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Best stocks and shares Isas 2024
The top-rated stocks and shares Isas, including our Which? Recommended Providers
A stocks and shares Isa isn't an investment itself – it's an account that allows you to buy almost any combination of investments with tax-free returns, such as shares, funds and bonds.
But choosing the right Isa can save you money and make your investing experience a lot easier. We've surveyed thousands of investment platform customers, and analysed fees, to rank the biggest platforms and pick our Which? Recommended Providers for stocks and shares Isas.
Find out the results, plus how we worked out our rankings, below.
Please note: the content contained in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.
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Which? members can exclusively read the results of our unique customer satisfaction survey, including Which? Recommended Providers and investment platform reviews.
Members can log in to read our reviews. If you're not already a member, join Which? to get full access to these results and all our reviews.
Table note: The results are based on an online survey of 1,952 adults - members of the Which? Connect panel and members of the public - conducted in January 2024. The customer score is based on satisfaction with the brand and likelihood to recommend. Sample size of each brand/product is in brackets. A NA means size too small to give a star rating.
Which? members can exclusively read the results of our unique customer satisfaction survey, including Which? Recommended Providers and investment platform reviews.
Members can log in to read our reviews. If you're not already a member, join Which? to get full access to these results and all our reviews.
How to make the most of Isa rules
Megan Thomas, Which? investing expert, says:
‘The instinct to avoid transferring a stocks and shares Isa is understandable - it's a boring admin job and in the worst cases platforms can take months to complete transfers.
'But don't let this hold you back from trying other providers who might offer lower fees and better customer service.
'As of April this year, you're now able to both open and pay into more than one of the same type of Isa each year.
'This means you can try out new stocks and shares Isa providers without having to commit straight away to moving everything across.'
All investing involves the risk of losing money - and any investment that claims to returns are guaranteed is probably a scam.
However, all the stocks and shares Isas listed here are from providers regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Your Isa allowance for the 2023-24 tax year is £20,000. Any contributions you make to a cash Isa also come out of your allowance.
It's also important to remember that - until April 2024 - you can only open one cash Isa and one stocks and shares Isa in each tax year, although you can have more than one of each type in total if you've opened them in different tax years. In April 2024 the limit on Isa openings will be abolished.
You can only contribute to one of each type of Isa per tax year, so even if you have two stocks and shares Isas open, you can only add to one of them (though again, this rule will be abolished in April 2024).
If you want to change provider and then make additional contributions, you'll need to transfer your Isa first.
Where and what you should invest in depends on the following factors:
Why you're investing - if you're saving up for a specific goal, you'll want to re-invest any income you receive into buying more investments ('accumulation units' in funds do this for you). If you're looking to draw income from investments, look for 'income units'.
Your risk appetite - how much money you're prepared to lose in a worst-case scenario, and how long you're investing for. Company shares prices can go up and down rapidly, but over the long term give you higher returns than bonds.
Creating a diversified portfolio - having a range of assets, based in different regions and ideally held with different fund managers, will reduce the impact of market shocks
Fund costs - if you're buying funds, check how much the fund manager charges. In general actively-managed funds will cost more than passively-managed funds.
Once you've set yours up, it can be tempting to constantly check in on its performance, particularly given now many investment platforms offer mobile apps.
The danger with doing this is that you'll be drawn into tinkering with your portfolio.
If your original portfolio is set up on a sound basis, you should aim to leave it for the long term, with annual reviews being the sensible way to reassess and make sure your investments haven't strayed too far from your desired asset allocation, then rebalancing if necessary.
This is what a financial adviser would do for you, after all.
If you deal too often, you risk ending up with a list of random investments rather than a carefully considered portfolio.
A flexible stocks and shares Isa is one which allows you to withdraw money and return it within the same tax year without losing any of the tax-free benefits or using that year's allowance.
You do not need to subscribe specifically to a flexible Isa, but some platforms' stocks and shares Isas are flexible, and some aren't.
Of the providers covered in our survey, only Aviva, Barclays Smart Investor, Bestinvest, Charles Stanley Direct, Monzo, and Vanguard offered flexible stocks and shares Isas.
Yes. Fill out a transfer form with your new investment platform and it will do the hard work for you.
Don't be tempted to sell and move the investments yourself, as they will lose their tax-free Isa status.
There's no limit on the number of Isas you can transfer each tax year, but you can only open one type of Isa each tax year (this rule will be abolished in April 2024). So until then you can only switch to a new stocks and shares Isa provider once in any tax year.
Transferring can take a few weeks, leaving you unable to change your investments. If you've got significant holdings in particular firms, avoid switches immediately before those firms' financial results release dates.
A couple of platforms still charge exit fees if you transfer out, so make sure the move will save you money.
Yes: most cash Isa providers will allow you to transfer a stocks and shares Isa into a cash Isa.
Before you make a transfer, be aware that this involves your investments being sold and turned into cash. If you sell while prices are lower than usual (such as in a market downturn) this could mean you get less money than expected, or less than you originally invested.
Always let your cash Isa provider do the transfer, which may take several weeks.
If you withdraw the money yourself and re-deposit it, it'll lose its tax-free status.
Platforms like Freetrade and Moneybox offer investing in fractional shares in an Isa.
However, HMRC takes the view that this is not in line with tax regulations, so they may look to recover outstanding tax that would have been paid were the stock not held in an Isa.
A spokesperson for HMRC said they would first aim to claim tax back from the Isa manager (the platform) rather than the individual investor - but there is a risk you'll have to pay up later down the line.
However, the government announced in November 2023 that it wanted to allow certain fractional shares to be held in Isas and would consult on how to implement this.
You can, but it may not be the best approach as it will be in your name, not theirs. There is an equivalent to the stocks and shares Isa for children: the junior investment Isa.
This is a junior Isa that can hold shares, funds and other investments. It has three advantages over using a stocks and shares Isa to save for your children:
It won't affect your Isa allowance as junior Isas get a separate £9,000 annual allowance.
You don't have to worry about inheritance tax as the junior Isa is held in your child's name, though they can only access the money when they're 18.
They can be cheaper than stocks and shares Isas as some investment platforms offer them for free if you have a stocks and shares Isa.
In January 2024, we surveyed 4,136 investors about do-it-yourself investment platforms, including 1,952 Isa customers.
Each platform must get at least 30 responses to receive a customer score, which is based on overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend.
We ask investors to rate their current platform for the quality of its customer communications, customer service, ease of use and information on investments. We also ask whether it meets their needs, represents value for money and whether they would recommend it to someone else.
We don't analyse the performance of investments listed by investment platforms, as different investors will opt for different investments.
Which? Recommended Providers
To be classed as a Which? Recommended Provider (WRP), the platform needs to have a customer score of 70% or higher.
Companies that reach this score are excluded if they're among the top 25% of the most expensive platforms for any of our cost scenarios, based on our fees analysis. Platforms are not eligible for WRP status if they receive a two-star rating or lower in any of our categories.
We also apply statistical tests that place the platforms into ‘bands’; only the platforms in the highest band - the ones that really stand out - can be a WRP.
