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

Vanguard 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 2025.

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

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