E*Trade vs Alpaca Comparison: Fees, Features, and More (2025)

E*Trade and Alpaca are two leading discount brokerages offering commission-free stock and ETF trading. Use this head-to-head comparison table to evaluate fees, features, trading tools, and account options to help you decide which broker is right for you in 2025.

Head-to-Head Comparison: E*Trade vs Alpaca (2025)
Feature E*Trade Alpaca
Website https://us.etrade.com/home https://alpaca.markets/
Broker Type Full-Service API-Only
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission No fee No fee
Fractional Shares? No Yes
Percent Allocations? No Yes; via API
Crypto Trading? No Yes
Crypto Fees not applicable 0.35%
Options Trading? Yes No
Options Fee 50 to 65 not applicable
Bond Trading Available? Yes No
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes Yes
Interface: Web trading? Yes No
Desktop trading? Yes; E*TRADE Pro No
API Trading? Yes; E*TRADE Developer Platform Yes; Alpaca Trading API
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes No
Total Mutual Funds Over 6,000 None
NTF Mutual Funds Over 4,300 None
Non-NTF Fund Fee $50 not applicable
Early Redemption Fee? No not applicable
Redemption Hold (Days) 0 not applicable
Early Redemption Fee $50 not applicable
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes No
HSAs Offered? No No
Money Market Sweep? No No
CDs Offered? Yes No
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes No
Robo-Advisor Service Core Portfolios none
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.30% not applicable
Basics: Headquarters New York, NY San Mateo, CA
Year Founded 1996 2018
Clearing Firm Morgan Stanley Apex Clearing
Local Branches? Yes, about 30 locations No
New Account Minimum $0 $0

Once you’ve chosen a broker, find high-performing, investable model portfolios at RecipeInvesting.com


Compare E*Trade to All Brokers