Trading 212 vs InvestEngine: The ETF-Only ISA Fee Tie That Product Choice Breaks

Trading 212’s current fee schedule lists free commission and custody for its Invest, ISA and SIPP, with a 0.15% FX fee where conversion applies. InvestEngine’s costs page lists no ISA/SIPP account fee and no DIY management or dealing fee; managed portfolios cost 0.25% a year, before ETF charges and market spreads.

Method: the chart multiplies each snapshot balance by the stated annual platform or management rate. It assumes no growth, no contributions and no withdrawals for one year. £5,000, £25,000 and £100,000 are existing balances, not suggested annual ISA deposits: GOV.UK puts the 2026/27 ISA contribution ceiling at £20,000. £25,000 and £100,000 can reflect prior years' subscriptions, investment growth or transfers.

These bars deliberately exclude the ETF's own ongoing charge, bid–offer spread, tracking difference, and any currency conversion. The same GBP-traded ETF with the same fund charge at both DIY providers leaves the £0 platform-fee tie intact; adding that fund charge to only one provider would be a fake comparison. A managed portfolio buys asset selection and maintenance, not just a different checkout price. Compare all investment platforms if your needs extend beyond these two.

Trading 212's fee schedule gives 0.15% FX, not 0.15% a year on your entire ISA. To illustrate, converting a full £5,000, £25,000 or £100,000 once into another currency would cost £7.50, £37.50 or £150 in platform FX respectively. Convert the proceeds back later and another conversion fee can apply; the eventual sterling proceeds and rate differ, so the return-trip fee is not exactly double.

This chart is a conditional transaction example, not a forecast of annual costs. A UK-listed ETF quoted and traded in GBP does not automatically trigger a platform FX fee just because its underlying shares are global or its fund manager reports in dollars. Look at the trading currency of the share class, not the countries in the index. InvestEngine's published costs list free currency conversion, but its ETF-only shelf is not a substitute for every foreign-listed security offered elsewhere. Check that the precise instrument and share class you want are on both platforms before using the zero-FX line as an advantage.

ETF spreads are separate from either provider's commission: an investor who trades frequently can lose more to the spread than the nominal platform fee. InvestEngine reports an average 0.07% a year spread cost for its Managed portfolios, not a guaranteed spread for every DIY ETF. Do not paste that average into a DIY cost projection.

Trading 212's funding help page says card and certain wallet deposits are free only until cumulative deposits reach £2,000 (GBP/EUR); above that, a 0.7% fee applies to those payment methods. Bank transfers and instant bank transfers remain free. That is not an unavoidable ISA fee: choose a free bank-transfer route and the extra platform funding cost is zero.

But suppose you already exhausted the free-deposit limit and then pay £5,000 by card: £35 in fees. For £25,000 it would be £175, if that whole deposit is chargeable at the stated rate. The arithmetic is 0.007 × the chargeable deposit, not 0.7% of assets held each year. That payment habit can matter far more than the zero-fee headline. And it changes the recommendation: for a regular investor unwilling or unable to change deposit method, verify payment options before assuming Trading 212 is the cheapest way to buy an ETF. This comparison does not assert InvestEngine accepts the same card route.

Pick InvestEngine DIY if you want a purpose-built ETF portfolio and will actually use its available GBP ETFs and automated allocation tools. Its ISA page describes building a DIY portfolio and setting target weights. Its costs page says it retains interest on uninvested cash; the real cost of leaving cash idle depends on the alternative cash rate and time uninvested, not on a fabricated fixed percentage. InvestEngine's ETF-only restriction is a feature until you want individual shares.

Pick Trading 212 if there is a specific individual share or other supported instrument you plan to hold alongside ETFs, or if the ETF/share class you want is absent from InvestEngine's catalogue. Staying on Trading 212 for a GBP ETF you already own isn't a mistake: its fee schedule supports the same £0 DIY platform and commission calculation. Its SIPP help page confirms it also offers a SIPP, so ‘one offers pensions, the other doesn't’ is no longer a valid differentiator. InvestEngine also advertises a zero-account-fee SIPP. Check each pension's accepted transfers and investments rather than treating an ISA comparison as pension advice.

Pay for InvestEngine Managed only when you actually value ongoing management. At £25,000 its 0.25% fee is £62.50 for one static year. Its published costs put average ETF ongoing charges in Growth managed portfolios at 0.12%, equivalent to another £30 on a static £25,000, before spread. Roughly £92.50 combined is an illustrative managed cost, not the DIY fee and not a promise about your exact fund mix. Compare the Trading 212 review and InvestEngine review for broader product trade-offs.

Write down the exact ETF ticker, listing currency and share class. Check availability on both platforms. Compare its same ongoing fund charge and spread, then add any provider-specific currency conversion, funding and management costs. Avoid treating a multi-currency fund as an automatic FX transaction. If both providers carry the GBP instrument and you bank-transfer, the arithmetic has no platform-fee winner: choose based on portfolio workflow and service instead.

Moving an existing ISA solely to save £0 is a poor trade if you lose time in the market or need to sell holdings during a cash transfer. GOV.UK's ISA transfer guidance says to use the new provider's transfer process rather than withdrawing the money yourself; check whether the instrument can move in specie or must be sold first. The allowance rules matter more than an imaginary fee saving. For wrapper basics, see our ISA hub, and for fund selection our beginner ETF guide.

A good test of an ETF choice is not how many tickers an app advertises but whether its version of your chosen fund tracks the same index, trades in the currency you expect and has the same accumulation or distribution policy. Switching from an accumulating ETF to a distributing one creates dividend cash to reinvest; it does not improve the platform-fee comparison. For the building blocks, use our index-fund and ETF investing guide. For a broader investment wrapper decision, check the pensions hub before mixing ISA costs with SIPP tax relief.