How We Review and Rank Investment Platforms
Our criteria, our sources, and how we earn.
What is on this page
We review investment platforms against the same six criteria every time, working from each provider's own published documents and from first-hand use, so you can compare them without wading through twenty sets of terms and conditions.
This page explains how we do that, what we look at, and how we make money, so you can judge for yourself whether our conclusions are worth acting on.
What we assess
Every provider we review or feature in a best-of list is assessed against the same six criteria. We explain what we found in each area rather than reducing a platform to a single number.
Cost
Platform fees, dealing charges, foreign exchange fees, and any charge for holding funds or transferring out. We look at what a provider costs across a realistic portfolio rather than its headline rate, because a low dealing fee can sit alongside an expensive annual charge.
Safety and regulation
Every provider we feature is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. We check the FCA Register directly rather than relying on a provider’s own claim, and we set out what protection the Financial Services Compensation Scheme gives you with each one.
Investment range
What you can actually hold: funds, ETFs, individual shares, investment trusts and bonds. A wide range matters more to some investors than others, so we describe what is available rather than rewarding breadth for its own sake.
Platform experience
How easy a provider is to use day to day: opening an account, making a first deposit, setting up regular investing, and finding what you own. We weight this heavily, because a platform you avoid using is a platform that costs you returns.
Account options
Whether the provider offers a flexible ISA, accepts transfers in from another provider, and what sits alongside it, such as a SIPP, a Lifetime ISA or a cash ISA.
Support and education
How you reach the provider when something goes wrong, and whether it helps new investors understand what they are buying.
Where our information comes from
Our primary sources are each provider’s own published documentation: fee schedules, key features documents, terms and conditions, and their entry on the FCA Register. We work from those rather than from marketing pages, because the charge that matters is usually the one in the terms rather than the one on the homepage.
We have also used several of the platforms we cover ourselves, and that first-hand experience informs what we say about sign-up, funding and day-to-day use. Where we have not used a platform directly, our assessment of it rests on the provider’s documentation and published information.
How often we update our reviews
We review every provider we feature at least once a quarter, and sooner when a provider changes its charges or launches a new account type. Fees and account terms move more often than most investors expect, and a comparison that is a year old can be actively misleading.
How we order our best-of lists
On pages such as our best stocks and shares ISAs guide, providers are ordered on how well each one matches what our readers actually need: cost, ease of use, investment range, and the protection behind the account. Our readers are mostly beginner and intermediate investors building wealth over the long term, so we weight a platform’s suitability for that reader above features that only matter to active traders.
Where a provider is a poor fit for a particular kind of investor, we say so.
How we make money
YourWalletManager is free to read. If you open an account through a link on our site, some providers pay us a commission. That costs you nothing and does not change the price you pay. Oftentimes the opposite, as brokers have special promotions for new users coming from partner affiliate links.
Commercial relationships do not determine the order providers appear in, or what we write about them. Some of the providers we feature pay us nothing at all, and they are there because they earn their place. The fees, drawbacks and limitations we describe are the same whether or not a provider pays us.
Who writes and reviews our content
Our reviews and comparisons are written and maintained by Dimitar Kanazirski, Founder and Editor-in-chief, and David Katzarov, Editor. Every provider assessment is checked by a second reviewer before publication, and any change to a ranking is signed off by two people.
You can read more about the people behind the site on our editorial team page, and about the business on our About page.
What our content is not
This is educational content, not financial advice. We do not know your circumstances, your tax position or your goals, and nothing we publish is a personal recommendation. Investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you put in. The tax treatment of ISAs depends on your individual circumstances and may change in future. If you want advice specific to your situation, speak to an FCA-authorised financial adviser.
Tell us if we have got something wrong
Fees change, platforms add features, and we do not always catch it on the day. If you spot something out of date or incorrect in one of our reviews or comparisons, email us at info@yourwalletmanager.com and we will check it.