Vanguard vs ZacksTrade Comparison: Fees, Features, and More (2026)

Vanguard and ZacksTrade 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: Vanguard vs ZacksTrade (2026)
Feature Vanguard ZacksTrade
Website https://investor.vanguard.com/ https://www.zackstrade.com/
Broker Type Full-Service Discount
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission $0 online $0.01 per share (minimum $1); 1% of trade value below $1/share
Fractional Shares? Yes; eligible Vanguard ETFs/dollar-based trading No
Percent Allocations? Yes; Vanguard Digital Advisor/asset-allocation tools Yes; Rebalance Portfolio
Crypto Trading? No No
Crypto Fees Not applicable Not applicable
Options Trading? Yes Yes
Options Fee $1/contract $1 for first contract + $0.75 per additional
Bond Trading Available? Yes; Treasuries, bonds, and CDs Yes; corporate and government bonds
Receives payment for order flow (PFOF)? No Yes
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? No Yes; Zacks Trade Pro/Client Portal/app
API Trading? No No
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes Yes
Total Mutual Funds Over 3,000 Not publicly stated
NTF Mutual Funds Over 1,800 Not publicly stated
Non-NTF Fund Fee $20 online for transaction-fee funds; $0 for NTF funds $27.50
Early Redemption Fee? No Varies by fund
Redemption Hold (Days) 60 days Fund-specific
Early Redemption Fee $50 Fund-specific
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes; Traditional, Roth, SEP, Rollover, and Custodial Yes; Traditional, Roth, SEP, and Rollover
HSAs Offered? No No
Money Market Sweep? Yes; settlement-fund/cash-deposit sweep No
CDs Offered? Yes No
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes No
Robo-Advisor Service Vanguard Digital Advisor None
Robo-Advisor Fees 0.20% all-index; 0.25% active/index mix Not applicable
Basics: Headquarters Valley Forge, PA Chicago, IL
Year Founded 1975 2013
Clearing Firm Vanguard Brokerage Services Interactive Brokers LLC
Local Branches? No; phone/online service No; online broker
New Account Minimum $0

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