Detailed comparison of all fees, features, and suitability — updated for 2026.
Comdirect is the better choice for Full-Service Bank Customers, while Scalable Capital wins for Active Traders. Which one suits you depends on your strategy — the detailed comparison below shows every difference.
| Metric | Comdirect | Scalable Capital | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order fee per trade | 9.90 € | 0.99 € | 8.91 € cheaper at Scalable Capital |
| 10y savings plan cost @ €100/month | 1.188 € | 0 € | 1.188 € cheaper at Scalable Capital |
| Interest on €10,000 cash (1 year) | — | 2.60 % = 260 € | +260 € more at Scalable Capital / year |
| Free ETF savings plans | 150 | 2.400 | +2.250 more at Scalable Capital |
| Available exchanges | 1 | 2 | +1 more at Scalable Capital |
| BMInsider rating | 3.7/5 | 4.2/5 | +0.5 at Scalable Capital |
All fees, products, and platform features compared side-by-side. The "Winner" column shows which broker leads in each category.
| Feature | Comdirect | Scalable Capital | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fees & Costs | |||
| Order Fee | 4.90€ + 0.25% (min 9.90€) | 0.99€ or flat rate from 4.99€/Month | Scalable Capital |
| ETF Savings Plan Fee | 1.5% | 0€ | Scalable Capital |
| Account Fee | 0€ (with activity) / 1.95€/Month otherwise | 0€ (Free) / 4.99€/Mo (Plus) / 9.99€/Mo (Premium) | Tie |
| Minimum Deposit | 0€ | 0€ | Tie |
| Interest on Cash | 0% | 2.6% (Plus/Premium) | Scalable Capital |
| Product Range | |||
| Stocks | Tie | ||
| ETFs | Tie | ||
| Crypto | Scalable Capital | ||
| Options | Comdirect | ||
| CFDs | Tie | ||
| Fractional Shares | Scalable Capital | ||
| Number of Exchanges | Alle deutschen + internationale Börsen | gettex, Xetra | Scalable Capital |
| Platform & Tools | |||
| Mobile App | Tie | ||
| Desktop Platform | Comdirect | ||
| Demo Account | Comdirect | ||
| Security & Regulation | |||
| Regulated by | BaFin | BaFin | Tie |
| Deposit Protection | 100.000€ | 100.000€ | Tie |
| Founded | 1994 | 2014 | Tie |
| Overall Rating | |||
| Rating | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | Scalable Capital |
Depending on your strategy and experience, one broker fits better. Here's how to decide:
Low barriers, simple app, demo account and no hidden costs — perfect to get started.
More about Scalable Capital →Low per-order fees, many trading venues and derivatives access — important if you trade regularly.
More about Scalable Capital →Free savings plans, interest on cash and no custody fee — what matters when you buy & hold.
More about Scalable Capital →Comdirect is a full-service bank with comprehensive securities offerings. For investors who want everything from one provider.
Particularly suitable for: Full-Service Bank Customers, Derivatives Trading, Experienced Investors.
Scalable Capital offers a flat-rate model from €4.99/month for unlimited trades. With Xetra access and free savings plans, a good choice for active investors.
Particularly suitable for: Active Traders, Savings Plan Investors, Beginners.
Scalable Capital (founded 2014, Munich) and Comdirect (founded 1994, Quickborn, Commerzbank subsidiary) sit at opposite ends of the German broker spectrum. Scalable is a neo-bank with a two-tier subscription model — Free at €0.99 per order, PRIME+ at €4.99/month for €0 commission on every gettex/Xetra trade. Comdirect is a traditional Direktbank with full Eurex options access, all German Regional-Börsen, and the bundled Girokonto + Tagesgeld + depot relationship that older German households know.
The honest framing: both are BaFin-regulated and both are EUR-native, so the choice rarely comes down to security or tax handling. It almost always comes down to (1) trading frequency and (2) whether the bundled banking matters to you.
You trade more than 6 manual orders per month. Scalable PRIME+ at €4.99/month gives you €0 commission on every order on gettex and Xetra — break-even at 6 orders versus the €0.99 pay-per-trade Free tier. Comdirect stays at €4.90 + 0.25 % with a €9.90 minimum per order. For 8 manual orders per month, Scalable PRIME+ saves €633/year (8 × 12 × €9.90 minus the €60 PRIME+ subscription).
You want fee-free ETF savings plans on hundreds of ETFs. Scalable offers €0 savings plans on >2 000 ETFs from €1 minimum. Comdirect savings plans cost 1.5 % per execution outside the action-promo ETFs (a quarterly-rotating list), with €25 minimum per plan. For a 3-fund Bogleheads setup with €100/month, the cost gap is ~€450 over 10 years in Scalable's favor.
You want idle-cash interest in the trading account. Scalable PRIME+ pays approximately 2.6 % p.a. on idle EUR cash (rate variable). Comdirect pays 0 % on the depot Verrechnungskonto; their separate Tagesgeld product exists but requires moving cash between accounts.
You want a modern, fast, mobile-first interface. Scalable's app and web client share design language and update simultaneously. Comdirect's WebFiliale is functional but visibly older-generation; the app feels secondary to the web experience.
You want native crypto + fractional shares in one BaFin-regulated broker. Scalable supports both. Comdirect does not offer spot crypto and has limited fractional-share support.
You actively trade options on European underlyings. Comdirect offers full Eurex retail access — DAX/Bund options and futures, single-stock options on European names. Scalable does not offer options at all. For occasional covered-call writers or anyone wanting Eurex-Termingeschäft access, only Comdirect serves the use case.
You want the bundled Girokonto + Tagesgeld + depot at one bank. Comdirect is a real Direktbank with IBAN starting DE, Visa Debit, ATM access via Cash Group, and a separate Tagesgeld product. Scalable offers a depot-and-cash-account bundle but is not a Girokonto in the traditional sense. For users who want one bank for paycheck + savings + investing, Comdirect remains coherent.
You want all German Regional-Börsen + Wien direct access. Comdirect routes to every German exchange (Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Tradegate, Quotrix), plus Wien direct, plus US NYSE/Nasdaq, plus Six Switzerland. Scalable routes only to gettex/Xetra. For mid-cap stocks where regional pricing matters, Comdirect's broader routing produces better fills.
You want German telephone customer service for depot questions. Comdirect operates a 24/7 German call centre with experienced depot specialists. Scalable's support is chat-first; phone support is available but with shorter hours.
You're a low-frequency investor (1–4 orders per year). At this trading volume, Scalable PRIME+ is overkill (the subscription cost outweighs the commission savings) and Scalable Free's €0.99 advantage over Comdirect's €9.90 minimum is small in absolute terms. The bundled banking experience tilts the choice toward Comdirect for users who already use the bank.
Germany — both steuereinfach. Scalable Capital and Comdirect both withhold 25 % KESt + 5.5 % Soli (= 26.375 % effective) plus optional Kirchensteuer at source. Both apply Sparerpauschbetrag automatically once Freistellungsauftrag is filed. Loss carry-forward is per-broker.
Austria — Comdirect Austria has historical austriakonform status; Scalable does not. Comdirect Austria operated as an austriakonformer Broker until 2022 when the standalone Austrian retail offering was closed; existing Austrian customers retained their accounts with austriakonform status. Scalable in Austria is non-austriakonformer Broker: every transaction must be self-reported via Anlage E1kv. For new Austrian customers in 2026, neither offers a clean automatic-withholding path; existing Comdirect Austria customers retain the advantage.
Vorabpauschale 2026: Both apply Vorabpauschale automatically on January 2 by debiting the cash account. Both expect ~0.5–1 % of accumulating ETF position value in cash at year-end.
Quellensteuer on US dividends: Both file W-8BEN; the standard 15 % US withholding is creditable against German KESt automatically.
Eurex-options tax handling: Comdirect supports Eurex options; the controversial €20 000 Verlustverrechnungstopf cap on Termingeschäft applies. Scalable does not offer options, so this consideration does not apply to Scalable customers.
Reporting niceness: Both issue paper-style Steuerbescheinigungen acceptable to traditional Steuerberater. Comdirect's documents are slightly more detailed for complex Anlage KAP-INV scenarios.
Profile: 1 monthly ETF savings plan at €100, 8 manual one-off purchases per month at €500 each, average €5 000 idle cash buffer.
| Item | Comdirect | Scalable PRIME+ |
|---|---|---|
| 120× savings-plan execution | €180 (1.5 % per execution) | €0 |
| 960× manual orders €500 | €9 504 (€9.90 minimum each) | €0 |
| Venue fees | €80 (40× €2) | €0 |
| PRIME+ subscription (10 yrs × 12 mo) | €0 | €598 |
| Cash interest (€5 k × 10 y on Tagesgeld) | €500 (1.0 % avg) | +€1 300 (2.6 %) |
| Net 10-year cost | €9 264 | −€702 |
The €9 966 difference is enormous — substantially larger than the original €15 000 capital — and entirely driven by the per-order commission gap at this trading frequency. For an 8-orders-per-month profile, Scalable PRIME+ is structurally the only economic answer.
Reduce the trading frequency to 1 manual order per month and the comparison shifts: Comdirect costs ~€520 over 10 years (12 × 10 × €4.34 incremental cost), Scalable Free costs ~€118 (12 × 10 × €0.99). The per-order gap shrinks but Scalable still wins by ~€400 plus the cash-interest advantage.
For Comdirect to be economically competitive, you would need to use it primarily for Eurex options (where Scalable offers nothing) or have an existing high-quality banking relationship that you do not want to break.
Pick: Scalable Free. €0 savings plans on >2 000 ETFs from €1 minimum, occasional €0.99 manual orders. Comdirect would charge €100+/year in savings-plan + manual fees alone — meaningful drag on small contributions.
Pick: Scalable PRIME+. The flatrate breaks even at 6 orders and saves real money for active traders. Comdirect's €9.90 minimum is structurally too expensive at this frequency.
Pick: Comdirect. Scalable does not offer options. For Eurex-Termingeschäft access in a German tax-simple depot, Comdirect is the right answer. Pair with Scalable Free if you want fee-free ETF savings plans on the side.
Pick: Keep Comdirect for the bank, move active investing to Scalable. The Comdirect Girokonto + telephone support remain competitive; the depot is not. Open Scalable Free or PRIME+ for the depot side; the migration is operationally trivial via Depotwechsel-Service.
Pick: Stay at Comdirect Austria. The grandfathered austriakonformer status is genuinely valuable — manual FinanzOnline reporting on every Scalable trade quickly outweighs the commission difference for typical AT residents.
Answers to the most common questions about Comdirect vs Scalable Capital.
For order fees, Scalable Capital leads at 0.99€ oder Flatrate ab 4.99€/Monat, while Comdirect charges 4.90€ + 0.25% (min 9.90€). Note: with CFD brokers, spreads add hidden cost — the lower nominal price isn't always cheaper overall.
Comdirect is regulated by BaFin, Scalable Capital by BaFin. Both fall under EU oversight. Deposit protection: Comdirect 100.000€, Scalable Capital 100.000€.
For German/Austrian customers, language, BaFin regulation and tax-simple status often matter most. Check the 'Regulated by' and 'Languages' rows — DACH-focused brokers usually have the edge.
Scalable Capital offers free ETF savings plans from 1€. If a savings plan matters to you, that's a clear edge.
Both are covered under their home regulator's deposit protection. Comdirect: 100.000€, Scalable Capital: 100.000€. Securities are held in segregated accounts and protected in case of broker insolvency.
Scalable Capital leads on cash interest at 2.60%. Watch the conditions — some brokers require a paid plan or cap the amount.
Both offer native mobile apps with good app-store ratings. Which is better depends on your needs — try both with a demo account if available.
A second broker makes sense when one offers features the other lacks (e.g. options, crypto, more exchanges). A full switch is only worth it if the cost difference or missing features are significant.
Sign up with the broker that fits your strategy. Both are regulated and offer a demo account to test risk-free.
