your balance goes above £100,000, you're locked into paying at least £179.88 a year in fees even if your pot is a million pounds. Some reward for loyalty, eh?
Bottom line: are Interactive Investor's new fees an improvement?
Interactive Investor's fee shakeup is certainly a win for some existing users – particularly those who previously held both an ISA and a SIPP, and investors with balances between £50,000 and £100,000 who benefit from the higher investment limits.
But there are losers too. ISA-only investors with smaller pots are worse off, while ISA and SIPP holders with larger balances can end up paying more once they’re pushed onto higher tiers.
Shelling out for Plus or Premium could make sense if you're an extremely active trader with a large portfolio, have family members currently paying to invest elsewhere who could benefit from the free linked accounts, or you'll genuinely value access to the upcoming advanced trading tool.
For most people, though – especially regular, passive investors – the reduced trading and FX fees won't come close to offsetting the higher platform charges, particularly on the Premium plan.
All told, in a market where fee-free investing is increasingly normal, it's tough to see this pricing overhaul as a compelling win.
Financial Interest provides guidance, not advice. If you’re unsure about anything, speak with a qualified adviser. When investing, your capital is always at risk. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
