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

ZacksTrade 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 2026.

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

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