Detailed comparison of all fees, features, and suitability — updated for 2026.
Plus500 is the better choice for CFD Traders, while Trade Republic wins for Beginners. Which one suits you depends on your strategy — the detailed comparison below shows every difference.
| Metric | Plus500 | Trade Republic | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order fee per trade | 0.00 € | 1.00 € | 1.00 € cheaper at Plus500 |
| 10y savings plan cost @ €100/month | 0 € | 0 € | identical |
| Interest on €10,000 cash (1 year) | — | 3.25 % = 325 € | +325 € more at Trade Republic / year |
| Free ETF savings plans | 0 | 2.200 | +2.200 more at Trade Republic |
| Available exchanges | 1 | 1 | identical |
| BMInsider rating | 3.8/5 | 4.3/5 | +0.5 at Trade Republic |
All fees, products, and platform features compared side-by-side. The "Winner" column shows which broker leads in each category.
| Feature | Plus500 | Trade Republic | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fees & Costs | |||
| Order Fee | 0€ (Spread-based) | 1€ per Order | Plus500 |
| ETF Savings Plan Fee | - | 0€ | Trade Republic |
| Account Fee | 0€/Year | 0€/Year | Tie |
| Minimum Deposit | $100 | 0€ | Tie |
| Interest on Cash | 0% | 3.25% | Trade Republic |
| Product Range | |||
| Stocks | Tie | ||
| ETFs | Tie | ||
| Crypto | Tie | ||
| Options | Plus500 | ||
| CFDs | Tie | ||
| Fractional Shares | Trade Republic | ||
| Number of Exchanges | Plus500 intern | LS Exchange | Tie |
| Platform & Tools | |||
| Mobile App | Tie | ||
| Desktop Platform | Tie | ||
| Demo Account | Plus500 | ||
| Security & Regulation | |||
| Regulated by | CySEC / FCA / ASIC | BaFin | Tie |
| Deposit Protection | €20.000 (ICF) | 100.000€ | Tie |
| Founded | 2008 | 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 Plus500 →Low per-order fees, many trading venues and derivatives access — important if you trade regularly.
More about Plus500 →Free savings plans, interest on cash and no custody fee — what matters when you buy & hold.
More about Trade Republic →Plus500 is a CFD broker with 0 commission and spread-based pricing. Over 2,800 instruments across CFDs on stocks, forex, crypto CFDs, commodities, ETFs and options. Note: 80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Particularly suitable for: CFD Traders, Active Traders, Experienced CFD Traders.
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.
This is the most important comparison to get right because it is the most often misunderstood. Plus500, founded 2008 in Israel and CySEC/FCA/ASIC-regulated, is a pure CFD broker — every trade is a Contract for Difference, you never own the underlying asset. Trade Republic, founded 2015 in Berlin and BaFin-regulated, lets you buy real shares and ETFs that sit in your name in the depot. These are fundamentally different products masquerading under the same word "trading".
The honest framing: if your goal is long-term wealth-building (own stocks, collect dividends, hold for 10+ years), Plus500 is structurally wrong — you will never own the asset, you pay overnight financing on every position, and 70–80 % of retail CFD accounts lose money according to the broker's own disclosures. If your goal is short-term speculation with leverage, Plus500 is honest about what it is and Trade Republic does not offer the product.
You explicitly want CFDs (leveraged short or long) on stocks, indices, commodities, FX or crypto. This is the only sensible reason to use Plus500. The platform offers leverage up to 1:30 on retail accounts (1:300 on Pro accounts) across 2 800+ instruments — single-stocks CFDs, index CFDs, commodity CFDs (gold, oil), FX pairs, crypto CFDs. Trade Republic does not offer any of this; even short-selling is impossible on TR.
You want a free unlimited demo account. Plus500's demo is genuinely unlimited and uses live market data — useful for learning CFD mechanics or testing a strategy before risking capital. Trade Republic does not offer a demo.
You value a clean, single-purpose CFD platform. Plus500 is built for one job: place and close CFD positions quickly. The platform is simple, fast, and uncluttered. For users who explicitly want CFD speculation and nothing else, the focus is a feature.
You need 24/5 trading. Plus500's CFD market access goes well past stock-exchange hours. Trade Republic only trades when LS Exchange is open (typically 08:00–22:00 CET).
You want to actually own shares, not bet on their price. Trade Republic gives you real share ownership — you collect dividends, you have voting rights, the asset is held in your name in segregated custody. Plus500 CFDs give you a derivative contract that pays based on the underlying's price; you own nothing, you collect no dividends (you receive a "dividend adjustment" net of withholding tax), and you pay financing every night the position is open.
You want long-term wealth-building. CFDs are designed for short-term speculation. Holding a single Apple-CFD position open for 12 months at 1:5 leverage typically costs 4–6 % of position size in overnight financing — a return drag that obliterates any dividend or capital-gains advantage. Long-term investing is structurally not what Plus500 is for.
You want fee-free ETF savings plans. Trade Republic offers €0 savings plans on >2 000 ETFs from €1 minimum. Plus500 offers no savings plans. CFD savings plans do not exist as a meaningful product.
You want German tax-simple handling. Trade Republic withholds 26.375 % KESt + Soli at source automatically. Plus500 does not — every CFD trade requires self-reporting via Anlage KAP. CFD gains/losses fall under the controversial Termingeschäft category in Germany, subject to the €20 000 Verlustverrechnungstopf cap.
You want EU-deposit-protection at €100 000. Trade Republic deposits are protected by the German EdB up to €100 000. Plus500 deposits are protected by Cyprus's ICF at only €20 000 — a 5× lower cap.
You want native crypto with real wallet (custodial). Trade Republic offers ~50 cryptocurrencies as custodial holdings. Plus500 offers crypto only as CFDs — no wallet, no withdrawal of actual coins, just price exposure with overnight financing.
Germany — Trade Republic is steuereinfach, Plus500 is not. Trade Republic withholds 25 % KESt + 5.5 % Soli automatically. Plus500 acts as a foreign broker — manual Anlage KAP filing required for every realized gain.
Germany — CFD-specific tax trap. CFD gains and losses on Plus500 fall under the Termingeschäft category (§20 Abs. 6 EStG). Losses are subject to the controversial €20 000 Verlustverrechnungstopf cap — meaning if you lose €50 000 on CFDs in a year, you can only offset €20 000 against CFD gains; the remaining €30 000 carries forward indefinitely but cannot be combined with stock gains. This is genuinely punitive for active CFD traders. Trade Republic is exempt — equity gains/losses are fully offsettable.
Austria — neither austriakonform. Both Plus500 and Trade Republic require self-reporting via Anlage E1kv. Plus500's USD-denominated reporting adds an extra layer of currency translation.
Vorabpauschale 2026: Trade Republic applies the Vorabpauschale automatically on January 2. Plus500 does not handle Vorabpauschale at all — but this is moot because Plus500 does not offer accumulating ETFs (no real shares of any kind).
Inactivity fee — a hidden tax-like cost. Plus500 charges a $10/month inactivity fee after 3 months of no trading. Trade Republic has no such fee. For occasional users, this alone deletes the "0 % commission" advantage rapidly.
This comparison only makes sense if both users actually want what each broker offers. We model two distinct scenarios.
Scenario A — €5 000 active CFD speculation, 1:5 leverage, 6 month average holding period:
| Item | Plus500 | Trade Republic |
|---|---|---|
| CFD spread (entry + exit, ~0.20 % each) | ~€100 (per round trip on €25k notional) | N/A (no CFDs) |
| Overnight financing (6 mo × 1:5 × ~5 %) | ~€625 | N/A |
| Total CFD-trade cost | ~€725 | — |
Scenario B — €5 000 buy-and-hold ETF investor, 5-year holding:
| Item | Plus500 | Trade Republic |
|---|---|---|
| Order commission | 0 € | 1 € |
| 5-year financing on long position | ~€1 250 (5 % p.a.) | €0 (real share ownership) |
| Dividend yield (3 % avg, 5 yrs) | ~€600 net (after dividend-adjustment haircut) | ~€750 (full dividend, 26.4 % KESt) |
| Net 5-year cost | +€650 (financing eats dividend) | −€749 (dividend net of fee) |
For buy-and-hold, Plus500 costs you €1 400 over 5 years compared to Trade Republic — entirely because the financing cost on a long CFD position dominates everything else. There is no scenario where Plus500 wins on long-term equity exposure. The product is designed for short-term speculation, not investing.
Pick: Trade Republic. Avoid Plus500. 70–80 % of retail CFD accounts lose money — disclosed by Plus500 itself in mandatory CySEC/BaFin warnings. CFDs have asymmetric risk (leverage cuts both ways) and the financing cost compounds against you every night. There is no plausible scenario where a first-time investor benefits from CFDs over real share ownership.
Pick: Trade Republic. Plus500 is structurally wrong for this goal. Real share ownership, dividend collection, no overnight financing, fee-free ETF savings plans, 3.25 % cash interest, EU-100k deposit protection. Plus500 offers none of this for the buy-and-hold use case.
Pick: Plus500 for the CFD use case specifically. If you understand what CFDs are, accept the financing cost, never hold positions longer than days/weeks, use stop-losses religiously, and trade with capital you can fully afford to lose, Plus500's clean platform serves the use case. Pair with Trade Republic for the buy-and-hold portion of your overall portfolio.
Pick: Trade Republic. Period. The first rule of derivatives is do not trade what you do not understand. Plus500 is for traders who explicitly want CFDs and understand the cost structure; everyone else should use a real-equities broker.
Answers to the most common questions about Plus500 vs Trade Republic.
For order fees, Plus500 leads at 0€ (Spread-basiert), while Trade Republic charges 1€ pro Order. Note: with CFD brokers, spreads add hidden cost — the lower nominal price isn't always cheaper overall.
Plus500 is regulated by CySEC / FCA / ASIC, Trade Republic by BaFin. Both fall under EU oversight. Deposit protection: Plus500 €20.000 (ICF), 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.
Trade Republic 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. Plus500: €20.000 (ICF), 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.
