How many ISAs Can You Have in 2026?
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Hargreaves Lansdown
Review 2026
Overview, highlights & more!
What will you find in this review:
Overview of Hargreaves Lansdown
In this YourWalletManager Hargreaves Lansdown review, we look at the largest investment platform in the UK. Hargreaves Lansdown, usually shortened to HL, has been helping British investors since 1981 and now looks after the money of more than two million clients.
HL is a full service platform rather than a low cost app. You get a very wide investment range, in house research, and a UK based support team in Bristol. In return you pay a percentage based account charge, which is where most of the debate about HL sits.
This review is tailored to UK residents.
What you will find in this review:
HL repriced its charges recently, and the changes cut both ways. Share dealing came down and account charges on shares are now capped, but one off fund trades are no longer free. We cover the detail in the fees section below.
You can start with a £100 lump sum or £25 a month, and there is no charge to open an account, hold cash, or transfer your investments out again.
Platform Highlights
| 🗺️ Supported Countries | The United Kingdom |
| 📊 Account charge (funds) | 0.35% to £250,000, tiered down to 0% above £2m |
| 💲 Account charge (shares) | 0.35%, capped at £12.50 per month |
| ⏳ Inactivity fee | £0 |
| 🏧 Withdrawal or exit fee | £0 |
| 💵 Minimum Deposit | £100 lump sum or £25 per month |
| 💡 Products offered | GIA, ISA, LISA, JISA, SIPP, Junior SIPP, Cash ISA |
| 🎮 Demo Account | No |
| 📜 Regulatory entities | FCA (FRN 115248) |
HL supports every mainstream UK tax wrapper, including the Lifetime ISA and Junior ISA that many cheaper platforms do not offer at all.
The account charge is tiered for funds and capped for shares, so the effective percentage you pay falls as your portfolio grows.
All figures in this review were checked against Hargreaves Lansdown's own charges pages in July 2026. Charges can change, so it is worth confirming current rates before you open an account.
Hargreaves Lansdown accounts
HL offers a wider range of accounts than almost any other UK platform, and you can hold several at once under a single login. The minimum to start is £100 as a lump sum or £25 a month.
The Stocks and Shares ISA
HL's most popular account lets you invest up to £20,000 each tax year with no UK income tax or capital gains tax on your returns. You can pick your own funds and shares, or choose one of HL's ready made options. There is no dealing charge when you invest by monthly Direct Debit.
The SIPP
HL is the largest direct SIPP provider in the UK. A SIPP is a personal pension you manage yourself, with tax relief added to your contributions. HL also offers a Ready Made Pension Plan that adjusts your investments automatically as you approach retirement, plus drawdown and annuity options when you get there.
The Lifetime ISA and Junior ISA
The Lifetime ISA lets you pay in up to £4,000 a year and collect a 25% government bonus worth up to £1,000, for a first home or for later life. Its account charge is 0.25%, capped at £3.75 a month. The Junior ISA is the standout: HL charges no account fee and no online dealing fee on it at all, so your only cost is the charge on the investments you pick.
The Fund and Share Account
This is HL's general investment account, with no annual contribution limit. It sits outside a tax wrapper, so dividends and gains can be taxable once you use up your allowances, but it is the account to use when your ISA allowance is spent. HL also offers a Junior SIPP, a Bare Trust Account, a Cash ISA and its Active Savings service.
Across all of these accounts you can invest in over 3,000 funds, along with UK and overseas shares, exchange traded funds, investment trusts, bonds, gilts and Venture Capital Trusts. That range is one of the main reasons investors accept HL’s charges. If you only want a handful of index funds, a narrower platform such as Vanguard covers that ground far more cheaply.
If picking investments yourself feels daunting, HL’s Ready Made Investments let you choose a goal and a risk level and leave the selection to its team. The Wealth Shortlist and the HL Building Blocks range sit in between, offering a researched shortlist rather than a fully managed service.
HL negotiates discounts on the ongoing charges of more than 500 funds, which it says averages a saving of around 17% on those funds. It also reports finding a better than quoted share price on 95% of trades. Both help offset the account charge, though neither removes it. To see what HL’s percentage charge would actually cost you at your portfolio size, our UK Broker Fees Calculator compares it against the flat fee platforms.
Advantages
The UK's largest investment platform
With more than two million clients and over 40 years of history, HL has a scale and stability that newer apps cannot match. That matters if you want confidence your platform will still be there in twenty years.
Every major account type under one login
ISA, SIPP, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA, Junior SIPP, general investment account, Cash ISA and savings all sit in one place. Very few UK platforms cover the full set, which saves running accounts across several providers.
In house research and fund analysis
HL employs its own research team producing fund reviews, share research and market commentary, available to clients at no extra cost. The Wealth Shortlist is a useful starting point if you do not know where to begin.
UK based customer support
HL's helpdesk is staffed from its Bristol office and is consistently among the better rated support teams in the UK market. Phone, secure message and a detailed online help centre are all available.
Share account charges are capped
The 0.35% account charge on shares, ETFs and investment trusts is capped at £12.50 a month, so £150 a year. Above roughly £43,000 of listed investments, that cap makes HL surprisingly competitive.
Invest across ISAs, SIPPs and Junior ISAs with over 3,000 funds on Hargreaves Lansdown.
Disadvantages
One off fund trades now cost £1.95
Fund dealing used to be free at HL. One off online fund trades now cost £1.95 each. Regular monthly investing by Direct Debit is still free, so this mainly affects investors who buy in lump sums.
Percentage charges add up on large fund holdings
Unlike shares, the account charge on funds is not capped. At 0.35% on the first £250,000, a large fund portfolio costs meaningfully more at HL than at a flat fee platform, even allowing for the tiers above £250,000.
The amount of choice can overwhelm beginners
Over 3,000 funds plus shares, trusts, bonds and gilts is a lot to take in on a first visit. HL's ready made options help, but a simpler platform may suit you better if you only want one global tracker.
Fee Structure at a Glance
Account charges
Account charges are annual, calculated and billed monthly, and based on the value of your investments. Funds are charged on a tiered basis: 0.35% on the first £250,000, 0.25% from £250,000 to £1m, 0.10% from £1m to £2m, and nothing above £2m. Importantly, those tiers are applied to each account separately rather than to your combined HL holdings, so £200,000 of funds in a SIPP and £200,000 in a Fund and Share Account are both charged at 0.35%.
Shares, ETFs, investment trusts, bonds, gilts and VCTs are charged at 0.35% a year but capped at £12.50 a month, which works out at £150 a year. The Lifetime ISA is charged at 0.25% capped at £3.75 a month, and the Junior ISA carries no account charge at all. HL publishes the full tables on its charges page.
Dealing charges
Dealing charges apply each time you buy or sell. One off online fund trades cost £1.95. Online share trades cost £6.95 if you placed 19 or fewer trades in the previous month, falling to £3.95 if you placed 20 or more. Investing by monthly Direct Debit carries no dealing charge at all, on funds or on eligible shares, trusts and ETFs.
Dealing by phone or post costs £29 per trade. The Junior SIPP is a flat £3.95 per trade, and the Junior ISA has no online dealing charge.
What HL does not charge for
There is no charge to open or close an account, no charge to transfer investments or cash in or out, no charge for holding uninvested cash, no charge for moving cash between your HL accounts, and no charge for automatic income reinvestment once income reaches £10 per holding.
Government taxes still apply separately: 0.5% UK stamp duty on most UK share purchases, a £1.50 PTM levy on UK share trades over £10,000, and similar levies on Irish, French, Spanish and Italian shares. Extra charges also apply when buying overseas shares.
Hargreaves Lansdown's Customer Support
Available customer support channels:
Customer service is one of the clearer arguments for paying HL’s charges. Support is UK based, reachable by phone during long weekday hours, and consistently rated well in independent surveys. That is not universal among investment platforms, several of which are app only with no phone number at all.
The wider investment industry has a mixed reputation for service, so a platform that answers the phone is worth something. It matters most when you are dealing with a pension transfer or a bereavement, where getting a person on the line makes a real difference.
Worth knowing: HL publishes its charges openly and shows a worked example of how a monthly bill is calculated. That makes it easier to check what you are actually paying than on some rival platforms.
If you prefer to do everything in an app without ever speaking to anyone, HL’s approach may feel more traditional than you need. If you value being able to call someone, it is one of the stronger options in the UK market. App-first platforms such as Trading 212 take the opposite approach.
Account Setup Process
Opening an account with HL is done online and usually takes around ten minutes if you have your details to hand. You will need your National Insurance number, your bank details and some basic personal information.
HL accounts are available to UK residents. You will normally need a UK address and a UK bank account to open one.
There is no charge to open any HL account, and no obligation to fund it straight away. You can register for online access first and decide on investments later, holding your money as cash in the meantime at no cost.
Once your account is open you choose how to fund it. The minimum is £100 as a single lump sum or £25 a month by Direct Debit, which is low enough for most people to get started.
- Choose your account, for example a Stocks and Shares ISA, SIPP or Lifetime ISA
- Enter your personal details, including your National Insurance number
- Add your bank details and pick a £100 lump sum or £25 a month
- Choose your own investments, or select a ready made option
- Register for online and app access to manage your account
If you already invest elsewhere, HL will handle a transfer for you and does not charge for it. Transfers can take several weeks depending on the provider you are leaving, and it is worth checking whether your current provider charges an exit fee before you start.
You can also move existing share certificates into an HL account using its Share Exchange service. That is useful if you hold paper certificates from an old employee scheme or a privatisation.
Regulatory Safeguards
Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 115248, and is registered in England and Wales with company number 01896481. Its registered office is 1 College Square South, Anchor Road, Bristol, BS1 5HL.
Client investments are held separately from HL’s own money and are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per person if HL were to fail. It is worth being clear about what that means: the FSCS protects you against the platform failing, not against your investments falling in value.
HL’s ownership changed recently. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange from 2007 until March 2025, when it was taken private in a £5.4bn deal by a consortium of CVC Capital Partners, Nordic Capital and Platinum Ivy, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Its FCA authorisation and client asset protections were unaffected by the change.
HL’s Cash ISA and Active Savings products are provided by a separate company, Hargreaves Lansdown Savings Limited, under firm reference number 915119. Cash held there sits with partner banks, where FSCS deposit protection of £120,000 applies per bank rather than per platform.
Hargreaves Lansdown Alternatives
HL is not the cheapest platform in the UK, so it is worth knowing what else is available before you commit. We looked at total cost, beginner friendliness, product range, regulatory standing and user feedback to pick the alternatives below. You can also browse our full set of UK broker reviews.
Best low-fee alternative
We compared total cost of ownership including account charges, dealing fees and currency costs. Trading 212 charges no platform fee and no dealing commission on its ISA, SIPP and general investment account, which makes it dramatically cheaper than HL for a straightforward ETF portfolio.
Best alternative for beginners
We looked for simple onboarding and a small, clear set of decisions. InvestEngine offers commission free ETF investing with no platform fee on its DIY option, plus managed portfolios if you would rather not choose, which makes getting started easier than HL's much larger menu.
Best competitor with a similar product range
We prioritised platforms offering a comparable set of tax wrappers and investment types. AJ Bell comes closest to HL: it covers the ISA, SIPP, Lifetime ISA and Junior ISA, holds both funds and shares, and charges lower percentage fees, though with less research behind it.
Most secure alternative
We focused on long established, FCA regulated providers with a conservative reputation. Vanguard is the asset manager behind many of the index funds UK investors already hold, and its own platform is a low cost route into those funds, albeit with a much narrower range.
Best rated by users
We looked at average customer ratings and how consistent they are over time. Trading 212 scores highly for app quality and value, though it offers less hand holding and none of the phone support HL provides.
Each of these platforms trades something away against HL. The cheaper options generally offer less research and less support, and the simpler ones cover fewer account types. Which matters most depends on the size of your portfolio and how much help you want along the way. If you are still weighing it up, our Find My Broker tool narrows the field quickly, and our AJ Bell review covers the closest comparable platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Closing Thoughts and Conclusion
Hargreaves Lansdown is the most complete investment platform in the UK. It covers every mainstream tax wrapper, holds a very wide range of investments, produces its own research, and answers the phone from Bristol. If you want one provider handling an ISA, a pension and your children’s accounts, no one else covers the ground as thoroughly.
The trade off is cost, and it depends heavily on what you hold. HL is not expensive for listed investments, where the £12.50 monthly cap kicks in, and its Junior ISA is genuinely free. It is expensive for large fund portfolios, and the new £1.95 fund dealing charge has removed one of its better features. If you hold mostly funds and a larger balance, a flat fee platform such as Interactive Investor will usually work out cheaper. If your portfolio is a single global tracker in an ISA, you will pay less elsewhere. If you want breadth, research and support, HL earns its charge.
