Online Brokers Compared: Fees, Access, and Fit

Charles Schwab combines a full-service brokerage with an active-trading stack built around thinkorswim. Standard brokerage accounts have no balance minimum, eligible online listed stock and ETF trades carry a $0 commission, and listed options use a $0 base commission plus a $0.65 per-contract fee. Schwab also documents mutual funds, fixed income, futures and retail forex within its broader trading offering.

Retirement-account depth is an important part of the platform. Schwab supports ordinary IRA structures and documents small-business retirement arrangements including Individual 401(k), SEP-IRA and SIMPLE IRA plans. thinkorswim adds desktop, web and mobile trading tools, paperMoney and access to products including options, futures and forex.

Direct spot crypto should not be marked as currently available. Schwab's current trading materials describe Schwab Crypto as coming soon, with the future crypto account to be offered through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB. That distinction matters because announced access is not the same as a live customer product.

The broader Schwab relationship also crosses different legal and protection regimes. Securities brokerage, futures/forex and bank products should not be presented as though they carry identical protections.

Fidelity combines conventional self-directed brokerage with retirement, cash-management, health-savings, education and managed-investing accounts. Its standard retail brokerage account has no opening minimum, eligible online U.S. stock and ETF trades carry a $0 commission, and eligible fractional stock and ETF purchases can begin at $1. Standard online options pricing uses a $0 base commission plus a $0.65 per-contract fee.

The product menu includes mutual funds, individual bonds, Treasury securities, CDs, international stock access and direct crypto within the broader Fidelity ecosystem. The legal structure matters: securities brokerage is provided through Fidelity Brokerage Services with related securities custody through National Financial Services, while direct crypto is provided through Fidelity Digital Assets. Direct crypto is not SIPC- or FDIC-insured simply because it appears alongside brokerage assets.

Fidelity does not provide a conventional U.S. retail futures platform or retail spot-forex trading. That limits its relevance for investors who need those markets, even though its conventional brokerage and household-account range is extensive.

Interactive Brokers is built around global multi-asset access. Its current materials advertise 170 markets across 40 countries and the ability to fund and trade in 29 currencies, with stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds available through a unified platform. U.S. stock pricing requires a qualification: IBKR Lite offers $0 commissions on eligible U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs for eligible U.S. residents, while IBKR Pro uses fixed or tiered pricing.

U.S. options pricing also varies by schedule and volume rather than collapsing neatly into one number. Interactive Brokers currently publishes U.S. options rates that can range from $0.15 to $0.65 per contract under its pricing structure. Futures, spot currencies, international securities, bonds, mutual funds, fractional shares, APIs and advanced trading platforms expand the menu further.

Direct crypto is available through Paxos or Zero Hash depending on account type and residence. Those crypto assets should not be described as ordinary SIPC-protected brokerage securities merely because access is integrated into the IBKR experience.

The tradeoff is complexity: pricing plans, trading permissions, market-data subscriptions and country-specific rules matter more here than at a basic domestic brokerage.

Merrill Edge is a conventional self-directed brokerage whose structural distinction is its connection to the broader Bank of America relationship. The self-directed account has no trade or balance minimum, eligible online stock and ETF trades carry a $0 commission, and options use a $0 base commission plus a $0.65 per-contract fee.

The investment menu covers stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, fixed-income and bond investments, and options. Merrill also provides research and trading tools within the Merrill ecosystem. For retirement, the current site documents Traditional, Roth and rollover pathways along with additional structures such as SEP and SIMPLE IRA plans.

The product menu is narrower than a multi-asset trading platform in several specific ways. Merrill does not provide ordinary retail futures, spot forex or direct cryptocurrency through the self-directed brokerage, and its current platform does not offer routine fractional-share purchases. Those omissions matter for someone building around newer trading products or dollar-based fractional investing, but they are less relevant to a portfolio centered on whole shares, funds and fixed income.

Bank of America integration is a structural feature, not an investment-performance advantage. It should be described as account integration rather than an endorsement.

Public has developed into a multi-asset investing platform rather than a stock-only app. Its standard brokerage currently charges $0 for eligible U.S.-listed stock and ETF trades during regular market hours, while separate pricing can apply during extended hours for non-Premium customers. Public also supports fractional shares, stock and ETF options, individual bonds, Treasuries, direct crypto, Traditional and Roth IRAs, a cash-sweep product and selected alternative assets.

The fee structure requires more reading than the $0 stock headline suggests. Standard stock and ETF options currently carry no Public commission or per-contract fee, while index options have separate pricing. Fixed-income, crypto, Premium membership and other products can use different schedules.

The legal structure also matters. Ordinary securities brokerage is offered through Public Investing, while crypto services use a separate provider structure. Public's Crypto IRA documentation describes a transaction fee with a minimum of 1.25% through Zero Hash plus a monthly custody fee of 0.05%, with trading fees credited toward that custody fee under the current policy.

Public does not offer retail futures and should not be treated as having one fee or protection regime across every product visible in the interface.

Robinhood now spans stocks, ETFs, fractional shares, options, futures, direct crypto, event contracts, self-directed IRAs and managed portfolios. Eligible U.S. stock and ETF trades carry a $0 commission, standard stock and ETF options have no Robinhood base or per-contract fee, and index options use a separate fee schedule. Futures are provided through Robinhood Derivatives and carry separate Robinhood, regulatory and exchange charges.

The IRA contribution match is a notable account term. Robinhood currently documents a 3% match on eligible annual contributions for Gold subscribers and 1% without Gold in self-directed IRAs, plus a 1% match on eligible IRA transfers and old 401(k) rollovers. The terms are material: the higher contribution match requires Gold, Gold generally must be maintained for at least one year after the first Gold match, and assets that earned a match generally must remain in the IRA for five years to avoid a potential early match-removal fee.

Robinhood's expanded product menu increases legal complexity. Securities brokerage, futures/event contracts, crypto and managed accounts use different entities and protections. The platform still does not offer a conventional mutual-fund marketplace or ordinary individual-bond/Treasury marketplace.

SoFi Invest combines self-directed brokerage, robo investing and adjacent investment products inside the broader SoFi ecosystem. Self-directed investing can begin with $5, eligible stock and ETF trades use $0 online commissions, and current account documentation includes fractional shares, options, mutual funds and Traditional, Roth, Rollover and SEP IRA structures. Robo Investing is a separate advisory service with its own minimum and annual advisory fee.

The central structural issue is that SoFi Invest spans different providers. Self-directed securities are offered through SoFi Securities, robo investing through SoFi Wealth, and direct crypto through SoFi Bank. Crypto is not an FDIC-insured deposit and is not SIPC-protected merely because the service is offered by a bank.

Direct-crypto pricing also changed. SoFi's current Help Center documents monthly-volume tiers of 1.90%, 1.50%, 1.25% and 0.90%, with the applicable trading fee built into the displayed price. For orders entered by crypto amount, SoFi states that a spread of up to 0.10% may also apply.

SoFi does not provide retail futures or conventional spot forex.

Webull is organized around active-trading technology, but its current product set extends beyond stocks and charts. Eligible U.S.-listed stock and ETF trades carry a $0 commission, eligible fractional shares can begin at $1, and standard stock and ETF options have no Webull commission or per-contract fee. The current dedicated Pricing page lists a $0.50 per-contract fee for certain index options.

The platform also supports futures, direct crypto, fixed income, event contracts, IRAs, automated investing, paper trading and 24/5 trading in eligible equities. Webull's OpenAPI is particularly relevant to technically oriented users: its current documentation supports programmatic trading access across U.S. stocks, options, futures, crypto and event contracts, with HTTP APIs, streaming interfaces and official SDKs.

That breadth comes with product and entity complexity. Securities, futures, crypto and advisory services do not all use the same legal entity or protection regime, and some advanced market-data access can involve separate subscriptions. Webull also does not provide the kind of broad mutual-fund marketplace or direct global exchange access found at some conventional or globally oriented brokers.

The platform should therefore be evaluated as an active-trading ecosystem rather than simply as a $0-commission brokerage.