Trade Republic vs DEGIRO

The overview

The table shows an overview of how Trade Republic compares to DEGIRO for different criteria. Read on to get the full details!

Trade Republic

✅ Pros of Trade Republic	❌ Cons of Trade Republic
Cheap	Acts as its own market maker
Fractional shares	Poor customer support
Low minimum deposit	Doesn't help with all taxes
Saving plans

Story of Trade Republic 🇩🇪

Trade Republic was founded in 2015 in Munich under its original name Neon Trading. It was incubated by Comdirect Bank and is now headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Trade Republic is a "neo-broker" meaning it's modern and fresh in comparison to older brokers. They are very much like the Robinhood app but built for Europeans. They are backed by some of largest venture capital firms in the world including Sequoia. In total they have raised over €1.1bn in order to become the leading trading app in Europe and have launched in 17 countries. Trade Republic claim to have over two million customers, spread across the countries they've launched in. They launched their app in Belgium in October 2022.

Fees for ETFs

Trade Republic really is one of the cheapest options for European investors. For instance, buying €1,000 of the popular ETF IWDA by iShares, that tracks the MSCI World index, would cost only €1. This makes it an attractive proposition for putting your savings to work but there are some downsides too.

Convenience

Savings plan	✅ Yes
Interest on uninvested cash	✅ Yes
Fractional shares	✅ Yes
Customer support	✅ FAQ, email ❌ No phone, no live chat
TOB	✅ Withheld on a Belgian account ❌ Not on a German account
Dividend tax	✅ Withheld on a Belgian account ❌ Not on a German account
Reynders tax	✅ Withheld on a Belgian account ❌ Not on a German account
Capital gains tax	✅ Withheld on a Belgian account if you opt in ❌ Not on a German account
Declare your account to the NBB	✅ Not needed for a Belgian account ❌ You declare a German account yourself

Trade Republic offers fee-free transactions for ETF purchases through its automated savings plans, enabling fixed monthly investments with selectable investment dates. However, Trade Republic's customer support is limited, lacking phone service and relying on automated responses. If you're a Belgian investor, it depends on your account. Since 15 September 2026, Trade Republic has a Belgian branch. On an account there, which has a Belgian IBAN, it withholds the transaction tax (TOB), the dividend tax, the Reynders tax and, if you opt in, the capital gains tax, and you don't declare the account to the National Bank of Belgium. On an older German account, which you keep until you choose to switch, you still handle those taxes yourself and declare the account to the National Bank of Belgium. The same can be applied for Italian investors where you'll receive an annual tax report from Trade Republic. You'll have to manually take that date and input it into your tax reports. You'll have to declare your income, capital gains as well as the IVAFE (wealth tax).

Setting up an account

🕰️ Time to open an account	✅ Same day
🙋 itsme	❌ No
📱 Mobile app	✅ Yes
💻 Web app	✅ Yes
🙂 Ease of use	⭐ 3/5
🧒 Children accounts	❌ No
💑 Joint accounts	❌ No
💼 Business accounts	❌ No

Setting up a Trade Republic account is easy, requiring only a valid ID and tax residency in an EU country (and where they've launched), with account approval typically completed within a few hours. The platform allows account creation on both web and mobile though owning a smartphone is necessary. Design and information density can be challenging on Trade Republic's app particularly for buy-and-hold ETF investors. Trade Republic does not offer the option to create joint or children's accounts, restricting account ownership to individuals.

Safety

Regulator	BaFin (Germany)
Past issues with the regulator	✅ No
Protection of financial assets	€20,000
Cash safeguarded by deposit guarantee	€100,000
Securities lending	✅ No
Payment for order flow	✅ No (banned since June 2026)

Trade Republic, headquartered in Berlin, operates under the supervision of BaFin, the German regulator, and faced scrutiny during the GameStop saga in January 2021, leading to numerous complaints but ultimately no finding of market manipulation by BaFin. Trade Republic does not engage in securities lending. They previously participated in payment for order flow (PFOF), but the practice was banned in the EU in June 2026. Since July 2026, Trade Republic acts as its own market maker, executing orders against its own inventory and earning revenue from bid-offer spreads.

The full review

We suggest you read through our extensive review of Trade Republic.

DEGIRO

✅ Pros of DEGIRO	❌ Cons of DEGIRO
Cheap	No fractional shares
Large selection of ETFs	Issues with the regulator
Popular in Belgium	Confusing app
	Transferring shares is expensive
	Doesn't help with all taxes
	They push one exchange (Tradegate)

Story of DEGIRO 🇳🇱🇩🇪

The founders of DEGIRO were former employees of BinckBank. They founded the company originally in 2008 and originally focused on professional investors. However, they started to reach success once they launched their online trading platform in 2013. They quickly grew across the European Union and now serve more than 2.5 million customers which makes it one of the largest brokers.

DEGIRO is now part of the German Flatex bank. It has thousands of ETFs and stocks to choose from and it's one of the brokers on the market that offers the best value. Like many brokers, they started with stocks, but you can now also trade commodities and make margin calls.

Fees for ETFs

Essentially, DEGIRO charges two types of fees: transaction fees and connectivity fees.

The transaction fee depends on whether the ETF is part of their core selection. For those ETFs, the fee is only a €1.00 handling fee, instead of €3.00 for ETFs not in the core selection. However, to benefit, you now need to trade the ETF on the Tradegate Exchange.

As an example, buying €1,000 of the popular iShares MSCI World Accumulating ETF (IWDA) through the Dutch DEGIRO will cost just a €1 transaction fee when bought on Tradegate. Buying it on other exchanges such as Euronext Amsterdam now costs €3 per trade.

Previously, DEGIRO charged a €2.50 connectivity fee per exchange per year, but this has been removed for ETFs traded on Tradegate. This means you no longer pay any annual connectivity fee if you stick to the core selection via Tradegate.

Type	Transaction fee
ETFs (core selection)	€1
ETFs (non core selection)	€3

DEGIRO's fee structure varies per country which can make it confusing.

Convenience

Savings plan	❌ No
Fractional shares	❌ No
Customer support	✅ FAQ, chat, email, phone
🇮🇹 Taxes	❌ Declaratory regime
🇧🇪 TOB	✅ DEGIRO handles it
🇧🇪 Dividend tax	❌ DEGIRO doesn't handle it
🇧🇪 Reynders tax	❌ DEGIRO doesn't handle it
🇧🇪 Capital gains tax	❌ DEGIRO doesn't handle it
🇧🇪 Declare your account to the NBB	❌ You have to do it yourself

For Italian investors, you'll receive an annual tax report from DEGIRO. You'll have to manually take that date and input it into your tax reports. You'll have to declare your income, capital gains as well as the IVAFE (wealth tax). Note that you'll have to complete this manually as DEGIRO puts the burden on you as an investor and they have previously made errors in their tax reports.

For Belgian investors, the handling of the stock exchange transaction tax (TOB) is what DEGIRO sets apart from the other foreign brokers. However, you're still responsible for declaring any dividends yourself, as well as the Reynders tax and the capital gains tax. On top, you have to declare your DEGIRO account to the Belgian National Bank.

Setting up an account

🕰️ Time to open an account	✅ Within a day
🙋 itsme	❌ No
📱 Mobile app	✅ Yes
💻 Web app	✅ Yes
🙂 Ease of use	⭐ 3/5
🧒 Children accounts	❌ No
💑 Joint accounts	❌ No
💼 Business accounts	❌ No

Account openings for DEGIRO are quick and usually only take a day. A drawback is that DEGIRO does not use itsme, meaning that you'll have to get out your ID card or passport for identification. They also don't support business, children nor joint accounts.

Safety

Regulator	BaFin (Germany) + AFM (Netherlands)
Past issues with the regulator	❌ Yes
Protection of financial assets	€20,000
Cash safeguarded by deposit guarantee	€100,000
Securities lending	❌ Yes
Payment for order flow	✅ No (banned since June 2026)

DEGIRO is one of the few brokers that have had past issues with regulators, namely the Dutch regulator (AFM). Their terms allow securities lending. They previously received payment for order flow, but the practice was banned in the EU in June 2026.

The full review

Learn about all the pros and cons of investing with DEGIRO in our in-depth review.

Curvo: easier than a broker

Brokers push you to trade and to pick individual companies to invest in. Rather than picking individual stocks such as Amazon or Tesla, index funds are a way to buy the whole market, across all sectors and regions of the world. Essentially, you own a small portion of thousands of companies throughout the world. Instead of betting on a particular company, you are placing a bet on the global economy.

Rather than having to pick the right stocks or ETFs among the thousands available through Trade Republic or DEGIRO, you invest in a portfolio that is tailored to you and your goals. These portfolios are composed of globally diversified index funds, meaning you earn a piece of the growth of the global economy, and they're best suited to make the most of your savings long term.

We believe that investing is an important tool for our generation to improve our financial well-being and to prepare for our future. We are building Curvo to fulfil that vision, by making good investing easy and accessible to all:

• Diversified portfolio set up for you: The best portfolio for you based on your time horizon and financial goals. Simply answer a short questionnaire and you'll get everything set up for you.
• Automated savings plans: Through Curvo's app you can set up a monthly contribution from €50. That means that money is automatically invested for you in your portfolio. Put your savings on autopilot!
• Fractional shares: All the money you send towards your portfolio is fully invested. No cash is left on the side.
• No TOB 🇧🇪 : Significant savings as the portfolios aren't liable for the Belgian transaction tax (or "TOB"). This saves you between 0.12% and 1.32% for every time you buy or sell!
• Sustainable investments: Your investments focus on one guiding principle: don't invest in companies that are considered destructive to the planet. This means that sectors like non-renewable energy, vice products, weapons and controversial companies are all excluded.
• Project yourself into the future: Through Curvo you can see how much your portfolio is expected to be worth in the future. You can answer questions like "how will increasing my monthly contribution by €50, €100 or €200 affect my long-term savings?" to give a concrete idea for the "future you".

Learn more on how it compares to investing through a broker.

Summary

In this article we highlighted the key differences between Trade Republic and DEGIRO, two foreign brokers accessible to Europeans. Since Trade Republic acts as its own market maker (which raises questions about conflicts of interest), DEGIRO may be a better option long-term if you invest in ETFs from their core selection of free ETFs. But cost is not the only factor to take in consideration when you're putting your savings to work. For instance, you should also take into account the ease of use of the app and their help with taxes.

We also highlighted the challenges of investing yourself through a broker. We built Curvo to make good investing easy and accessible to all Europeans, and we explained its benefits. Feel free to explore Curvo's app if you wish to learn more.