Best broker in Germany: 4 picks for ETF savers and expats

The best broker in Germany for most people investing €100 to €500 a month is Trade Republic. ETF savings plans cost €0 per execution from €1, one-off orders cost €1, and as a German bank it withholds Abgeltungsteuer automatically, so you don’t have to file your gains yourself. Scalable Capital is a close second with €0.99 orders and access to Xetra, Bitpanda suits investors who want ETFs and crypto in one app, and Interactive Brokers is the pick for international markets if you’re happy to do your own tax return.

We compared six online brokers in Germany, all open to German residents, on trading fees, tax handling, protection and how easy to use they are for expats who need English. All fees and licences were checked on the providers’ official pages on 23 October 2026. Risk disclaimer: investing involves risk, the value of stocks and ETFs can fall, and you can get back less than you invest.

What an online broker in Germany does

An online broker provides brokerage services: it gives you a securities account, in German a Depot or Wertpapierdepot, and places your orders on stock exchanges such as Xetra. Your cash sits in a linked cash or clearing account, sometimes called the Verrechnungskonto, and your stocks, ETFs (exchange traded funds) and Fonds (mutual funds) sit in the Depot.

Many online brokers in Germany are app-only neobrokers; branch banks also offer a brokerage account. This page doesn’t rank CFD brokers. A broker in Germany also matters for tax. A broker with a German tax set-up withholds Abgeltungsteuer on your gains and dividends for you; brokers without one don’t, and then you declare everything in your tax return. That single difference is why our ranking for Germany puts the brokers that withhold first.

How we chose the best online brokers in Germany

We ranked each broker on what it costs to invest €100 to €500 a month in one ETF, whether it withholds German tax, who protects your money, and how easy it is to use if you are new to Germany. Only online brokers available to German residents made the list, and only those whose price lists we could check.

Our checks, in order of weight:

1. Order fees and costs. €100 and €500 a month into one ETF for 12 months, plus €1,000 of a US stock bought once, including currency conversion.
2. German tax handling. Whether the broker withholds Abgeltungsteuer and issues a tax certificate.
3. Licence and protection. Supervision by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) or another EU regulator, and the compensation scheme.
4. Ease of use. Account opening, euro deposits and support in English.

We left out Saxo because we couldn’t confirm onboarding terms for German residents. The full method is on our methodology page.

The best online brokers in Germany at a glance

These four online brokers cover most investors in Germany, from a €50 monthly plan to an international portfolio. Here’s how they compare on the points that matter most.

Broker	Account maintenance fee	ETF savings plans	One-off order	Withholds German tax
Trade Republic	€0	€0 per execution, from €1	€1 (Best Price), €2 (Direct Price)	Yes
Scalable Capital	€0 (FREE), €4.99 a month (PRIME+)	€0 per execution, from €1	€0.99 (EIX), €1.99 (Xetra, gettex)	Yes, with tax certificate
Bitpanda	€0	€0 order fee, from €10	€1	Yes
Interactive Brokers	€0	€0 commission in a range of UCITS ETFs, from €10	0.05%, €3 minimum (Fixed)	No

1. Trade Republic: best online broker for ETF savings plans

Trade Republic is the simplest way to run an ETF savings plan in Germany. Savings plans in stocks, ETFs and crypto cost €0 per execution from €1, and one-off orders cost a flat fee per trade of €1 with Best Price, where Trade Republic is the counterparty, or €2 with Direct Price on one of 30 exchanges such as Xetra.

That fee model is new: on 2 July 2026 Trade Republic replaced its single-venue model, after the EU ban on payment for order flow took effect on 30 June 2026. There’s no account maintenance fee, no custody fee, no listed inactivity fees and no minimum deposit stated. Uninvested cash earns 2.5% variable interest with no cap, and the account works like a current account, with salary payments and a payment card (ATM withdrawals under €100 cost €1).

Trade Republic Bank GmbH has been a fully licensed bank since December 2023, supervised by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the ECB. As a German broker and bank, it withholds Abgeltungsteuer automatically. Securities are client property in custody; if they can’t be returned, the EdB scheme pays 90% of claims up to €20,000. Crypto here means real coins, about 50 of them, which you can transfer to an external wallet.

The catch: spreads under Best Price and the FX fee on US exchanges aren’t published on the website, and in Germany part of your cash may be placed in money market funds, which have no deposit guarantee. Read our Trade Republic review.

2. Scalable Capital: best for frequent trades and exchange choice

Scalable Capital is the Munich-based neobroker for traders who place orders often or want to choose their exchange. Savings plans cost €0 per execution from €1, and on the FREE broker plan one-off orders cost €0.99 on the European Investor Exchange (EIX) or €1.99 on Xetra and gettex, plus spreads.

PRIME+ has a monthly fee of €4.99 and makes EIX orders from €250 free of order fees, so it pays off once you place more than five such orders a month. That makes it one of the cheapest trading platforms here for frequent ETF trading. On FREE, selected ETFs from Amundi, iShares, Vanguard and Xtrackers also cost €0 from €250 on EIX. On uninvested cash, the Overnight account pays 2.60% variable interest with no cap, and Scalable also offers robo-advice and portfolio management (Wealth) for 0.75% a year on up to €100,000.

Scalable Capital Bank GmbH became a fully licensed bank on 10 September 2025 and is supervised by BaFin, the Bundesbank and the ECB. It withholds German tax and issues a tax certificate. German securities sit at Clearstream with you as co-owner, and EdB covers 90% up to €20,000. Its help centre is in English as well as German.

The catch: crypto is only available as ETPs with a spread surcharge of 0.99% (FREE) or 0.69% (PRIME, PRIME+), the FX surcharge isn’t quantified, and a 2020 data incident affected more than 33,000 customers. See the Scalable Capital review or our Trade Republic vs Scalable Capital comparison.

3. Bitpanda: best for ETFs and crypto in one app

Bitpanda is a Vienna-based investment app that added real stocks and ETFs on 29 January 2026, next to its crypto and precious metals. ETF savings plans have a €0 buy order fee from €10 per execution, and one-off trades cost €1 via the Quotrix system of Börse Düsseldorf. The minimum deposit is €10, SEPA bank transfers are free, and PayPal deposits carry a 1.49% deposit fee.

For German residents, Bitpanda withholds 25% tax plus 5.5% Soli (and church tax) on stock and ETF sales and dividends. There’s no custody fee and no account maintenance fee. Securities are handled by Bitpanda Financial Services GmbH, an Austrian investment firm licensed by the FMA, and Austrian investor compensation covers up to €20,000. Its crypto business holds MiCA licences from the FMA and BaFin.

The catch: the stock and ETF offer is less than a year old, the FX fee on US stocks isn’t published, and your euro balance is e-money, not a bank deposit, and it earns no interest. The FMA fined Bitpanda GmbH €70,000 in 2026 for MiCA breaches on a crypto white paper and marketing; a review was opened at Bitpanda’s request.

4. Interactive Brokers: best broker in Germany for international markets

Interactive Brokers is the broker in Germany for investors who want to trade stocks on many international stock markets, in many currencies, with low FX costs. EU clients are served by Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Recurring plans in a range of UCITS ETFs carry €0 commission from €10. Other trades cost 0.05% of trade value with a €3 minimum on EU exchanges (IBKR Pro Fixed), so the fee per order only rises above €3 once your order volume passes €6,000. Automatic currency conversion adds just 0.03%. There’s no minimum deposit and no inactivity fees for most accounts. IBKR has also opened registration of interest for the German Altersvorsorgedepot (AVD), the state-subsidised pension account starting on 1 January 2027, though it can’t be opened yet.

The catch: as a foreign broker it doesn’t withhold Abgeltungsteuer and takes no Freistellungsauftrag, so you declare your income in Anlage KAP. The platform is complex, euro cash earns 0% on the first €10,000, and the Irish scheme covers 90% up to €20,000. See the Interactive Brokers review.

Depot Vergleich: what €100 a month costs at each broker

At €100 a month into one ETF, Trade Republic, Scalable Capital and Bitpanda charge €0 in order fees over a year on their monthly ETF savings plans (Sparpläne). Those free savings plans still carry a spread. The differences in trading costs show up on a US stock, where currency conversion fees add cost, and at brokers that charge a fee per trade on Xetra.

Broker	€100 a month, 12 months (€1,200)	€500 a month, 12 months (€6,000)	€1,000 US stock, once
Trade Republic	€0 + spread	€0 + spread	€1 (Best Price) + spread; FX fee not published
Scalable Capital (FREE)	€0 + spread	€0 + spread	€0.99 on EIX in euros + spread
Bitpanda	€0 order fee + any spread	€0 order fee + any spread	€1 + FX (rate not published)
Interactive Brokers	€0 in its recurring range, otherwise 12 × €3 = €36	€0, or 12 × €3 = €36	$1.00 + €0.30 auto-FX (0.03%)
DEGIRO (not ranked)	12 × €4.90 = €58.80 on Xetra	12 × €4.90 = €58.80 on Xetra	Not checked on the German price list
eToro (not ranked)	€0 commission + spread	€0 commission + spread	$1 + €7.50 conversion (0.75%)

How we worked it out: published German or EU tariffs on 23 October 2026, one ETF bought monthly with no price changes, spreads and the ETF’s own running costs excluded. DEGIRO’s German price list charges €3.90 + €1 per Xetra order; its Dutch tariff offers Tradegate-listed ETFs at €1 per order, but we didn’t confirm those terms for German accounts.

At €500 a month the picture is the same: the €0 plans stay at €0, and IBKR’s €3 minimum still applies outside its recurring range. For small monthly amounts, a €0 plan beats any fee per trade: €58.80 on €1,200 is 4.9% of what you put in, so low trading fees matter most when you invest small amounts.

Other fees: deposits, withdrawals and inactivity

Most brokers here charge nothing to deposit funds by bank transfer, but the other fees differ. This is what each one lists.

Broker	Minimum deposit	Deposit fee	Withdrawal fee	Inactivity fees
Trade Republic	None stated	None listed for SEPA	None for bank transfers; €1 for card ATM withdrawals under €100	None listed
Scalable Capital	Not stated; plans from €1	SEPA and direct debit free; instant deposit 0.99% (FREE) on the first €5,000	None listed	None listed
Bitpanda	€10	SEPA free; PayPal 1.49%	SEPA in euros free	Not stated
Interactive Brokers	None	None listed for SEPA	Two free a month, then €1 per SEPA transfer	None for most accounts

German tax: why automatic withholding matters

German residents pay 26.375% Abgeltungsteuer on capital income and capital gains: 25% plus a 5.5% solidarity surcharge on that tax, plus church tax where it applies. A broker with a German tax set-up withholds it automatically, and your first €1,000 a year (€2,000 for jointly assessed spouses) stays tax-free via the Sparer-Pauschbetrag, which you claim with a Freistellungsauftrag at the broker.

A worked example: you sell ETFs with €1,500 of capital gains and have used none of your allowance. €1,000 is tax-free, and the bank withholds 26.375% on the remaining €500, which is €131.88 (before any church tax). With a broker that withholds, that’s the end of it. With a broker that doesn’t, you calculate and declare it yourself.

Trade Republic, Scalable Capital and Bitpanda withhold for you. Foreign brokers such as Interactive Brokers and eToro don’t withhold and take no Freistellungsauftrag, and DEGIRO doesn’t withhold and can’t issue a German Steuerbescheinigung. With those, your capital gains tax goes through Anlage KAP of your tax return. eToro does offer an annual German tax report. If you have accounts at more than one bank, you can split the €1,000 allowance across their Freistellungsaufträge. If your situation is complex, for example with foreign investment income, a tax advisor (Steuerberater) can help.

Online brokers in Germany for expats

If you are new to Germany, language and tax paperwork matter as much as trading fees. Scalable Capital’s help centre is in English, Trade Republic has English-language web pages for Germany, and Interactive Brokers’ website is in English; Bitpanda’s help centre covers 12 languages, including German. We haven’t verified which languages each broker’s phone or chat staff speak.

The bigger expat question is tax. With a German broker that withholds Abgeltungsteuer, your German tax on investments is usually settled at source. With a broker that doesn’t, you need to declare every gain and dividend yourself in Anlage KAP.

Neobroker Germany: how they differ from a branch bank

A neobroker is an app-first broker with flat order fees and €0 savings plans; in Germany that mainly means Trade Republic and Scalable Capital. Both now hold full banking licences and are supervised by BaFin and the ECB.

Neobrokers are trading apps first. They compete on low trading fees, but commission free trading always comes with a catch, such as PRIME+‘s monthly fee or the spread, and those low fees come with trade-offs: you deal mainly through an app, support runs mostly through the app, and some prices are set by the broker rather than on an exchange. At Trade Republic’s Best Price, for example, Trade Republic is your counterparty and the spread isn’t published.

Branch banks such as Commerzbank, and direct banks such as comdirect and ING, also offer a Depot, often with a branch or phone service. We haven’t checked their price lists yet, so they’re not ranked here, and the same goes for flatex and Smartbroker+.

How your securities account and cash are protected

Your securities account is not part of the broker’s own assets: your stocks, ETFs and other financial instruments are client assets held in custody, separate from the broker’s own money. If a German bank can’t return them, the EdB investor compensation scheme pays 90% of claims from securities business, up to €20,000.

Client funds held as cash are protected differently. Bank deposits are covered up to €100,000 per person per bank. But money market funds have no deposit guarantee: Trade Republic may place part of your cash in them in Germany, and Scalable Capital may do so without PRIME+. At Bitpanda, your euro balance is e-money, safeguarded apart from Bitpanda’s own assets but not a bank deposit. None of these schemes covers market losses.

Stock trading platforms, financial products and risks

All four trading platforms offer stocks and ETFs, so stock and ETF trading works at each; the differences are in crypto, bonds and riskier financial products. Trade Republic offers about 50 real crypto coins, bonds and Private Markets (ELTIFs) from €1. Scalable Capital offers bonds, and crypto only as ETPs. Bitpanda adds crypto and precious metals, and Interactive Brokers adds options, futures and CFDs.

The most important numbers for day traders and anyone tempted by leverage, CFDs or forex trading: 58.9% of retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs with Interactive Brokers, and 78.5% of retail CFD accounts lose money with Bitpanda’s legacy Leverage product. EU rules give retail CFD accounts negative balance protection, but most retail traders still lose money with CFDs, so if you want to invest for the long term, stick to stocks and ETFs.

How to open broker and trading accounts in Germany

Account opening for an online broker account in Germany takes a few steps in the app or on the website, and you can deposit money by bank transfer before you start trading. You need to live in Germany and have a bank account to transfer money from, and as a German tax resident you’ll be asked for your tax ID.

Also considered: DEGIRO and eToro

DEGIRO and eToro both accept German residents but don’t withhold German tax, which is why they’re not in our ranking for Germany.

• DEGIRO gives access to around 50 exchanges and options and futures, but its German price list charges €3.90 + €1 per Xetra order, it can’t issue a Steuerbescheinigung, and it has a long record of fines from BaFin and the AFM. Compare it head to head in DEGIRO vs Trade Republic.
• eToro charges German residents $1 per stock trade since March 2025, holds most balances in USD with a 0.75% conversion fee, and may execute some buy orders as CFDs; 55% of retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs with eToro. It offers a debit card through eToro Money and an annual German tax report, and cover under the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund goes up to €20,000.

Which broker fits your goal?

The right broker depends on your trading style and what you want to do with your money. Use this as a shortcut:

• If you want to save €50 to €500 a month in ETFs: Trade Republic or Scalable Capital.
• If you trade more than five times a month: Scalable Capital PRIME+.
• If you want ETFs, crypto and gold in one app: Bitpanda.
• If you have a large portfolio across many stock markets: Interactive Brokers, and plan for Anlage KAP.
• If you are thinking about day trading: most retail traders lose money with leveraged products, and none of these picks is ranked for that.

For broker choices outside Germany, see the best ETF brokers in Europe.

Our verdict: the best broker Germany residents can open

Trade Republic is the best broker Germany residents can open for a monthly ETF plan: €0 per execution, €1 orders and Abgeltungsteuer withheld for you. Scalable Capital is a close second and the better choice if you trade often or want Xetra. Fees and rates at online brokers in Germany change often, so check the current price list before you open a trading account.