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Freetrade vs Prosper: which should you pick?

Both are FCA regulated and FSCS protected. The real differences are fees, investment range and how each platform feels to use. Here is the honest comparison.

Fees verified July 2026. Capital at risk. Information, not financial advice.

The quick answer

Choose Freetrade if...

Beginners who want a simple app and are happy with shares and ETFs.

Choose Prosper if...

Index fund investors who want the lowest possible total cost and are comfortable with a newer app.

Fees side by side

FeeFreetradeProsper
Platform fee£0 on Basic; Standard £4.99/month; Plus £9.99/month (annual billing)£0
Share dealing£0 commissionNot applicable (funds and ETFs)
Fund dealingETFs only, £0 commissionFree
FX fee0.99% Basic, 0.59% Standard, 0.39% PlusNone on GBP fund classes
Stocks & Shares ISAIncluded on all plansFree
SIPPIncluded on all plansFree
WithdrawalsFreeFree
Minimum to start£2No minimum

What customers say

Freetrade4.2

Around seven in ten reviewers rate it excellent, citing the clean app and helpful customer service.

Critical reviews focus on the 0.99% FX fee on the free plan and features being moved behind subscriptions.

Read Freetrade reviews on Trustpilot

Prosper4.6

Early adopters praise the zero fees and responsive founding team; roughly 84% of reviews are five stars.

The review base is small and some users want more account types and a web version.

Read Prosper reviews on Trustpilot

The longer view

Freetrade helped bring commission-free investing to the UK and keeps a genuinely free tier that now includes an ISA and a SIPP. The app is one of the simplest ways to buy your first share.

The catch is the FX fee. On the free plan you pay 0.99% every time you buy or sell a US stock, which adds up quickly. If most of your money goes into US shares, either upgrade to a paid plan for lower FX fees or compare against Trading 212's flat 0.15%.

Prosper's pitch is the cheapest total cost of ownership in the UK: no platform fee, no dealing fees, and refunded fund fees on a list of mainstream index funds. For a straightforward global tracker in an ISA or SIPP, the all-in cost can genuinely be zero.

The counterweight is maturity. It is a young platform with a small (if very positive) review base and no individual shares. If that trade-off suits you, the price is unbeatable.

Other comparisons worth a look

The broker matters less than the plan.

A 0.2% fee difference is worth optimising. Knowing whether you are saving enough in the first place is worth far more. Delphina models your pensions, ISAs and investments and tells you where you actually stand.