Last updated: 13 November 2026. I checked every fee in this cheapest SIPP UK comparison against each provider's own charges page on 8 November 2026.
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.
This is not financial advice, and CoolCuration is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. I priced these pensions myself, so treat the figures as research and make your own decision, ideally with a regulated adviser if your situation is complicated.
Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Opening a SIPP? Two referral offers that work on one
InvestEngine's referral bonus works on its SIPP from £100 invested, and AJ Bell's needs £10,000 paid in or transferred. The current terms for both are on my referral pages.
See the InvestEngine SIPP offer See the AJ Bell referral offer
Three SIPPs charge no platform fee. On a £150,000 pot, the yearly bill still runs from £210 to £1,330
The cheapest SIPP UK savers can open right now charges nothing to hold your self-invested personal pension. InvestEngine, Trading 212 and Freetrade Basic all take a 0% platform fee, so the only cost left is the fund inside. I priced nine providers on the same job: one global tracker, paid in monthly, at £10,000, £50,000 and £150,000. At £150,000, the gap between the cheapest and the dearest is £1,120 a year.
Section 01 / The method
How I priced every SIPP on the same pot
Headline fees are hard to compare, because one provider charges a flat £4 a month and another charges 0.45% with a cap. So to find the cheapest SIPP in the UK on a fair basis, I put the same money in the same fund everywhere.
For every self-invested platform, the pension holds one fund: the Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF (ticker VWRP), a global tracker exchange-traded fund with an ongoing charge of 0.14% a year. Better still, every platform here can hold it. The money goes in through a monthly regular investment, because that avoids dealing charges at AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown. The total for each provider is the platform or account fee plus the fund charge, with no withdrawals yet.
Ready-made pensions, on the other hand, do not let you pick VWRP, so they get their own nearest equivalent instead. PensionBee's Tracker plan includes its fund costs in one fee. For Moneybox, I priced both its own Adventurous fund and the Fidelity global tracker it offers. For J.P. Morgan Personal Investing, I took the costs from its own fee calculator, which adds a fund charge and a small market spread to the management fee.
Section 02 / The numbers
The cheapest SIPP UK investors can open, priced side by side
The three cheapest SIPP options sit at the top, with self-invested platforms first and ready-made pensions below. Each row shows the yearly cost of holding the pot, in pounds and as a percentage.
| Provider | What you hold | £10,000 pot | £50,000 pot | £150,000 pot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| InvestEngine | VWRP, 0% platform fee | £14 (0.14%) | £70 (0.14%) | £210 (0.14%) |
| Trading 212 | VWRP, 0% platform fee | £14 (0.14%) | £70 (0.14%) | £210 (0.14%) |
| Freetrade Basic | VWRP, £0 plan | £14 (0.14%) | £70 (0.14%) | £210 (0.14%) |
| AJ Bell | VWRP, 0.25% capped at £10 a month | £39 (0.39%) | £190 (0.38%) | £330 (0.22%) |
| Hargreaves Lansdown | VWRP, 0.35% capped at £12.50 a month | £49 (0.49%) | £220 (0.44%) | £360 (0.24%) |
| Vanguard | VWRP, £4 a month under £32,000, then 0.15% capped at £375 | £62 (0.62%) | £145 (0.29%) | £435 (0.29%) |
| Moneybox | Adventurous fund, ready-made | £44 (0.44%) | £220 (0.44%) | £585 (0.39%) |
| PensionBee | Tracker plan, ready-made | £50 (0.50%) | £250 (0.50%) | £625 (0.42%) |
| Moneybox | Fidelity global tracker | £57 (0.57%) | £285 (0.57%) | £705 (0.47%) |
| J.P. Morgan Personal Investing | Fixed allocation, ready-made | £63 (0.63%) | £315 (0.63%) | £845 (0.56%) |
| J.P. Morgan Personal Investing | Socially responsible, ready-made | £102 (1.02%) | £510 (1.02%) | £1,330 (0.89%) |
Fees as at 8 November 2026, from each provider's charges page. Contributions only, no growth, no withdrawals. Fund charges are paid inside the fund rather than billed, but they still come off your pot.
Why the order changes as the pot grows
In short, the three no-fee SIPPs tie on cost at every pot size, because the fund charge is the only charge. The paid platforms change order as the pot grows. Vanguard is the dearest DIY option on a small pot, since £4 a month is 0.48% of £10,000. However, at £50,000 it is cheaper than both AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown, because its 0.15% has not yet reached a cap. By £150,000, AJ Bell's £120 yearly cap on ETFs puts it back in front of Vanguard.
On a £150,000 pot, the ready-made pensions in my table cost £585 to £1,330 a year. In a no-fee SIPP, the same money costs £210.
Section 03 / No platform fee
The three SIPPs that charge nothing to hold
All three cost the same to hold, but each has a limit you should know about before moving money in.
InvestEngine
InvestEngine's SIPP has no account fee and no dealing commission, and you need £100 to open one. It adds basic-rate tax relief at source, which takes six to eleven weeks to arrive, and accepts transfers in from most providers. However, it sells ETFs only, so there are no individual shares and no mutual funds. Drawdown is possible at no extra fee, but InvestEngine itself calls the current process paper-based and plans a digital version before September 2027.
The flaw: it accepts personal contributions only, so an employer or your own limited company cannot pay in. InvestEngine also keeps the interest on uninvested cash. I compared it with Trading 212 in more depth in my InvestEngine vs Trading 212 comparison, and my InvestEngine review covers how the app works day to day.
Trading 212
Trading 212's SIPP charges no account fee, custody fee, commission or transfer fee. The one platform charge is 0.15% on currency conversion, which a sterling ETF like VWRP avoids. Unlike InvestEngine, it covers individual shares as well as ETFs. Basic-rate relief usually lands within six to eleven weeks.
The flaw: there is no flexi-access drawdown yet, and employer and third-party payments are not accepted. That makes it a place to build a pot, with a transfer likely later on. My Trading 212 review covers the rest of the app.
Freetrade Basic
Freetrade's SIPP used to need the paid Plus plan, but it now comes with every plan, including the £0 Basic plan. Dealing is also commission-free, and the range includes shares, ETFs, mutual funds and gilts. Freetrade charges no transfer fee, although your old provider might.
The flaw: Freetrade offers no drawdown. Instead, you can take a lump sum, at £240 per withdrawal, or transfer the pot elsewhere to draw an income. It accepts no employer contributions either. Foreign-currency trades also cost 0.99% on Basic, which matters if you buy US shares rather than a sterling ETF. My Freetrade review covers the plans in detail.
Section 04 / The paid platforms
AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and Vanguard
None of these is the cheapest SIPP in the UK, but each one caps or tiers its fee differently, which changes the order as the pot grows.
AJ Bell. AJ Bell's SIPP charges 0.25% a year on shares and ETFs, capped at £10 a month. That cap is why it gets cheaper as a share of the pot, falling to 0.22% all-in at £150,000. Funds carry an uncapped 0.25% up to £250,000, so the cap only helps if you hold ETFs or shares. One-off share deals cost £5, while monthly regular investing is free. Once you move into drawdown, AJ Bell charges no withdrawal fee.
Hargreaves Lansdown. HL's SIPP charges 0.35% on shares and ETFs, capped at £12.50 a month, and 0.35% on funds up to £250,000. A one-off share deal costs £6.95, but regular monthly investing is free. Meanwhile, it pays interest on uninvested cash, which the cheapest platforms here do not all do.
Vanguard. Vanguard charges £4 a month until your total with it reaches £32,000, then 0.15% a year, capped at £375. As a result, that flat £4 hurts small pots the most. Between about £19,200 and £80,000, however, it is the cheapest of the three paid platforms. Vanguard only sells its own funds and ETFs, which matters less than it sounds, because VWRP is one of them. My ETF platform guide compares the same platforms for an ISA or general account, and the order changes there because AJ Bell's ISA cap is lower.
Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Check the InvestEngine referral terms
Section 05 / Ready-made pensions
PensionBee, Moneybox and J.P. Morgan
None of these comes close to the cheapest SIPP UK fees above, because you pay for someone else to pick and rebalance the investments.
Moneybox. Moneybox charges a 0.15% service fee, capped at £150 a year, on its own Amundi-run funds, plus a 0.29% fund fee. That makes it the cheapest ready-made option in the table at every pot size. If you pick another provider's fund, such as the Fidelity global tracker at 0.12%, the service fee rises to 0.45% on the first £100,000. As a result, the cheaper-looking tracker ends up costing more.
PensionBee. PensionBee charges one annual fee that includes the fund, from 0.50% on the Tracker plan to 0.95% on its Shariah plan. Above £100,000, though, you pay half the fee on the extra amount. The Tracker plan holds shares and bonds rather than shares alone, so it is a little more cautious than VWRP.
J.P. Morgan Personal Investing. J.P. Morgan's own fee calculator puts its fixed-allocation style at 0.45% on the first £100,000, plus fund costs of 0.14% and a 0.04% market spread. Its socially responsible style costs 0.75% plus 0.23% in fund costs, which made it the dearest pot in my table. Self-managed investing is on its way at J.P. Morgan, and I covered what has been announced in my post on its self-managed launch, but no self-managed pension has been confirmed.
Chip. Chip's pension uses one BlackRock LifePath fund at 0.18% plus a 0.45% platform fee, which comes to 0.63% a year. Pension transfers are live in the app, but Chip says it is still putting the final touches to the SIPP itself. At 0.63%, it would cost £945 a year on a £150,000 pot, so it does not beat the cheapest options here on fees.
Section 06 / The catches
What the cheapest SIPP UK providers leave out
Employer payments, drawdown, fund range and minimums all differ, and each can cost more than the fee saving.
Employer contributions. None of the three no-fee SIPPs accept money from an employer. If your employer pays into a workplace pension, keep it, even though the cheapest SIPP in the UK may charge less in fees. After all, opting out to use a SIPP instead usually means giving up their contributions, which is far more money than any fee saving.
Drawdown. Freetrade offers no drawdown and Trading 212 offers no flexi-access drawdown. InvestEngine does offer it, through paper forms. So if you plan to take an income soon, a platform with a proper drawdown service, such as AJ Bell, may cost more but save you a second transfer.
Fund range. InvestEngine sells ETFs only, and Vanguard sells only Vanguard funds. If you want a specific active fund, a bond fund or individual shares, check before you open the account.
Minimums and transfers. For example, InvestEngine needs £100 to open a SIPP. Freetrade does not accept final salary pensions or pensions with safeguarded benefits. Whatever the platform, anyone thinking about moving a defined benefit pension, or a pension with guarantees such as a guaranteed annuity rate, should take regulated financial advice first. Gov.uk explains how pension transfers work.
Section 07 / My own pensions
Where my own pension money sits
I have not used a SIPP at InvestEngine or Freetrade, so everything above is research rather than experience. My own pension money sits in two places. First, I pay into a workplace pension with Aegon every month, which I started around four years ago. The fees on it are low because my employer negotiated them, so I am keeping it as it is.
Second, years ago I consolidated two old pensions into a single J.P. Morgan Personal Investing pot, then known as Nutmeg. It is my longest-held pension and also my highest-risk one, invested in the socially responsible style at risk level 10 out of 10. That style is also the most expensive row in my table. I do not want too many pensions in too many places, either.
Section 08 / The rules
Tax relief, access age and the SIPP vs ISA question
Tax relief. Every provider here uses relief at source. You pay in £80 and the provider claims £20 from HMRC, so £100 lands in your pension. If you pay higher or additional rate tax, you claim the extra relief yourself through your Self Assessment return, as gov.uk explains. My Self Assessment deadlines guide has the dates. Relief is limited to 100% of your earnings, and the annual allowance is £60,000 for most people. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future.
Access age. You can normally take money from a personal pension from 55. That rises to 57 from 6 April 2028. Before you take anything, the government's free Pension Wise service from MoneyHelper can talk you through the options.
SIPP or ISA. A SIPP gives you tax relief going in but locks the money away until your late fifties. By contrast, a stocks and shares ISA gives no relief but lets you take the money out whenever you like. You can pay into both in the same tax year, and I compare the ISA side in my best investment ISA guide.
Section 09 / Protection
Is a cheap SIPP safe?
The FSCS covers a no-fee SIPP in the same way as a paid one. Eligible investments are protected up to £85,000 per person per FCA-authorised firm by the FSCS. That Financial Services Compensation Scheme cover applies if a firm fails and cannot return your assets, not if markets fall. Every provider in this cheapest SIPP UK comparison is on the FCA Register, listed here with its Firm Reference Number (FRN): InvestEngine (UK) Limited, FRN 801128, Trading 212 UK Limited, FRN 609146, Freetrade Limited, FRN 783189, AJ Bell Securities Limited, FRN 155593, Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Limited, FRN 115248, Vanguard Asset Management, Ltd., FRN 527839, Digital Moneybox Limited, FRN 712935, PensionBee Limited, FRN 744931 and J.P. Morgan Personal Investing Limited, FRN 552016. Chip's pension sits with Chip Financial Wealth Ltd, FRN 1005114.
Cheapest SIPP UK: frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest SIPP in the UK?
On fees alone, InvestEngine, Trading 212 and Freetrade Basic tie, because none of them charge a platform fee. On a £10,000 pot in a global tracker, each costs £14 a year, which is the fund charge. Of the paid platforms, AJ Bell is cheapest on a large ETF pot because its fee is capped at £120 a year.
Is a free SIPP really free?
Even the cheapest SIPP in the UK has a cost. The platform fee is zero, but the fund inside still has an ongoing charge, such as 0.14% a year on VWRP. Freetrade charges £240 for each lump-sum withdrawal, and currency conversion costs extra on Trading 212 and Freetrade.
Can my employer pay into a cheap SIPP?
Not at InvestEngine, Trading 212 or Freetrade, which accept personal contributions only. If your employer pays into a workplace pension, keep paying into it, because their contributions are worth more than a fee saving.
Should I transfer my old pensions into one SIPP?
Consolidating can cut fees and paperwork, but check first for exit fees, guaranteed annuity rates and protected tax-free cash. Never move a defined benefit pension without regulated advice, and use MoneyHelper's free guidance if you are unsure.
Is a SIPP better than an ISA?
It depends on when you need the money. A SIPP adds tax relief but locks money away until 55, or 57 from April 2028. An ISA has no relief but no lock-in, and you can pay into both in the same tax year.
How does tax relief work in a SIPP?
The provider adds basic-rate relief, so £80 from you becomes £100, usually within six to eleven weeks. Higher and additional rate taxpayers claim the rest through Self Assessment. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future.
Rates, fees and terms change, and the figures above reflect each provider's published charges on the date in the table. This is not financial advice. If you are unsure what suits you, consider speaking to a qualified financial adviser.
This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up, I earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. Brands don't choose what I feature or what I say about them.
Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
More from CoolCuration
- Taxfix discount code: claiming higher-rate pension relief means filing a return, and this gets you money off the app that files it.
- Emma Premium trial: see a pension, an ISA and your bank accounts in one app before you decide what to consolidate.
- Investment app currency fees compared: the currency charge each app adds when you buy US shares.
- ISA allowance deadline: when the £20,000 resets and what happens to an unused allowance.
- Chip app guide: how Chip's savings, ISA and investing accounts fit together.
What's trending
Recent posts
- Cheapest SIPP UK: No-Fee and Low-Fee Pensions Compared
Last updated: 13 November 2026. I checked every fee in this cheapest SIPP UK comparison against each provider's own charges page on 8 November 2026. By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate and referral links, which are paid links. If you click one and buy or sign up,… Read more: Cheapest SIPP UK: No-Fee and Low-Fee Pensions Compared - Robert Ryman Barbican Review: The Real ThingLast updated: 12 November 2026. I checked every date, price and opening time in this Robert Ryman Barbican review against the Barbican's own pages on 31 October 2026. By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice. Cool Factor:… Read more: Robert Ryman Barbican Review: The Real Thing
- Kylie Manning: The Mudlarkers reviewLast updated: 11 November 2026 By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author's own and do not constitute professional advice. Cool Factor: 2/5 Kylie Manning: The Mudlarkers reviewExhibition / Pace London I went to see Kylie Manning: The Mudlarkers at Pace on Thursday afternoon. It… Read more: Kylie Manning: The Mudlarkers review
No Comments.