Is my money safe if the broker goes bust?

Safer than most people fear, for a reason nobody’s ad explains: your fund units are held segregated from the broker’s own money, so if it collapses they’re still yours — the estate can’t spend your ETFs. The famous €20,000 is the investor compensation scheme, the backstop for fraud or missing assets, not a ceiling on what’s safe to hold. Uninvested cash follows different rules than securities — where it sits decides its protection, and that’s in each broker’s row. The full walkthrough is in the broker guide.

Some of these are free. What’s the catch?

Nobody runs a regulated bank as a hobby. “Free” brokers earn elsewhere: the currency conversion, the spread on their single trading venue, the interest your idle cash earns them, lending out shares, and the hope you’ll graduate to products with real margins. That’s not a scandal — it’s a business model, and for a monthly ETF buyer it can still be the cheapest deal on the table. The bill above just makes sure you’re comparing what you actually pay, not the word “free”.

Can’t I just use my bank?

Sometimes yes — and this is the page that will tell you so. If your bank charges little for a monthly fund purchase and no meaningful custody fee, staying put beats chasing a €12-a-year saving across a border. That’s what the “your bank” row is for: its price sheet has the two numbers, and the ranking doesn’t care about logos. Most banks, though, price fund dealing like it’s 1995 — which is why the row exists.

Which broker do you use?

I’m not saying — on purpose. The moment I name it, it reads as a recommendation, and this site doesn’t do those: not for funds, not for brokers. The honest version of my answer is the bill above — run your own numbers, check the protection and the tax column for your country, and pick like it’s plumbing. It is plumbing.

Do you earn anything if I open an account through this page?

No. There are no affiliate links on this page or anywhere on this site — no broker pays me, no broker knows it’s here, and the order of the rows is arithmetic. That’s the whole arrangement, and it’s also why this page can say things the paid comparisons can’t.

Why isn’t interest on cash part of the bill?

Because it’s bait that moves. Headline rates track the central bank and get repriced constantly — any figure I printed would be stale before the next check, and a broker chosen for last quarter’s rate is a broker chosen twice a year. Besides: cash waiting at a broker isn’t investing, it’s waiting. Keep your buffer where you bank, invest the rest, and pick the broker on the fees that don’t move weekly.

Why is a broker missing from my shortlist?

Because of something you answered — and the page says which. Every ruled-out row sits right under the shortlist with its reason: not available where you live, can’t buy funds in your currency, no automatic monthly buying, or no tax paperwork in your country. Nothing is hidden for commercial reasons; there are no commercial reasons here. Reset the five answers and the full list comes back.

All tools

The Broker Bill

What does your broker actually cost?

Nine European brokers and your own bank, one bill each: your monthly buy, your pot, their price sheets. Sorted by what you'd actually pay this year — and what twenty years of it adds up to.

Explain it like I’m five

A broker is the shop where you buy your fund. Same fund, different shop, different little fees. Tell me what you save each month, and I’ll show what each shop takes in a year — some take nothing. Cheapest isn’t automatically best — check the shop is solid too.

New to all of it? This idea is stop 5 of Start from zero — ten short lessons that assume nothing.

Every figure from the brokers' own price sheets, last verified July 2026. Fee schedules reprice mid-year — the PFOF ban is still settling through them — so if that date looks old, check the current price sheet before acting.

Two numbers you already know, one toggle, and — if you want the sharpest row — the two numbers off your own bank's price sheet.

Your monthly buy (€)

Your pot (€)

Add your pot if you have one — two of these charge a slice of it every year.

Buying a fund quoted in dollars or pounds? Every monthly buy pays the conversion fee too. Most people can simply buy the euro line instead — the guide explains.

Where do you live?

Filters to brokers that advertise accounts in your country, and marks the ones that do your tax paperwork there.

Your bank's row

Your bank sells funds too — usually at prices nobody compares. Its price sheet (search “fees” or “tariff” on its site) has the two numbers: what one purchase costs, and the yearly custody percentage. Type them and see where it lands.

Per purchase (€)

Custody, % a year

eToro
€0 /yr0.0% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €0
eToro — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
eToro (Europe) Ltd — CySEC, licence 109/10
The route
Zero-commission ETF buys, one-off or recurring (plans from $25 a month). The account's working currency is the dollar — a euro account buying euro-listed funds pays no conversion, its stated mechanics.
The plan
Recurring Investments from $25 a month; fractional from $10.
Protection
Cyprus ICF — up to €20,000 (the lower of 90% and €20,000, CySEC's formula)
The cash
Client money segregated at EEA partner banks; euro balances ride eToro Money Malta Ltd, an e-money institution — a safeguarding account, not a bank deposit in your name.
The taxes
No native withholding anywhere; the Club-tier “tax report” is informational — its own words — not a filing.
The exit
No in-kind route out is published for European clients — leaving means selling (or a case-by-case support request).
The honest note
The most advertised name on the list, and the likeliest to be in your feed. For the record: ETF buys are commission-free, recurring investments exist, and a euro-account path now avoids currency conversion on euro-listed funds — the plumbing genuinely improved. But it's a trading platform first: the UCITS shelf only arrived in 2026, the account's native tongue is the dollar, and crypto and leveraged products share the room — a short or leveraged position there is a CFD even when it's dressed as a stock. It can hold a monthly index plan. It's a lot of machine for a job this small.
Interactive Brokers
€0 /yr0.0% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €0
Interactive Brokers — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
Interactive Brokers Ireland Ltd — Central Bank of Ireland (C423427)
The route
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.
The plan
Recurring Investments from €10, fractional shares native.
Protection
Irish Investor Compensation Scheme — 90% up to €20,000
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 taxes
No country-native tax service — treaty and reporting machinery only; you file everything yourself from its statements.
The exit
In-kind transfers supported; no fee is published for European outbound transfers (US ACATS transfers are free).
The honest note
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.
Revolut
€0 /yr0.0% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €0
Revolut — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
Revolut Securities Europe UAB — Bank of Lithuania (the brokerage); cash sits at Revolut Bank UAB
The route
ETF Investment Plan — recurring buys, commission-free on every subscription tier (Revolut pre-funds the commission), from €1. One-off trades: your plan's monthly free allowance, then 0.25% (min €1). Currency exchange is free to €1,000 a month on the free plan — the 1% priced here is the over-allowance rate.
The plan
Investment Plans: recurring, commission-free, from €1, fractional.
Protection
Lithuanian investor insurance — a flat cap of €22,000 (no 90% tier; the scheme's own FAQ)
The cash
App balances are real deposits at Revolut Bank UAB — €100,000 Lithuanian deposit insurance. The investments sit at the separate brokerage entity under the €22,000 investor scheme. Two firms, two safety nets.
The taxes
No withholding on fund gains anywhere — you declare and pay yourself; its own help pages say so plainly.
The exit
No outbound transfer route for European ETFs is published (US-listed only, $35 a position) — leaving means selling.
The honest note
The app half of Europe already carries, which is exactly its pitch: the investing lives where your card does. Two facts to keep separate: your cash sits at its bank, with a real deposit guarantee; your investments sit at its Lithuanian brokerage, under that country's separate, smaller investor scheme. The ETF shelf is a fraction of a full broker's, free trades are rationed by subscription tier, and the recurring "Investment Plans" are the genuinely commission-free route. As a first, small, automatic drip it works. If your plan outgrows the shelf, the switching section below is how you leave without a tax bill.
Scalable Capital
€0 /yr0.0% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €0
Scalable Capital — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
Scalable Capital Bank GmbH, Munich — ECB-authorised bank, supervised by BaFin
The route
Savings plan, free, from €1 — every ETF, both tiers. Manual orders €0.99 on EIX/gettex under €250 (gettex moves to €1.99 from September 2026).
The plan
Free savings plans from €1, every ETF; fractions ride along inside plans only — a manual order buys whole units.
Protection
German EdB — 90% up to €20,000 (securities shortfalls; segregation first)
The cash
Cash sits at Scalable Capital Bank and partner banks — €100,000 statutory deposit guarantee per client per bank; on the free tier it can also sit in money market funds, which are fund units, not a guaranteed deposit.
The taxes
Withholds tax for clients taxable in Germany only; everywhere else the paperwork is yours — its own requirements page says so.
The exit
Transfer out free (plus any third-party costs); savings-plan fractions can't travel — they're sold and credited.
The honest note
Munich's answer, and since late 2025 a full bank with an ECB licence. Savings plans are free from one euro, fractions ride along inside them, and there's no CFD wing anywhere on the platform — rare on this list. The catches are reach and structure: it serves only six countries, it withholds tax for Germans only, and the free tier's economics lean on a subscription upsell and a trading venue it co-owns. One more thing that belongs in the open: the most-cited ETF comparison site in Europe is its subsidiary — worth remembering wherever you see its name recommended.
Trade Republic
€0 /yr0.0% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €0
Trade Republic — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
Trade Republic Bank GmbH, Berlin — German bank, BaFin + Deutsche Bundesbank
The route
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 plan
The core product: free savings plans from €1, fractional; change, pause or cancel free.
Protection
German EdB — 90% up to €20,000 (securities shortfalls; segregation first)
The cash
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.
The taxes
Withholds natively in Germany, Italy and Spain; France gets the fee-free PEA; elsewhere you file from its annual report.
The exit
Outbound in-kind transfers supported (the receiving broker's form starts it); no fee published — ask before you fund.
The honest note
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.
Trading 212
€0 /yr0.0% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €0
Trading 212 — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
Trading 212 Markets Ltd (Cyprus, CySEC) or Trading 212 EU GmbH (Germany, BaFin) — your country decides
The route
Any buy is commission-free — a Pie/AutoInvest or a manual order; the one account fee is the 0.15% currency conversion.
The plan
Pies & AutoInvest: scheduled buys on your rhythm that self-rebalance, fractional; each Pie's minimum derives from its smallest slice.
Protection
Cyprus ICF up to €20,000, or German EdW 90% up to €20,000 — depends on your country's entity
The cash
Client money held at major EU/UK banks; opting into interest sweeps cash into money market funds — “treated as an investment and not as money held with a bank”, its own words.
The taxes
German residents (under its German entity) get capital-gains tax withheld automatically since January 2026; everyone else self-reports with its Capital Income Statement.
The exit
In-kind transfers out are free, whole shares only (fractions are sold) — but not from its German-entity accounts: there, leaving means selling.
The honest note
The widest-available of the free apps — nearly all of the EEA — and the fullest automation: zero commission, a small conversion fee as its main visible charge, and “Pies” that auto-invest and rebalance with fractions. The fine print is where your attention should go. Which entity you contract with depends on your country, and with it the compensation scheme behind you; share lending can be on unless you turn it off (and isn't offered at all under its German entity); interest on cash comes via money-market funds, which are investments, not insured deposits. And the leveraged side of the house lives one tab away. Free, genuinely — checked settings and a closed tab are the price.
XTB
€0 /yr0.0% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €0
XTB — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
XTB S.A., Warsaw — KNF; serves the EU through national branches
The route
Investment plan (from €15) or any spot buy — 0% commission up to €100,000 of turnover a month, then 0.2% (min €10).
The plan
Investment plans from €15 a rate, auto-executed on your date; fractional shares from €10.
Protection
Polish KDPW scheme — 100% to €3,000, then 90%, max €20,100
The cash
Cash in segregated client bank accounts under KNF rules, outside any insolvency estate; no money-market sweep.
The taxes
Poland: files the PIT-8C with you and your tax office (it pre-fills e-PIT — reporting, not withholding). Its German branch explicitly does not withhold; elsewhere the paperwork is yours.
The exit
In-kind transfer out supported — €25 per ISIN (Spain-listed positions 0.10%, min €100).
The honest note
A Warsaw-listed broker with real local branches across a stretch of Europe, zero commission on ETF buys up to a generous monthly volume, and savings plans with fractions. Two things to hold next to that: around ninety-five percent of its revenue comes from CFD traders — the leveraged side is the business, and your ETF account is the shop window — and its home regulator fined it heavily this spring over how CFD risks were presented to clients. One more surprise: even at its German branch, the tax paperwork stays yours. Cheap and capable — just know whose shop you're standing in, and skip the aisle you didn't come for.
DEGIRO
€12 /yr0.3% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €441 — €441 more than the cheapest here
DEGIRO — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, Dutch branch trading as DEGIRO — German bank, BaFin; AFM/DNB in NL
The route
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.
The plan
No automatic investing and no fractions — its own pages say so plainly. Every month is a manual order, in whole units.
Protection
German Investor Compensation Scheme — 90% up to €20,000 (securities shortfalls)
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.
The taxes
No native withholding anywhere — a free annual report and the filing is yours; transaction taxes are passed through at source.
The exit
Transfer out €20 per position, plus external costs.
The honest note
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.
Saxo+0.1875% of your pot, every year
€36 /yr1.0% of what you'll invest this year
twenty years of this ≈ €4,066 — €4,066 more than the cheapest here
Saxo — the fine print, and the honest note
Who you deal with
Saxo Bank A/S — Danish banking licence, Danish FSA; branches across the EU
The route
Manual order, 0.08% with a €3 minimum on Xetra-type venues — €3 flat on any buy up to €3,750. Prices “vary according to the country of residency” (its words); the Netherlands runs a different model entirely.
The plan
No auto-invest outside Denmark (AutoInvest is DK-only, in kroner, whole units) and no fractional shares — monthly buys are manual, whole units.
Protection
Danish Guarantee Fund — instruments up to €20,000; cash to €100,000 (it is the bank)
The cash
Cash is a deposit at Saxo Bank A/S itself — covered to the €100,000 equivalent by the Danish guarantee fund.
The taxes
Denmark: reports everything — the tax return arrives pre-filled. France: issues the IFU, but only for accounts under its French branch. Elsewhere you file yourself.
The exit
In-kind transfer out €50 per ISIN, capped at €160; bonds travel free.
The honest note
The premium end: a Danish bank, designated systemically important, with access to practically every market — and, since a 2024 overhaul, fees that compete instead of apologising. The structural difference is the custody fee: a yearly percentage of everything you hold (plus VAT for EU residents), the one cost the free apps don't charge — and per-order minimums that make tiny monthly buys proportionally expensive, with no auto-invest or fractions for most EU clients. Wrong shape for a €200 drip; a reasonable shape for a large, settled portfolio that values a bank-grade counterparty and doesn't buy in sips.

The cheapest row isn't a recommendation — it's arithmetic. The right broker also depends on the things a bill can't show: protection, tax paperwork, whether it exists in your country. That's the guide's half.

Checked July 2026

The bill assumes twelve buys a year of one UCITS ETF by each broker's cheapest sensible route — a savings plan where one exists, otherwise the cheapest standard exchange — plus fixed yearly fees, plus any custody percentage on your pot, plus currency conversion only if you flip the toggle. Not in the bill, on purpose: your country's taxes (the atlas's job), interest on idle cash (it moves with the central bank, and it's never the reason to pick a broker), spreads (real, but not honestly printable as one number), and one-off exit fees (in each row's note and the guide). Every figure is from the broker's own price sheet, dated above.

Nothing to sell

No affiliate links — no broker pays me, and none of them knows it's on this page. The order is arithmetic, not sponsorship.

Not advice

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.

The reading half — what the bill can't show — is the broker guide. The broker guide

Common questions

Is my money safe if the broker goes bust?: Safer than most people fear, for a reason nobody’s ad explains: your fund units are held segregated from the broker’s own money, so if it collapses they’re still yours — the estate can’t spend your ETFs. The famous €20,000 is the investor compensation scheme, the backstop for fraud or missing assets, not a ceiling on what’s safe to hold. Uninvested cash follows different rules than securities — where it sits decides its protection, and that’s in each broker’s row. The full walkthrough is in the broker guide.
Some of these are free. What’s the catch?: Nobody runs a regulated bank as a hobby. “Free” brokers earn elsewhere: the currency conversion, the spread on their single trading venue, the interest your idle cash earns them, lending out shares, and the hope you’ll graduate to products with real margins. That’s not a scandal — it’s a business model, and for a monthly ETF buyer it can still be the cheapest deal on the table. The bill above just makes sure you’re comparing what you actually pay, not the word “free”.
Can’t I just use my bank?: Sometimes yes — and this is the page that will tell you so. If your bank charges little for a monthly fund purchase and no meaningful custody fee, staying put beats chasing a €12-a-year saving across a border. That’s what the “your bank” row is for: its price sheet has the two numbers, and the ranking doesn’t care about logos. Most banks, though, price fund dealing like it’s 1995 — which is why the row exists.
Which broker do you use?: I’m not saying — on purpose. The moment I name it, it reads as a recommendation, and this site doesn’t do those: not for funds, not for brokers. The honest version of my answer is the bill above — run your own numbers, check the protection and the tax column for your country, and pick like it’s plumbing. It is plumbing.
Do you earn anything if I open an account through this page?: No. There are no affiliate links on this page or anywhere on this site — no broker pays me, no broker knows it’s here, and the order of the rows is arithmetic. That’s the whole arrangement, and it’s also why this page can say things the paid comparisons can’t.
Why isn’t interest on cash part of the bill?: Because it’s bait that moves. Headline rates track the central bank and get repriced constantly — any figure I printed would be stale before the next check, and a broker chosen for last quarter’s rate is a broker chosen twice a year. Besides: cash waiting at a broker isn’t investing, it’s waiting. Keep your buffer where you bank, invest the rest, and pick the broker on the fees that don’t move weekly.
Why is a broker missing from my shortlist?: Because of something you answered — and the page says which. Every ruled-out row sits right under the shortlist with its reason: not available where you live, can’t buy funds in your currency, no automatic monthly buying, or no tax paperwork in your country. Nothing is hidden for commercial reasons; there are no commercial reasons here. Reset the five answers and the full list comes back.

Read the thinkingThe number Next toolThe First Bad Decade

Nothing here is financial or investment advice — it’s arithmetic and education. Every tool runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved. Decisions about your money are yours, ideally with a licensed adviser. I’m happily not one.

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