Detailed comparison of all fees, features, and suitability — updated for 2026.
Scalable Capital is the better choice for Active Traders, while Trade Republic wins for Mobile-First. Which one suits you depends on your strategy — the detailed comparison below shows every difference.
| Metric | Scalable Capital | Trade Republic | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order fee per trade | 0.99 € | 1.00 € | 0.01 € cheaper at Scalable Capital |
| 10y savings plan cost @ €100/month | 0 € | 0 € | identical |
| Interest on €10,000 cash (1 year) | 2.60 % = 260 € | 3.25 % = 325 € | +65 € more at Trade Republic / year |
| Free ETF savings plans | 2.400 | 2.200 | +200 more at Scalable Capital |
| Available exchanges | 2 | 1 | +1 more at Scalable Capital |
| BMInsider rating | 4.2/5 | 4.3/5 | +0.1 at Trade Republic |
All fees, products, and platform features compared side-by-side. The "Winner" column shows which broker leads in each category.
| Feature | Scalable Capital | Trade Republic | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fees & Costs | |||
| Order Fee | 0.99€ or flat rate from 4.99€/Month | 1€ per Order | Scalable Capital |
| ETF Savings Plan Fee | 0€ | 0€ | Tie |
| Account Fee | 0€ (Free) / 4.99€/Mo (Plus) / 9.99€/Mo (Premium) | 0€/Year | Tie |
| Minimum Deposit | 0€ | 0€ | Tie |
| Interest on Cash | 2.6% (Plus/Premium) | 3.25% | Trade Republic |
| Product Range | |||
| Stocks | Tie | ||
| ETFs | Tie | ||
| Crypto | Tie | ||
| Options | Tie | ||
| CFDs | Tie | ||
| Fractional Shares | Tie | ||
| Number of Exchanges | gettex, Xetra | LS Exchange | Scalable Capital |
| Platform & Tools | |||
| Mobile App | Tie | ||
| Desktop Platform | Tie | ||
| Demo Account | Tie | ||
| Security & Regulation | |||
| Regulated by | BaFin | BaFin | Tie |
| Deposit Protection | 100.000€ | 100.000€ | Tie |
| Founded | 2014 | 2015 | Tie |
| Overall Rating | |||
| Rating | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | Trade Republic |
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 Trade Republic →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 Trade Republic →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.
Trade Republic is a German neo-broker with extremely low fees (€1 per trade) and free ETF savings plans. Ideal for beginners and savings plan investors.
Particularly suitable for: Beginners, Savings Plan Investors, Mobile-First.
If you live in Germany, Austria or Switzerland and you're choosing between Scalable Capital and Trade Republic, the honest answer isn't "one is cheaper." It depends on three things: how much you trade per month, whether you care about which exchange your orders route to, and how much idle cash sits in your account.
Trade Republic is the simpler, app-only product with €1 flat orders and 3.25 % interest on uninvested cash up to €50 k. Scalable Capital is built around two layers: a Free account at €0.99 per order on gettex, and a PRIME+ flatrate (€4.99/month) that makes every order €0 on gettex and Xetra — a different cost curve once you trade more than ~6 orders per month.
The savings-plan offer (free, from €1) is a tie. Where the brokers genuinely diverge is execution venue, idle-cash rate, fee structure for active investors, and the support for niche markets and instruments. The next sections walk through each axis with real numbers.
You want Xetra (or gettex) execution, not LS Exchange. Scalable routes through Munich's gettex and Frankfurt's Xetra. Spreads on liquid German blue-chips are typically tighter than on LS Exchange (Trade Republic's only venue), particularly outside the 09:00–17:30 Xetra window. For a single small trade the difference is cents; on a €20 k order in a mid-cap stock it can be €15–€40 of slippage.
You trade more than 6 orders per month. The PRIME+ flatrate (€4.99/mo) breaks even at 6 orders versus the €0.99 pay-per-trade — and pays for itself many times over for active investors who rebalance monthly or run satellite positions. Trade Republic gives you no equivalent: it's €1 per order forever.
You want a desktop / web client. Scalable has a real web interface alongside the app. Trade Republic is mobile-only — there is no browser trading interface. For anyone managing a larger portfolio with limit orders, alerts and watchlists, the missing desktop experience is a daily annoyance.
You like multi-exchange ETF savings plans. Scalable lets you place ETF savings plans on gettex and Xetra; the latter often has tighter spreads for accumulating share classes of larger ETFs.
You hold idle cash in the broker. Trade Republic pays 3.25 % annual interest on uninvested EUR balances up to €50 k — credited monthly, no minimum, no flatrate. Scalable's Free tier pays 0 %; their interest on cash only kicks in on PRIME+, currently around 2.6 % and capped. For someone holding €10 k–€20 k as a buffer between trades, Trade Republic's cash account alone is worth €260–€650 per year more.
You're a low-frequency investor (1–4 trades / month). If you do a single monthly savings plan plus the occasional one-off buy, Trade Republic's flat €1 is the cleanest pricing you can get without subscribing to anything. No flatrates, no upgrades, no minimum-volume hurdles.
You're new to investing and want one app for everything. Trade Republic combines stocks, ETFs, savings plans, crypto and a debit card with cashback in one mobile app. Onboarding is faster than Scalable; KYC verification is typically done in under an hour.
You want crypto in the same broker. Trade Republic offers ~50 cryptocurrencies natively, custodial, with the same KESt-style tax handling as stocks. Scalable's crypto offering through its Crypto-Broker partnership is narrower and more recent.
Both brokers are based in Germany and BaFin-regulated, but their tax behaviour differs by client residence.
For German clients: Both Scalable Capital and Trade Republic act as steuereinfach brokers. They withhold the 25 % Kapitalertragsteuer (KESt) plus 5.5 % Solidaritätszuschlag (= 26.375 % effective) plus optionally Kirchensteuer at source on every realized gain, dividend or interest payment. Loss-offset (Verlustverrechnung) and the €1 000 Sparerpauschbetrag are applied automatically per broker — meaning if you split assets between both, you may need to manually file a Verlustbescheinigung in your annual return to combine.
For Austrian clients: Both brokers are not automatically tax-simple in Austria. KESt at 27.5 % must be self-reported via FinanzOnline (Anlage E1kv). Trade Republic and Scalable both issue an annual Erträgnisaufstellung; check it carefully against your records — Vorabpauschale on accumulating ETFs is reported separately and is a frequent source of confusion.
Vorabpauschale 2026: For accumulating ETF positions held in either broker, the Vorabpauschale is calculated automatically on January 2nd of the following year. Trade Republic debits it from your cash account; Scalable does the same. Make sure you have ~0.5–1 % of the ETF position value in cash by year-end to avoid a forced partial sale.
Quellensteuer on US holdings: Both brokers participate in the US W-8BEN process; the standard 15 % US withholding tax applies to dividends from US stocks. The 15 % is creditable against German KESt automatically; in Austria it requires manual recovery via the same FinanzOnline form.
Assume a €100/month ETF savings plan over 10 years (= €12 000 invested), plus 6 manual one-off orders per year (rebalancing / satellite buys at €2 000 each), and an average idle cash balance of €5 000.
| Item | Trade Republic | Scalable Free | Scalable PRIME+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Savings-plan execution (120×) | €0 | €0 | €0 |
| Manual orders (60×) | €60 | €59.40 | €0 |
| Subscription (10 yrs × 12 mo) | €0 | €0 | €598.80 |
| Interest on €5 k cash (10 yrs) | +€1 625 (3.25 %) | €0 | +€1 300 (2.6 %) |
| Net 10-year cost | −€1 565 | +€59 | −€701 |
Trade Republic ends up cheapest by a wide margin for this profile — almost entirely because of the cash interest, not the trading fees. The story flips if your usage pattern is different:
Pick: Trade Republic. Single app, 1-hour KYC, no learning curve, free savings plans from €1, and the 3.25 % cash interest covers occasional idle balances. The single-exchange limitation doesn't matter at this scale. Scalable Free works too, but adds the friction of two interfaces (app + web) and zero cash interest.
Pick: Scalable Capital PRIME+. The €4.99/month flatrate breaks even after 6 orders and saves real money for anyone running monthly rebalances, factor satellites or option-replacement strategies on equities. Xetra access matters more at this size — execution quality on €5 k+ orders justifies the subscription on its own. Use Trade Republic only as a secondary account for the cash-interest yield on emergency reserves.
Pick: Trade Republic. The native crypto offering plus the 3.25 % EUR interest on up to €50 k makes it a one-stop account for the "saver who sometimes invests" profile. If you maintain a €30 k–€50 k cash buffer, the interest delta versus any other German broker is north of €750/year — strictly more than any savings advantage Scalable could offer.
Answers to the most common questions about Scalable Capital vs Trade Republic.
For order fees, Scalable Capital leads at 0.99€ oder Flatrate ab 4.99€/Monat, while Trade Republic charges 1€ pro Order. Note: with CFD brokers, spreads add hidden cost — the lower nominal price isn't always cheaper overall.
Scalable Capital is regulated by BaFin, Trade Republic by BaFin. Both fall under EU oversight. Deposit protection: Scalable Capital 100.000€, Trade Republic 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. Scalable Capital: 100.000€, Trade Republic: 100.000€. Securities are held in segregated accounts and protected in case of broker insolvency.
Trade Republic leads on cash interest at 3.25%. 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.
