Hargreaves Lansdown vs Questrade — which broker is better?

Pros

• The UK's largest platform by assets — over GBP 172bn administered for more than two million clients, with a 45-year track record
• Wealth Shortlist fund research and in-house analyst coverage that no execution-only rival matches for depth
• The best mobile app among the large UK platforms, with near-complete parity to the website across all account types
• UK-based Bristol helpdesk with a strong service reputation — support is consistently the top theme in positive reviews
• No inactivity fee, no account opening or closing fee, free transfers out including in specie, and free cash holding that still earns interest
• Share dealing repriced to GBP 6.95 (GBP 3.95 from 20 deals a month) with the annual charge on shares capped at GBP 12.50 a month
• Free monthly regular investing by Direct Debit on both funds and shares, from GBP 25 a month
• Full UK tax-wrapper range in one login — ISA, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA, SIPP, Junior SIPP and drawdown — plus the Active Savings cash marketplace

Cons

• Still the most expensive of the three large UK platforms: 0.35% a year on funds is uncapped until GBP 250,000, where AJ Bell charges 0.25% and interactive investor charges a flat GBP 71.88
• The 0.99% foreign exchange charge on the first GBP 10,000 of every overseas trade is punitive for anyone building a US or European portfolio in small increments
• No options, futures, spread betting, CFDs, direct crypto or fractional shares — HL cannot serve a trader or anyone wanting sub-GBP 100 exposure to a high-priced US stock
• Only around 20 exchanges reachable (US, Canada and 14 European venues), against 24 international markets at AJ Bell
• No demo account, so there is no way to test the platform before committing money
• The Woodford Equity Income Fund remains a live reputational issue: roughly 130,000 of the fund's investors held it through HL, and a High Court group claim brought in 2022 had passed 9,600 claims after registration closed on 30 April 2025

Pros

• CAD 0 commission on every Canadian and US stock and ETF trade, on both the buy and the sell side, with no ECN fees at all on Canadian orders
• CAD 0 contract fee on US-listed equity options and free assignment — one of only two Canadian brokers offering this
• Questrade Pro is free to all clients and includes Level 2 depth, time and sales, chart trading, hot keys and a multi-leg options strategy builder
• No inactivity fee, no annual account fee and no minimum balance on any registered or non-registered account
• Dual-currency registered accounts let you hold USD inside a TFSA or RRSP, removing forced conversion on every US dividend and sale
• Fractional shares, pre-IPO access, private credit, bonds, GICs, mutual funds and a separate FX & CFD account under one brand
• CIRO-regulated with CIPF coverage of CAD 1,000,000 per account category, and a record as Canada's largest independent broker going back to 1999

Cons

• The 1.5% CAD/USD conversion charge is high and unavoidable unless you deliberately manage currency; on a CAD 20,000 US-stock purchase it costs CAD 300, dwarfing any commission saving
• Cash earns effectively 0% below a CAD 250,000 balance — the published formula is prime minus 8.50%, floored at zero — while Wealthsimple pays 1.25% or more on chequing balances
• CAD 150 to transfer an account out, full or partial, and CAD 9.95 per journalling request unless you pay CAD 19.99 a month for Questrade Plus
• The 'margin rates as low as prime minus 2.5%' headline applies only to USD borrowing for clients trading 5,001+ US options contracts a month; the standard CAD non-registered rate is prime plus 4.25%, and registered accounts pay prime plus 8.10%
• No spot crypto, no exchange-traded futures, and no meaningful international equity access — non-US foreign shares cost 1% of trade value with a USD 195 minimum per side
• Questrade advertises no practice or paper-trading account for self-directed clients, so there is nowhere to learn Questrade Pro without real money at risk