IG vs Plus500 2025
In this head to head comparison of IG vs Plus500, we will compare the trading platforms, mobile apps, range of investments, costs, market research, and more. Let's dive in.
In this head to head comparison of IG vs Plus500, we will compare the trading platforms, mobile apps, range of investments, costs, market research, and more. Let's dive in.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 51% and 89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
When comparing online brokers IG and Plus500, it's clear that both are strong contenders with significant trustworthiness. Founded in 1974, IG is an older player in the game, while Plus500 made its mark starting in 2008. Both companies are publicly traded, but only IG holds the distinction of being a bank. Each broker shines with a perfect Trust Score of 99 from ForexBrokers.com, reflecting their high reliability.
IG stands out with its accumulation of 8 Tier-1 licenses, indicating strong regulatory backing. Plus500 is not far behind, with 6 Tier-1 licenses under its belt. Additionally, IG carries 2 Tier-2 licenses compared to Plus500's 3, portraying both brokers as trusted institutions, though with slightly different regulatory landscapes. Both IG and Plus500 exhibit impressive regulatory standings, making them trusted choices for traders.
Feature |
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Year Founded | 1974 | 2008 |
Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | Yes |
Bank | Yes | No |
Tier-1 Licenses | 8 | 6 |
Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 3 |
Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
Tier-4 Licenses | 1 | 1 |
When considering commissions and fees, IG stands out as a preferred choice for active traders thanks to its competitive pricing and flexible execution methods. Offering both a Contracts for Difference (CFD) account and a Direct Market Access (DMA) account, IG caters to various trading preferences. In July 2023, the CFD account exhibited average spreads of 0.98 pips globally and 1.18 pips for the EUR/USD pair in the US. For those classified as professional traders, IG provides an attractive active-trader rebate program, offering up to a 20% discount on spreads for high-volume trades. Additionally, the DMA account on IG offers average spreads of 0.62 on the EUR/USD in July 2023, with commissions depending on the trading volume. IG is rated 5 stars and ranks #8 out of 62 brokers by ForexBrokers.com in the Commissions and Fees category.
In comparison, Plus500's pricing is generally above the industry average, lacking the appeal of IG's active trader pricing. Though it provides cash rebates for professional clients, Plus500 does not offer discounts to retail traders. For April 2024, Plus500's spreads averaged 1.5 pips on the EUR/USD, which is higher than what competitive brokers like IG offer. As a result of these factors, Plus500 receives a 4-star rating and ranks #25 out of 62 brokers according to ForexBrokers.com for Commissions and Fees.
Feature |
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Minimum Deposit | £250.00 | €100 |
Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 0.98 | 1.5 |
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.82 | 1.5 |
Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes | No |
ACH or SEPA Transfers | Yes | No |
PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes |
Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes |
Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | Yes | Yes |
Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Low Spread Forex Brokers.
When comparing IG and Plus500 in terms of their range of investments, both platforms offer forex trading through CFDs, providing robust options for currency trading enthusiasts. IG boasts an impressive 19,537 tradeable symbols, significantly surpassing Plus500's 5,500 symbols. For those focusing on forex pairs, IG leads the way again with 97 pairs compared to Plus500's 65. Both platforms allow investors to access exchange-traded securities on U.S. and international exchanges, meaning you can buy shares of companies like Apple and Vodafone through either platform. However, neither IG nor Plus500 provides the feature for copy trading, nor do they allow the purchase of actual cryptocurrencies; both offer options in cryptocurrency derivatives only.
In terms of their overall investment range, IG earns a stellar rating of 5 stars, placing it 4th out of 62 brokers according to ForexBrokers.com, while Plus500 receives a slightly lower rating of 4.5 stars and ranks 24th. While both platforms have their strengths, IG's extensive range of tradeable symbols and forex pairs gives it a clear advantage for those seeking a diverse selection of trading opportunities.
Feature |
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Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 19537 | 5500 |
Forex Pairs (Total) | 97 | 65 |
U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes | Yes |
Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes | Yes |
Social Trading / Copy Trading | No | No |
Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No | No |
Cryptocurrency (Derivative) | Yes | Yes |
Disclaimers | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). Non-CFD share trading at Plus500 is only available through the Plus500 Invest account. |
Dive deeper: Best Copy Trading Platforms.
When comparing the trading platforms and tools of IG and Plus500, both brokers provide users with virtual demo accounts and proprietary platforms tailored to meet diverse trading needs. IG stands out by offering a Windows-based desktop download for those who prefer a traditional setup, while Plus500 opts for a solely web-based interface, accessible via any browser. Although both brokers provide a web-based trading experience, Plus500 lacks integration with MetaTrader 4 (MT4), a feature available with IG that appeals to many traders for its advanced capabilities.
In terms of charting tools, Plus500 slightly edges out IG with 22 drawing tools compared to IG's 20, though IG compensates by allowing users to trade directly from its stock charts. Additionally, Plus500 offers more customization for watch lists, with 10 fields compared to IG's 5, catering to traders who need to track multiple data points. However, in terms of overall platform quality and user satisfaction, IG maintains a higher rating of 5 stars, ranking second among 62 brokers on ForexBrokers.com, while Plus500 holds a rank of 14 with a close 4.5-star rating.
Feature |
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Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes |
Proprietary Platform | Yes | Yes |
Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | No |
Web Platform | Yes | Yes |
Social Trading / Copy Trading | No | No |
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | No |
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | No |
DupliTrade | No | No |
ZuluTrade | No | No |
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 33 | 114 |
Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 20 | 22 |
Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | No |
Watchlists - Total Fields | 5 | 10 |
Dive deeper: Best MetaTrader 4 Brokers, Best MetaTrader 5 Brokers.
When considering mobile trading apps from two popular online brokers, IG and Plus500, both offer comprehensive tools for iPhone and Android users. Each platform provides features such as stock and forex price alerts, watchlist symbol syncing, and the ability to draw trendlines on charts. Traders can also view multiple time frames within the apps, ensuring they have access to detailed market analysis whenever they need it. However, a key difference lies in the technical studies available within the apps; IG offers 33 studies while Plus500 offers a more expansive 110 studies, catering to traders who require a broader range of analytical tools.
Another distinct difference between the two apps is the handling of chart drawings. While IG’s app automatically saves any drawings made on charts, Plus500’s app does not offer this convenience, possibly leading traders to prefer IG for maintaining their technical analysis persistently. Furthermore, both apps allow users to set up watchlists with real-time quotes, enhancing their trading readiness and decision-making capabilities. In terms of overall mobile app ratings and rankings, IG stands out with a 5-star rating and a first-place ranking from ForexBrokers.com, whereas Plus500 is rated with 4.5 stars and holds the 14th position. These insights can guide traders in selecting the mobile trading platform that best meets their needs.
Feature |
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Android App | Yes | Yes |
Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes |
Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes |
Watchlist Syncing | Yes | Yes |
Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 33 | 110 |
Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes |
Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes |
Mobile Charting - Drawings Autosave | Yes | No |
Mobile Watchlist | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.
When comparing IG and Plus500 for market research, both platforms provide daily market commentary, ensuring investors have up-to-date information. However, IG stands out with forex news sourced from top-tier providers like Bloomberg and Reuters, a feature not available with Plus500. IG also offers advanced tools from Autochartist and sentiment-based trading insights, giving traders a comprehensive view of market trends. In contrast, Plus500 provides tools from Trading Central but lacks some of the sophisticated offerings found on IG, such as Autochartist and TipRanks research.
Additionally, IG supports its traders with a range of tools from Acuity Trading and an economic calendar, features mirrored by Plus500 albeit with slightly fewer resources. These extensive offerings contribute to IG's superior research rating of 5 stars, and a second-place ranking in the Research category by ForexBrokers.com. Plus500, while still commendable, receives a 4-star rating and ranks 19th. These distinctions highlight IG's commitment to providing a richer research experience for its users.
Feature |
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Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes |
Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | No |
Autochartist | Yes | No |
Trading Central (Recognia) | No | Yes |
Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | Yes |
TipRanks | Yes | No |
Signal Centre (Acuity Trading) | Yes | No |
Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Brokers for Forex Research.
When it comes to educational resources for beginners looking to delve into online trading, both IG and Plus500 offer a wealth of material to help new traders get started. Each platform provides a variety of educational pieces, including articles, videos, and archived webinars focused on forex and CFDs. This means that regardless of which broker you choose, there is no shortage of informative content available. Additionally, both IG and Plus500 host online educational webinars at least once a month and provide access to a searchable archive of previously recorded sessions. This makes catching up or revisiting key concepts straightforward for users who want to deepen their understanding.
IG stands out slightly more for its comprehensive educational offerings. Not only does IG provide a wide array of beginner and advanced educational videos, but it also includes an investor dictionary featuring over 50 investing terms, a resource Plus500 does not offer. Perhaps this contributes to IG's higher rating of 5 stars for education and its position as the top-ranked broker in this category according to ForexBrokers.com. While Plus500 also has quality resources and hosts webinars regularly, it earns a 4.0-star rating and is ranked 31st out of 62 brokers surveyed. For those who regard educational resources as a decisive factor in selecting a broker, IG might make a more compelling choice due to these additional offerings.
Feature |
|
|
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Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
Client Webinars | Yes | Yes |
Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | Yes |
Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes | No |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Brokers for Beginners.
After testing 62 of the best forex brokers, our research and account testing finds that IG is better than Plus500. IG finished with an overall rank of #1, while Plus500 finished with an overall rank of #14.
IG offers the ultimate comprehensive trading package, featuring excellent trading and research tools, industry-leading education, and an extensive range of tradeable markets.
Feature |
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Overall Rating |
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Trust Score | 99 | 99 |
Range of Investments |
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Commissions & Fees |
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Platform & Tools |
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Research |
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Mobile Trading |
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Education |
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Both IG and Plus500 do not provide the option to purchase actual cryptocurrencies, but they do offer the ability to trade cryptocurrency derivatives.
When comparing online brokers IG and Plus500, IG supports ACH or SEPA transfers for deposits and withdrawals, unlike Plus500, and both brokers offer PayPal and Visa or Mastercard options, although Plus500 also provides Skrill, which IG does not, while both platforms facilitate transactions via bank wires.
Please note:
We review each broker’s overall global offering – a “Yes” checkmark in our Compare Tool does not guarantee the availability of any specific features in your country of residence. To verify the availability of any features within your country of residence, please contact the broker directly.
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0 of 5Overall Rating | IG | Plus500 | |
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Research |
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Education |
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Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
Winner | check_circle | ||
Review | IG Review | Plus500 Review |
Broker Screenshots | IG | Plus500 | |
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Trading Platforms Gallery (click to expand) | |||
Mobile Trading Gallery (click to expand) | |||
Research Gallery (click to expand) | |||
Education Gallery (click to expand) |
Regulation | IG | Plus500 | |
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Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
Year Founded | 1974 | 2008 | |
Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | Yes | |
Bank | Yes | No | |
Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes | |
Tier-1 Licenses | 8 | 6 | |
Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 3 | |
Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | |
Tier-4 Licenses | 1 | 1 |
Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted) | IG | Plus500 | |
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Australia (ASIC Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
Canada (CIRO Authorised) | No | No | |
Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) | No | No | |
Japan (SFC Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
Singapore (MAS Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) | Yes | No | |
United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
USA (CFTC Authorized) | Yes | No | |
New Zealand (FMA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes |
Tier-2 Licenses (Trusted) | IG | Plus500 | |
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Kenya (CMA Authorised) | No | No | |
Israel (ISA Authorised) | No | Yes | |
South Africa (FSCA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
India (SEBI Authorised) | No | No | |
Jordan (JSC Authorised) | No | No |
Investments | IG | Plus500 | |
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Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 19537 | 5500 | |
Forex Pairs (Total) | 97 | 65 | |
U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes | Yes | |
Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes | Yes | |
Social Trading / Copy Trading | No | No | |
Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No | No | |
Cryptocurrency (Derivative) | Yes | Yes | |
Disclaimers | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). Non-CFD share trading at Plus500 is only available through the Plus500 Invest account. |
Cost | IG | Plus500 | |
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Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 0.98 | 1.5 | |
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.82 | 1.5 | |
Active Trader or VIP Discounts | Yes | No | |
Inactivity Fee | Yes | Yes | |
Execution: Agency Broker | Yes | No | |
Execution: Market Maker | Yes | Yes |
Funding | IG | Plus500 | |
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Minimum Deposit | £250.00 | €100 | |
PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes | |
Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | Yes | Yes | |
Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
ACH or SEPA Transfers | Yes | No |
Trading Platforms | IG | Plus500 | |
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Proprietary Platform | Yes | Yes | |
Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | No | |
Web Platform | Yes | Yes | |
Social Trading / Copy Trading | No | No | |
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | No | |
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | No | |
cTrader | No | No | |
DupliTrade | No | No | |
ZuluTrade | No | No |
Trading Tools | IG | Plus500 | |
---|---|---|---|
Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | |
Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
Watchlists - Total Fields | 5 | 10 | |
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 33 | 114 | |
Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 20 | 22 | |
Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | No | |
Charts can be saved | Yes | Yes |
Mobile Trading | IG | Plus500 | |
---|---|---|---|
Android App | Yes | Yes | |
Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | |
Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
Mobile Watchlist | Yes | Yes | |
Watchlist Syncing | Yes | Yes | |
Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 33 | 110 | |
Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes | |
Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes | |
Mobile Charting - Drawings Autosave | Yes | No | |
Mobile Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Research | IG | Plus500 | |
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Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes | |
Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | No | |
Autochartist | Yes | No | |
Trading Central (Recognia) | No | Yes | |
TipRanks | Yes | No | |
Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | Yes | |
Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Education | IG | Plus500 | |
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Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
Client Webinars | Yes | Yes | |
Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | Yes | |
Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes | No |
Major Forex Pairs | IG | Plus500 | |
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GBP/USD | Yes | Yes | |
USD/JPY | Yes | Yes | |
EUR/USD | Yes | Yes | |
USD/CHF | Yes | Yes | |
USD/CAD | Yes | Yes | |
NZD/USD | Yes | Yes | |
AUD/USD | Yes | Yes | |
Review | IG Review | Plus500 Review |
Overall | IG | Plus500 | |
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Overall Rating |
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Commissions & Fees |
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Range of Investments |
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Platform & Tools |
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Mobile Trading |
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Research |
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Education |
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Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
Winner | check_circle | ||
Review | IG Review | Plus500 Review |