DEGIRO vs Trading 212: Fees, Range and Investor Protection Compared

DEGIRO and Trading 212 both let European investors buy real shares and ETFs cheaply, but charge in opposite ways: DEGIRO bills a small fee per trade, while Trading 212 charges no commission and earns more from currency conversion and cash. On the scores from our published methodology, the two are close. Both get 4 out of 5 for Costs & Fees and for Regulation & Trust, and 3 for Platform & Tools and for Account Access & Support. DEGIRO scores 3 on Asset Range to Trading 212’s 2, giving overall averages of 3.4 and 3.2. Trading 212 scores 5 for ease of use to DEGIRO’s 3, rated separately from the overall. In short, for everyday shares and ETFs, Trading 212’s explicit fees are usually lower; DEGIRO’s case rests on reach.

What each broker charges, and what “free” leaves out

DEGIRO’s prices vary by country of residence; these are from its Irish fee schedule, updated on 1 January 2026. Shares on NYSE or Nasdaq cost a €1 commission plus a €1 handling fee. Most other European exchanges, including Xetra, Euronext Paris and Amsterdam, and London, cost €3.90 plus the same €1 handling fee. ETFs, ETCs and ETNs bought through its Core Selection on the Tradegate exchange carry only the €1 handling fee, and DEGIRO says there is no fair-use limit on how often. A connectivity fee of €2.50 a year applies to each exchange you use, capped at 0.25% of your account value and waived for your home market, the Irish exchange and Core Selection trades. Automatic currency conversion costs 0.25%.

Trading 212 charges no commission and no custody fee on shares and ETFs in its Invest, ISA and SIPP accounts, as of September 2026. Its main charge is a 0.15% foreign-exchange fee whenever you buy or sell something priced in a currency other than your account’s; dividends are converted without it. Bank transfers and withdrawals are free, but card, Apple Pay and Google Pay deposits attract a 0.7% fee once you have paid in 2,000 pounds or euros in total. It also pays a variable daily interest rate on uninvested cash if you opt in. DEGIRO lists no interest on cash in its fee schedule, and independent comparison sites checked in September 2026 report that it pays none.

• The currency fee is paid twice on a round trip: once when you buy a foreign-currency asset and again when you sell it.
• The bid-ask spread, the gap between buying and selling prices, is a cost at every broker but appears in neither fee table.
• Taxes are passed on at both, such as the 0.5% UK stamp duty reserve tax on UK share purchases and France’s 0.4% financial transaction tax on qualifying French shares.
• On DEGIRO’s Irish schedule, US options and futures add a €5 monthly connectivity fee, and moving holdings to another broker costs €20 per position plus external costs.

A worked example, with hypothetical numbers

Take a hypothetical Irish investor with a euro account. Case one: €250 a month into a euro-priced ETF. Through DEGIRO’s Core Selection that is €1 a trade, or €12 a year; at Trading 212 there is no commission and no conversion, so nothing in explicit fees. Case two: €250 a month into US shares. DEGIRO charges €2 plus 0.25% conversion, about €2.63 a purchase or €31.50 a year, plus €2.50 connectivity for each US exchange used; Trading 212’s 0.15% comes to about €0.38 a purchase, or €4.50 a year. Case three: a single €20,000 purchase of US shares costs about €52 at DEGIRO and €30 at Trading 212. Trading 212 is cheaper each time, though for a regular saver the gap is tens of euros a year.

Range, ISAs and who holds your money

DEGIRO offers exchanges in about 30 countries, including Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Australia, plus bonds, investment funds, and listed options and futures at €0.75 a contract for clients whose account profile includes derivatives. It sells whole shares only and has no automatic investing: orders must be placed by hand, though deposits can be scheduled from your bank. Trading 212 offers thousands of shares and ETFs on a shorter list of mainly US and European exchanges, with fractional shares, plus Pies and AutoInvest for scheduled buying. It has no bonds and no listed options or futures. Its separate CFD account offers derivatives, not ownership of the underlying asset, and most retail accounts trading CFDs lose money.

For UK residents, tax wrappers can outweigh fees. Trading 212 offers a Stocks and Shares ISA, a Cash ISA and a SIPP with no account fee. The overall ISA allowance is £20,000 for 2026/27, and from 6 April 2027 savers under 65 will be able to put no more than £12,000 of it into cash ISAs. DEGIRO offers no ISA or SIPP. Outside those wrappers, tax is mostly your job. Trading 212 says it does not deduct capital gains tax, except for German tax residents on its German entity, where it withholds automatically. DEGIRO publishes an annual report for the previous calendar year around the end of June or early July.

DEGIRO belongs to flatexDEGIRO SE, a Frankfurt-listed German group that converted to a European company in December 2025. DEGIRO itself is the Dutch branch of flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, supervised by BaFin, with the Dutch DNB and AFM overseeing the branch. It says client securities sit in a separate legal entity, uninvested cash in a personal bank account covered by the German deposit guarantee up to €100,000, and German investor compensation covers 90% of lost assets up to €20,000. Trading 212 is privately held and London-based. UK clients are with Trading 212 UK Ltd, regulated by the FCA, where FSCS cover for a failed investment firm is £85,000 per person. EU clients are with Trading 212 Markets Ltd in Cyprus, regulated by CySEC, or Trading 212 EU GmbH, regulated by BaFin; both schemes cap investor compensation at €20,000.

Who each one suits, and who it does not

DEGIRO suits EU investors who want markets beyond the US and western Europe, bonds, or listed options and futures, and who are comfortable placing each order by hand in whole shares. It suits less well anyone who wants interest on idle cash, automatic monthly investing or an ISA. Trading 212 suits beginners, small regular savers who value fractional shares and automation, and UK residents who want ISA or SIPP wrappers in the same app. It suits less well bond investors, anyone who wants listed options rather than CFDs, and investors who need exchanges it does not cover. Figures are as of September 2026 and change often. This is general education, not personal financial or tax advice; a qualified adviser can apply it to your situation.

This article is educational and general in nature. It isn’t personalized investment, tax, or legal advice — always weigh your own circumstances, or talk to a licensed professional, before making financial decisions.

Filed underdegiro vs trading 212broker comparisoncurrency conversion feesstocks and shares isa