Freedom24 vs DEGIRO — which broker is better?

Pros

• Smart tariff of EUR 2 per order plus EUR 0.02 per share works out at about 0.06% on a EUR 5,000 order of 50 shares
• US options at USD 0.65 per contract undercuts most European brokers and matches US discount pricing
• Roughly one million tradable instruments across 15 venues, including 145,000 bonds and Hong Kong listings
• No custody fee, no account-maintenance fee and no inactivity fee on either retail tariff
• D-account accrues daily interest on idle cash, benchmarked to EURIBOR in euros and SOFR in dollars
• Nasdaq-listed parent (FRHC) files audited accounts with the SEC — more disclosure than most private EU brokers offer
• Free demo terminal before funding, no minimum deposit, and account opening in under 15 minutes

Cons

• EUR 7 per bank withdrawal plus 0.65% (minimum EUR/USD 2) on card withdrawals — 1.4% of a EUR 500 payout
• No fractional shares, which rules out small monthly contributions into high-priced stocks
• Moving out is charged at EUR/USD 100 per outgoing securities transfer, and at 5% of the transferred value (minimum EUR/USD 100) where the holdings were delivered by MT599 within the previous six months — the single most expensive line in the schedule
• Client-facing regulation is CySEC (tier 2) with EUR 20,000 investor compensation, not a top-tier licence
• Settled a EUR 50,000 AML case with CySEC in July 2023, and the parent carries a speculative-grade S&P rating
• Per-share pricing turns expensive on big share counts: a 1,000-share order costs EUR 22 on the Smart plan

Pros

• ETF Core Selection trades cost EUR 0 commission plus the EUR 1.00 handling fee - among the cheapest ETF execution available to EU retail investors.
• US and Canadian shares are EUR 1.00 commission plus EUR 1.00 handling, flat, with no percentage component at any order size.
• Options and futures at EUR 0.75 per contract undercut nearly every European retail platform, across eight derivatives exchanges including Eurex and CME.
• No custody fee, no inactivity fee, no deposit or withdrawal fee, and a minimum deposit of EUR 0.01.
• Direct market access to more than 50 exchanges in 30 countries, so you own the actual listed line rather than a synthetic wrapper.
• Sits inside flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, a BaFin-supervised German bank, with cash covered to EUR 100,000 by the German statutory deposit guarantee.
• Parent flatexDEGIRO SE is listed in Frankfurt under FTK, so capital position, client numbers and profitability are published quarterly.

Cons

• The EUR 1.00 handling fee lands on almost every order, so a EUR 200 ETF purchase costs 0.5% before anything else. DEGIRO is cheap per order, not cheap per euro invested.
• AutoFX converts every non-euro trade at a 0.25% markup in both directions; the Manual FX alternative costs EUR 10.00 + 0.25% and only pays off on large conversions.
• The EUR 2.50 per-exchange annual connectivity fee is trivial in isolation but stacks quietly for anyone holding positions across five or six markets.
• No fractional shares and no demo account, which rules out small monthly contributions and leaves beginners nowhere to practise.
• Research is close to non-existent: no analyst ratings, no usable screener, and charting that stops well short of what an active trader needs.
• DEGIRO does not act as a withholding tax agent, so German and Austrian clients declare and pay capital gains tax themselves instead of having it handled at source.