AJ Bell and interactive investor trace their roots back to the mid-1990s, but today they are both Manchester-based giants of the platform world. They come with lower costs than some of their rival platforms but the charging structures are very different. When choosing between the two, you also need to consider product range and the type of investing that you plan to do.
What is AJ Bell?
Since it was founded as a small actuarial consultancy in 1995 by Andy Bell and Nicholas Littlefair, AJ Bell has grown to become one of the largest investment platforms in the UK and a constituent of the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 250 index of medium-sized companies. It has more than 387,000 customers and £32.3bn of assets on its consumer platform.
What is interactive investor?
interactive investor (sometimes referred to as ii) is headquartered in Manchester and owned by Abrdn, a FTSE250-listed global investment company. Founded in 1995, ii was a relatively small player until 2016, but a series of acquisitions means it now has over 439,000 customers and around £74bn of assets. It offers investments and savings, ISAs and Sipps but is best-known for championing flat fees in pounds and pence in an industry where percentage-based charging is the dominant fee structure.
AJ Bell v interactive investor – product on offer
Both platforms allow you to get started investing with as little as £25 a month and both offer taxable General Accounts, plus a range of tax-efficient investment accounts: stocks and shares Individual Savings Accounts (ISA), Junior Individual Savings Accounts (JISA) and Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPP). AJ Bell also offers Lifetime ISAs, which may give it the edge if you’re aged 18–39, and eligible to open one.
They each boast a wide investment choice of active and passive funds, plus UK and overseas shares, corporate and government bonds, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and investment trusts. interactive investor has possibly the better international shares offering. Sophisticated investors might like the currency conversion option, plus the access to new shares and stock splits.
Both are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Charges
However, the key differences relate to the platforms’ fees for investing, with AJ Bell charging a percentage of your investments each year, and interactive investor offering its accounts through a range of flat-fee subscription plans.
AJ Bell charges a headline platform custody fee of 0.25%. On a portfolio of £100,000, this would be £250 a year. However, the fee reduces to 0.10% on amounts invested above £250,000, with no fees on amounts invested above £500,000. For beginners, AJ Bell offers Dodl, a pared down offering that charges less than the AJ Bell platform at 0.15%. That would be £75 a year on a £50,000 investment.
interactive investor used to be better value only for investors with more than £50,000, it introduced fee levels that suit investors with lower amounts. Its Investor Essentials plan (for investors with less than £50,000) costs £4.99 a month, while its Sipp fees start at £5.99 a month for Pension Essentials, for value up to £50,000. All ii’s plans allow you to invest as little as £25 a month using a free regular investing service.
Once you go above £50,000, you move to the Investor Plan for trading accounts and ISA, at £11.99 a month. With interactive investor you can also add a pension to an existing plan for a lower combined fee.
Trading fees
AJ Bell charges £1.50 to buy and sell funds online and £5 to buy and sell shares online. If you make more than 10 share deals a month, your shares dealing charge drops to £3.50. Also, if you only invest in shares (with no collective fund holdings) AJ Bell sets maximum platform fee caps as follows: £2.50 per month (£30 a year) in a Junior ISA, £3.50 per month in an adult General Investment Account, ISA or Lifetime ISA (£42 a year), £10 per month (£120 a year) in a Sipp.
interactive investor charges £3.99 for trading in UK funds and shares and US shares, and £9.99 for other international shares. Investors in its Investor plan get a monthly credit of £3.99 to use against trading fees. Notably, all ii’s plans offer a free regular investing service, that doesn’t charge trading fees for drip-feeding as little as £25 a month into a wide range of funds and popular shares (including the FTSE 350). This means regular monthly investors don’t have to incur further charges beyond the subscription fees.
Cash facility
Both platforms have added cash savings offerings. AJ Bell operates a free cash savings hub for existing customers, which allows them to apply for multiple savings accounts with a minimum £1,000 without the paperwork. This allows you to hold your cash savings in one place and pick and mix between easy access and fixed rate bonds.
interactive investor has a cash savings service provided by Flagstone that is standalone, so not linked to your other ii accounts. This allows you to hold your cash savings in one place and pick the best deal from over 25 UK banks and building societies.
AJ Bell v interactive investor – research, tools and features
Both platforms offer daily market insights and investment ideas and inspiration, written by their in-house experts. They produce video and podcast content and host live events.
AJ Bell customers get free access to Shares Magazine articles and newsletters written by their inhouse experts, regular investment podcasts and educational events and webinars. And, for beginner investors, AJ Bell attempts to ‘take the fear out of investing’ with its Dodl investment app.
interactive investor gives customers impartial, expert content from its team of financial journalists and daily newsletters and insights. The website allows customers to tailor the type of news content that they want to see, depending on product interest and level of expertise. It has lots of video and podcast content too and a series of regular educational webinars for customers. It also presents a picture of how its customers’ investments are performing via its quarterly Private Investor Performance Index.
Fund lists
Has two recommended investment lists for collective investments such as funds, investment trusts and ETFs, selected and managed by Morningstar. They are called the ‘Super 60’ list and the accompanying sustainable list is called the ‘ACE 40’. It also offers five model portfolios, put together using funds from these lists, that investors can replicate within their own investment accounts.
For beginner investors, it recommends six low-cost ‘Quick-Start’ funds with different risk levels and ongoing charges of 0.22%, or 0.35% for the sustainable options.
AJ Bell has a favourite funds list comprising 86 investments, and a tool to filter these to help find a suitable investment for your circumstances. Also, for those who find sifting through a shortlist of recommended funds too difficult, it offers four ready-made portfolios, each comprised of between 5 and 9 funds from the favourite funds list.
For those who want a simple investment choice, AJ Bell offers its own manufactured funds. Each one is built by them so you don’t have to worry about picking your investments yourself. There’s no dealing charge to buy an AJ Bell fund. The annual ongoing charge is 0.31% for the Growth funds, 0.45% for the Responsible Growth fund and 0.65% for the Income funds. It also offers a Pension Builder fund, powered by the AJ Bell Balanced fund, charging 0.31%.
While both platforms allow their customers to vote for free on the shares that they hold, ii has championed this with supporting content and by making shareholder voting the default setting for customers.
AJ Bell v interactive investor – user experience
AJ Bell has a TrustScore from consumer website Trustpilot of 4.8 out of 5 (based on 7,750 reviews), while ii has a score of 4.7 (based on 26,000 reviews, both as of February 2025).
Note that AJ Bell asks its customers for reviews, while Trustpilot states it has no recent records of interactive investor asking their customers to review them. Overall, businesses that regularly invite their customers to write reviews tend to have a higher TrustScore than businesses that don’t. This indicates better service overall from interactive investor.
AJ Bell’s main app has a 4.7 out of 5 rating on the app store (based on 14,000 ratings) and its Dodl app has a rating of 4.6 (based on 533 ratings), while interactive investor’s app has a slightly lower rating of 4.5 (based on just over 20,000 ratings), again both as of February 2025.
AJ Bell v interactive investor – quickfire advantages & disadvantages
AJ Bell advantages
- Offers Lifetime ISA
- Custody fees capped for shares only investors
- Dodl offering for beginners
- Apps with higher ratings
AJ Bell disadvantages
- Beginner funds range is more expensive
- Lower commitment to shareholder voting
interactive investor advantages
- Flat fee structure good for larger amounts invested
- Monthly subscription plans for beginners
- No trading charge for regular investing
- Good shareholder voting
interactive investor disadvantages
- No Lifetime ISA
- Cash hub has Flagstone fee
Our conclusion
Sophisticated investors might be attracted to ii’s international shares offering, plus its commitment to shareholder democracy. For those who want just ‘bog standard’ funds and shares, the difference between AJ Bell’s standard 0.25% platform custody fees v ii’s flat fees subscription plans is harder to unpick.
In theory, interactive investor’s flat fee subscription plans generally work out better value for investors with larger amounts. However, total costs will depend on the investments you wish to buy, plus the number of trades you’ll make. Use our comparison tools to work out the best option for you.
If you need a Lifetime ISA, you’ll have to choose AJ Bell. While, for beginners with very small amounts to invest, who are comfortable with a limited choice of investments, AJ Bell’s Dodl could be more competitive than interactive investor’s Essentials plan.
Remember that over many years, the compounding of relatively small differences in fees and charges over several decades can amount to life-changing sums. With larger amounts and longer time scales the amount lost will magnify due to the effects of compounding. So try putting various scenarios into our comparison tools to find out what you’d potentially be charged before making your decision.
