Trade Republic vs Degiro 2026: Which Broker Should European Investors Choose?

Trade Republic and Degiro are the two most popular brokers for European retail investors right now, but they serve different needs. Trade Republic is the better choice if you want simplicity, automated savings plans, and 2% interest on your cash. Degiro wins if you need access to a wider range of exchanges, more ETF options, or derivatives trading.

The right broker depends on how you actually invest.

Fee Comparison: The Real Numbers

Both brokers market themselves as low-cost. Here's what you actually pay.

For a passive investor making monthly ETF purchases, Trade Republic's flat €1 fee and free savings plans come out cheaper in most scenarios. Degiro's free Core ETF tier is competitive if you stick to one ETF per month, but once you're diversifying across four or five funds, the €1 handling fee per trade adds up.

The FX fee is identical at 0.25%. If you're buying US stocks in euros, neither broker has an edge there.

The less obvious cost difference: uninvested cash. Trade Republic currently pays 2.02% APR on cash holdings, tracking the ECB deposit facility rate. On a €10,000 cash position, that's roughly €200/year sitting idle at Degiro versus earning at Trade Republic. For investors who keep a cash buffer before deploying capital, this matters.

For a complete breakdown of Degiro's fee structure including connectivity fees and what the Core ETF list actually covers, the Degiro fees breakdown for 2026 goes through every line item.

Available Assets: Where Degiro Has a Clear Advantage

Trade Republic covers the mainstream well. It offers 9,000+ stocks, 2,000+ ETFs, bonds, fractional shares from €1, and crypto in select countries. The fractional shares feature is genuinely useful for investors who want exposure to expensive stocks like ASML or Amazon without committing full share capital.

Degiro's asset universe is substantially wider: access to 50+ exchanges across 30 countries, 5,000+ ETFs, and full options and futures trading. If your strategy involves sector ETFs, regional small-cap funds, or anything outside the core Vanguard/iShares lineup, Degiro has a significantly deeper catalog.

For buy-and-hold investors accumulating VWCE or a standard three-ETF portfolio, the difference rarely matters in practice. Both platforms carry the most popular UCITS ETFs. Where the gap shows is in niche strategies: specific country ETFs, individual European small-caps, or instruments traded on less common exchanges like Warsaw or Stockholm.

Derivatives traders have no real choice: Degiro offers options and futures, Trade Republic does not (it has warrants and knock-outs, which are a different product category).

The 2026 PFOF Change and What It Means

Both brokers have historically routed retail orders through Payment for Order Flow venues. Trade Republic was more visible about it, with PFOF accounting for a significant portion of its revenue model.

The EU-wide PFOF ban under MiFIR Article 39a takes full effect 30 June 2026. Trade Republic's response was to obtain a BaFin license in January 2026 to operate its own Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF), letting it internalize order flow without relying on third-party arrangements. Degiro, owned by Flatex, is adapting its routing through the group structure. Neither broker had announced fee increases as of early May 2026.

The practical question for investors is whether execution quality changes after the ban. PFOF critics argued retail orders were being routed to venues that paid the broker rather than the venue offering the best price. With the ban in place, this becomes less of an issue regardless of which broker you use.

More detail on what the PFOF ban actually changes for European retail investors is in the PFOF ban explainer.

Mobile vs. Desktop: Two Different Approaches

Trade Republic was designed as a mobile-first product. The web interface launched in 2024 and is functional, but the app is the flagship. The UI is intentionally minimal: clean order flow, easy savings plan setup, clear cash interest display. There's no advanced charting, no complex research tools.

Degiro's primary interface is its web platform. The trading terminal gives you real-time order book data, detailed order types, multi-market access, and more information density than most retail platforms. The mobile app exists but is secondary.

Neither platform is designed for deep portfolio analysis. Both show basic P&L and allocation breakdowns, but the visualizations are limited to simple bar charts and summary figures. Investors who want to see total return over time, dividend income by year, allocation by sector and country, or performance against a benchmark will need something external.

Tools like Folia connect directly to Degiro transaction exports via CSV and display the full portfolio picture in one dashboard (dividends, allocation breakdowns, and growth charts included). If you're running Trade Republic alongside Degiro, you can import both and see a consolidated view. The comparison of portfolio tracker alternatives for European investors covers the main options.

Account Safety and Regulation

Trade Republic is regulated by BaFin in Germany. Customer securities are held in segregated accounts with HSBC Deutschland as custodian, meaning they're protected in the event of Trade Republic's insolvency. Cash is covered by German deposit insurance up to €100,000.

Degiro is regulated by the AFM in the Netherlands, with Flatex Bank as the banking entity. Under Degiro's standard account model, the platform can lend out customer securities (stock lending). Degiro no longer offers its Custody account type to new customers, which previously opted out of stock lending. The distinction matters for investors who prefer their holdings not be lent.

Both platforms are covered by EU investor compensation schemes, with different limits and structures by country. Worth checking your specific country's protections before opening an account.

Who Should Use Trade Republic

Trade Republic is the right choice if you:

• Run regular savings plans into a small number of ETFs
• Want to earn interest on uninvested cash rather than holding it idle
• Prefer a clean, simple mobile experience
• Are earlier in your investing journey and want lower friction
• Invest predominantly in mainstream stocks and ETFs without needing niche exchanges

The flat €1 fee also scales better for smaller order sizes. At €500 per trade, Degiro's €2–3 fee represents 0.4–0.6% of the transaction; Trade Republic's €1 is 0.2%.

Who Should Use Degiro

Degiro is the right choice if you:

• Need access to a wider range of exchanges or a deeper ETF catalog
• Trade options or futures
• Prefer a web-first experience with more data on screen
• Invest in European small-caps or regional markets beyond the main indices
• Are comfortable with the standard account model that permits stock lending

Degiro's multi-market access is a genuine advantage for investors building exposure to specific European markets rather than relying on index ETFs alone.

Running Both Accounts

Many European investors use both. A practical split: Trade Republic for monthly savings plan contributions and cash management, Degiro for occasional individual trades and access to instruments not available on Trade Republic. The platforms aren't in direct competition on every dimension, so the overlap is minimal.

The main friction with two brokers is visibility. Your total allocation, actual return, and dividend income are split across two dashboards. If you've already spent time in spreadsheets trying to reconcile positions across accounts, you know the problem. A dedicated portfolio tracker solves this. It doesn't matter how many brokers you use if everything ends up in one place.

The case for moving away from spreadsheets is worth reading if you're heading into multi-broker territory.

The Verdict

For most buy-and-hold European investors running ETF portfolios: Trade Republic is the simpler, slightly cheaper option, particularly for savings plans and if you want interest on idle cash.

For investors who need wider exchange access, more ETF options, or derivatives: Degiro remains the stronger platform.

Neither broker is a wrong choice. Both are well-regulated, both have adapted to the 2026 regulatory environment, and both have competitive fee structures for retail investors. The decision comes down to whether breadth or simplicity matters more to your specific strategy.

Whichever you choose, the one thing neither broker does well is showing you the full picture of your portfolio over time. That's worth solving separately.