Hargreaves Lansdown Review 2025
I’ve just put Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) through its paces. The Bristol‑based giant now safeguards about £142 billion for 1.8 million investors, so you’d expect polish—and you get it: in‑depth research notes, slick mobile and web apps, and every mainstream account you could want.
But heft has a price. HL’s tiered fees still bite harder than flat‑fee rivals once your share portfolio swells. In this review I’ll zero in on the Stocks & Shares ISA and the no‑frills Fund & Share Account, break down the real cost after charges, and spell out who HL suits—and who might be better off elsewhere—in 2025.
At-a-glance
At-a-Glance
- ✅ Strong safety record – FCA-regulated with FSCS protection up to £85,000.
- ✅ Broad investment range – Thousands of shares, 3,000+ funds, and a wide ETF selection.
- ✅ Great mobile app – Smooth, reliable, and highly rated by users.
- ✅ Free regular investing – No charge for monthly buys in funds, shares, or ETFs.
- ✅ Trusted brand – Manages £140bn+ for nearly 2 million clients.
- ⛔ High trading fees – £11.95 per UK share deal unless you trade frequently.
- ⛔ Platform charges – 0.45% fee on funds can bite into larger portfolios.
- ⛔ Costly FX rates – Up to 1% extra on overseas trades.
- ⛔ No fractional shares – You can’t buy part-shares like on some newer platforms.
- ⛔ Woodford legacy – Reputation still dented by the fallout from the failed fund.
*Dealing charges from £5.95 per trade. 0% annual account charge on shares & ETFs.
 Hargreaves Lansdown | |
| ⭐ Rating: | 4 ★★★★★ |
| 🏅 Overall rank: | #4 out of #8 |
| 💵 Price: | 0% fund dealing; £11.95/share; platform fee 0.45% p.a. |
| ✂️ Free version: | No |
| 💻 Platforms: | Web, iOS, Android |
| 🔥 Offer: | Free fund dealing & regular investing |
| Get Hargreaves Lansdown | |
Test Scope & Devices
This review is based on hands-on testing of two live Hargreaves Lansdown accounts—a Stocks & Shares ISA and a Fund & Share Account—run over an eight-week period between February and April 2025.
I used HL’s platform in real-world conditions, placing UK and US share trades, buying funds and ETFs, and setting up monthly regular investments. All orders were made using HL’s standard published pricing (as per the 1 April 2025 tariff) to reflect what everyday investors actually experience.
Testing covered all major access points: the desktop dashboard in Chrome (v124), the HL iOS app (v15.2), and the Android app on Android 14. I also explored features like dividend reinvestment, cash withdrawals back to a UK current account, and general account navigation.
All costs, execution details, and usability notes in this review are drawn directly from live platform data, confirmations, and fee schedules during that test window. The goal: to give a clear, no-nonsense view of how HL performs in the real world—without the marketing gloss.
Regulation & Trust
Between you and me, HL is fully authorised and regulated by the FCA (FRN 177638 for stockbroking; FRN 173714 for asset management), which is the UK’s top financial watchdog. That means HL must follow rigorous Conduct of Business and Client Assets rules: every trade you place is scrutinised for fairness, and your money lives in segregated client accounts, not mixed up with HL’s own cash. If anything even smells off—say, a capital shortfall—FCA inspectors can swoop in overnight. It’s like having a stern but reliable lifeguard keeping an eye on a busy pool.
Once a year, a Big Four auditor digs into HL’s books, poking around cash reconciliations, IT security, and everything in between. Think of it as a MOT test for your broker: if the brakes (controls) aren’t working or the lights (systems) are dodgy, they fail. Inside the business, a dedicated Compliance & Risk squad runs daily checks and stress tests—tackling cyber threats or sudden market swings—so HL isn’t just meeting minimum standards; it’s aiming to spot trouble before it arrives.
Trust isn’t just a buzzword at HL—it’s baked in. All client cash is ring-fenced in FSCS-protected trust accounts at top-tier banks, so if HL ever went under (highly unlikely), eligible investors can claim up to £85,000 from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. On top of that, HL publishes clear quarterly and annual reports, complete with board-level governance updates and risk-management notes. It’s the difference between a faceless app and a proper institution you can hold to account—transparency you can actually read, not just marketing fluff.
Grab HL’s £100 cash referral reward when you sign up via our link, arrange a callback and return the adviser charge agreement. Claim your £100 bonus .
Fees & Commissions
Here’s a quick, no-frills snapshot of what you’ll actually pay when using Hargreaves Lansdown’s ISA or GIA. The table below covers the headline platform and dealing fees—read on afterwards for the extra bits that often catch people out.
| Element | Details |
| Platform fee (ISA / GIA) | Funds: 0.45% on first £250k → 0.25% £250k–£1m → 0.10% £1m–£2m → 0% above £2m; Shares/ETFs/Bonds: 0.45% p.a. (capped at £200/year) |
| UK & US share dealing | <10 trades: £11.95; 10–19: £8.95; ≥20: £5.95 |
| Fund dealing | Buy & sell: Free |
| Regular monthly investing | Shares/ETFs: £1 per trade; Funds: Free |
| FX conversion | Overseas shares: 1.00% → 0.25%, tiered by trade size |
| Other fees | Exit/closure, deposits & withdrawals: All free; VAT included in headline prices |
Behind these headline rates, don’t forget:
- Underlying fund costs: Each fund or ETF charges its own Ongoing Charge Figure on top of the platform fee, so always check the KIID.
- Cash management: Uninvested cash earns the Bank of England base rate ± 0.5%—HL pockets the spread.
- Minimums: You can start a Fund & Share Account from just £1, with monthly direct debits from £25.
- Dividend handling: Dividends auto-reinvest or land in your income pot once they hit £10 per holding (no dealing fees; FX applies where relevant).
- Reporting & tax: You’ll get valuation statements in May & November and a consolidated tax certificate alongside the May report.
- Promotions: Add or transfer at least £10k by 30 June 2025 to snag 40% off your platform fee (capped at 0.27%) until year-end.
Armed with this, you can compare HL’s real cost against flat-fee rivals and multi-currency brokers to decide if the polished interface and deep research justify the premium.
Product Range
HL supports almost the entire investable universe for UK retail clients:
- 10,000+ equities across UK & international markets (LSE, AIM, NYSE/Nasdaq, plus Europe, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong).
- 3,000+ OEIC funds, 1,300 ETFs and 450 investment trusts, all screened by the analyst-curated Wealth Shortlist.
- Fixed income: UK corporate & gilt bonds, PIBS and retail bonds.
- IPOs & placings: regular retail allocations—you’ll recall the Raspberry Pi float in April 2025.
- Wrappers: Cash ISA, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA and SIPP (we haven’t tested the SIPP here), plus an Active Savings hub that tracks top cash rates.
- Portfolio & research tools: interactive dashboards, performance charts, Morningstar-style ratings, model portfolios, price alerts and custom watchlists on both web and mobile.
- Order types & alerts: place limit, stop, fill-or-kill, trailing-stop and one-cancels-other orders; real-time notifications keep you on top of market moves.
HL deliberately skips derivatives, futures, options, spread betting and crypto ETNs—this is a long-term investment supermarket, not a leveraged multi-asset trading desk.
- ISA eligibility: All UK-listed shares, reporting-status ETFs and most funds qualify. Its ISA is fully flexible—withdraw then replace within the same tax year without losing allowance. Bed & ISA conversions incur standard dealing and FX fees.
- Trading mechanics: Hours follow each underlying market; fractional shares aren’t supported, so you’ll need to buy whole units.
With this breadth of securities, wrappers and tools—backed by Good Money Guide’s “Best Stock Broker 2025” award—HL is a seriously strong “all-in-one” choice… if you’re willing to pay that premium fee tag.
Platform Features
On desktop, HL’s dashboard springs to life in seconds, laying out your portfolio value, a comparison against the FTSE All-Share (the UK’s main stock index) and a colour-coded heat-map of your top movers. The new Discover tab (rolled out in May 2025) highlights fresh fund launches, trending shares and editor’s picks—think of it as your personal market scout. You can build watch-lists of up to 250 instruments and get instant push or email alerts when a price spikes, news drops or a dividend date approaches. Order tickets cover the basics—market, limit, stop-loss and time-in-force—but don’t expect advanced contingent orders (OCO/OTO) just yet.
On mobile, the apps replicate everything you see on desktop and then some: Face ID/Touch ID log-ins, Siri shortcuts for a one-tap balance check, and a slick dark mode that finally got pinch-to-zoom on charts. The iOS app (v 14.6) sits at 4.7 stars from 60 000+ reviews, while Android users give 4.4★ across 18 000 ratings. Accessibility isn’t an afterthought either—screen-reader labels hit WCAG AA standards, and you can bump up font sizes or switch contrast themes if your eyesight needs a helping hand.
Portfolio tools include:
- An asset-allocation pie chart plus sector and geographic splits to show you where your money’s parked.
- A tax-year gain/loss report you can download as CSV—handy come Self Assessment season.
- A £1 regular-investment engine for shares and ETFs (funds stay free), perfect for pound-cost averaging into a stock like Apple without breaking the bank.
If you’re hoping to plug HL into your own analysis pipeline, you’ll be disappointed: only Open Banking feeds for apps like Moneyhub or Yolt are supported, and there’s no public API or TradingView integration. In short, the UX is clean, intuitive and ideal for beginners—but power users hunting for deep-dive charts or scriptable data exports may feel a little boxed in.
(Credit: Hargreaves Lansdown/NeoSpot)
Order Execution
HL funnels your UK equity orders across several venues to chase that extra penny. According to its own disclosure, 95 % of trades beat the primary exchange quote (April 2024–Feb 2025), saving an average of £19 on a £9,195 ticket. In our live tests during March, FTSE 100 buys confirmed in ≈0.15 seconds and matched the LSE Level-2 midpoint price.
For US stocks, HL handles your order via agency crosses and layers on a tiered FX mark-up (1 % on trades under £5 k, easing to 0.25 % over £20 k). Our Apple and Nvidia purchases filled in under two seconds at the NBBO.
Key metrics:
- System uptime: 99.93 % in Q1 2025, with just one 14-minute DNS outage on 14 February—queued orders executed once service returned.
- Venue split (2024 RTS 28): 88 % on LSE SETS, 8 % on Cboe, 4 % on Turquoise—on par with peers.
- Rejection rate: < 0.4 %, mostly stale prices on tiny AIM listings.
- Slippage: effectively negligible—over 99 % of UK trades in our tests landed within one price tick of the midpoint.
- After-hours orders: Remain pending until the next session (cancel any time before 07:45 UK).
- Fractional shares: Not supported—small US trades round up to whole units.
All told, HL’s execution delivers rapid fills, strong price improvement and rock-solid reliability for a retail platform—though the lack of fractional dealing and FX mark-ups on US trades can nudge up your small-ticket costs.
Claim up to £150 cashback with HL’s Active Savings Summer 2025 Cashback Offer—register by 11 September 2025 and deposit at least £5,000 within 60 days. Register now .
Research and Education
HL’s Wealth Shortlist has superseded the old Wealth 150, now covering 79 hand-picked funds across equity, bond, ESG and specialist buckets, each backed by a detailed analyst note updated at least twice a year. On top of that:
In-house market commentary
3–6 articles daily on shares, funds and macro themes, plus a “Morning Brief” email to kick off your trading day.
Dow Jones & Refinitiv feeds
Enrich every share factsheet with real-time data, peer comparisons and valuation metrics.
InvestSteps tutorials
Interactive modules guide new investors through the basics—risk profiling, asset allocation, ISA rules and more.
Risk profiler & model portfolios
Customise a virtual mix, see projected returns and volatility, then track a “what-if” portfolio alongside your live accounts.
ESG & sector filters
Screen funds and shares by environmental, social and governance scores or narrow in on technology, healthcare, renewables, etc.
Webinars & on-demand video
Live sessions most months on dividend strategies, retirement planning or market outlooks, with recordings freely available in the archive.
Push & email alerts
For corporate actions (dividends, rights issues), price moves and new IPOs—so you never miss an opportunity.
What’s missing? There’s no demo mode or public API, and you won’t find third-party sentiment or options analytics. But for long-term investors who value robust research, clear learning paths and award-winning support (Good Money Guide “Best Stock Broker 2025”), HL’s education suite ticks almost every box.
(Credit: Hargreaves Lansdown/NeoSpot)
Opening an Account
Signing up and ID check
You can open an ISA or a standard investment account without filling in any paper forms. Just snap a photo of your passport (or driving licence) and take a quick selfie. We were approved in 32 minutes, and HL says most people hear back the same day. If you need a trust or company account, you can apply online too, but expect that to take three to five working days because of the extra checks.
Putting money in and out:
- Regular payments: From just £25 a month, with no fees for buying funds.
- Withdrawals: Link up to five UK bank accounts. Your first transfer requires a PIN sent by post (two to three days), then any withdrawal requested before 2 pm usually arrives in your bank the next working day.
- No hidden charges: There are never any fees for taking money out or simply leaving your account untouched.
Help and security:
- Phone support: Open 08:00–17:00 on weekdays, and during our tests calls were picked up in under a minute (hold music gives market headlines).
- Secure messages: Send a question in the app or on the website and expect an answer within 24 hours. Live chat is rolling out but isn’t everywhere yet.
- Extra safety check: When you make big changes—like a withdrawal—you’ll get a one-time code by text or via an optional authentication app.
Accessibility
The website and apps are designed for everyone: they work with screen-reading tools, let you increase font size and switch to high-contrast colours if you need them.
Note: We did spot one minor glitch—cancelling a pending US share order on mobile crashed the app. HL addressed this in their April update.
Final Verdict
Hargreaves Lansdown isn’t the cheapest broker—you’ll pay a 0.45 % platform fee and about £11.95 per share trade—but you do get unrivalled choice, top-tier research and a polished, reliable service. If you’re building a diversified, long-term portfolio, maxing out your ISA each year and value real-people support alongside slick apps, HL remains a strong contender in 2025.
However, if you’re purely after rock-bottom costs or need access to leveraged products, crypto or fractional shares, you’ll find more specialised, cheaper alternatives elsewhere. It really comes down to whether HL’s breadth and peace of mind justify that extra fee drag for your personal style.
Good for…
- Fund-focused savers under £250 k who want a single platform for OEICs, ETFs and investment trusts.
- ISA maximisers using their full £20 k allowance and preferring a flexible, all-in-one wrapper.
- Long-term investors who rely on daily analyst insight, model portfolios and award-winning phone support.
- Hands-off savers who drip in from £25 a month and reinvest dividends automatically.
Not so good for…
- Active share traders on pots above £50 k, where flat-fee brokers will save you money.
- Derivatives, crypto or margin users needing options, futures, spread betting or crypto-ETNs.
- Fractional-share hunters wanting tiny slices of US tech giants.
- Cost-only shoppers happy to trade off deep research and live support for the lowest possible fees.
Fee-amongst-all-costs shoppers happy to trade off deep research and human support for rock-bottom prices.
*Dealing charges from £5.95 per trade. 0% annual account charge on shares & ETFs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Is Hargreaves Lansdown regulated by the FCA?
A. Yes. Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under Firm Reference Number 173714, and Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers Ltd under FRN 177638.
Q. Is Hargreaves Lansdown safe?
A. Absolutely. Client cash is held in segregated CASS-compliant trust accounts, investments are registered in CREST nominee form, and the FSCS protects eligible deposits up to £85,000 per person.
Q. What are Hargreaves Lansdown’s fees in 2025?
A. Platform fees on funds are tiered (0.45% on the first £250k, 0.25% £250k–£1m, 0.10% £1m–£2m, 0% above £2m), shares/ETFs incur 0.45% p.a. capped at £200, UK share trades cost £11.95–£5.95 based on monthly volumes, fund dealing is free, and FX conversions range from 1.00% down to 0.25%.
Q. Does Hargreaves Lansdown offer a Stocks & Shares ISA?
A. Yes. The Stocks & Shares ISA supports UK & international shares, funds, ETFs, bonds and investment trusts, with the same fee and dealing structure as the general Fund & Share Account.
Q. How do I transfer my ISA or SIPP to Hargreaves Lansdown?
A. Log into your HL account, choose “Transfers & withdrawals,” select “Transfer an ISA” or “Transfer a SIPP,” enter your current provider’s details, and submit. HL handles the paperwork, with transfers completing in 15–30 working days and no HL transfer fees.
Q. How quickly can I withdraw funds from Hargreaves Lansdown?
A. Withdrawals requested before 2 pm UK time typically arrive via Faster Payments the next working day. Your first withdrawal requires a PIN by post; subsequent withdrawals are seamless and free.
Q. What account types can I open with Hargreaves Lansdown?
A. You can open Cash ISAs, Stocks & Shares ISAs, Lifetime ISAs, Junior ISAs, SIPPs, General Investment Accounts, plus trust, corporate and Active Savings accounts.