Best ETF broker in Europe: 5 picks for monthly ETF plans

The best ETF broker in Europe for most people investing €100 to €500 a month is Trade Republic. Its ETF savings plans cost €0 per execution from €1, it serves the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland, and it withholds tax automatically in Germany and Belgium. Scalable Capital is just as cheap for savings plans but only open in six countries, while Interactive Brokers suits larger portfolios that want ETFs from many exchanges.

We compared seven EU-licensed investment platforms for buying exchange traded funds (ETFs) on what a monthly ETF plan really costs, how they handle tax where you live, who protects your money and whether you can open an account at all. We checked every fee, licence and protection detail on the providers’ official pages on 23 October 2026. Investing involves risk: ETF prices fluctuate, and market fluctuations can mean you get back less than you put in.

How we chose the best ETF brokers

We ranked the best ETF brokers by what a typical European ETF investor pays, then by tax handling, investor protection and availability. A €0 plan is no use if the broker can’t open an account where you live, so price alone doesn’t decide the order.

We looked at four things, in this order:

1. Cost of a monthly ETF plan. What €100 and €500 a month into a single ETF costs over 12 months, plus a one-off €1,000 buy of a US stock. Transaction fees, foreign exchange costs and account fees all count, because low fees per order mean little if other trading costs are high.
2. Tax handling where you live. Whether the broker withholds tax (Germany, Belgium) or gives you a usable annual statement (the Netherlands).
3. Licence and investor protection. Which regulator supervises the broker, which compensation scheme covers your ETF holdings, and its record of fines.
4. Availability. Whether residents of the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland can open an investment account.

Every online broker on this list is an EU-licensed bank or investment firm. We took every fee from the broker websites and official price lists, and we didn’t score charting or research tools, which long-term ETF investors rarely need. The full scoring method is on our methodology page. We don’t give investment advice: which ETF you buy depends on your own investment goals and investment objectives.

The 5 best ETF brokers for European ETF investors

These five ETF brokers cover almost every situation for a European ETF investor, from €50 a month to a six-figure portfolio. Each one is licensed in the EU, and each comes with a catch you should know before you sign up.

1. Trade Republic: best overall for ETF investing with a savings plan

Trade Republic is the simplest low-cost way to buy ETFs every month. Savings plans in stocks, ETFs and crypto cost €0 per execution and start at €1, so €100 a month goes fully into your ETF, apart from the spread.

One-off ETF trades cost €1 with Best Price, where Trade Republic itself is the counterparty, or €2 with Direct Price on one of 30 exchanges such as Xetra or Euronext. That model replaced the old single-venue set-up on 2 July 2026, after the EU ban on payment for order flow took effect on 30 June 2026. There’s no account fee, no custody fee and no listed inactivity fee, and fractional shares let you invest from €1.

Trade Republic Bank GmbH is a German bank supervised by BaFin and the ECB. Your ETF holdings are client property held in custody; if a bank can’t return securities, the German EdB scheme covers 90% of claims up to €20,000. Idle cash earns variable interest: 2.5% in Germany and 2.50% at the Dutch branch on 23 October 2026.

Tax is its strongest point. It withholds German Abgeltungsteuer automatically, gives Dutch-branch customers pre-filled tax return data, and since 15 September 2026 its Belgian branch withholds TOB, roerende voorheffing and the Reynders tax.

The catch: spreads under Best Price and the FX fee for US exchanges aren’t published on the website, so you can’t see the full cost of every trade in advance. Read our full Trade Republic review.

2. Scalable Capital: best for frequent ETF buyers in six countries

Scalable Capital matches Trade Republic on savings plans, at €0 per execution from €1, and adds a flat-fee plan for people who buy often. It’s only open to residents of Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain, so Belgian and Irish investors can’t use it.

On the FREE plan, a one-off order costs €0.99 on the European Investor Exchange (EIX) or €1.99 on Xetra and gettex, plus spreads. FREE customers pay €0 for selected ETFs from Amundi, iShares, Vanguard and Xtrackers from €250 on EIX. PRIME+ costs €4.99 a month and makes every EIX order from €250 free of order fees. US stocks trade on these German venues in euros, and fractional savings plans run on EIX.

Scalable Capital Bank GmbH has been a fully licensed bank since 10 September 2025, supervised by BaFin, the Bundesbank and the ECB. German securities sit in collective custody at Clearstream with you as co-owner, and EdB covers 90% up to €20,000 if they can’t be returned. On idle cash, the Overnight account pays 2.60% variable interest with no cap. Its record includes a 2020 data incident that affected more than 33,000 customers.

It withholds German tax for German residents and issues a tax certificate. Dutch customers get a free annual tax report prepared by KPMG.

The catch: the currency surcharge (for example on US dividends) isn’t quantified, instant deposits cost 0.99% on the first €5,000 on FREE, and crypto is only available as exchange traded products. More in our Scalable Capital review.

3. Interactive Brokers: best for international ETFs and larger portfolios

Interactive Brokers has the widest choice of international and overseas ETFs and the cheapest currency conversion in this list, at the price of a complex trading platform. EU clients are served by Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland since December 2020.

Recurring plans in a range of UCITS ETFs carry €0 commission from €10; IBKR receives 0.10% from the ETF issuer instead, and the fund’s own costs still apply. Outside that range, ETF trades on EU stock exchanges cost 0.05% of trade value with a €3 minimum (IBKR Pro Fixed, SmartRouted), so a €100 order costs €3. Automatic currency conversion adds 0.03% to the exchange rate. There are no account minimums, no inactivity fees for most accounts, and recurring investments use fractional shares.

The Irish Investor Compensation Scheme covers 90% of the loss up to €20,000. Uninvested euro cash earns 0% on the first €10,000. The fines on record ($38 million in 2020 and about $11.8 million in 2025) concern the US entity, not the Irish one.

The catch: no tax withholding in any country we checked. German residents get no Freistellungsauftrag and declare income in Anlage KAP, Belgians declare and pay TOB themselves, and Dutch residents fill in box 3 from IBKR statements. Its trading platform, built for trading options and futures as well as ETFs, suits more advanced investors better than first-timers. See the Interactive Brokers review.

4. DEGIRO: cheapest ETF trades you place yourself

DEGIRO is cheapest if you’re happy to place each ETF order by hand. Its ETF core selection now covers all of the more than 1,000 ETFs, ETCs and ETNs on Tradegate, at €0 commission plus a €1 handling fee, with no fair use policy and no connectivity fee.

What it lacks is an automatic ETF savings plan: we found no native one on degiro.nl. So €100 a month means 12 manual orders and €12 in handling fees over a year. ETF trades on other exchanges cost €2 + €1 per order on the Dutch tariff, and currency conversion via AutoFX costs 0.25%. There’s no custody fee, no inactivity fee, no withdrawal fee and no account minimums: the minimum deposit is €0.01.

DEGIRO is the Dutch branch of the German bank flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, supervised by BaFin. Cash in your DEGIRO cash account is covered up to €100,000, securities by German investor compensation (90% up to €20,000), and DEGIRO says client securities sit in a separate special purpose vehicle.

The catch: a long record of fines from the AFM and BaFin between 2021 and 2026, no tax withholding for German residents and no listed interest on cash. Dutch customers do get an annual statement for box 3, and Belgian customers get TOB withheld. Compare the two most popular choices in DEGIRO vs Trade Republic.

5. Saxo: AutoInvest for Dutch and Belgian investors

Saxo is a Danish bank with branches in the Netherlands and Belgium, and its AutoInvest feature buys selected ETFs and funds every month at €0 commission. It’s for Dutch and Belgian residents: we couldn’t confirm onboarding terms for Germany or Ireland.

AutoInvest runs on the 4th or the 28th of the month, with no minimum amount, and buys fractional shares of some ETFs and funds. When you sell ETFs bought this way, standard rates apply. Single trades cost 0.08% of trade value with a €2 minimum on Euronext (Bronze tier), and currency conversion costs 0.25%. Instead of a custody fee, Saxo charges a service fee of 0.01% of your portfolio a month (max €40), refunded the next month as trading credit that’s valid for one month. If you only use AutoInvest, that credit has nothing to pay for, so count it as a cost: about €0.78 in the first year at €100 a month.

Saxo Bank A/S is licensed by the Danish FSA and has been designated a systemically important financial institution since 2023. The Danish guarantee scheme covers cash up to €100,000 and securities up to €20,000. Dutch customers also get iDEAL deposits, Dutch-language chat and a fiscaal jaaroverzicht for box 3.

The catch: single orders are relatively expensive for small amounts, and interest is 0% below €100,000. Saxo also sells CFDs: 73% of retail investors lose money trading CFDs with Saxo, according to its Dutch tariff sheet, so stick to the ETFs.

What €100 a month costs at each broker: a worked example

For cost efficiency at €100 a month into one ETF, four of our five picks charge €0 in commission over 12 months; DEGIRO charges €12 because each order is placed by hand. The bigger differences appear when you buy a US stock, because that’s where currency conversion fees kick in.

Broker	€100 a month for 12 months (€1,200)	€500 a month for 12 months (€6,000)	€1,000 of a 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
Interactive Brokers	€0 for ETFs in its recurring range; otherwise 12 × €3 = €36	€0, or 12 × €3 = €36	$1.00 commission + €0.30 auto-FX (0.03%)
DEGIRO	12 × €1 = €12 (core selection, placed by hand)	12 × €1 = €12	€2 + €2.50 FX (0.25%) = €4.50, plus a €2.50 yearly connectivity fee
Saxo	€0 AutoInvest + about €0.78 service fee	€0 AutoInvest + about €3.90 service fee	0.08% (min $1) + €2.50 FX (0.25%)
eToro (not ranked)	€0 commission + spread	€0 commission + spread	$1 + €7.50 conversion (0.75%); $0 commission in Ireland

How we worked it out: published tariffs on 23 October 2026, one ETF bought monthly with no price changes, Dutch tariffs where a broker has country price lists. Spreads and the ETF’s own annual management fee come on top everywhere. Interactive Brokers charges $0.005 per US share with a $1 minimum, so a €1,000 order normally pays the minimum. Saxo’s service fee is 0.01% a month of the growing balance (€100, €200 and so on up to €1,200).

At €500 a month the order barely changes: the €0 plans stay at €0, DEGIRO stays at €12 a year, and Saxo’s service fee grows with your balance. For a lump sum or a single ETF bought once a year, a percentage fee matters more than a flat one. And selling isn’t part of any savings plan: when you sell ETFs you pay the normal order fee, such as €1 at Trade Republic.

Currency conversion: the hidden cost of cheap ETF trades

Currency conversion is often the biggest cost for ETF investors who buy anything outside the euro. A broker with low transaction fees can still be expensive if it converts your euros at a poor rate.

Broker platforms differ most on foreign exchange. The published FX fees differ widely: Interactive Brokers adds 0.03% on automatic conversion, DEGIRO charges 0.25% via AutoFX, Saxo 0.25% and eToro 0.75%. On a €10,000 conversion that’s €3 at IBKR, €25 at DEGIRO or Saxo and €75 at eToro. Scalable Capital applies a surcharge it doesn’t quantify, and Trade Republic doesn’t publish its FX fee on its website.

The easy fix is to buy EUR-listed UCITS ETFs. A world ETF or S&P 500 ETF listed in euros on Xetra or Euronext needs no conversion to buy, even though the fund holds US shares. Currency fluctuations inside the fund still move its price, but that’s market risk, not one of your transaction costs.

UCITS ETFs: what European investors can buy

European retail investors buy UCITS exchange traded funds, not US ETFs. Most US-domiciled ETFs aren’t sold to EU retail investors because their issuers don’t publish the key information document (KID) that the EU’s PRIIPs rules require.

That rarely limits you. ETFs cover most asset classes: broad stock market funds, bond ETFs, and commodities through ETCs such as Xetra-Gold (which costs 0.025% a month plus VAT in custody at DEGIRO). ETFs offer diversification: a single ETF tracking a world index spreads your money across hundreds or thousands of companies, which is why many investors in passive ETFs, the kind that track an index, hold just one or two funds.

For a simple investment strategy, a diversified portfolio can be one world ETF, or a world ETF plus bond ETFs. Your portfolio allocation between stocks and bonds drives your market risk far more than the broker does. Two more choices matter more than the broker for your long-term ETF returns:

• Running costs. Every ETF charges an annual management fee inside the fund. You pay it on top of any broker fee, whichever platform you use.
• Accumulating or distributing. Accumulating ETFs reinvest dividends; distributing ETFs pay them out to your uninvested cash balance. How each is taxed depends on your country, so check before you buy.

ETFs differ from mutual funds mainly in how you trade them: ETF shares trade on an exchange during the day, like individual stocks, while a mutual fund is usually bought from the fund company at one price a day.

Availability and tax handling by country

Where you live decides which ETF brokers you can use and how much tax paperwork you’ll have. This table shows what each broker does for residents of our four main countries.

Broker	Netherlands	Germany	Belgium	Ireland
Trade Republic	Dutch branch, pre-filled tax data	Withholds Abgeltungsteuer	Belgian branch withholds TOB and more	Served from Germany
Scalable Capital	KPMG tax report	Withholds tax, tax certificate	Not available	Not available
Interactive Brokers	No Dutch statement verified	No withholding	No TOB withholding	Irish-regulated entity
DEGIRO	Annual statement for box 3	No withholding	Withholds TOB (opt-out possible)	Available
Saxo	Fiscaal jaaroverzicht	Unclear	Belgian branch, scope not verified	Unclear

ETF investing in the Netherlands

Dutch investors pay box 3 tax on a fixed notional return, not on actual gains. For 2026 that’s 6.00% on investments, taxed at 36%, above a tax-free allowance of €59,357 per person, valued on 1 January. A broker that delivers a clear annual statement saves you time, and Trade Republic’s Dutch branch even pre-fills the data. Our page on the best brokers in the Netherlands covers iDEAL, Dutch-language support and box 3 in detail.

ETF investing in Germany

German residents pay 26.375% Abgeltungsteuer (25% plus solidarity surcharge, plus church tax where it applies) on capital income, after a Sparer-Pauschbetrag of €1,000 per person. Trade Republic, Scalable Capital and Bitpanda withhold it for you; DEGIRO, Interactive Brokers and eToro don’t. See the best brokers in Germany for the full ranking.

ETF investing in Belgium

Belgian investors should look first at who handles the TOB, the tax on stock exchange transactions. Trade Republic’s Belgian branch withholds TOB, roerende voorheffing and the Reynders tax since 15 September 2026, and DEGIRO withholds TOB but doesn’t pay the Belgian capital gains tax that applies from 2026. Interactive Brokers leaves TOB to you, and Scalable Capital isn’t available.

ETF investing in Ireland

Irish investors can use Trade Republic, Interactive Brokers and DEGIRO, but not Scalable Capital. We haven’t verified how any of these brokers handles Irish tax, so plan to check your own filing duties with Revenue. Trade Republic serves Irish customers from its German head office and pays interest gross, according to its Irish interest page.

What protects your ETFs if a broker fails

Your ETF holdings are client assets, kept apart from the broker’s own money, so they don’t disappear if the broker goes bust. Compensation schemes only pay out if securities can’t be returned, and then typically up to €20,000; in Germany and Ireland they pay 90% of the claim up to that cap.

Cash is a separate question. 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 money market funds in Germany and Belgium, and so can Scalable Capital without PRIME+. None of these schemes covers investment losses: if your ETF falls 20%, nobody pays that back.

ETF brokers we left out, and why

Two well-known ETF platforms didn’t make the list because of a specific problem for this goal.

• eToro charges no commission on recurring ETF investments, but most balances are held in USD, conversion from your euro account costs 0.75%, and some non-leveraged buy orders may be executed as CFDs. 55% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with eToro. It’s licensed by CySEC.
• Bitpanda launched real stocks and ETFs on 29 January 2026, with €0 savings plan order fees from €10 and German tax withholding. We could only confirm availability of real ETFs for German residents, so it appears on our Germany page instead.

We haven’t yet reviewed Trading 212, XTB, Lightyear or Freedom24, so they’re not ranked here.

How to choose between the best ETF platforms

The right ETF platform depends on how much you invest, how often and how hands-on you want to be. Use these rules of thumb:

• €50 to €500 a month, fully automatic: Trade Republic, or Scalable Capital if you live in one of its six countries. Neither states a minimum deposit for opening an investment account, and plans start at €1.
• Lump sums, many currencies or international ETFs: Interactive Brokers, where 0.03% FX keeps conversion costs down.
• You like placing each order yourself: DEGIRO’s core selection at €1 per order.
• Dutch or Belgian, and you want a local branch with iDEAL: Saxo AutoInvest.
• Active traders and individual stocks: this page is about long-term ETF investing. Leveraged products such as CFDs lose most retail traders money. If research tools and charting matter to you, compare the apps yourself.

Whichever you pick, start investing with a small amount and check the cost of your first order before you scale up.

Our verdict: the best ETF broker Europe-wide

Trade Republic is the best ETF broker Europe-wide for a monthly plan: €0 per execution, availability in all four of our main countries and tax handled for you in Germany and Belgium. Its weak spot is transparency, because spreads and FX fees aren’t published on its website.

No broker suits every country. German and Dutch savers should also look at Scalable Capital, larger and more international portfolios fit Interactive Brokers, and Dutch and Belgian investors who want a local branch have Saxo. Fees change often, so check the live price list before you open an account.