Trade Republic vs Trading 212 (2026): Fees, Interest on Cash and Which Suits You

The short answer

Both are low-cost, app-first brokers built for people who invest regularly in shares and ETFs. Trading 212 is usually cheaper for frequent buyers of individual shares, because it charges no order fee at all, and it is the only one of the two open to UK residents. Trade Republic charges a small fee per order but is a fully licensed German bank with local IBANs and automatic tax handling in several countries, which makes it simpler for many euro-area investors, particularly in Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal and Belgium. For monthly ETF savings plans, both cost nothing in explicit fees.

Who they are and how they are regulated

Trading 212 was founded in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2004 and is headquartered in London. It operates through several regulated companies: Trading 212 UK Ltd, authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority; Trading 212 Markets Ltd in Cyprus, regulated by CySEC; Trading 212 Ltd in Bulgaria; and Trading 212 EU GmbH, a German investment firm regulated by BaFin. EU customers are being moved from the Cyprus company to the German one in stages since June 2026, and new customers in countries including Portugal and the Netherlands already open accounts there. The company says more than five million accounts have been funded since launch.

Trade Republic was founded in Berlin in 2015 and received a full banking licence from the European Central Bank in December 2023; it is supervised by BaFin and the Bundesbank. It says it has more than ten million customers and over €150 billion in assets, and it serves 18 European countries, not including the UK. It has opened local branches with national bank details in Italy and Austria in 2025, Portugal in July 2026 and Belgium in September 2026.

Fees compared

• Shares and ETFs: Trading 212 charges no commission. Trade Republic charges €1 per order through its Best Price route, or €2 with Direct Price, introduced in July 2026, which lets you choose from 30 exchanges.
• Savings plans: free at both, through Trading 212’s Pies and AutoInvest and Trade Republic’s savings plans.
• Currency conversion: Trading 212 charges 0.15%. Trade Republic builds the conversion into the price, roughly 0.12% based on its published margin.
• Deposits: bank transfers are free at both. Trading 212 allows card deposits free up to €2,000 or £2,000 in total, then charges 0.7%; Trade Republic makes the first card top-up free, then charges 1%.
• Custody, inactivity and withdrawals: no fees at either.
• Taxes and levies: UK stamp duty of 0.5% still applies to UK shares bought through Trading 212, as it does at any broker.

The €1 fee matters most for small, frequent purchases. Ten one-off €100 share purchases a month cost €120 a year in order fees at Trade Republic and nothing at Trading 212. For someone who invests through one monthly ETF savings plan, the difference disappears.

Interest on uninvested cash

The European Central Bank raised its deposit rate to 2.50% with effect from 16 September 2026, and Trade Republic pays the same 2.50% in Germany with no cap. New customers in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Belgium have been offered 3% on up to €50,000. Trading 212 pays a rate for each currency: 2.50% on euros and 3.30% on US dollars, according to comparison sites in September 2026, and it sometimes runs higher introductory rates for new customers. Published figures for pounds differed in October 2026, at around the Bank of England’s 3.75% Bank Rate, so UK users should check the rate in the app. All of these rates are variable and follow central bank decisions.

Where the cash sits matters. Trade Republic spreads customer money across trust accounts at partner banks, including Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and J.P. Morgan, with deposit protection of up to €100,000 at each bank, and can place larger balances in money market funds, which have no deposit guarantee. Trading 212 holds cash in qualifying money market funds and at banks; the money market fund portion is likewise not a bank deposit.

Protection if something goes wrong

At both brokers, shares and ETFs are held separately from the company’s own assets, so they should not be available to its creditors if it fails. Compensation schemes only pay if assets go missing. For Trading 212’s UK customers, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers up to £85,000 for investments. Customers of its EU companies, and of Trade Republic, fall under schemes that cover 90% of losses up to €20,000. Our guide to what happens if a broker goes bust explains how these layers work in practice.

Products and accounts

Trading 212 offers shares, ETFs and fractional shares, with Pies for building portfolios, but no bonds, mutual funds or listed options, and it offers crypto to EU customers through its Cyprus company. CFDs sit in a separate account, and Trading 212’s own figure in July 2026 was that 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money. In the UK it offers a stocks and shares ISA, a cash ISA and a SIPP, all without account fees. Trade Republic offers shares, ETFs, bonds, crypto, warrants and other securitised derivatives, private-market funds and access to some share offerings, but no CFDs. It has a children’s account and a debit card that pays 1% Saveback into investments, capped at €15 a month and only for customers with at least €50 a month in savings plans. Trading 212’s card pays 1.5% cashback into investments, capped at £15 or €15 a month, but only while its Invest cashback option is on and the card has an eligible recurring subscription payment. Neither offers joint accounts.

Tax handling

This is often the deciding factor in the euro area. Trade Republic deducts tax automatically for German customers and has added local handling elsewhere: automatic tax in Austria since April 2025, the Italian regime in which the broker acts as tax withholding agent since January 2025, 28% withheld on interest for customers of its Portuguese branch, and Belgian stock-exchange tax and withholding handled by its Belgian branch. Trading 212 generally provides statements but leaves declaring and paying tax to its EU customers, which means more paperwork at tax time in most countries. In the UK, ISAs and the SIPP remove most of the tax reporting altogether.

For a UK investor the choice is made for you. In the euro area, the question is usually whether you value no order fees or automatic tax handling more.

Service and track record

Trade Republic’s rapid growth strained its service: an outage hit customers during the April 2025 market sell-off, complaints to German consumer centres rose, and a consumer group’s case over how it advertised interest and deposit protection was settled in July 2026. It relaunched round-the-clock support in April 2026. Trading 212 was reported in January 2026 to have offered crypto exchange-traded notes in the UK before receiving FCA permission, which was granted the same day; no fine was reported. Trading 212 offers a demo account and TradingView charts; Trade Republic added a free web trading terminal in July 2026 but has no demo account.

Which suits whom

Trading 212 tends to suit UK investors, anyone who buys individual shares often, and people who want ISAs, a SIPP or a multi-currency account in one app. Trade Republic tends to suit euro-area investors who want a bank account and investing in one place, local bank details and automatic tax handling, and who mostly invest through savings plans. Fees, rates and features in this comparison were checked in October 2026 and change often; this is general education, not a recommendation of either broker.

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.

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