BUX vs Trade Republic — which broker is better?

Pros

• Owned by ABN AMRO since July 2024, with clearing and custody through ABN AMRO Clearing Bank — a materially stronger backing than the venture-funded startup that preceded it
• ETFs and ETCs cost EUR 0.99 a market order on every plan, Basic included — they are priced in their own column and are not dragged onto the EUR 3.99 European share grid
• Commission-free Zero Orders on the Plus and Prime plans — 3 a month on Plus, 5 on Prime — plus free Investment Plan purchases on every plan including Basic, which do not count against that allowance
• Fractional shares from EUR 5, which makes small recurring purchases of high-priced US shares work properly
• US market orders cost EUR 0.99 on every tier, and real-time quotes, deposits and withdrawals are all free
• Open to residents of eight European countries including Germany, Austria and Ireland — one of the few EUR-native app brokers accessible across DACH
• AFM-supervised with securities covered to EUR 20,000 under the Dutch investor compensation scheme and cash held at a bank under deposit-guarantee terms
• The app is genuinely well made: clean order flow, Investment Plans for automation, and expert-built portfolios for people who do not want to pick

Cons

• The free Basic plan is the expensive one everywhere except ETFs: 0.20% per year on invested assets, EUR 3.99 European share orders, 0.75% FX, no interest on cash, no Zero Orders and no limit orders — a EUR 20,000 portfolio pays more in service fees than the Plus subscription costs
• The AFM fined BUX B.V. EUR 1.6 million in November 2024, published in March 2025, for paying introduction fees to finfluencers, comparison sites and existing customers in breach of the Dutch inducement ban — a conduct matter, but one worth knowing before you read anyone's BUX recommendation
• Zero Orders are capped rather than unlimited: 3 a month on Plus and 5 a month on Prime, after which you are back on the paid market-order grid
• BUX does not act as a German or Austrian paying agent, so no Abgeltungsteuer or KESt is withheld at source and DACH investors must declare gains and dividends themselves via Anlage KAP or the Austrian equivalent
• Very narrow product range — shares, ETFs and ETPs only. No bonds, no mutual funds, no options, no futures, no forex, and direct crypto trading was discontinued in March 2024
• Zero Orders execute only in an end-of-day batch, so the commission-free route gives you no control over the price you get intraday
• No telephone support at any tier; everything runs through in-app chat and email during weekday business hours
• The subscription model introduced in August 2025 replaced a largely free product and was poorly received by the existing user base, which is visible in recent public review sentiment

Pros

• Flat EUR 1.00 external settlement cost per order with no percentage, no minimum and no maximum - a EUR 50,000 trade costs the same as a EUR 50 one.
• Savings plans in stocks, ETFs, bonds and crypto execute at EUR 0 from EUR 1 per instalment, with fractional shares across roughly 4,900 assets.
• Full ECB banking licence held directly since December 2023, with cash covered to EUR 100,000 by the German statutory deposit guarantee.
• Interest paid on uninvested cash - 2.5% p.a. in Germany and around 3% p.a. in several other markets - instead of the zero most brokers pay.
• One app carries the securities account, a personal German IBAN, a Visa debit card and Saveback of up to 1% of card spend, capped at EUR 15 per month.
• Around 500 bonds tradable in small denominations, giving retail investors direct access to a market that usually starts at EUR 100,000 tickets.
• German residents get Abgeltungsteuer withheld and remitted automatically, so no capital gains filing is required.
• Transferring securities out to another broker costs nothing, so a portfolio built here is not locked in by exit fees.

Cons

• Since the EU banned payment for order flow in June 2026, the default 'Best Price' route fills against Trade Republic's own book - it sets the price it profits from, and publishes no spread data.
• Customer support is started from inside the app - by phone or live chat, 24 hours a day, according to Trade Republic - and there are no branches to walk into; stalled transfers and locked accounts are the dominant complaint in a Trustpilot score of roughly 3.3.
• FX cost on US shares is embedded in the quoted euro price on the default route rather than itemised, and a Direct Price order to Nasdaq or NYSE is converted at execution with no disclosed markup, so the real cost of a foreign-currency trade cannot be verified from Trade Republic's documents.
• No options, no futures, no mutual funds and no direct exchange access on the default route - the product range stops well short of a full-service broker.
• The price list we could obtain is the April 2023 edition; the current version is only reachable inside the app, so any fee you read elsewhere should be checked against the schedule in your own account.
• Tax is handled at source for German residents only; investors in the other 17 markets file everything themselves.