Let’s explore which is the better broker for UK traders, spread bettors and professional traders – it’s Pepperstone vs City Index.
Which is the Better Trading Broker: Pepperstone or City Index?
Pepperstone vs City Index may feel a bit like a strange paring at first… surely City Index with 13,500+ instruments simply dwarfs Pepperstone right? Well, you might be looking at the wrong things.
Pepperstone’s tight spreads, multi-platform interoperability and professional offerings make this match-up compelling.
So how do these two compare – and which is better? Let’s dig into the key features, platforms, costs, and extras to help you decide.
Here is the video version:
1. Key Features Comparison
| IG VS City Index | 
First | 
Second | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulation | FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), NFA (US), and more | FCA (UK) | |
| Trading Platforms | Proprietary Platform, MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView | Proprietary Platform, MT4, TradingView | |
| Minimum Deposit | £0 | £100 | |
| Spreads | Starting from 0.0 pips on forex + £2.25 round-turn on Razor Account | Starting from 0.7 pips on forex | |
| Commissions | Commissions on Razor account & shares | Spread-only pricing for most products | |
| Range of Assets | 2400+ spread betting & forex CFDs | 13,500+ insturments | |
| Education Resources | Good | Comprehensive | |
| Customer Support | 24/5 via live chat, phone, and email | 24/5 via phone, chat, and email | |
| Funding Options | Credit/Debit Card, PayPal, Bank Transfer | Credit/Debit Card, PayPal, Bank Transfer | |
| Inactivity Fee | No inactivity fee | £12/month after 1 year of no activity | |
| Join Pepperstone | Join City Index |
In Summary: Pepperstone wins on spread betting commodities & forex, educational support, overall fee structure & platform variety. This makes Pepperstone ideal for high-volume, professional trading & spread betting.
- Pepperstone has no inactivity fees and offers a commission-based account for high-volume trading. City Index has £12 inactivity fee after 1 year with no commission account offering.
- Pepperstone offers MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView and a proprietary platform vs City Index’s TradingView, MT4 and proprietary platform.
- Pepperstone offers wraparound support through video content, market analysis and YouTube videos. City Index offers market analysis mainly and is not beginner-friendly.
City Index offer a wider selection of 13,500+ instruments and is generally better for spread betting stocks or ETFs due to their vast asset library, however, they only offer MT4, TradingView and their proprietary platform and have no beginner support.
2. Fees and Spreads: Who Wins on Costs?
Pepperstone Fees
Pepperstone offers something that City Index doesn’t… a commission-only account. This Razor account is a game-changer. It’s an ECN-style account offering low fixed costs (£2.25 each way) and a significantly smaller spread starting from 0.0 pips (see below).
Ultimately, this means Pepperstone can offer spreads that outcompete almost any other broker. Pepperstone’s spreads on their standard forex account start at c. 1 pip for forex – City Index starts from 0.7 pips – so City Index beats Pepperstone’s forex spreads on a standard account.
However, that’s missing the whole story… on the Razor account, Pepperstone’s spreads start from 0.0 pip spreads + small each-way commission, so Pepperstone is a much better option for high-volume trading.
City Index Fees
City Index’s fees start at 0.7 pips for forex (EUR/USD) which is significantly higher than Pepperstone’s fees on the Razor account. It is also higher than IG’s fees of 0.6 pips (check out our IG vs City Index comparison), and even higher than CMC’s 0.5 pips. This means City Index is comparably not a cheap broker. They also still charge inactivity fees of £12, whereas IG removed their inactivity fee in 2026 and Pepperstone also doesn’t charge inactivity fees.
Verdict
Pepperstone offers no inactivity fees & significantly lower spreads on their Razor account vs City Index’s standard account. Pepperstone is better suited to high-volume professional traders looking for low costs.
£10 Minimum Deposit
Best for Forex
Pepperstone is a Melbourne-based broker that offers an excellent range of assets in the financial trading markets, including CFD's for commodities, shares, ETFs and more.
73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider.
3. Trading Platforms: Who offers the better platforms?
Pepperstone Trading Platforms
Pepperstone provides a huge range of trading platforms – MT4, MT5, cTrader, Pepperstone Platform (their own), TradingView. This means that traders of all levels – from beginners on TradingView to professionals on MT4 – can use Pepperstone as their broker. It is a major advantage of having Pepperstone as a broker.
Their own Pepperstone Platform is remarkably easy to use. It features a chart on the right and the trading instruments on the left with an order bar at the bottom. If you are looking to get started I’d use Pepperstone Platform or TradingView. If you are more experienced then cTrader, MT4, or MT5 could be great options to build algorithmic bots or trade in a prefered platform experience.
City Index Trading Platforms
City Index also does a great job on their proprietary trading platform. it’s clean, offers market news, and is a very similar setup to IG’s ‘workspace’ platform experience where you have a range of customisations and can set up your workspace to suit your preference. However, where City index falls down is the lack of external platforms they offer. They only offer MT4, TradingView and this platform. Whilst this may meet the needs of most traders, without MT5, and cTrader it leaves a lot of potential algorithmic traders wanting more.
Verdict
Pepperstone wins on platform offering (MT4, MT5, TradingView, cTrader and Pepperstone Platform) but City Index has a better proprietary platform, so if you are looking at trading without any integrations, then City Index is a good option.
£10 Minimum Deposit
Best for Forex
Pepperstone is a Melbourne-based broker that offers an excellent range of assets in the financial trading markets, including CFD's for commodities, shares, ETFs and more.
73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider.
4. Range of Tradable Assets: Which offers more instrument variety?
Pepperstone Asset Range
Pepperstone offers 2,700+ instruments across spread bets and CFDs. This range isn’t the largest, especially when compared to City Index’s 13,500+. However, what Pepperstone has is forex depth.Pepperstone appears for a vast range of minor and exotic forex pairs in our research on the best tradingview brokers for UK traders. They offer share CFDs, Indices, Forex CFDs and commodity CFDs so have great range across major instruments.
City Index Asset Range
City Index offers an impressive range of 13,500+ instruments covering stock CFDs, ETFs, forex CFDs and more. Whilst fees vary across instruments, the range offered is frankly outstanding (see below).
Verdict
If variety is what you’re after, City Index has the range needed.
No Minimum Deposit
Best to Spread Bet
City Index is a historic spread betting & CFD Trading brand in the UK, backed by StoneX group, a publicly traded broker in the UK.
Spread Bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
5. Spread Betting: Which is better for spread betting?
Pepperstone Spread Betting
Pepperstone offers some of the most competitive spread betting fees of any broker. You can spread bet Gold for 0.1 points, Silver for 0.01 points and spread bet forex from 0.6 points. Pepperstone provides some of the cheapest spread betting costs holistically of any broker (see below).
City Index Regulation
City Index spread betting costs start at 0.5 points for forex (AUD/USD) and 1pt for commodities. But they offer a significantly smaller range with 8,500+ instruments – not their 13,500+ (see above).
Their 0.5 pip spread is strangely for AUD/USD rather than EUR/USD (where they are actually more expensive than Pepperstone – 0.7 pips vs Pepperstone’s 0.5 pip spread), so it’s a weird quirk, but it highlights that there is not much in it when spread betting forex. See below for forex spread betting pricing.
Verdict
Pepperstone is better for spread betting commodities with trading costs from 0.01 points vs City Index 1pt spreads. City Index is 0.1pt cheaper when spread betting on Forex pairs (0.5 vs 0.6 pip spreads). Overall though, Pepperstone provides better pricing. Combine this with the platform options and no inactivity fee, mean Pepperstone is the better all-round option.
£10 Minimum Deposit
Best for Forex
Pepperstone is a Melbourne-based broker that offers an excellent range of assets in the financial trading markets, including CFD's for commodities, shares, ETFs and more.
73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider.
6. Professional Trading: Which is better for professionals?
Pepperstone Professional Offering
Pepperstone provides distinct advantages for professionals / more advanced traders. They offer a Razor account which has fixed low costs for trading at large volume. They also provide dedicated Pro level accounts for those eligible.
Even if you don’t qualify for a professional account, their Razor account provide a great launchpad into high-volume trading. The combination of offering a Pro Platform with rebates (see below) and a fixed-commission-account makes Pepperstone a broker that’s perfect for advanced traders.
City Index Support
City Index also provides a professional level account offering cash rebates. However, they lack a commission-based account like Pepperstone’s Razor account so falls short on high-volume trading.
Verdict:
Pepperstone excels at both high-volume trading through their Razor account as well as for professional accounts with their Pro offering.
£10 Minimum Deposit
Best for Forex
Pepperstone is a Melbourne-based broker that offers an excellent range of assets in the financial trading markets, including CFD's for commodities, shares, ETFs and more.
73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider.
7. Educational Resources: Which is better for beginners?
Pepperstone Education
Pepperstone provides daily market analysis across indices, forex, commodities and shares. This is succinct and clear for beginner traders. They also provide Trading Guides and have their own YouTube channel for UK traders. They have built an education ecosystem for beginners, intermediate and advanced level traders, all hosted by the fabulous Mark Holstead ,who i used to follow when I first started trading and provides some fantastic detailed breakdowns.
City Index Education
City Index takes a different route. Instead of providing guides, videos and education on ‘how to start‘ they focus on market analysis(see below for their YouTube). Whilst they do provide soe more educational content on their own site (see below) it’s all more Market Analysis content not ‘Beginner Guides’.
Verdict:
Pepperstone offers more comprehensive wraparound support – market analysis and beginner guides. City Index is great at market analysis only.
£10 Minimum Deposit
Best for Forex
Pepperstone is a Melbourne-based broker that offers an excellent range of assets in the financial trading markets, including CFD's for commodities, shares, ETFs and more.
73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider.
FAQ’s
1. Is Pepperstone better than City Index for Forex trading?
Pepperstone offers lower overall fees that City index for forex trading with spreads starting from 0.0 pips and a round-turn commission of £2.25 vs City index’s 0.6 pips on a standard account. This means that for high-volume traders, Pepperstone is the better choice.
City Index does provide more competitive costs on spread betting forex with spreads starting at 0.5 points vs Pepperstone’s 0.6 points on forex pairs but Pepperstone beats City Index for commodities fees with 0.01 points on Silver and 0.1 points on gold vs City Index’s 1pt for commodities.
In terms of platforms, Pepperstone offers 5 major platforms – MT4, MT5, TradingView, Pepperstone Platform, and cTrader whilst City Index offers only 3 – their proprietary platform, MT4 and TradingView. So Pepperstone also provides more variety.
However, City Index offers more variety for beginner traders with 13,500+ pairs vs Pepperstone’s 2,700+ instruments. Pepperstone offers more forex variety despite having fewer instruments overall.
2. Is Pepperstone better than City Index for beginner traders?
Yes, Pepperstone combines wraparound educational support from YouTube, on their website and customer support options. City Index focuses on market analysis news rather than beginner support. Pepperstone is also better for beginners due to their platform variety but City Index’s range of 13,500+ instruments provides a great environment for beginner traders who want to explore different markets.
3. Is Pepperstone better than City Index for spread betting?
Yes, Pepperstone provides significantly tighter fees for commodities-based spread betting than City index. Pepperstone’s commodities spread betting fees are 0.01 point for Silver and 0.1 point for Gold. City Index by contrast provides fees from 1 point for commodities spread betting. For Forex, City Index’s forex fees start from 0.5 points vs Pepperstone’s 0.6 points so there is a slight advantage there for City Index, but across all instruments Pepperstone remains the cheaper choice.
For overall experience, Pepperstone & City Index both allow spread betting through TradingView which is fantastic, but Pepperstone really allows for more options for algorithmic-based trading with cTrader and MT4 options.
5. Is Pepperstone better than City Index for stock trading?
No, City index provides more instruments than Pepperstone, by a lot. City Index offers 13,500+ instruments vs Pepperstone’s 2700+ instruments. City index is a holistic broker focusing on stocks, ETFs, forex, indices and commodities. Pepperstone also has a good range across these instruments but City Index has far more options.
6. Is Pepperstone better than City Index for Professionals?
It’s a tough competition, but yes, overall Pepperstone is better for professional traders than City index. Pepperstone and City Index both offer professional accounts with rebates for professionals.
Pepperstone, however, offers a Razor account for those who do not yet qualify as a ‘professional’, this is something that City Index lacks and that serves high-volume traders. Pepperstone and City Index both offer detailed market analysis content, although City Index offers better market analysis than Pepperstone and are dedicated to this through their YouTube channel.
7. Is Pepperstone better than City Index for high-volume trading?
Yes, Pepperstone is designed for high-volume traders. Their Razor account provides low fees for active and high-volume traders. City Index provides no option for commission-based / ECN-style accounts.
Final Verdict
| Criteria | Winner |
|---|---|
| Fees and Spreads | Pepperstone for commodities & spread betting |
| Platforms | Pepperstone for platform range |
| Asset Range | City Index for 13,500+ instruments |
| Professional Traders | Pepperstone for Razor Account |
| Beginner-Friendliness | Pepperstone for holistic support |
| Spread Betting | Pepperstone for fees |
Pepperstone is clearly a better broker overall but that’s not to negate City Index’s advantages. City Index remains a top choice for traders looking for an alternative to IG’s range of tradable assets with low fees.
However, when it comes to both professional and beginner traders, Pepperstone not only provides wraparound support for beginners, market analysis for advanced traders but they even offer a whole account type that City Index lacks (commission-based high-volume Razor account).
£10 Minimum Deposit
Best for Forex
Pepperstone is a Melbourne-based broker that offers an excellent range of assets in the financial trading markets, including CFD's for commodities, shares, ETFs and more.
73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading on margin with this provider.
Who Should You Choose?
Pepperstone is the top choice for spread betting (especially commodities like Gold), trading at high-volume (thanks to the Razor account), and even beginners as they provide a variety of platforms and support options.
City Index provides deeper market analysis content, but this comes with a higher cost on forex CFDs. They provide lower forex spread betting costs but their commodities pricing is above the odds. They are more suited for intermediate traders looking for IG or CMC alternatives, based on the potential markets they offer, irrespective of the cost.
Here’s a quick summary:
- Choose Pepperstone for high-volume trading, professional trading, spread betting, gold trading and low fees.
- Choose City Index for market range and market analysis.
- Pepperstone vs City Index UK Broker Comparison - August 6, 2026
- Best High Volume Brokers for UK Traders - July 22, 2026
- Best Brokers for Professional Traders in the UK - July 9, 2026
