If you have been comparing European brokers, you have probably heard that DEGIRO is one of the cheapest ways to buy ETFs on the continent. That is broadly true, but “cheap” and “free” are not the same word, and DEGIRO’s fee schedule has a few quirks that catch people out in their first year. I have used the platform and watched enough friends open accounts to know exactly which line items surprise people when the statement arrives.
Here is the honest short version: on DEGIRO’s Core Selection you can buy a qualifying ETF once per calendar month with no commission, but you still pay a small external-costs handling fee on that trade, plus a yearly connectivity charge for every exchange you touch, plus a currency spread if the security trades in a non-euro currency. None of these is large on its own. Stacked together, and combined with your trading pattern, they decide whether DEGIRO is genuinely the cheapest home for your money or whether a fixed-fee neobroker quietly beats it.
This article walks through each cost line by line, shows where the numbers actually bite, and gives you a clear “who it’s cheapest for” verdict. Treat every figure here as a 2026-vintage approximation and confirm the current numbers on DEGIRO’s own fee schedule before you commit, because these terms have changed more than once.
The Core Selection: one free ETF trade per fund per month
The headline feature is the Core Selection, a curated list of several hundred ETFs that DEGIRO lets you trade without a commission. The rule most people misremember is this: the free trade is one buy or sell per ETF, per calendar month, in the same direction, above a minimum size (historically around €1,000 for a follow-up trade to stay free). Buy the same ETF a second time in the same month and that repeat transaction is charged at the standard commission rather than being free.
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In practice this suits a monthly investor perfectly. If your routine is to buy one all-world ETF such as VWCE on the first working day of each month, you fall squarely inside the free tier every single time. The Core Selection is also where DEGIRO earns its reputation, so it is worth checking which funds are on it before you assume your target ETF qualifies. I keep a running note of the current list in the DEGIRO Core Selection ETF list, because funds move on and off it and a swap can change your whole cost picture.
If you buy an ETF that is not on the Core Selection, or you make extra trades in the same fund within a month, you pay DEGIRO’s standard ETF commission. That is still modest by legacy-broker standards, but it is no longer zero, and for a frequent trader it adds up faster than the small fees below.
The external-costs handling fee
This is the one almost nobody expects. On top of any commission, DEGIRO passes on a handling fee of roughly €1 per transaction to cover external settlement and clearing costs. It applies even to your “free” Core Selection trade. So a commission-free purchase is not truly free; it costs about a euro.
On a €1,000 monthly buy, one euro is a 0.10% drag on that specific contribution, which is trivial. On a €100 buy it is a full 1%, which is not. This single line is the reason DEGIRO tends to reward larger, less frequent contributions rather than tiny weekly top-ups. If your plan is to drip small amounts in often, the handling fee is charged every time, and the percentage cost of each contribution rises as the contribution shrinks.
The connectivity fee: DEGIRO’s most misunderstood charge
The connectivity fee (DEGIRO has also called it an exchange connection fee) is a yearly charge of about €2.50 for each foreign exchange you place a trade on during the year, capped in a way that stops it from ballooning. Your home exchange is typically included at no charge; the fee applies to additional venues.
Why does this matter? Because two investors buying “the same” world ETF can pay different amounts depending on which listing they choose. Buy your ETF on Xetra in Germany and you may trigger the German exchange connectivity fee for the year; add a second fund that only lists on Euronext Amsterdam and you trigger that one too. The charge is small and annual rather than per-trade, so it rarely changes the verdict, but it is real and it is the line people email me about most often because it appears once a year with no obvious trade attached to it. The fix is simple: concentrate your buying on as few exchanges as your fund choices allow.
Currency conversion: AutoFX versus manual FX
Many ETFs European investors want are priced in euros, in which case currency conversion never enters the picture. But if you buy a security quoted in dollars, sterling or another currency, DEGIRO converts for you. The default is AutoFX, an automatic conversion at settlement carrying a spread of roughly 0.25% of the converted amount. There is also a manual FX option with a fixed handling cost per conversion, which can work out cheaper on larger sums but adds friction.
For a euro-based investor holding euro-denominated UCITS ETFs, this is often a non-issue. It becomes relevant if you deliberately buy US-listed or dollar-quoted lines. My general advice: for a long-term euro portfolio, prefer euro-denominated listings of your chosen fund so FX simply does not apply. Currency conversion is one of those costs that is easy to design around rather than pay.
Minimum deposit, and the practical minimums that actually matter
DEGIRO does not impose a formal minimum deposit. You can technically open an account and fund it with a small amount. But there are practical minimums baked into the fee structure. Because the handling fee is a flat ~€1 and the free Core Selection trade historically expects a follow-up size around €1,000 to stay commission-free, very small trades are proportionally expensive. Deposits are generally made by bank transfer, and withdrawals go back to a single verified reference bank account, usually free of charge, though withdrawals can take a couple of business days to arrive.
So the honest read is: no minimum on paper, but the economics quietly reward contributions in the high hundreds or low thousands of euros rather than €20 here and there.
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DEGIRO cost lines at a glance
| Cost line | Approximate 2026 charge | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Core Selection ETF trade | €0 commission | One qualifying trade per ETF per month |
| External-costs handling fee | ~€1 per transaction | Every trade, including “free” ones |
| Repeat / non-Core ETF trade | Standard commission + handling | Extra same-month trade or off-list ETF |
| Connectivity fee | ~€2.50 per exchange per year | Each foreign exchange you trade on annually |
| AutoFX currency conversion | ~0.25% spread | Non-euro securities only |
| Minimum deposit / withdrawal | None / usually free | Withdrawal to reference account, ~1–2 days |
Figures are illustrative for 2026 and rounded. Confirm the exact current numbers on DEGIRO’s official fee schedule before you rely on them, as the terms have been revised several times.
What I’d do: who DEGIRO is cheapest for
DEGIRO is at its best for the disciplined monthly investor who buys one or two Core Selection ETFs in solid chunks. If you put €1,000 into VWCE on the same day each month, your annual cost is roughly twelve handling fees plus a connectivity charge or two: call it under €20 a year on a five-figure contribution schedule. That is genuinely hard to beat, and it is why the platform keeps showing up near the top of my cheapest ETF brokers ranking.
Where DEGIRO loses is at the two extremes. If you dollar-cost-average in small, frequent amounts, the flat ~€1 handling fee on every buy becomes a meaningful percentage, and a neobroker with genuinely free recurring savings plans will usually win. And if you insist on ETFs outside the Core Selection, you pay standard commission each time and the free-trade advantage evaporates. For those patterns, look hard at the alternatives.
Before you decide, run your actual numbers. Put your real contribution size, frequency and fund choices into the EU broker fee comparator, and read the deeper platform write-up in my DEGIRO review. For context on how it sits against the wider field, the European ETF broker hub lays out the main contenders side by side. DEGIRO is not one of the brokers I have any affiliate relationship with, so treat this as a straight cost read rather than a nudge in any direction.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is DEGIRO really free for ETFs?
A: Not entirely. Core Selection ETFs trade with no commission once per fund per month, but every transaction still carries an external-costs handling fee of roughly €1, and you may pay a small annual connectivity fee per exchange. It is very cheap for the right investor, but “free” overstates it.
Q: What is the DEGIRO connectivity fee and can I avoid it?
A: It is a yearly charge of about €2.50 for each foreign exchange you place trades on during the year, with your home exchange typically included. You can minimise it by concentrating your buying on as few exchanges as your chosen ETFs allow, rather than spreading trades across many venues.
Q: Does DEGIRO have a minimum deposit?
A: There is no formal minimum deposit, so you can fund the account with a small amount. In practice the flat handling fee and the size expectations of the free Core Selection trade make contributions in the high hundreds or low thousands of euros far more cost-efficient than tiny top-ups.
Q: How much does currency conversion cost on DEGIRO?
A: The default AutoFX conversion carries a spread of roughly 0.25% of the converted amount, and a manual FX option with a fixed cost per conversion also exists. If you hold euro-denominated UCITS ETFs, conversion never applies, which is the simplest way to sidestep this cost entirely.
Q: Is DEGIRO cheaper than a neobroker for monthly investing?
A: For larger, once-a-month Core Selection buys, DEGIRO is extremely competitive and often cheaper. For small, frequent recurring purchases, a neobroker offering genuinely free savings plans usually wins because DEGIRO’s flat handling fee is charged on every single trade regardless of size.
Q: Are the fees in this article current?
A: They are 2026-vintage approximations and rounded for clarity. DEGIRO has revised its fee schedule more than once, so always confirm the exact commission, handling fee and connectivity charge on DEGIRO’s official fee page before you open or fund an account.
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 →