8 Best Discount Brokers of January 2025
Fees and commissions can really take a bite out of your returns. The discount brokers below charge no commissions and low or no account fees.
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Our deep, independent analysis of online brokers sorts through key account details to find and evaluate the information investors want when choosing an account. To see our full methodology and learn more about our process, read our criteria for evaluating brokers.
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A discount broker is an online broker with rock-bottom pricing — generally, discount brokers charge no commission to buy or sell stocks, and keep other fees as low as possible. Those fees include inactivity fees, annual fees and account transfer fees.
Here, we’ve sorted through the top online brokers to surface the ones with the best low-fee discount brokerage accounts — none of these brokers charge commissions, and all charge options contract fees of $.50 per contract or less (in fact, many don't charge an options contract fee at all). They will help you keep transaction costs down without hindering your ability to trade stocks, exchange-traded funds or options.
Best Discount Brokers
| Broker | NerdWallet rating | Fees | Account minimum | Promotion | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.5/5 | $0 per trade | $0 | 1 Free Stock after linking your bank account (stock value range $5.00-$200) | Learn moreLearn more on Robinhood's website | |
4.5/5 | $0 per trade | $0 | Up to $200 in Transfer Fee Rebates | ||
5.0/5 | $0 per trade | $0 | Get up to 40 free fractional shares ( each valued up to $3,000) when you open and fund an account with Webull. | Learn moreLearn more on Webull's website | |
4.6/5 | $0 | $0 | Earn up to $10,000 when you transfer your investment portfolio to Public. | Learn moreLearn more on Public's website | |
4.4/5 | $0 per trade | $0 | Get up to $1,000 in stock when you fund a new account. | Learn moreLearn more on SoFi Invest's website |
Fees
$0
per trade
Account minimum
$0
Promotion
1 Free Stock
after linking your bank account (stock value range $5.00-$200)
Fees
$0
per trade
Account minimum
$0
Promotion
Get up to 40 free fractional shares ( each valued up to $3,000)
when you open and fund an account with Webull.
Fees
$0
Account minimum
$0
Promotion
Earn up to $10,000
when you transfer your investment portfolio to Public.
Fees
$0
per trade
Account minimum
$0
Promotion
Get up to $1,000
in stock when you fund a new account.
Fees
$0
Account minimum
$0
Promotion
N/A
Fees
$0
Account minimum
$0
Promotion
None
no promotion available at this time
Want to compare more options? Here are our other top picks:
Last updated on January 3, 2025
Methodology
How do we review brokers?
NerdWallet’s comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. brokers by assets under management, along with emerging industry players. Our aim is to provide an independent assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgements on which ones will best meet your needs. We adhere to strict guidelines for editorial integrity.
We collect data directly from providers through detailed questionnaires, and conduct first-hand testing and observation through provider demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the providers and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance across more than 20 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).
For more details about the categories considered when rating brokers and our process, read our full methodology.
NerdWallet's Best Discount Brokers of January 2025
Frequently asked questions
There’s good news for investors — the primary fees charged by brokers, known as trading fees or commissions, have gotten much lower in recent years. As you can see in our table above, all of the brokers we've included here charge no trading commissions.
In addition to the trading fee or trading commission — if charged — there are a slew of other fees and charges to watch for, including ones for broker-assisted trades, as well as annual, transfer, closing and inactivity fees. (Lost? Here's our explainer on investment fees.)
In the table above, click on the review for each of our top-rated discount brokers to find out about any fees they may charge. You'll find most offer low or no account fees, which is part of how they made our list.
With a full-service broker, you pay higher fees in exchange for investment guidance and management, among other perks.
With a discount broker, you pay far less to trade investments, but generally, you’re in charge of managing your trades, and you’re likely to pay an extra fee if you want help from a person.
If you’re looking to sidestep a broker entirely, you can try investing directly through a company’s direct investment plan (aka DRIPs). Keep in mind, though, that generally it’s not as easy as trading with a broker — and only some publicly traded companies offer such plans.
It’s easier than ever to invest in stocks with very little money, in large part because a growing number of brokerages and robo-advisors offer fractional shares. These allow you to buy a small piece of a stock share, instead of the entire share. That means rather than needing hundreds of dollars to buy a pricey stock, you can invest in many companies at amounts as low as, say, $5.
This is easier than ever, now that many brokers have eliminated commissions: All the options above provide free stock trades.
If you have long-term goals you’re saving for, such as your own retirement or your kids’ college tuition, it makes sense to invest in the stock market because stocks offer the investment earnings that can power your savings.
Investing in the stock market usually means investing with a broker, because most banks don’t offer access to stock market investments; if they do, those investments tend to be offered through an investment advisory that likely charges higher fees than a discount broker.