The Best Low-Cost Brokerage in Canada: Who Wins on All-In Cost
The best low-cost brokerage in Canada depends on one question: do you convert Canadian dollars to US dollars? For pure Canadian-dollar buy-and-hold investors, Wealthsimple, Questrade, and Qtrade are effectively free. For anyone regularly trading US-listed stocks or on margin, Interactive Brokers wins on all-in cost, and it is not close.
What counts as the "all-in" cost of a brokerage?
A commission-free headline is the least useful number in Canadian investing. It tells you what you pay to place a trade and nothing about what the trade actually costs you. The all-in cost of a low-cost brokerage in Canada comes down to four things, and only one of them is the commission.
Stock and ETF commissions, the per-trade fee that most brokers have now cut to zero.
Currency conversion, the spread you pay every time you move between Canadian and US dollars.
Account and inactivity fees, the standing charges that apply whether you trade or not.
Borrowing and options costs, the margin interest and per-contract fees you pay only if you use them. For most Canadians the second item, currency conversion, is by far the largest, yet it is the one almost no broker advertises. If you want to model your own numbers before reading further, our all-in cost calculator ranks the brokers on your exact trading profile, and our guide to choosing a Canadian broker walks through the trade-offs beyond price.
Which brokers charge $0 commission in Canada?
The commission war is over, and the investor won. Four brokers now charge nothing to trade Canadian and US-listed stocks and ETFs online:
Wealthsimple, which has been commission-free since launch.
Questrade, which dropped commissions on stocks and ETFs in February 2025 and also removed ECN fees.
Qtrade, which moved to $0 commissions and scrapped its quarterly administration fee on October 28, 2025.
National Bank Direct Brokerage, the bank-owned pioneer that went commission-free back in 2021. The Big 5 banks are the holdouts. TD Direct Investing, RBC Direct Investing, BMO InvestorLine, and Scotia iTRADE still charge roughly $9.95 to $9.99 per trade, with CIBC Investor's Edge a little cheaper at $6.95. On commissions alone, then, four brokers tie at zero. That is exactly why commissions can no longer decide the question. The differences now live in the fees the headline does not mention.
Why does currency conversion decide the whole thing?
Buy a US-listed stock or ETF in a Canadian-dollar account and your broker converts your money at a marked-up exchange rate. That markup is the single biggest cost most Canadian investors pay, and it is where the commission-free brokers quietly diverge. Wealthsimple and Questrade both charge a 1.5% currency conversion fee. Qtrade and the banks sit near 1.75%. Interactive Brokers charges a separate FX commission of about 0.002%, with a US$2 minimum. On a $10,000 conversion that is the difference between roughly $2 and roughly $150 to $175, on a single exchange, before you have paid a cent in commission.
There are two ways to blunt the FX charge at a commission-free broker. Both Questrade and Wealthsimple let you hold US dollars, so you can convert once in bulk instead of paying the spread on every trade, and both support Norbert's Gambit, a manual conversion using an interlisted ETF that sidesteps the percentage fee for a flat cost (Questrade charges $9.95 per journal, Wealthsimple $9.95). Neither is as cheap or as effortless as Interactive Brokers, where near-interbank conversion is simply how the account works.
So which is the genuinely cheapest brokerage, all-in?
Interactive Brokers is the lowest all-in cost broker in Canada for anyone who trades with any frequency, converts currency, or borrows on margin. Its per-share commissions are tiny, its FX is roughly one part in five hundred of what the fintechs charge, and its margin rates are the lowest available to Canadian retail investors. The table below shows the standing costs side by side.
The honest caveat is that Interactive Brokers earns its cost crown by asking more of you. The platform has a learning curve, and real-time US market data is a paid subscription rather than a free default, though the monthly cost is small and is often offset by trading activity. For a passive investor who buys a Canadian-listed all-in-one ETF like VEQT or XEQT a few times a year and never touches US dollars, that complexity buys nothing. That investor pays $0 in commission and $0 in FX at Wealthsimple, Questrade, or Qtrade, so the three are a genuine tie, and the choice comes down to the app, the account types, and the research rather than the price. Compare them directly on our broker comparison page.
What about margin, options, and account fees?
If you borrow to invest, margin interest dwarfs every other cost, and here Interactive Brokers is not merely ahead but in a different league, typically several percentage points below the bank-owned brokers. Options pricing is close across the low-cost field: Questrade charges 99 cents per contract, Qtrade $0.75, and Interactive Brokers about USD $0.65 on US options.
Standing account fees are where the fintechs pull away from the banks. Wealthsimple, Questrade, and Qtrade charge no account or inactivity fees at all. National Bank Direct Brokerage waives its $100 annual charge easily on a modest balance or a little activity. The Big 5 banks apply a roughly $100 annual administration fee that is waived only once your account clears a balance threshold, commonly around $15,000 to $25,000, which quietly penalizes the smaller accounts that can least afford it.
Does the cheapest broker mean the best broker?
No, and it is worth saying plainly. Cost is one of five things we weigh, alongside platform quality, market and product access, research, and support, as our methodology explains. Interactive Brokers wins decisively on price and loses points for a steep learning curve. Wealthsimple is one of the cheapest and the easiest to use, but its research is thin and its fixed-income and mutual fund access is limited. Qtrade is not the very cheapest on FX, but its research and service are among the strongest in the country. The cheapest broker for your neighbour may be the wrong broker for you. Price is where you start, not where you finish.
The bottom line
If you are a hands-off investor building a portfolio of Canadian-listed ETFs and rarely or never converting currency, stop overthinking the cost question. Wealthsimple, Questrade, and Qtrade are all effectively free for you, so choose on features and feel, not on a fee difference that will not exist. If you regularly buy US-listed stocks or ETFs, trade with real frequency, or invest on margin, Interactive Brokers is the cheapest all-in option in Canada, and the currency-conversion savings alone will pay for the learning curve many times over. And if you are still trading at a Big 5 bank for the brand comfort, understand what that comfort costs: a per-trade commission, a fatter currency spread, and an account fee the commission-free brokers abolished years ago. For current sign-up offers, check our bonuses page before you open anything.
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FAQs
Is Wealthsimple really free?
For Canadian-dollar trading, yes. There are no commissions and no account fees. The cost appears the moment you buy a US-listed security from a Canadian-dollar account, where a 1.5% currency conversion fee applies. Hold US dollars in a Wealthsimple USD account or use Norbert's Gambit and you can reduce or avoid that charge.
What is the cheapest way to convert CAD to USD at a Canadian broker?
Interactive Brokers offers the cheapest conversion outright, at roughly 0.002% with a US$2 minimum. At a commission-free broker like Questrade or Wealthsimple, the cheapest route is Norbert's Gambit, a manual conversion through an interlisted ETF that replaces the 1.5% spread with a flat journaling fee, which pays off on larger conversions.
Does Questrade still charge commissions?
No. Questrade removed commissions on online trades of Canadian and US-listed stocks and ETFs in February 2025, and dropped ECN fees at the same time. Options are 99 cents per contract, and a 1.5% currency conversion fee still applies when you trade US securities from a Canadian-dollar account.
Is Interactive Brokers actually cheaper than Wealthsimple?
It depends entirely on whether you touch US dollars. For a pure Canadian-dollar investor, both are effectively free and Wealthsimple is far easier to use. For anyone converting currency, trading often, or using margin, Interactive Brokers is meaningfully cheaper, largely because its currency conversion costs a small fraction of Wealthsimple's 1.5%.
Do the big banks really cost more?
Yes, on all three fronts. A Big 5 bank brokerage typically charges around $9.95 to $9.99 per trade, a currency spread near 1.75%, and a roughly $100 annual account fee that is only waived above a balance threshold. Against a commission-free broker with no account fee, the gap runs to hundreds of dollars a year for an active account.
Are there hidden fees at commission-free brokers?
The commissions are genuinely zero, but three costs can still apply: the currency conversion fee on US-listed trades, occasional ECN fees on certain order types, and a transfer-out fee if you move your account elsewhere, commonly around $150. None of these appears in a commission-free headline, which is precisely why you weigh the all-in cost rather than the advertised one.
