Scalable Capital Vs. Trade Republic Comparison: Which one is Better? - Revenue.Land (2024)

I have compared Scalable Capital vs. Trade Republic: Who is the best neo-broker in town?

They are the cheapest neo-brokers on the European market and even pay interest on your capital, but who is better? Scalable Capital vs. Trade Republic is the question many investors are asking themselves!

I took a close look at the two providers and compared features, costs and services. I also look at the point of interest rates. After all, both brokers will pay you nice interest on your uninvested capital, but there are some differences to consider!

TLDR – The key points in a nutshell:

• Trade Republic and Scalable Capital are low-cost neo-brokers where we can trade a wide range of stocks, ETFs and more.
• The two providers have different pricing structure, pros and cons.
• Here I compare everything: account management, deposit insurance, fees and savings plan costs.
• Both providers pay interest on your cash. I show you who’s better.

Also read the updated Scalable Capital Review with my test.

Trade Republic Vs. Scalable Capital comparison

Scalable Capital and Trade Republic are currently the cheapest brokers in Europe.

If you want to:

• trade stocks
• trade ETFs
• start a low-cost savings plan

…these are among the best picks in Europe.

I’d love to go straight to the point an tell you which one is definitely better.

To be honest I find both good as brokers, especially for beginner investors.

Both neo-brokers only offer online services and can therefore offer particularly low fees.

Are the fees the only reason why they are so popular?

I don’t think so. They are also better than average, so far.

Almost all services are either completely free or cost between 0,99 and 5 euros. Traditional banks and old-style brokers cannot compete with these prices.

As a matter of fact, fees are important, so, If you don’t want to spend too much on trading, you’re about to find out in this comparison where you can do your trading but low-cost.

Comparison Summary: Scalable Capital versus Trade Republic

For this broker comparison, I have taken into consideration especially:

• Selection of securities (Winner: Scalable Capital)
• Costs (Winner: Scalable Capital)
• Trading venues (Winner: Scalable Capital)
• Interest paid (Winner: Equal, but Trade Republic a little more convenient for small investors)
• Membership models (Winner: Scalable Capital with a more flexible offer)
• Security (Winner: equal)

Interest Rate Comparison

Trade Republic or Scalable Capital: Which broker pays higher interest rates?

For several months now, both have been paying interest on your cash, and that is lovely! The uninvested money now can generate interest, this was not possible before. Although at first glance the returns offered by the two tools look similar, there are some differences.

We will therefore also look at the interest rates in this comparison.

Here is a comparison table on the interest offered by Trade Republic and Scalable Capital:

What does it means?

It means that if I deposit more than 50.000€ on Trade Republic I will not accrue any additional interest.

At the same time, the capital is protected in both cases, just like if it was voted in a bank (that pays no interest to you at all). I also need to add that, on Scalable I have access to the interest only with the “Prime+” plan that includes a lot of features but that is not free.

Which one do I prefer?

I prefer Scalable Capital because with a few euros per month includes me a ton of discount on my stock trading plus 4% interest on my cash.

If my only goal is to get some interest on my cash and I have only little money to allocate this way, maybe Trade Republic may make more sense.

These may look like high yield savings accounts in Europe but actually they are similar to investments accounts.

Pros and Cons of Scalable Capital & Trade Republic

Trade Republic Vs Scalable Capital trading platforms

Let’s start with saying that Trade Republic limit for me is that they offer the best of their services through a smartphone App.

I don’t like that. I prefer to be free to use my computer to check my investments.

Moreover, Scalable Capital is offering a lot of features like Alladin, a simple to use but powerful tool from Blackrock.

Costs and Fees comparison: Scalable Capital vs Trade Republic

Aside from the selection of stocks and ETFs, fees are a very important aspect when choosing the best broker in Europe.

You could be a great trader but still lose money in tons of useless commissions. Therefore, we will now look at how the two brokers perform in this area.

# Custody fees & deposit insurance

Good news here: both providers charge no custody fees.

This means that I don’t have top pay to hold my assets here (like Revolut does!!!).

The custody fees are the worst ever because you cannot get rid of it, and you will pay it forever, year after year.

There are also no negative interest rates on uninvested funds, as is the case with some competitors.

Scalable Capital takes a different approach with its simple subscription model: If you opt for the trading flat rate, you pay between €2.99 and €4.99 per month.

This fee opens the chances to the all-inclusive trading, which can be very nice for most traders. Moreover, it is completely optional and I can switch to the free trader just anytime I want.

The protection on the uninvested capital is free for both trading platforms up to 100.000€.

# Other fees

Trade Republic uses an simple model and charges 1 euro per purchase or sale.

For example, if I want to buy Amazon shares I will have to pay 1€ to buy and 1€ to sell it, whatever amount I need.

If you are not an expert I can tell you that this is vary cheap compared to most bank providers. In return, investors are limited to a single trading market that is Lang & Schwarz in Dusseldorf.

This is something not too appreciated by some investors about Trade Republic, but to be honest, most will not even notice any difference whatsoever.

The Scalable Broker is a little more complex, because they offer 2+1 free pricing models .

If you choose the “Free Broker”, you will not pay any subscription fee, but a flat €0.99 order fee for each buy or sell.

There are a few exceptions to this. Good exceptions!

If I trade ETFs from iShares, Xtrackers and Invesco can always do it with no commission. In addition, all ETFs on offer are also free if you buy them through a savings plan!

All of this information is based on Scalable Capital’s standard trading partner that is Gettex in Munich.

What is nice is that you can alternatively use the Xetra market, but this will cost you €3.99 per transaction + a little fee. Of course, flexibility comes with a price tag.

What is the difference between scalable capital and Trade Republic?

The main difference may be that Scalable Capital and Trade Republic have different fees for orders. Scalable Capital charges a small fee of 99 euro cent for each order or even zero if I pick the all-inclusive plans. Trade Republic offers a flat 0,99€ fee for all trades.

What can I do with these brokers?

The good news is that both providers offer a huge range of stocks and ETF.

Scalable has just over 7000 stocks and just more than 2000 ETFs. Trade Republic has more stocks compared to Scalable Capital but less ETFs.

Scalable in terms of stocks, with an impressive 8,000, but lags somewhat in terms of ETFs, with ‘only’ 1,500.

Fund Providers comparison:

Scalable Capital offers a wider choice of ETFs and funds providers. This is something I like, because some ETFs may be illiquid of pricey on some providers but cheap and liquid on other.

Many of the biggest are in common:

• iShares
• XTrackers
• Amundi
• WisdomTree
• + more

Differences in the Derivatives offering

What are derivatives? Derivatives are simply contracts used to trade an underlying asset. One may ask: why to use derivatives? Well, the answer may be a little complex but there may be a lot of reasons for advanced investors to prefer warrants, certificates and know-outs for their trading.

Some investors use it to protect their portfolio against losses or to maximise profits.

Scalable has +375.000 derivatives instruments.

Trade Republic has around 300k.

Cryptocurrency offer

Scalable Capital have a totally different approach on the offer of cryptocurrencies to their investors.

As a matter of fact, on Trade Republic I can trade real Cryptos, while on Scalable Capital I can trade ETPs.

Which one is better?

This is hard to say.

I prefer ETPs because they ar less problematic, but some investors may like real crypto even if they have to pay more for their trading.

Both Scalable and Trade republic offer savings plans in cryptocurrencies.

All in all, when it comes to cryptocurrencies, Trade Republic is slightly better.

The cryptos you buy are tax-free after a one-year holding period. However, Scalable’s ETPs are always subject to a 25% withholding tax, no matter how long you hold them.

For Cryptos maybe eToro is a safer way because they have a wallet.

Actively managed funds offering

Why should investors may prefer actively managed (expensive) funds to ETFs?

With actively managed funds, a team of financial experts and investment bankers pick the best investments for the funds. This may ensure a solid return, or not, but also involves significant costs and some risk.

Also taxation may be different between ETFs and mutual funds in some European countries.

Most investors just prefer ETFs because they are simple and cheap. At the same time, even some ETFs may be somehow actively managed, so the differences are less defined than before.

At Scalable Capital you can choose from + 2.000 active funds. Trade Republic offers no funds yet.

If you are interested in funds then Scalable Capital offers more.

In most cases, I can prefer dividend ETF in Europe over expensive funds. Even a complex portfolio of European dividend stocks.

What is the difference between Lang & Schwarz and Gettex?

Well, BaFin studied the differences in price and quality of executions and no big differences came to surface.

Scalable Capital uses Gettex and Xetra to send orders to markets, while Trade Republic only has Lang und Schwarz.

Note: With Scalable Capital Broker, an additional exchange fee of 0.01% of the transaction value, but at least 1.50 euros, will be charged for each trade via Xetra! This fee will also be paid by the Prime Broker users.

Variety of order types

In terms of order types, Scalable wins the comparison. While both providers offer the basic order types market order and limit order, Scalable also offers a great stop loss and stop limit option.

Both of these order types are important for protecting your account against losses and can also be used to prevent profits from being lost again. Trade Republic only offers a stop order, which limits our ability to automate a bit my investments.

Price of the savings plans compared

There are no big differences here between Scalable Capital and Trade republic here in term of fees and functionality.

Trade Republic ask for a minimum of 10€ while Scalable capital starts from 1€.

As for the execution date, we can only choose between the beginning or the middle of the month.

More free savings plans may be opened on both providers.

Trade Republic Vs Scalable Capital app and web platform compared

The platforms are available in both web and app versions, with most customers opting for the latter. Ease of use is excellent on both platforms but Trade Republic is more focused on the Smartphone app since inception.

Is customer service better at Scalable or at Trade Republic?

When it comes to customer support, investors have fear of online broker.

They ask themselves “what will happen if I make a mistake?”, “Who can I talk with in case of issues”?

Scalable Capital offers telephone support, which is a positive exception for a neo-broker and people like it. This gives Scalable a much better reputation for customer support.

Trade Republic will send you to their (well prepared) FAQ section most of the times.

For the sake of transparency, I need to add that in the first months of expansion, many Trade Republic new customers were unable to register to the service.

Trade Republic got popular with its generous bonus but it didn’t work well for everyone and some users were left unhappy. I am not saying that they were misleading customer, but just that it didn’t perform well from a technical point of view.

Check out more Trade Republic alternatives.

Promotions competition and bonus

Both financial services providers in this comparison offer promotions and bonus. These special promotions are usually only available to new customers and can make signing up particularly interesting.

Scalable Capital often offers bonus also to its existing customers.

Depending on the time of the year, if you register with Scalable Capital you will receive some shares or some fixed amount of money or discount.

Trade Republic also has some variable gift for its future investors.

Countries where Trade Republic and Scalable Capital are active

These two trading platforms are both growing fast in Europe but the offer their services only to a limited number countries:

Trade Republic is available in less European countries at the moment.

Summary: Scalable Capital Vs Trade Republic differences and similarities

Trade Republic and Scalable Capital are both very popular neo brokers in Europe and in Germany. The main difference is that Trade Republic offers free broker access, 1 €for any transaction and no annual fees, while Scalable Capital offers two levels of Prime monthly subscription that includes everything.

Both brokers offer a wide range of stocks and ETFs with a similar pricing, but Scalable Capital offers the chance to negotiate it on the Xetra market besides the Gettex. Trade Republic is only offering Lang und Schwarz as market venue.

Both platforms have created in house their smartphone and desktop applications.

Scalable Capital offers the ability to make savings plans with fractional shares while Trade Republic doesn’t yet.

With Trade Republic I won’t be able to invest in bonds, while Scalable does it.

One more difference is that Scalable gives me the chance to choose the execution day in my savings plans while TR gives me the dynamization of the savings rate.

Even if these brokers are not created to invest in cryptocurrency the both offer a way to do it safely, one via ETPs and the other through an external partner provider.

Conclusion: Scalable Capital vs. Trade Republic The winner is…

I prefer Scalable capital but there is no clear winner in this comparison, as personal goals and investment strategies play a crucial role in the choice!

Scalable has a large selection and favourable conditions for anyone who trades consistently. Casual traders and investors who rely on savings plans may prefer Trade Republic.

To be honest, also the differences in the selection of stocks and ETFs are likely to be very small, as major stocks and ETFs are available on both platforms. However, those interested in trading or holding real cryptocurrencies may want to consider Trade Republic.