Freetrade: Award-winning investment & trading platform vs Hargreaves Lansdown (HL)

Freetrade: Award-winning investment & trading platform lands on Worth it, and Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) lands on Depends.

Freetrade: Award-winning investment & trading platform

Worth it

Confidence: Low

Buy if you're a UK beginner or long-term investor wanting cheap, simple, FCA-regulated investing in an ISA or SIPP.

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you are a UK beginner or buy-and-hold fund investor who values guides and hand-holding over cost.

Freetrade: Award-winning investment & trading platform versus Hargreaves Lansdown (HL)
Compare	Freetrade: Award-winning investment & trading platform	Hargreaves Lansdown (HL)
Verdict	Worth it	Depends
Best for	UK first-time investors	UK ISA and SIPP beginners
Who it's not for	Non-UK investors . accounts are UK-specific (ISA, SIPP, JISA)	Large portfolios . percentage fees compound brutally
Privacy	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.^¹	Official security centre active; one unverified third-party report of a 515.9k-account breach in January 2026.¹¹
Support quality	No support evidence in sources reviewed.	No independent support evidence found
Public sentiment	Independent user commentary was scarce; the only mentions compare Freetrade's platform costs against Hargreaves Lansdown and IG.^³	UK investors on Reddit like HL's platform and hand-holding but are increasingly angry about fees and leaving for cheaper rivals.^⁵
Biggest gotcha	Plus's £9.99/mo applies only when billed annually . monthly billing likely costs more.^¹	Percentage platform fee punishes large balances; flat-fee rivals cheaper over time^⁹