Broker Cost Calculator
Spain
Major low-cost brokers available to Spanish investors, ranked by real all-in cost for your exact contribution size and cadence. Select a broker from the dropdown to pre-fill its fee structure, then see the full comparison update live.
Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you sign up through them. This does not affect our reviews or recommendations — we only feature products we genuinely believe are useful for investors. This site provides educational content only, not personalized investment advice. Investments can lose value and past performance does not guarantee future results. You are responsible for your own financial decisions and for confirming the tax and legal rules that apply in your country.
What this calculator covers
- 11 major low-cost broker options available in Spain
- Trading commissions with minimum fee logic
- FX conversion markup and fixed fees
- Bid/ask spread drag on each buy
- Platform fees and percentage custody fees
- Annual drag in basis points for comparison
- ETF-level costs (TER, tracking difference)
- Spanish IRPF capital gains tax or withholding
- Dividend withholding tax layers
- Rebates, cashback, or promotional rates
- Execution quality beyond spread assumptions
- Spanish bank brokers, robo-advisors, or fund platforms
Broker types in Spain: which one fits you?
Spanish brokers are not all competing on the same thing. Understanding the category first saves you from comparing a neobroker against a full-service bank on pure commission cost.
| Broker type | Best for | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Neobrokers | Small monthly ETF investors, app-first users, simple portfolios | Limited support, sometimes narrower product range, tax reporting varies |
| International brokers | Larger portfolios, multi-currency investing, global markets, complex needs | More complex interface; more manual tax and admin work |
| Spanish bank brokers | Spanish-language support, local tax documents, combined banking and investing | Often higher ETF trading costs; may bundle in fund and pension products |
| Robo-advisors / fund platforms | Hands-off investing, UCITS index funds, tax-efficient fund transfers (traspaso) | Less direct ETF control; managed portfolio fees on top of fund costs |
ETF broker vs index fund platform: a Spanish distinction
This calculator compares broker costs for ETF investing. But in Spain, UCITS ETFs and Spanish-domiciled index funds are not equivalent products from a tax-admin perspective — and the choice between them changes the broker comparison entirely.
- Intraday pricing and full transparency
- Available on all brokers in this calculator
- Selling triggers a taxable event (capital gain or loss reported in IRPF)
- No tax-free switching between ETFs
- Best suited to long-term buy-and-hold plans with infrequent rebalancing
- Tax-free transfers (traspasos) between Spanish-domiciled funds — no capital gains event at the point of switching
- Available on fund platforms and some Spanish bank brokers, not on typical neobrokers
- Often higher TER than equivalent UCITS ETFs
- Useful for investors who rebalance or change allocation over time
How to use this calculator
Three inputs drive most of the result: contribution size, how often you invest, and whether you need FX conversion. Get those right first.
Enter your contribution amount, frequency, and investment horizon. These determine how many times you pay each repeatable fee.
Select your current broker from the dropdown to highlight it in the results and pre-fill its fee structure. The comparison updates live.
All 11 brokers rank automatically by total fees. Fix the biggest leak first — usually commissions or spread, rarely what the headline advertises.
Compare all Spanish broker costs
Adjust any input and the ranking updates instantly.
How to act on the result
Switch to a zero-commission broker (Trading 212, XTB) or the EUR 1 options (Trade Republic, DEGIRO Core). For Scalable Capital, compare FREE versus PRIME+ based on how many trades per year you actually make — PRIME+ breaks even at roughly 61 trades per year. Both Scalable plans are available in Spain.
Use limit orders and avoid trading in the first and last 15 minutes of the session. Prefer high-AUM UCITS ETFs — VWCE, IWDA, and CSPX regularly trade at under 0.04% during normal hours on Euronext Amsterdam and Xetra. Thin ETFs in the same index can trade 5–10 times wider.
For EUR investors buying EUR-denominated UCITS ETFs, FX conversion should not apply. If you are converting currencies (e.g. buying on a US exchange), switch to Interactive Brokers where the FX markup is approximately 0.002% — 75–750 times cheaper than most neobrokers.
Percentage custody fees grow as your portfolio grows. Saxo Bank Classic charges 0.15% p.a., which costs EUR 750 per year on a EUR 500,000 portfolio. Moving to a custody-free broker (IBKR, DEGIRO, Scalable) above a threshold can save a meaningful amount annually. Calculate the crossover point for your portfolio size.
Common Spanish investor profiles
Cost is one input. The right broker also depends on how you invest, what you buy, and how much admin you are willing to handle at tax time.
Contributing EUR 200–500/month into 1–2 UCITS ETFs, buying EUR-denominated assets, no FX conversion needed.
Focus on: per-trade commission, spread, savings plan availability. FX and custody are secondary. Trade Republic (free savings plans) or Trading 212 tend to rank well here.
Buying USD-priced stocks or ETFs, converting EUR to USD, needing multi-currency account access.
Focus on: FX markup is the dominant cost. Toggle FX on in the calculator. IBKR at 0.002% FX is almost always the winner here by a wide margin. Also consider W-8BEN filing and dividend reporting complexity.
Portfolio at or above EUR 100,000, less sensitive to per-trade commission, more sensitive to custody fees and regulatory stability.
Focus on: percentage custody fees compound significantly at scale. Saxo Classic’s 0.15% p.a. costs EUR 150/year per EUR 100k. Custody-free brokers (IBKR, DEGIRO) become increasingly attractive. Also consider account-transfer process and broker financial stability.
Wants clear annual tax reports compatible with Spanish IRPF filing. Willing to pay slightly more in broker cost to avoid manual tax admin.
Focus on: whether the broker provides Spanish-compatible tax reports and whether it reports automatically to Hacienda. Some brokers require full manual entry of all transactions. This is not modelled in the calculator — check each broker’s tax documentation page.
Cost is not the only broker-selection factor
The cheapest broker by total cost is not automatically the right broker. Before opening an account, run through both checklists below.
- Does it support your specific UCITS ETFs?
- Can you set up recurring investment plans?
- Are fractional shares available for smaller amounts?
- Does it support limit orders?
- What exchanges can you access?
- Is there Spanish-language customer support?
- How straightforward is the account opening process?
- What is the account transfer process if you want to move later?
- Does the broker have a track record of regulatory stability in Spain?
- Does the broker provide an annual tax report?
- Is it formatted for Spanish IRPF filing?
- Does the broker report gains and dividends automatically to Hacienda?
- Are FX gains and losses shown separately?
- Is the account held in Spain or abroad? (Foreign accounts above EUR 50,000 may require Modelo 720 reporting.)
- Does the broker show dividend withholding tax paid per country?
- Is Spanish-language support available for tax document queries?
Why zero-commission brokers are not always free
Commission is one line item. It is often not the largest one.
You always pay the spread when you buy, regardless of whether you pay a commission. A 0.10% spread on EUR 500 per month is EUR 0.50 per trade — more than Trade Republic’s EUR 1 flat fee annualised on monthly contributions.
Some brokers embed FX costs in the execution price rather than showing them as a separate fee. Trade Republic uses the Lang and Schwarz exchange, where the price you see already includes the spread and any FX handling. There is no separate line item, but the cost is real.
Some zero-commission brokers route orders through third-party market makers who pay for that flow (payment for order flow — PFOF). The EU has moved to restrict PFOF arrangements. Brokers affected by this change may adjust their pricing models. If you use a PFOF-dependent broker, monitor their fee changes over time.
Use limit orders rather than market orders, especially for ETFs with lower AUM. Trade during the core session hours (10:00–16:30 CET on Euronext and Xetra) when spreads are tightest. Choose high-AUM UCITS ETFs (VWCE, IWDA, CSPX) over smaller equivalents tracking the same index.
Want the full cost model in a spreadsheet?
The EU Investor Cost Toolkit goes further: broker comparison across three scenarios, UCITS vs US ETF drag with withholding tax layers, 30-year projection with charts, and a full cost dashboard — all in one .xlsx file with 11 tabs and no macros.
30-day money-back guarantee. Educational content only — not personalised investment or tax advice.
Go deeper
Methodology and data sources
- Last fee check: April 2026. Broker fee data sourced from official broker documentation, help pages, and fee schedules. Data is cross-checked against primary source fetches and deep research runs.
- Brokers included: This calculator covers major low-cost international and neobroker options available to Spanish residents. Spanish bank brokers, robo-advisors, fund-only platforms, and CFD-first platforms are not included.
- Promotional pricing: Introductory rates, time-limited bonuses, and referral offers are excluded. Modelled fees reflect standard published tariffs.
- Tax: Spanish IRPF, capital gains tax, dividend withholding, and foreign-asset reporting obligations are not modelled. This tool compares broker-level costs only.
- Spread assumptions: The default 0.10% full spread is a representative estimate for major liquid UCITS ETFs during normal trading hours. Actual spreads vary by ETF, exchange, time of day, and market conditions. Adjust the input to match your typical ETF.
- Execution quality: Order routing quality, payment for order flow effects, and execution venue differences are not modelled beyond the spread input.
- Ranking method: Brokers are ranked by total modelled fees across your investment horizon. The ranking changes with your inputs — there is no single universal winner.
- Affiliate disclosure: Some broker links on this page are affiliate links. This does not affect the fee data used in the calculator or the ranking order. See the disclosure at the top of this page.
Frequently asked questions
Which broker is cheapest for Spanish investors in 2026?
It depends on your contribution size and frequency. For small monthly contributions of EUR 100–300 buying Core UCITS ETFs, Trading 212 or DEGIRO Core typically rank first due to zero or EUR 1 commission and no custody fees. For larger portfolios where FX conversion applies, Interactive Brokers wins decisively thanks to its 0.002% FX rate. Scalable Capital PRIME+ beats the free plan above roughly 61 trades per year, and Scalable Capital is fully available to Spanish residents. Use the calculator above to find the answer for your exact situation.
Do Spanish investors need to worry about FX conversion costs?
Not usually when investing in EUR-denominated UCITS ETFs on EUR-native brokers like Scalable Capital, Trade Republic, or DEGIRO Core. All major European index ETFs — VWCE, IWDA, CSPX — trade in EUR on European exchanges, so no currency conversion is needed. FX costs become relevant only if your broker routes non-EUR trades through a multi-currency account, or if you convert EUR to USD. For those scenarios, Interactive Brokers charges approximately 0.002% while most neobrokers charge 0.15% to 1.5%.
Does this calculator include Spanish income tax or capital gains tax?
No. This calculator models broker-level costs only: commissions, FX markup, bid/ask spread drag, and custody or platform fees. Spanish IRPF capital gains tax, dividend withholding tax, and any foreign-asset reporting obligations are not included. For Spanish tax context, see the investing taxes in Spain guide.
Should Spanish investors use ETFs or index funds?
It depends on your priorities. UCITS ETFs offer full transparency, intraday pricing, and are available on all the brokers in this calculator. Spanish-domiciled index funds offer a meaningful tax advantage: you can transfer (traspasar) between funds without triggering a capital gains taxable event at the point of the switch. This is not possible with ETFs. If you plan to rebalance or change allocation over time, a fund platform may produce a better long-term outcome even if the stated ETF broker costs are lower. This calculator models ETF broker costs — it does not model the tax value of traspasabilidad.
Do foreign brokers report automatically to Hacienda?
It depends on the broker. Some brokers with a Spanish branch or EU passporting arrangement share data with Spanish tax authorities automatically. Others require you to enter all gains, losses, dividends, and currency conversions manually in your annual IRPF declaration. Foreign-held assets above EUR 50,000 may also trigger Modelo 720 reporting obligations. Check each broker’s annual tax report format and whether it is compatible with Spanish tax filings before opening an account. If in doubt, consult a qualified Spanish tax advisor or gestor.
Is Scalable Capital available to Spanish investors?
Yes. Scalable Capital operates in Spain alongside Germany, Austria, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Spanish investors can open both the FREE Broker plan (EUR 0.99 per trade, no monthly fee) and the PRIME+ plan (free trades on orders of EUR 250 or more, EUR 4.99 per month). PRIME ETFs from Amundi, iShares, Vanguard, and Xtrackers trade free on both plans for orders of EUR 250 or more. PRIME+ breaks even against the free plan when you execute roughly 61 or more trades per year.
Is Trade Republic available in Spain and what does it cost?
Yes, Trade Republic is available in Spain. Every manual trade carries a EUR 1 external settlement fee charged by the third-party exchange operator. ETF savings plan (Sparplan) executions are free. The cost to be aware of is the FX spread embedded in the Lang and Schwarz exchange for cross-currency trades, estimated at around 0.5% as a conservative proxy. For EUR-denominated UCITS ETFs this spread is already baked into the execution price rather than appearing as a separate line-item charge.
What is DEGIRO's Core ETF list and how does it affect costs for Spanish investors?
DEGIRO’s Core Selection is a curated list of around 200 ETFs from providers such as iShares, Vanguard, and Xtrackers. These trade commission-free under the Fair Use Policy, with only a EUR 1 handling fee per trade (and the first trade per calendar month per ETF has no commission at all). This makes DEGIRO Core one of the cheapest options for Spanish investors accumulating standard UCITS ETFs. Non-Core ETFs and stocks cost EUR 2 commission plus EUR 1 handling. Always verify your chosen ETF is on the current Core Selection before assuming the free-trade benefit applies.
Why can a zero-commission broker still cost more than expected?
Commission is only one cost component. Zero-commission brokers often recover margin through bid/ask spread widening (you get a worse execution price than the mid-market rate), FX markup on currency conversion, cash interest they retain on your uninvested balance, and sometimes payment for order flow arrangements that affect execution quality. The calculator models commissions, FX markup, and spread — you can adjust the spread input to reflect your experience. Always check the FX markup and read the execution quality disclosures before assuming a zero-commission broker is the cheapest option.
Why does Saxo Bank Classic typically rank near the bottom?
Saxo Bank Classic charges a 0.15% per annum custody fee on top of 0.08% commission (minimum EUR 5 per trade) and a 0.25% FX markup. The custody fee compounds as your portfolio grows — on a EUR 50,000 portfolio it costs EUR 75 per year in custody alone before any trading. Saxo suits active traders and investors who want access to a wider product range or more advanced tools, not passive ETF accumulators who are optimising for cost.
QuantRoutine provides educational content only. Nothing on this page is an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell any security or to open an account with any specific broker. Calculator outputs are estimates based on your inputs and simplified modelling assumptions — real costs depend on execution quality, exact fee schedules, rebates, account type, and applicable Spanish tax rules. Fee data is sourced from official broker documentation and is accurate as of April 2026; broker fee schedules change and you should always verify current terms before making decisions. Spread assumptions in particular can vary significantly from actual execution. You are responsible for your own financial decisions and for confirming the tax and legal rules that apply in Spain.