Sharesight is the default answer when a UK self-directed investor asks "what should I use to track my portfolio?". It has been around since 2010, has a mature feature set, and supports more brokers than anything else on the market. For a lot of investors it is genuinely the right tool.
For a meaningful slice, it is not. This article is for the second group — UK retail investors who have either tried Sharesight and bounced off, are wincing at the monthly invoice, or want features Sharesight does not yet build. We will be fair about where Sharesight is strong, honest about where it falls short for UK self-directed investors specifically, and walk through the alternatives that fit different use cases.
This is not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future returns. Consider speaking to an FCA-authorised financial adviser for personalised guidance.
TL;DR
- Sharesight is the right answer if: you rely on its UK CGT and dividend tax reports for Self Assessment, you hold across many international brokers, you have multiple currencies in play, or you have already invested years of trade history into the platform.
- Sharesight gets expensive fast. The Free tier caps at 10 holdings; Starter (£8/mo annual) caps at 30. Most multi-wrapper UK portfolios end up on Standard at £14/mo annual or £18.67/mo monthly.
- For UK ETF investors specifically, Sharesight has gaps: no built-in look-through, no native ISA/SIPP wrapper logic, and some quirks around GBp / GBX denominations.
- Alternatives by use case: Snowball Analytics for European dividend investors, Delta for crypto-heavy portfolios, Kubera for whole-net-worth tracking, Invormed for ETF look-through plus ISA/SIPP/GIA awareness and AI features.
Where Sharesight is genuinely strong
Sharesight has had fifteen years to refine its product. That shows in places that matter, and any honest comparison has to start there.
Tax reporting. The UK CGT report and dividend tax report are the most cited reasons people stay on Sharesight, and rightly so. They calculate gains and losses across disposals, handle bed-and-breakfast rules, apply Section 104 holding logic, and produce a document you can hand to an accountant or paste into a Self Assessment return. For investors realising gains above the £3,000 CGT exemption, or reconciling dividend income across multiple brokers, this saves hours every January.
Broker coverage. Around 250 brokers supported via API or CSV. AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor, Interactive Brokers, Freetrade, Trading 212, eToro, Saxo — the integrations cover almost any custodian a UK investor is likely to use. For investors with international accounts, this is hard to replicate.
Dividend reinvestment and corporate actions. DRIPs are tracked accurately, with adjusted cost basis recalculated automatically. Stock splits, consolidations and rights issues are handled with reasonable consistency. Detail-oriented passive income investors notice this immediately when comparing to lighter-weight tools.
Multi-currency. Sharesight handles non-GBP holdings with full FX tracking — a US ETF in USD will show its GBP-equivalent value, gains in both currencies, and dividend payments translated. For UK investors with material US or European exposure (especially via accumulating ETFs or single stocks), this is a real feature.
Maturity and reliability. Large user base, well-documented public API, long uptime track record. Years of trade history already inside Sharesight is itself a switching cost — and a positive sign of stability.
If you are using Sharesight for any of these reasons and it is working for you, the rational answer is to keep using it. The rest of this article is for the people for whom it is not.
Where Sharesight falls short for UK self-directed investors
Sharesight's design is global-first. That comes with trade-offs that UK retail investors specifically tend to feel.
No first-class UK wrapper logic. Sharesight lets you label an account as "ISA" or "SIPP", but the labels are cosmetic. The platform does not natively understand that an ISA shelters gains and dividends from UK tax, that a SIPP defers tax until withdrawal, or that a GIA exposes you to CGT and dividend tax. You can make this work with discipline — but the tool does not help you reason about wrapper allocation. For a typical UK investor holding the same ETF across an ISA, SIPP and GIA, that is a real gap.
No built-in ETF look-through. Sharesight tracks an ETF as a single ticker — its price, its dividends, its cost basis. It does not deconstruct the ETF into its underlying holdings. If you hold three "global" ETFs across three accounts, Sharesight cannot tell you that 65% of your portfolio is concentrated in US large-caps. For UK retail investors who hold mostly ETFs, this is the single biggest analytical gap.
Holdings cap pricing pressure. The Free tier covers 10 holdings, Starter (£8/mo annual) covers 30. A genuinely typical UK portfolio — global tracker, factor tilt, a few single stocks, gilt exposure, REIT exposure, all spread across two or three wrappers — exceeds 30 holdings comfortably. The jump to Standard at £14/mo annual (or £18.67/mo monthly) is a 75% price increase driven mostly by the holdings cap.
No AI or natural-language interface. Sharesight is a dashboard product. There is no "ask a question about my portfolio" layer. For investors who have started getting used to AI-native tools elsewhere, this feels increasingly dated.
GBp / GBX handling quirks. UK equities trade in pence (GBp / GBX), not pounds. Sharesight handles this correctly in most cases, but CSV imports occasionally need manual cost-basis adjustment if the source broker exports in pence and Sharesight defaults to pounds (or vice versa). Not a deal-breaker, but worth knowing.
Tax reports are paid-tier-only. The headline feature lives behind the £14/mo annual or £18.67/mo monthly Standard plan. The Free tier exists, but if you are using Sharesight specifically for the tax reports, you are paying for it.
None of this makes Sharesight a bad product. It does mean a UK self-directed investor whose portfolio is mostly UK-listed ETFs across ISA / SIPP / GIA might reasonably want something else.
Alternatives matrix
Five alternatives a UK investor might consider, compared on the dimensions that actually matter.
| Tool | Free tier | Holdings limit (free) | ETF look-through | ISA/SIPP wrapper-aware | AI / MCP | UK broker support | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharesight | Yes | 10 | No | Generic labels | No | Excellent (~250 brokers) | Tax reports, multi-broker, multi-currency |
| Snowball Analytics | Yes | Limited | Limited (sector breakdown) | No | No | Manual / CSV | European dividend investors |
| Delta | Yes | Generous | No | No | No | Limited stocks; strong crypto | Crypto-heavy portfolios |
| Kubera | No (paid only) | Unlimited | No | No | No | Connection-based | Net worth tracking (cash, property, crypto, equities) |
| Invormed | Yes | No cap | Yes (built-in) | Native ISA / SIPP / GIA | Yes (Pro) | CSV; Trading 212 native | UK ETF holders, multi-wrapper, AI-curious |
A note on each:
- Snowball Analytics is a Riga-based product strong on dividend income, dividend safety scores, and projected income calendars. The free tier is workable; paid tiers unlock higher holdings counts and forecasting. Less UK-specific than Sharesight or Invormed, and broker integration is mostly manual or CSV.
- Delta (now owned by eToro) started as a crypto tracker and has expanded into stocks. The interface is polished and the free tier is generous, but it is not designed around UK tax wrappers and does not produce HMRC-suitable reports.
- Kubera is a net-worth aggregator rather than a portfolio analyser. It connects bank accounts, property (via Zillow / Redfin in the US, manual in the UK), crypto wallets and brokerage accounts into a single balance sheet. Useful if you want one view of total wealth; less useful if you want deep position-level analysis.
- Invormed is the UK-native option focused on self-directed investors holding ETFs across ISA, SIPP and GIA. Built-in ETF look-through, wrapper-aware analysis and an AI chat layer. CSV-based ingestion with Trading 212 as the lead broker integration. Currently in early access at £12/mo Pro.
Recommendations by use case
You hold across many international brokers and need automatic API sync. Stay on Sharesight. The breadth of broker coverage is genuinely hard to replicate.
You file Self Assessment with realised CGT or significant dividend income. Stay on Sharesight, at least through tax season. The CGT and dividend reports are the headline feature for a reason.
You are a UK-only investor holding mostly ETFs across two or three wrappers. Sharesight will work, but Invormed is built for this case specifically. ETF look-through and wrapper-aware logic are the two biggest analytical gaps in Sharesight for this profile.
You want dividend income tracking and projection above all else. Snowball Analytics is the most focused tool for this. Sharesight handles dividends well too, but Snowball is built around income tracking.
Your portfolio is heavily crypto, with a stocks satellite. Delta is the cleanest product for this shape.
You want one view of your total wealth — house, savings, ISA, SIPP, crypto. Kubera. It is more "balance sheet" than "portfolio analyser", but for that specific job it is the best tool.
You want to ask questions about your portfolio in natural language. Invormed is the only option in this list with a built-in AI chat layer over your real holdings.
Your portfolio is small and you mostly want a free tool. Sharesight Free (up to 10 holdings) or Invormed Free both work. Snowball's free tier is also reasonable.
Migration path from Sharesight
If you decide to move, the mechanics are straightforward.
Step 1 — export everything from Sharesight. Portfolio Settings → Export → Trade History (CSV). Sharesight's export is well-structured and includes date, security, quantity, price, brokerage and currency.
Step 2 — review the file. Strip rows for non-UK holdings you are not migrating, and watch for foreign-currency transactions or custom dividend adjustments that may not map cleanly to a new tool.
Step 3 — also export from your brokers. It is worth pulling fresh CSVs from each platform alongside the Sharesight export, so you have a sanity check on current holdings and cost basis.
Step 4 — import to your new tool. Most alternatives accept CSV. Standard trade fields map cleanly; DRIP records and split events sometimes need manual verification.
Step 5 — verify before cancelling Sharesight. Cross-check current holdings quantities and cost bases before you cancel. Particularly check positions with multiple purchases at different prices — the FIFO / LIFO method needs to match what you expect.
Step 6 — keep Sharesight for one tax year. A common pattern: keep the Sharesight subscription running through the next tax year so you have its reports for Self Assessment, then cancel after you have filed. Less disruptive than switching and trying to reconstruct CGT records mid-year.
The full migration takes one to two hours for a typical multi-wrapper UK portfolio. Budget more time if you have multiple years of complex transaction history.
When you should not switch
A genuine reason to stay on Sharesight: it is working, the tax reports do what you need, and the cost is something you can absorb. Switching tools always carries an opportunity cost — your time, the verification overhead, and the risk of drifting cost-basis records.
The right framing is not "is Sharesight good or bad" but "is Sharesight the right tool for my portfolio shape, in 2026". For a UK investor with US accounts, multi-currency holdings, complex realised gains and a hundred trades a year, the answer is usually still yes. For a UK-only investor with a multi-wrapper ETF portfolio, the answer is increasingly "probably not".
FAQ
Is Sharesight free for UK investors?
There is a free tier, but it caps at 10 holdings and one portfolio. Most UK investors with a multi-wrapper portfolio outgrow it within a year of starting. The paid tiers (Starter, Standard, Premium) start at £8/mo on annual billing and scale up.
What's better than Sharesight for UK ETFs?
For UK retail investors holding mostly ETFs, Invormed has two specific advantages: built-in ETF look-through (showing the underlying constituents of each ETF you hold) and native ISA / SIPP / GIA wrapper logic. Sharesight handles ETFs correctly at the price-and-dividend level but does not deconstruct them.
Does Sharesight show ETF overlap?
Not directly. Sharesight tracks each ETF as a single holding and does not look through to the underlying constituents. If you hold three global ETFs across three accounts, Sharesight cannot tell you the percentage of your portfolio that is duplicate exposure to the same companies. This is one of the gaps that drives some UK investors to alternatives.
How do I export from Sharesight?
Portfolio Settings → Export → Trade History. The CSV includes trade dates, securities, quantities, prices, brokerage and currency. Most alternatives can ingest the standard fields, though DRIPs and corporate actions may need manual verification.
Is Sharesight worth £20/month for UK investors?
If you use the CGT and dividend tax reports for Self Assessment and rely on automatic broker API sync, the £14–£18.67/mo Standard tier is reasonable value. If you do not realise gains regularly and your broker exports CSV cleanly, the same money buys a tool that does ETF look-through and wrapper-aware analysis instead.
Best Sharesight alternative with AI features?
Invormed is the only tool in this comparison with a built-in AI chat layer over your real portfolio data. The AI sits on top of the consolidated view and can answer questions like "what is my US large-cap exposure across all accounts?" or "which holdings are my largest concentration risks?". This is a Pro tier feature.
Want this kind of analysis on your real portfolio? Invormed is in early access — join the early-access waitlist.