DEGIRO vs Trade Republic 2026: Which Should Be Your Primary European Broker?

DEGIRO and Trade Republic are the two most-recommended European brokers for cost-conscious retail investors in 2026. Both are BaFin-regulated, both have native EUR accounts, both have multi-million-customer scale. They also have meaningfully different strengths — and for most serious European investors, the right answer is to use both rather than pick one.

This article is the honest head-to-head, plus how I actually structure my own broker stack.

The headline trade-offs

The single biggest difference between DEGIRO and Trade Republic is what each is optimized for:

DEGIRO is optimized for cost-per-trade on one-off larger trades. Its Core Selection list lets you trade ~200 ETFs for free (one trade per ETF per month, €1,000 minimum), and one-off stock trades cost €1-3. For an investor placing a few larger trades per month, DEGIRO is genuinely the cheapest broker in Europe.

Trade Republic is optimized for monthly automated savings plans plus cash interest. Free savings plans (€1 minimum, full automation, automatic dividend reinvestment) make consistent monthly investing frictionless, and 3.5% interest on uninvested EUR (as of mid-2026) makes idle cash productive. For an investor running monthly automation as their primary investing approach, Trade Republic is the better fit.

For most European retail investors, the right answer is both: Trade Republic for the monthly savings-plan engine, DEGIRO for one-off larger trades and broader exchange access.

Cost-per-trade side by side

| Factor | DEGIRO | Trade Republic | |---|---|---| | EUR ETF trade | €0 on Core Selection (€1,000 min, 1/month) or €2-3 off-list | €1 manual, €0 savings plan | | EUR stock trade | €2-3 on most exchanges | €1 manual, €0 savings plan | | US stock trade | ~$1 commission + 25 bps FX | €1 manual + 25 bps FX (or savings plan: €0 + 25 bps FX) | | Withdrawal fee | Free | Free | | Inactivity fee | None | None | | Account opening | Free | Free | | Minimum deposit | €0.01 | €1 |

For one-off larger trades (€1,000+ at a time), DEGIRO's Core Selection is genuinely free for ~200 ETFs vs Trade Republic's €1 manual trade. Small absolute difference but real over many years.

For monthly small savings plans (€100-500/month), Trade Republic's free savings plan beats DEGIRO's €2-3 off-list trade fees and beats DEGIRO's Core Selection too (because the €1,000 monthly minimum is hard to hit at €100-500 contributions per month).

The structural insight: each broker is cheapest for its specialty use case. Forcing everything into one broker means accepting either DEGIRO's friction for monthly automation (you have to remember to log in monthly) or Trade Republic's small per-trade fee for one-off larger trades.

Savings-plan automation

This is where Trade Republic genuinely wins decisively.

Trade Republic's savings plans are the killer feature for most European retail investors. You set up a recurring monthly buy of any ETF or stock at any amount (€1 minimum, no maximum), pick a frequency (weekly, biweekly, monthly), pick a date, and the platform automatically buys for you. Trades are free. Dividend reinvestment is automatic if you toggle it on. You can pause or modify the plan at any time.

DEGIRO doesn't have a real savings-plan equivalent. You can manually place trades each month, but there's no automation layer that handles it for you. For investors who want consistent monthly contributions without the manual friction, this is a real DEGIRO weakness.

The behavioral implication: most successful long-term investing is consistent monthly contributions to broad-market ETFs. Doing this on DEGIRO requires monthly attention; doing it on Trade Republic happens automatically forever. The behavioral lock-in alone justifies Trade Republic for the savings-plan slice of any investor's portfolio.

Cash interest on uninvested EUR

Another decisive Trade Republic advantage in 2026.

Trade Republic pays around 3.5% on uninvested EUR cash (as of mid-2026, floats with ECB rates), capped at €100,000 per customer (the deposit-insurance limit). Cash sitting in your account earns interest automatically; you don't have to opt in or transfer to a separate product.

DEGIRO pays no interest on uninvested EUR cash held in your account. Your idle EUR sits earning nothing, and the platform's structure doesn't let you opt into a higher-yield product without moving the money out entirely.

For an investor with €5,000-€20,000 in idle cash that they're holding for "next-bucket" purposes (planning to deploy strategically over coming months), Trade Republic's 3.5% earns €175-700/year that DEGIRO's 0% doesn't. That's not enormous in lifestyle terms but it's meaningful free money.

Product range and exchange access

DEGIRO offers access to 32 stock exchanges including all major European, US, and Asian markets. The Core Selection list of free ETFs is curated and rotates annually. Stock universe is broader than Trade Republic's.

Trade Republic offers access to a more limited exchange set (primarily LS Exchange for German trading, plus selected European and US listings). The product universe is smaller. Trade Republic doesn't offer a "free ETF list" — instead, their savings-plan trades are free for any ETF that's on the savings-plan-eligible list (which is broader than DEGIRO's Core Selection but less curated).

For investors who want broad exchange access (Hong Kong, Tokyo, less-common European exchanges), DEGIRO is meaningfully more capable. For investors who only need US, German, French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish stocks plus broad UCITS ETFs, Trade Republic's narrower range is sufficient.

Tax handling for European residents

Here's where the comparison flips by country:

For German residents: Trade Republic wins decisively. Automatic Abgeltungsteuer handling, automatic Freistellungsauftrag application, native Steuerbescheinigung at year-end. DEGIRO requires manual handling of Abgeltungsteuer in Anlage KAP.

For Dutch and other countries with similar handling needs: DEGIRO often has slightly better country-specific tax statements (Dutch IB-aangifte data, German Steuerbescheinigung in PDF form) than Trade Republic outside Germany.

For French residents: neither broker offers a PEA wrapper, which is the meaningful French-specific tax shelter. For PEA, you need a French broker (Boursorama, Fortuneo, Trade Republic France's PEA which launched in 2024-2025 — verify current availability).

For UK residents: Trade Republic UK launched in 2024 and is FCA-regulated, but does not offer an ISA wrapper as of mid-2026. DEGIRO closed to new UK customers post-Brexit. Neither is the right answer for UK investors needing an ISA — use Trading 212 or Hargreaves Lansdown instead.

Where each broker wins

DEGIRO wins for:

• Cost-conscious investors who place a few €1,000+ trades per month
• Investors who want broad exchange access (32 exchanges)
• Investors holding portfolios primarily in European-listed UCITS ETFs (Core Selection is genuinely free)
• Dutch residents (better local tax-statement integration)

Trade Republic wins for:

• Investors running monthly automated savings plans (€1 minimum, free, full automation)
• Investors with €5K+ in idle cash (3.5% interest meaningfully better than DEGIRO's 0%)
• German residents (automatic Abgeltungsteuer handling)
• Investors who want best-in-class app UX and onboarding

How I split between them

My personal European broker stack runs roughly 60% Trade Republic, 40% DEGIRO, with the split shifting depending on what I'm doing:

• Trade Republic for: monthly automated savings plans into VWCE and VHYL (free, frictionless), idle cash earning 3.5%, automatic German tax handling
• DEGIRO for: one-off larger trades on European-listed stocks I want to hold individually, occasional Core Selection ETF purchases, exchange access for less-common positions

The duplication isn't wasteful — each broker does what it's best at. Forcing everything into one would mean either accepting DEGIRO's friction for monthly automation or accepting Trade Republic's narrower exchange access for one-off trades.

For investors who really want one broker, the choice depends on use case:

• Monthly automation as primary investing approach → Trade Republic alone
• One-off larger trades 4-12 times per year as primary approach → DEGIRO alone
• Mixed use → both

For investors with €10K+ portfolios and serious long-term investing intent, the right setup is usually both, with the rough 60/40 Trade Republic/DEGIRO split. The cost savings over 5-10 years of using each broker for its specialty justify the modest complexity overhead of having two accounts.

FAQ

Verdict

DEGIRO vs Trade Republic isn't a contest with a clear winner — it's a comparison of two structurally different brokers each playing to its specialty. Trade Republic wins for monthly automated savings plans and idle cash earning interest. DEGIRO wins for one-off larger trades and broader exchange access. For most European retail investors with €10K+ portfolios, holding both brokers and using each for its strengths is the optimal setup.

If you're choosing only one in 2026: Trade Republic for the savings-plan-and-cash-interest combination is typically the better starting point, especially for German residents who get automatic Abgeltungsteuer handling. DEGIRO is the right choice if your investing pattern is dominated by occasional larger trades rather than monthly automation.

For the full individual reviews, see DEGIRO Review and Trade Republic Review. For the broader broker landscape, best European brokers.

Open accounts

For most European investors, the right answer is to use both. Affiliate links:

• Open a Trade Republic account → — monthly savings plans, 3.5% on uninvested cash, automatic German tax handling.
• Open a DEGIRO account → — free Core Selection ETF trades, 32 exchanges, BaFin-regulated.

For details, read my Trade Republic review and my DEGIRO review.