If you are a DEGIRO user hoping to set your ETF investing on autopilot the way a Trade Republic or Scalable Capital customer can, I will save you the search: DEGIRO does not offer a true set-and-forget savings plan. There is no button that says “buy €200 of IWDA on the 1st of every month” and quietly does it for years. You place each trade yourself.
That sounds like a dealbreaker, and for some people it is. But DEGIRO is one of the cheapest brokers in Europe, its Core Selection lets you buy a curated list of ETFs with no commission, and a monthly manual buy takes about ninety seconds once you have done it twice. Whether the missing automation matters comes down to what kind of investor you are.
I have used DEGIRO for years alongside a couple of neobrokers, so this is written from experience rather than a feature list. Here is what the platform genuinely supports, the workarounds that get you close, and when I would tell someone to just open a neobroker instead.
What “automatic investing” actually means
When people ask about automatic ETF investing, they usually mean a Sparplan, the German savings-plan model that neobrokers popularised across Europe. You pick a fund, an amount, and a date. The broker debits your account and buys the ETF, including fractional shares, every single month with no further input from you. It is the mechanism that makes euro-cost averaging effortless, and it is the single best behavioural tool I know of for staying invested through scary markets, because you never have to decide to buy during a crash. The system already did it.
Methodology: this guide applies our broker review methodology, from safety-of-assets checks to total-cost math.
That fully automated recurring buy is precisely what DEGIRO lacks, because it built its business around ultra-low-cost self-directed trading rather than the neobroker “invisible investing” model. The trade-off is real money saved on fees in exchange for keeping your hands on the wheel.
What DEGIRO actually supports
Manual orders, a commission-free Core Selection list, and nothing that repeats on a schedule. No savings plan, no standing order into a fund, no fractional shares – which means you cannot invest an exact euro amount even if you place the order yourself.
DEGIRO is a manual, order-driven broker. To invest, you log in, search the ETF, enter an amount or a number of shares, and submit the order. There is no scheduler that repeats this for you, and there is no fractional investing either, so you buy whole shares only. If a share of your chosen world ETF costs about €100 and you want to invest €250 this month, you buy two shares and the remaining €50 sits as cash until next time.
What DEGIRO does give you, and what makes the manual approach bearable, is the Core Selection. This is a curated list of broad, popular ETFs, mostly the low-cost iShares, Vanguard, Amundi and Xtrackers trackers that long-term investors actually hold, which you can trade with no commission under certain conditions. That is the feature to build your routine around, so let me be precise about how it works, because the fine print matters.
How the Core Selection free trade works
The headline is that Core Selection ETFs are commission-free, but the standing condition is usually one free transaction per ETF per calendar month. Buy the same Core Selection ETF a second time in the same month and the second trade typically incurs the standard commission. Buy a different Core Selection ETF and that one gets its own free trade. On top of the (zero) commission, DEGIRO applies a small external-costs handling fee, historically around €1 per transaction, to cover connectivity and settlement. So a “free” Core Selection buy is not literally €0, but it is close, and it is far cheaper than most legacy bank brokers.
The practical consequence is that DEGIRO rewards one clean monthly buy per fund. That maps neatly onto a simple one or two ETF portfolio. It works against you if you like to drip small amounts in weekly or split across many funds, because each extra trade either burns the free allowance or triggers a real commission. Always confirm the current terms and which funds are on the list in DEGIRO’s own fee schedule, since both the fee and the selection change over time.
DEGIRO’s official website and fee documentation is the only source I would trust for the live Core Selection list and the exact handling fee in your country, because these are adjusted periodically and vary by entity.
The manual workarounds that get you close
You cannot make DEGIRO truly automatic, but you can make it disciplined, which is most of what automation is really for. Set a fixed calendar reminder, the same date every month, ideally the day after your salary lands. When it fires, log in and place one Core Selection buy for your core ETF at the largest whole-share amount your budget allows. Let the leftover cash accumulate; every few months it will have grown enough to fund an extra whole share, so you deploy it then. This is not elegant, but it captures the core benefit of a savings plan: you buy on a schedule regardless of the market mood, and you stay inside the one-free-trade-per-month lane.
Two refinements help. Keep the portfolio to one or at most two Core Selection ETFs so each gets its own free monthly trade and you never double up. And resist the urge to time the buy: the whole point of a fixed date is to remove the decision. If you find yourself hovering over the order screen waiting for a dip, you have reintroduced exactly the behaviour a savings plan is designed to eliminate, and a neobroker would serve you better.
DEGIRO manual buying versus a neobroker savings plan
Here is how the manual DEGIRO approach stacks up against an automated neobroker plan for a typical euro investor. Treat the figures as approximate 2026-vintage and verify current terms on each provider’s site.
| Feature | DEGIRO (manual) | Neobroker savings plan |
|---|---|---|
| True automation | No — you place each order | Yes — set once, runs monthly |
| Fractional shares | No — whole shares only | Yes — exact euro amount invested |
| Cost per monthly buy | ~€1 handling fee on Core Selection | Typically €0 on eligible ETFs |
| Fund choice | Huge overall; free list is the curated Core Selection | Thousands eligible for free plans |
| Leftover cash | Accumulates until it funds a whole share | Fully invested every month |
| Best for | Cost-focused, hands-on buyers | Hands-off, “forget it” investors |
The pattern is clear. DEGIRO wins on breadth and rock-bottom cost; the neobroker wins on genuine automation and fractional precision. They suit different temperaments. If you want the full picture on which platforms run proper Sparplans, our roundup of the best brokers for ETF savings plans in Europe lays out the automated options side by side.
Fee figures in this guide are cross-checked against our EU broker fee dataset, reviewed quarterly.
Learning ETFs the slow way?
The free 12-page Starter Kit gets you to a first, sensible portfolio faster: the 7-filter fund shortcut, the 3-question broker matrix, and the 7 costliest beginner mistakes.
Who DEGIRO still suits, and who should switch
Stay if you are cost-conscious and reliably execute a monthly order yourself; switch if you know you will not. Nothing here is a safety question – DEGIRO is part of flatexDEGIRO Bank, supervised by BaFin in Germany with its Dutch branch under AFM oversight, so this is purely about whether the missing automation fits how you actually behave.
DEGIRO remains a strong choice if you are cost-conscious, comfortable placing your own orders, and happy investing a round amount into one or two broad ETFs each month. For a lump-sum investor, or someone who buys a handful of positions deliberately, the lack of a savings plan is close to irrelevant, and the low fees are a genuine advantage over pricier rivals. Our full DEGIRO review goes deeper on the account mechanics, and to sanity-check its pricing against the field, the European ETF broker hub is where I would start.
Where I would steer you elsewhere is if you know yourself to be a “set it and never look at it” investor, or if the discipline of a truly automatic buy is what keeps you invested. In that case the value of automation outweighs a euro or two of monthly fees, and a neobroker is the better home for your core. This is exactly why Trade Republic stands out for hands-off ETF investors: the savings plan does the buying for you, fractionally, for free, on a schedule you never have to think about again.
What I would do
If DEGIRO is already your broker and you have the discipline for a monthly reminder, keep it. Run one clean Core Selection buy per fund per month, hold at most two ETFs, and let the residual cash pool until it buys another whole share. You will pay very little and capture almost all the benefit of a savings plan through routine alone.
If you are choosing a broker specifically because you want investing to be invisible, do not fight the platform. Open a neobroker with a real Sparplan for your automated core, and, if you like DEGIRO’s breadth, keep it as a secondary account for the occasional deliberate purchase. That is the setup I would recommend to most beginners. Either way, screen the funds first with our UCITS ETF comparison tool so your automation, or your monthly manual buy, is pointed at the right fund from day one.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Does DEGIRO have ETF savings plans or automatic investing?
A: No. DEGIRO does not offer a true automated savings plan (Sparplan) the way Trade Republic or Scalable Capital do. You place each ETF order manually. The closest thing to a routine is a monthly calendar reminder plus a manual Core Selection buy.
Q: What is the DEGIRO Core Selection?
A: It is a curated list of broad, popular ETFs you can trade with no commission, usually limited to one free transaction per ETF per calendar month. A small external-costs handling fee (historically around €1) still applies. The list and terms change, so confirm the current version in DEGIRO’s fee schedule.
Q: Can I buy fractional ETF shares on DEGIRO?
A: No. DEGIRO deals in whole shares only, so you cannot invest an exact euro amount. If a share costs €100 and you want to invest €250, you buy two shares and the leftover €50 stays as cash until it, plus future contributions, funds another whole share.
Q: How do I automate DCA on DEGIRO despite no savings plan?
A: You cannot fully automate it, but you can simulate it. Set a fixed monthly reminder, ideally just after payday, and place one Core Selection buy for your core ETF each time at the largest whole-share amount your budget allows. Keep the portfolio to one or two funds so each gets its free monthly trade.
Q: Is DEGIRO cheaper than a neobroker for regular investing?
A: On raw fees DEGIRO is very competitive, with commission-free Core Selection trades plus a roughly €1 handling fee. But neobroker savings plans are often genuinely €0 on eligible ETFs and add fractional investing, so the cost gap is small and the automation gap is large. For a hands-off investor the neobroker usually wins overall.
Q: Should I switch from DEGIRO to a neobroker just for automation?
A: Only if automation is what keeps you invested. If you have the discipline for a monthly manual buy, DEGIRO’s low costs are worth keeping. If you want investing to be invisible and effortless, a neobroker with a real savings plan is the better home for your core, and you can keep DEGIRO as a secondary account.
Q: ETF savings plans vs manual DCA – which is actually better?
A: For most people the savings plan wins, and not because of the fee. Automation removes the two failure modes that actually cost money: forgetting a month, and deciding not to buy because the market looks frightening. A manual routine is only equivalent if you genuinely execute it every month for years, including the months when you do not want to. On pure cost the gap is small – DEGIRO’s Core Selection is free once a month per fund, and the neobroker savings plans are free too – so this is a behavioural decision, not an arithmetic one. Be honest about which kind of investor you are.
Q: Which European brokers do offer automated ETF savings plans?
A: Trade Republic and Scalable Capital both run true savings plans with free recurring executions and fractional shares, from as little as EUR 1 a month. Trading 212 offers scheduled pies that do the same job. Interactive Brokers has a recurring-investment feature that is more manual to set up but works across a far wider universe. XTB and Lightyear have added recurring plans more recently with narrower fund lists. The trade-off is consistent: the neobrokers automate well but limit the fund universe, while the full-service brokers list everything and automate less smoothly.
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 →