Please remember, SIPPs are aimed at people happy to make their own investment decisions. Investment value can go up or down and you could get back less than you invest. You can normally only access the money from age 55 (57 from 2028). We recommend seeking advice from a suitably qualified financial advisor before making any decisions. Pension and tax rules depend on your circumstances and may change in future.
interactive investor vs Hargreaves Lansdown: what’s the difference?
Thousands of SIPP investors have already moved billions of pounds from Hargreaves Lansdown to interactive investor, so it’s natural to wonder how the two differ and, crucially, which is best for you.
There are many similarities, with both offering a range of investment accounts, including ISAs, Trading Accounts and – yes – Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs). And through these accounts, you can easily invest in your choice of shares, bonds, funds and ETFs.
But when comparing ii vs Hargreaves Lansdown, there’s one key feature that may make all the difference: what you’ll be charged.
ii vs HL: SIPPs at a glance
| interactive investor | Hargreaves Lansdown | |
| Platform charge | Flat fee | % of investments |
| Which? Recommended | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Free regular investing | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Mobile app | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Free cash withdrawals | ✔️ | ✔️ Extra charges may apply |
| Free personal contributions | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Free employer contributions | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Research tools | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| International trading | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Hold foreign currency | ✔️ $, € and 6 more currencies | ❌ |
| Dividend reinvestment | ✔️ 99p per trade | ✔️ No charge |
| No exit charges | ✔️ | ✔️ |
ii vs HL: SIPP charges compared
Platform charges compared
Simply put, depending on the value of your SIPP, how you choose to invest and the number of trades you place, you could pay less in charges with interactive investor.
If your pension pot is larger than £16,000, interactive investor may be cheaper than Hargreaves Lansdown.
interactive investor charge a flat fee
The ii SIPP is £5.99 a month for pensions up to £50,000 and £12.99 for pensions over £50,000. This means you will always pay a flat fee as your pension grows.
Hargreaves Lansdown charge a percentage fee
Funds: Annual charge to hold funds is tiered and will increase until a value of £2m is reached:
- 0.45% on the first £250,000 of funds
- 0.25% on the value of funds between £250,000 and £1m
- 0.1% on the value of funds between £1m and £2m
- No charge on the value of funds over £2m
Shares: Annual charge to hold shares, bonds, investment trusts, ETFs:
- 0.45% (capped at £200 per annum)
What about trading charges?
With interactive investor, UK and US trades are £3.99 for all types of investments (shares, funds, bonds and more). For other international markets trades are usually £9.99. View our charges.
With Hargreaves Lansdown, trading charges start at £11.95 for shares, ETFs and other equities and can drop down to £5.95 for frequent traders (20+ trades made in the previous month). But there's no charge when trading funds.
Why Allison transferred her HL SIPP to ii
The dream is to build up my pension pot to a point where I can retire comfortably at 57.
I'd previously been doing this with a Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP, but after 5 years I made the decision to find a new SIPP provider with a more personal touch and lower charges.
That's when I came across interactive investor in a TV ad. After digging a little deeper and comparing the two SIPPs, I discovered ii offered everything I needed along with a wide range of investment choices.
The actual transfer process was far easier than I thought it would be. Everything was done online and the transfer completed in just a few weeks.
I'm happy to continue building my retirement dream with an ii SIPP.
ii vs HL: taking money out of your pension
With interactive investor, you can withdraw cash from your pension without any additional charges using tax-free cash, drawdown & lump sums. Learn more: Pension options at retirement.
With Hargreaves Lansdown, there are no additional charges - as long as you aren't planning to move only some of your SIPP into drawdown - read on to find out more.
ii vs HL charges: Flexible Pension Withdrawals
One of the key benefits of a SIPP is the flexibility it gives you when you need to take money out of your pension. For example, many SIPP investors choose to move only part of their SIPP into drawdown, take a small amount of tax-free cash or blend both drawdown and lump-sum withdrawals.
With interactive investor, there are no additional fees when splitting your SIPP into drawdown and non-drawdown pots. It's all included in the same flat fee and the investments are simply allocated proportionally to the amount of pension you choose to hold in each pot.
With Hargreaves Lansdown, if you need this flexibility, drawdown and non-drawdown pots will need to be managed using two separate accounts, each of which will be charged separately.
This could mean increased charges due to HL's percentage-based fees applying to both pots. In some cases, the charges could increase by as much as 100%. By using two accounts, the investments are also held and managed separately.
How to transfer a SIPP from Hargreaves Lansdown to interactive investor
We transfer thousands of HL SIPPs to ii every year. You can transfer easily online once you open your ii SIPP.
2.
Start your transfer
You can do this quickly, easily and entirely online once you open an ii SIPP.
- Full or partial transfers
- Transfer cash or Investments
- Pensions in drawdown
3.
Leave the rest to us
We'll work directly with HL to complete your transfer seamlessly.
We will send you regular updates on how your transfer is progressing and let you know once everything's sorted.
Things to consider before you transfer
Please check that you won’t lose any safeguarded benefits if you transfer. This could include guaranteed annuity rates or lower protected pension age than the Normal Minimum Pension Age (rising from 55 to 57 in 2028).
Please also check any transfer-out fees. Please note that if you plan to hold both drawdown and non-drawdown pots in your ii SIPP, you cannot allocate specific investments to each pot separately. This means that the value of each pot will change in line with the overall performance of all the investments held in your SIPP.
Before transferring, we recommend seeking advice from a suitably qualified financial advisor or free, impartial pension guidance from MoneyHelper or (if you are 50 or over) Pension Wise.
Even better value when you consolidate to ii
The flat-fee savings only get better if you consolidate your investments with us. Most platforms charge on a percentage basis, meaning the more you invest the more you pay. We're different. Our flat fees mean that the more you keep with us, the more you save.
Whether you are looking for an ISA, Junior ISA, Trading Account or a SIPP, we’ve got you covered.
interactive investor vs Hargreaves Lansdown FAQs
Get £200 when you open a SIPP.
When you open an ii SIPP and fund it with £15,000 or more, we’ll give you £200 cashback.
And don't forget, transferring your pension to our SIPP counts towards the cashback. So if you’ve been thinking of transferring, here’s your chance to make the move to ii.
Offer ends 31 May 2024. New customers only. Cashback paid after 12 months. Terms apply.
Check before you transfer
Please check that you won’t lose any safeguarded benefits if you transfer. This could include guaranteed annuity rates or a lower protected pension age than the Normal Minimum Pension Age (rising from 55 to 57 in 2028). It’s also worth checking for any transfer-out charges.
It's important that you take enough time to decide whether transferring your pension is right for you. If you need more time and wish to qualify for this offer, please wait until the next offer period - we promote transfers to the ii SIPP on a regular basis.
Save and make the most of your investments with ii
Why Hargreaves Lansdown customers choose interactive investor
Transfer of ISA & SIPP from HL to II
Moved my ISA & SIPP from Hargreaves Lansdown to Interactive Investor due to their lower annual fees.
All worked like clockwork. Very easy to transfer my funds. A couple of my funds weren't supported by Interactive Investor but they offered very close alternatives from the same fund manager. Spoke to one of their advisers (Kevin) who answered all my questions quickly and professionally. I was with HL for over 20 years so it wasn't easy to move away but so far so good. Overall very pleased with the experience.
Transfer of SIPP
I have recently transferred my SIPP over to Interactive Investor due to higher fees and slow phone customer service at Hargreaves. I must say I have called the help line twice now and on both occasions my queries have been handled quickly and efficiently. I am loving the great service and much lower fees concept. Also the ability to have multiple currency accounts will end up generating considerable exchange savings moving forward. Thanks BAS today for your help !
Excellent SIPP/ISA provider
Transferred all my investments to ii recently because of the low monthly charges and I have been impressed by both the tech that drives the service as well as the responsiveness of the support team if you need help.