Interactive Brokers vs Trade Republic.
Interactive Brokers or Trade Republic 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 | Interactive Brokers | Trade Republic |
|---|---|---|
| The bill this year | €0 | €0 |
| Twenty years of it | ≈ €0 | ≈ €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 | Interactive Brokers | Trade Republic |
|---|---|---|
| Available in | 31 countries, on its published list; the UK too, via its UK entity | 18 countries, on its published list |
| Conversion | ≈0.03% auto · 0.002% min €2 by hand | — · euro funds only |
| Protection | Irish Investor Compensation Scheme: 90% up to €20,000. UK and Swiss residents can be served by different entities, with different schemes. Pick your country in the Broker Bill for the applicable fine print. | German EdB: 90% up to €20,000 (securities shortfalls; segregation first) |
| The cash | 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 UK and Swiss arrangements differ. | Cash is distributed among partner banks (Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, HSBC among them): €100,000 guarantee per bank; amounts beyond that can sit in liquidity funds, where no deposit guarantee applies. |
| Does your taxes in | — | Germany, Italy, Spain |
| The exit | In-kind transfers supported; no fee is published for European outbound transfers (US ACATS transfers are free). | Outbound in-kind transfers supported (the receiving broker's form starts it); no fee published. Ask before you fund. |
Where they match
- The monthly buy €0 · savings plan
- Recurring €0/yr
- Savings plan automatic · fractions
The honest notes
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). UK and Swiss residents can be served by different entities, with different schemes. Pick your country in the Broker Bill for the applicable fine print.
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 buys in another currency convert automatically at about 0.03%, no commission; a by-hand order pays the spot desk's €2 minimum.
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).
Trade Republic
A German bank inside an app, and the smoothest version of this site's pattern where it operates: savings plans execute free, fractions from a euro, and idle cash earns the central bank's rate. In its biggest markets it also does the tax paperwork natively — the rare app where April doesn't arrive with homework. The caveats: euro-only, app-first, and its whole execution model was rebuilt days after the PFOF ban. Manual orders now carry a small settlement fee, and the repricing may not be finished. Available in seventeen-ish countries; the list moves.
Trade Republic: the fine print
Trade Republic Bank GmbH, Berlin: German bank, BaFin + Deutsche Bundesbank
Savings plan: free execution (a €1 settlement fee applies when you sell); manual orders €1 best-price / €2 on a chosen exchange, since July 2026.
The core product: free savings plans from €1, fractional; change, pause or cancel free.
Cash is distributed among partner banks (Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, HSBC among them): €100,000 guarantee per bank; amounts beyond that can sit in liquidity funds, where no deposit guarantee applies.
Withholds natively in Germany, Italy and Spain; France gets the fee-free PEA; elsewhere you file from its annual report.
Outbound in-kind transfers supported (the receiving broker's form starts it); no fee published. Ask before you fund.
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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