DEGIRO vs Interactive Brokers.
DEGIRO or Interactive Brokers for a monthly index buy? The same pattern priced through both price sheets, the protection behind each, who does your tax paperwork, and what leaving costs — side by side, verified, verdict-free.
Every figure verified against the brokers’ own price sheets: July 2026. Fee schedules reprice mid-year — if that date looks old, check the price sheet before acting.
The same buy, both bills
| Measure | DEGIRO | Interactive Brokers |
|---|---|---|
| The bill this year | €12 | €0 |
| Twenty years of it | ≈ €441.43 | ≈ €0 |
The example pattern — €300 a month, no pot, a euro-listed fund. Your pattern is different: run yours through The Broker Bill
Where they differ
| Dimension | DEGIRO | Interactive Brokers |
|---|---|---|
| Available in | 29 countries, on its published list | 31 countries, on its published list; the UK too, via its UK entity |
| The monthly buy | €1 · manual order | €0 · savings plan |
| Conversion | 0.25% | 0.002% · min €2 |
| Savings plan | manual, whole units | automatic · fractions |
| Protection | German Investor Compensation Scheme — 90% up to €20,000 (securities shortfalls) | Irish Investor Compensation Scheme — 90% up to €20,000 |
| The cash | Uninvested cash sits in a personal Cash Account at flatexDEGIRO Bank SE — €100,000 German deposit guarantee. The bank pays 0% on it — part of how the cheap trades get paid for. | Not a bank: uninvested cash sits in segregated client accounts at third-party banks — the protection is segregation, not a per-client deposit guarantee. Some securities are custodied at its US affiliate, where US SIPC cover applies. |
| The exit | Transfer out €20 per position, plus external costs. | In-kind transfers supported; no fee is published for European outbound transfers (US ACATS transfers are free). |
Where they match
- Recurring €0/yr
- Does your taxes in —
The honest notes
DEGIRO
The old default of European index investors — today a branch of a German bank, serving most of the EU from a single entity. Its appeal is a cheap flat handling fee on a core list of ETFs; its limits are structural: no savings plans and no fractional shares, so every month means logging in and buying whole units by hand, and the cheap list runs through a single trading venue. It pays nothing on your idle cash — that's part of how the cheap trades get paid for. Fits someone who doesn't mind ten manual clicks a month and wants broad, cheap market access from almost anywhere in the EU.
DEGIRO — the fine print
flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, Dutch branch trading as DEGIRO — German bank, BaFin; AFM/DNB in NL
ETF Core Selection — €1 handling fee per trade on 1,000+ ETFs (all via Tradegate), no fair-use restriction, manual orders only. Any other exchange: €3 plus a €2.50-a-year connectivity fee.
No automatic investing and no fractions — its own pages say so plainly. Every month is a manual order, in whole units.
Uninvested cash sits in a personal Cash Account at flatexDEGIRO Bank SE — €100,000 German deposit guarantee. The bank pays 0% on it — part of how the cheap trades get paid for.
No native withholding anywhere — a free annual report and the filing is yours; transaction taxes are passed through at source.
Transfer out €20 per position, plus external costs.
Interactive Brokers
The forums' default answer to "which is safest?", and the plumbing some of the other apps quietly build on — an Irish-regulated arm of a listed US giant that acts as custodian for a few of its own competitors. Multi-currency accounts, every exchange that matters, and a recurring-investments programme that buys a wide set of UCITS ETFs without commission — funded, as IBKR itself discloses, by a small payment from the fund makers. That's the honest kind of free: printed where you can read it. The catch is fit, not fees — it's an institution-grade cockpit, and the cash interest is engineered to reward big balances. For the six-figure pot, the multi-currency life, and anyone who wants the door that's never the wrong door.
Interactive Brokers — the fine print
Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd — Central Bank of Ireland (C423427)
Recurring Investments — commission-free UCITS ETF buys from €10, funded by 10 basis points the fund maker pays IBKR (its own disclosure). Manual orders: tiered 0.05%, min €1.25, plus small venue fees.
Recurring Investments from €10, fractional shares native.
Not a bank: uninvested cash sits in segregated client accounts at third-party banks — the protection is segregation, not a per-client deposit guarantee. Some securities are custodied at its US affiliate, where US SIPC cover applies.
No country-native tax service — treaty and reporting machinery only; you file everything yourself from its statements.
In-kind transfers supported; no fee is published for European outbound transfers (US ACATS transfers are free).
No affiliate links — no broker pays me, and none of them knows it's on this page. The order is arithmetic, not sponsorship.
Education, not advice. Fee schedules change and brokers reprice — check the current price sheet before you open anything. Which broker suits you also depends on your country and your tax situation; I'm not a licensed adviser, happily.
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