If you want the cheapest ETF broker in Europe, the honest starting point is this: the headline commission almost never tells you what you will actually pay. I have run monthly savings plans, lump sums and multi-currency buys across five brokers over the past decade, and the account that looks cheapest in the advert is often not the one that leaves me with the most money after a year of investing.
Cost lives in six places, and different brokers hide it in different ones. A broker can advertise “zero commission” and then quietly take 0.5% every time your euros touch a dollar-denominated ETF. Another charges a flat euro per trade but converts currency near interbank rates, so a large buy costs a fraction of a percent. The right answer depends on how you invest: small monthly amounts in euros, occasional five-figure lump sums, or a mixed bag of US and European funds.
So instead of crowning one winner, this ranking sorts the low-cost field by use case and shows where each broker takes its cut. To see live numbers for your own order size, our EU broker fee comparator lets you plug in a trade and compare side by side.
The six cost components that actually decide the cheapest ETF broker
Before naming brokers, you need the full cost stack. Judging a broker on commission alone is like judging a flight on the base fare and ignoring baggage, seat and card fees. Here is what to add up.
How we test: broker verdicts on this site follow our published broker testing checklist — real accounts, live orders and documented fee checks.
Order commission
The fee per buy or sell. This ranges from genuinely free (Trade Republic, Scalable savings plans) to about EUR 1 flat, to a small percentage with a floor and cap. For most European investors this is the smallest number in the stack, which is exactly why brokers advertise it loudest.
Currency-conversion (FX) fee
The one that dwarfs everything else. If you buy a USD-priced ETF, or an Irish-domiciled fund quoted in a currency other than your account base, the broker converts your money and takes a spread. At 0.5% on a EUR 10,000 buy that is EUR 50, versus perhaps EUR 1 of commission. Most UCITS ETFs are available in EUR trading lines on European exchanges, so a lot of this cost is avoidable if you pick the right listing. Our FX fee comparison goes deep on this.
Related reading: MetaTrader 5 Brokers.
Custody and account fees
A recurring charge simply for holding your ETFs. Most of the low-cost field charges nothing here, but some brokers levy a small annual percentage or a monthly platform fee, especially for larger accounts.
Savings-plan fees
If you invest a fixed amount every month, this matters more than anything except FX. The best brokers run ETF savings plans for free; others take a small percentage of each instalment, which quietly erodes a decade of contributions.
Withdrawal and deposit fees
Moving money in and out. SEPA transfers are usually free, but card top-ups, instant withdrawals or non-SEPA currencies can carry a fee. Check before you fund the account, not after.
Inactivity and handling fees
Charges for not trading, or for using certain exchanges. This is where “low-cost” brokers with older fee schedules can surprise you. European regulators require brokers to disclose all costs clearly. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) sets the framework for this ex-ante and ex-annual cost transparency, and you can read the principles on the ESMA official site. If a fee is not in the disclosure, it should not appear on your statement.
Low-cost broker ranking by cost component
Figures below are 2026-vintage and illustrative. Fee schedules change, so confirm the current numbers on each broker’s own page before you open an account.
| Broker | ETF order | Savings plan | FX fee | Custody/inactivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trade Republic | ~EUR 1 flat | Free | EUR lines, avoidable | None |
| Scalable Capital | ~EUR 0.99 (or free on plan) | Free | EUR lines, avoidable | None (free tier) |
| XTB | 0% up to a monthly turnover cap | Free | ~0.5% (the catch) | Inactivity fee if dormant |
| Interactive Brokers | Tiny (~0.05%, low minimum) | Free (recurring buys) | ~0.002%, near-interbank | None (fee abolished) |
| DEGIRO | Low, but core-list caveats | Limited | ~0.25% (or manual toggle) | ~EUR 2.50/yr exchange handling |
Trade Republic
Trade Republic is my default recommendation for a European investor doing monthly euro-cost averaging. Savings plans are free, one-off orders sit at roughly EUR 1 flat, there is no custody fee, and the app is clean enough that a beginner will not get lost. Because you are buying EUR-denominated UCITS ETFs on a European venue, the FX problem largely disappears.
Fee figures in this guide are cross-checked against our EU broker fee benchmarks, reviewed quarterly.
Ready to open an account? You can open a Trade Republic account directly.
The trade-off is a single execution venue and thin tools for active traders. For a buy-and-hold DCA investor that is not a real cost. I cover the detail in why Trade Republic stands out for ETF investors.
Scalable Capital
Scalable is the closest peer to Trade Republic and often interchangeable for a monthly plan. Free ETF savings plans, low or zero commission depending on the tier you pick, and no custody fee on the free plan. The paid subscription tiers can make sense if you trade often, but a pure DCA investor rarely needs them.
Ready to open an account? You can open a Scalable Capital account directly.
Where Scalable pulls ahead for some people is breadth: a larger menu of savings-plan-eligible ETFs and more exchanges than Trade Republic. The practical differences are small, and for most EUR monthly investors either one is among the cheapest ETF brokers in Europe you can pick.
XTB
XTB advertises 0% commission on ETFs up to a monthly turnover cap (commonly cited around EUR 100,000), which for most retail investors means genuinely free orders. Savings plans are free too, and the platform is polished. On paper it looks unbeatable.
Ready to open an account? You can open a XTB account directly.
The catch is the currency-conversion fee. XTB converts your deposit into the ETF’s trading currency at roughly 0.5%, and unless you actively hold a multi-currency wallet balance, you pay it on the way in and potentially again on dividends. On a large USD-priced buy that 0.5% can exceed everything Trade Republic would charge in a year. XTB is excellent value if you stick to EUR-quoted ETFs and keep your euros as euros. I lay out the mechanics in why XTB stands out for European ETF investors.
Interactive Brokers
For lump sums and multi-currency portfolios, Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is the cheapest serious option I have used. Commissions are a tiny fraction of a percent with a low minimum, and crucially the FX conversion runs at close to interbank rates, roughly 0.002% with a small fixed minimum. If you regularly move between EUR and USD, or buy US-listed and European-listed funds, that FX gap is where IBKR quietly wins by a wide margin.
Ready to open an account? You can open a Interactive Brokers account directly.
The historical downsides, an inactivity fee and a steep interface, have largely been addressed: the inactivity fee is gone and the simplified app is beginner-friendly. It is overkill for someone auto-investing EUR 200 a month, but for a EUR 20,000 lump sum or a genuinely global multi-currency setup, nothing on this list beats it on total cost. See why Interactive Brokers stands out for the full picture.
Related reading: Why Freedom24 Stands Out for ETF Investors.
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DEGIRO
DEGIRO earns its low-cost reputation, but the fine print matters. Its “core selection” of ETFs trades very cheaply, sometimes for a token handling fee, which is superb value. Outside that list, standard commissions apply, and there is a recurring exchange connectivity fee (often around EUR 2.50 per year per foreign exchange you use). By default DEGIRO also converts currency at roughly 0.25% unless you switch to manual conversion.
None of this makes DEGIRO expensive, but it means the “cheapest” claim depends on staying inside the core list and managing the settings. For a disciplined investor buying core-list ETFs on a single exchange, it is very competitive. Read the DEGIRO review before you assume the headline fee is the whole story.
See also: Spot affiliate broker review.
My verdict: cheapest ETF broker by use case
There is no single cheapest broker, only the cheapest broker for how you invest. Here is how I would choose.
Country-specific pick: Best broker for Austrian investors 2026.
See also: Broker complaint process europe.
Cheapest for monthly DCA in EUR: Trade Republic or Scalable Capital. Free savings plans, no custody fee, euro trading lines that sidestep FX entirely. Pick whichever app you prefer.
Cheapest for a large lump sum: Interactive Brokers. Micro-commissions and near-interbank FX mean a five-figure buy costs a few euros in total, not fifty.
Cheapest for multi-currency portfolios: Interactive Brokers again, decisively, because the FX rate is the whole game and IBKR’s is closest to the real market.
Cheapest with a caveat: XTB if you stay in EUR, DEGIRO if you stay on the core list. Both are excellent when used as designed and merely average when you drift outside it.
Whichever you lean towards, remember the one rule that survives every fee change: FX fees usually dwarf commissions. Optimise the currency path first, the commission second. If you want to weigh these brokers against the wider field, start from the best European ETF brokers hub.
See also: Transfer from degiro to interactive brokers.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Which is the cheapest ETF broker in Europe overall?
A: There is no single answer, because it depends on your order size and currency. For small monthly euro investments, Trade Republic and Scalable Capital are cheapest thanks to free savings plans and no FX. For large lump sums and multi-currency buys, Interactive Brokers wins on total cost because its currency conversion is near interbank rates.
Q: Why do FX fees matter more than commission?
A: Commission is often a flat euro or two, while a currency-conversion spread is a percentage of the whole amount. On a EUR 10,000 buy, a 0.5% FX fee is EUR 50 versus perhaps EUR 1 of commission. Over years of investing, the FX path decides your real cost far more than the headline order fee.
Q: Is a 0% commission broker actually free?
A: Not always. Zero-commission brokers such as XTB can still charge around 0.5% to convert your euros into the ETF’s trading currency, plus possible inactivity fees. Read the full cost disclosure, which European brokers are required to provide, before assuming “0%” means zero total cost.
Q: How do I avoid currency-conversion fees on ETFs?
A: Buy the EUR-denominated trading line of a UCITS ETF on a European exchange, so your euros never get converted. Most popular funds like all-world and S&P 500 UCITS ETFs offer EUR lines. If you must hold a foreign currency, a broker with near-interbank FX such as Interactive Brokers limits the damage.
Q: Is DEGIRO really one of the cheapest brokers?
A: For its core-selection ETFs traded on a single exchange, yes, it is very cheap. But standard commissions apply outside that list, there is a small annual exchange connectivity fee, and a default automatic FX conversion of around 0.25%. It is low-cost when used as designed, less so if you drift outside the core list.
Q: Which broker is cheapest for a monthly savings plan?
A: Trade Republic and Scalable Capital both run free ETF savings plans with no custody fee and euro trading lines, making them the cheapest for regular monthly DCA. XTB also offers free savings plans, but watch its currency conversion if the ETF is not quoted in euros.
European UCITS/ETF investor with 11+ years building a global dividend and index portfolio, and founder of Financial Expert Class. I write every guide here from first-hand experience investing across EU brokers and tax regimes — not theory. More about me →