Is Freetrade Plus Worth It?
Here is my thoughts on Freetrade Plus.
I’m sure many Freetrade users are asking themselves is Freetrade plus worth it?
Freetrade plus is not worth it in my opinion, but let’s dig a little deeper.
Freetrade plus is currently £9.99 per month.
Here is what you get for your monthly subscription (it’s not a lot).
- 3% interest on cash held
- A broader selection of stocks (mostly small-cap UK & US)
- All of the normal order types such as limit orders, stop loss etc.
- A “Free” ISA (normally £3 per month on its own)
- Priority customer service
Honestly, unless you already have an ISA for £3 per month with them and are sitting on £4,000 in cash then save your money.
£4,000 in cash at 3% means you get £120 a year in interest so it pays for itself.
Limiting normal non-paying customers to only market order and second rate customer service is not a wise move in my opinion.
Personally, I hold a very small position in a stock (I have had it a while). It is now considered a “plus” stock. Should I wish to buy to more? I need to subscribe to Freetrade Plus.
No thanks.
For these reasons I just do not think Freetrade Plus is worth it.
If I was a Dragon, they would be met with “I’m Out”.
I shall keep my normal investment account that is free with them. Along with my main Trading 212 ISA thank you very much.
Furthermore, anybody just starting out would be much better served with a Trading 212 ISA anyway.
All of the above features listed as “plus” are included as default for free and many more, such as Trading 212 PIES. Except maybe some of the small-cap stocks.
Sing up here for a Free Share when you deposit just £1.
However, newer investors would do well being cautious of small-cap and single stock investing anyway.
Still not sure?
Grab a couple of books form my recommended or read my detailed guide on Trading 212 Guide For Beginners.
Thanks as always,
Sean C
As a happy Freetrade Plus customer, I guess I disagree with your review. Their free customer service is already great and responsive, the priority service means you will get replies out of hours, including weekends, which is handy as I often don’t have time to query something during work hours (because I’m working myself!)
Yes, I have an ISA with them and soon, I will also have a SIPP, which means the whole bundle will be better value, ie ISA £3, SIPP £10, Plus £4 = £17 a month in total. I will be saving a fair amount on fees from transferring from my current provider.
I’ll also be shifting £4k of my emergency cash to get the 3% interest seeing as that’s better than the 0.25% I’m getting from my bank. The challenge will be to not invest that cash!
Freetrade hasn’t suffered from recent trading outages from other providers, including Trading212 so I’m happy with the service they are providing.
Out of hours, service is nice, although not something that would sway me, most will have issues in market hours. Yeah, as I said it makes more sense if you have the full package, and deposit £4,000 in cash(And try to invest it haha). For someone like yourself with a very nice portfolio, it’s fine.
I would be hard pushed to recommend it to a new investor though. More so if they do not have much capital to invest to start with, for a lot of younger investors £10 a month is a significant sum.
Just for a bit of fun – A 20-year-old – £10 per month for 50 years at 7% comes out at £55,100 haha.
I did have a notification about the delay from Trading 212 – it was on interactive brokers end apparently.
Not something I even noticed, I usually auto-invest with my PIEs and make a couple of extra deposit per month. I’m sure it was annoying for those trying to day trade though!
I’m not saying it’s a BAD service, and I’m glad you are happy. It just makes no sense for a new investor to pay £10 per month (assuming most will not have £4,000 to sit in the account) when the competition is free.
You must agree with that? Also, to make certain stocks all of a sudden become a “plus” stock. Meaning I can not buy any more without subscribing, they should have allowed existing holders to continue to buy at least in the stocks they already own.
Customer service from Trading 212 live chat has always been swift and informative as well.
Thanks for taking the time the time to reply Weenie
Sean
Absolutely agree that Plus is not for brand new investors – one of my friends whom I referred to Freetrade asked me about Plus and I told her not to bother as she’s only just started investing and the free service is all that she needs.
Trading212 provides Plus services for free but I actually don’t see them as Freetrade’s main competitor – those would be the legacy platforms, eg AJBell or Hargreaves Lansdown whose customers will have much larger portfolios and who will consider £10 a month cheap as chips.
As regards to paywalling stocks which were previously free, they had to draw a line somewhere for simplicity but I agree they should have made a concession for people who already held those stocks.
Ah, that’s good to hear. Out of interest what makes you compare them to legacy platforms? Just the larger stock selection?
I just had a look. Here (assuming it’s up to date) https://www.trading212.com/images/3c8a2ce63df83c060fe2fd104890e2140f0.png?346 . Although I’m sure most of the ETFs and stocks that most want are available on both platforms.
I think Freetrade would need a solid web app at least before it could be compared to anything like HL AJ etc.. Most serious investors are going to want to do there trades on a desktop rather than their phone.
Always appreciate your experience and thoughts though! Thanks.
“what makes you compare them to legacy platforms?”
I guess it’s their commitment to target long(er) term investors with their ISAs (JISAs and LISAs on their way) and the SIPP and avoiding CFDs, options etc. The SIPP will be a biggie as transfers from other providers will massively boost their AUM.
You’re absolutely right though, they would need a solid web app to really make the most of their SIPP offering – I much prefer trading on my PC, hence am transferring my smaller SIPP (although this is still mid-5 figures). They do intend to have a desktop version, just don’t know how soon that will be.
Yeah, I think the SIPP will be very popular. I’m still undecided on a SIPP. I have a workplace pension and an ISA. Hopefully, all being well I shall be gone before 57. I suppose funnelling some money into a SIPP would not hurt, taking advantage of the tax gains up front. I have put my name of the list for Freetrade SIPP free share promotion though!