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

E*Trade 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: E*Trade vs Vanguard (2025)
Feature E*Trade Vanguard
Website https://us.etrade.com/home 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 50 to 65 0 to 100 cents
Bond Trading Available? Yes Yes
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes No
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? Yes; E*TRADE Pro No
API Trading? Yes; E*TRADE Developer Platform No
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes Yes
Total Mutual Funds Over 6,000 Over 3,000
NTF Mutual Funds Over 4,300 Over 1,800
Non-NTF Fund Fee $50 $50
Early Redemption Fee? No Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) 0 60 days
Early Redemption Fee $50 $50
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? No No
Money Market Sweep? No Yes
CDs Offered? Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor Service Core Portfolios Vanguard Digital Advisor
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.30% 0.20% to 0.25%
Basics: Headquarters New York, NY Valley Forge, PA
Year Founded 1996 1975
Clearing Firm Morgan Stanley Vanguard Brokerage Services
Local Branches? Yes, about 30 locations Yes, about 5 locations
New Account Minimum $0 $0

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