Robinhood vs E*Trade Comparison: Fees, Features, and More (2026)

Robinhood and E*Trade 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 2026.


Head-to-Head Comparison: Robinhood vs E*Trade (2026)
Feature Robinhood E*Trade
Website https://robinhood.com/ https://us.etrade.com/home
Broker Type Online discount brokerage (mobile app, web, Legend) Online self-directed brokerage (Morgan Stanley; full-service advisors available)
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission $0 commissions (SEC/FINRA sell fees may apply) $0 online US-listed stocks/ETFs (OTC $6.95; other fees may apply)
Fractional Shares? Yes ($1 min; most NMS stocks/ETFs) Yes, select listed stocks/ETFs (up to 3 decimals, $5 min notional; expanding)
Percent Allocations? No No (Prebuilt templates with suggested allocations; Core Portfolios managed)
Crypto Trading? Yes (US-wide via Robinhood Crypto, LLC; all states, DC, PR, USVI) Yes; BTC, ETH, SOL via linked zerohash account for US individual brokerage clients.
Crypto Fees MM routing: $0 commissions (RH rebate in spread); exchange routing: 0.00-0.95% volume-tiered maker/taker; transfers $0 + network fees 0.50% of notional value (no spread/markup); charged by zerohash (E*TRADE receives a portion).
Options Trading? Yes Yes
Options Fee $0 commissions for stock/ETF options; $0.35 Gold/$0.50 non-Gold per index contract plus regulatory/exchange fees $0.65/contract ($0.50 with 30+ trades/quarter) plus regulatory/exchange fees.
Bond Trading Available? No (individual bonds/fixed-income not supported; bond ETFs/CEFs available) Yes; 50,000+ bonds/CDs from many issuers.
Receives payment for order flow (PFOF)? Yes (receives PFOF/rebates from market makers for equities, options, and crypto) Yes (receives PFOF on NMS stocks, ETFs, and options).
Interface: Web trading? Yes (web including Legend browser platform; iOS/Android mobile apps) Yes; E*TRADE web/app and Power E*TRADE web/app/desktop.
Desktop trading? No; Robinhood Legend is a free browser-based (web) platform, not downloadable. Yes, Power E*TRADE Pro (Windows/Mac download)
API Trading? Yes for crypto (official US Crypto Trading API); no official stocks/equities trading API. Yes (Developer Platform REST API; unattended algo orders prohibited)
Mutual Funds: Offered? No Yes
Total Mutual Funds 0 5,000+ (6,000+ NTF listed on pricing)
NTF Mutual Funds 0 6,000+
Non-NTF Fund Fee N/A $0 online (no-load NTF); loads per prospectus
Early Redemption Fee? N/A Yes (no E*TRADE fee; fund fees may apply)
Redemption Hold (Days) N/A None (0 days); E*TRADE charges no short-term redemption fee (fund prospectus fees may apply)
Early Redemption Fee N/A $0 from E*TRADE; fund prospectus redemption fees may apply
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes (Traditional and Roth; no SEP) Yes (Traditional, Roth, SEP, SIMPLE, others)
HSAs Offered? No No
Money Market Sweep? Yes Yes (Bank Deposit Program / BDP)
CDs Offered? No Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes (Robinhood Strategies hybrid managed portfolios) Yes
Robo-Advisor Service Robinhood Strategies Core Portfolios
Robo-Advisor Fees 0.25% AUM/yr; Gold ($5/mo): 0% over $100k ($250/yr cap). $50 min. ETF expenses extra. 0.30% annual advisory fee ($500 min.)
Basics: Headquarters Menlo Park, CA Arlington, VA
Year Founded 2013 1982
Clearing Firm Robinhood Securities, LLC Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC
Local Branches? No No
New Account Minimum $0 $0

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