Charles Schwab vs Vanguard Comparison: Fees, Features, and More (2025)

Charles Schwab and Vanguard 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: Charles Schwab vs Vanguard (2025)
Feature Charles Schwab Vanguard
Website https://www.schwab.com/ https://investor.vanguard.com/
Broker Type Full-Service Full-Service
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission No fee No fee
Fractional Shares? No No
Percent Allocations? No No
Crypto Trading? No No
Crypto Fees not applicable not applicable
Options Trading? Yes Yes
Options Fee 65 cents 0 to 100 cents
Bond Trading Available? Yes Yes
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes No
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? Yes; thinkorswim and StreetSmart Edge No
API Trading? No No
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes Yes
Total Mutual Funds Over 10,000 Over 3,000
NTF Mutual Funds Over 4,000 Over 1,800
Non-NTF Fund Fee $74.95 $50
Early Redemption Fee? Yes Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) 90 days 60 days
Early Redemption Fee $49.95 $50
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? Yes, through other providers No
Money Market Sweep? No Yes
CDs Offered? Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor Service Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Vanguard Digital Advisor
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.00% to 0.30% 0.20% to 0.25%
Basics: Headquarters San Francisco, CA Valley Forge, PA
Year Founded 1971 1975
Clearing Firm Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Vanguard Brokerage Services
Local Branches? Yes, about 400 locations Yes, about 5 locations
New Account Minimum $0 $0

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