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

Vanguard and Charles Schwab 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: Vanguard vs Charles Schwab (2025)
Feature Vanguard Charles Schwab
Website https://investor.vanguard.com/ https://www.schwab.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 0 to 100 cents 65 cents
Bond Trading Available? Yes Yes
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? No Yes
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? No Yes; thinkorswim and StreetSmart Edge
API Trading? No No
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes Yes
Total Mutual Funds Over 3,000 Over 10,000
NTF Mutual Funds Over 1,800 Over 4,000
Non-NTF Fund Fee $50 $74.95
Early Redemption Fee? Yes Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) 60 days 90 days
Early Redemption Fee $50 $49.95
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? No Yes, through other providers
Money Market Sweep? Yes No
CDs Offered? Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor Service Vanguard Digital Advisor Schwab Intelligent Portfolios
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.20% to 0.25% 0.00% to 0.30%
Basics: Headquarters Valley Forge, PA San Francisco, CA
Year Founded 1975 1971
Clearing Firm Vanguard Brokerage Services Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Local Branches? Yes, about 5 locations Yes, about 400 locations
New Account Minimum $0 $0

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