The end of the Payment-for-Order-Flow (PFOF) process primarily forced neobrokers to revise their business models so that they could continue offering their services while covering their costs. The two largest providers in Germany, Trade Republic* and Scalable Capital* have since revised their offerings and, in some cases, found loopholes that still allow them to offer customers inexpensive purchases of shares and ETFs or free savings plans with fractional shares.
At Scalable Capital, an individual order with a volume of more than 250 euros costs 0.99 euros in the FREE tariff on its now in-house European Investor Exchange. From September 1, 2026, the fee on gettex will be 1.99 euros, while Xetra will become cheaper. Trade Republic quotes 1 euro for automatic best-price execution and 2 euros for free choice of exchange.
Behind these prices lies more than a new fee comparison. Since July 1, 2026, investment firms have generally no longer been allowed to accept remuneration from third parties for routing customer orders to a particular trading venue.
The PFOF ban is reorganizing the neobroker market
Under Payment for Order Flow, a third party paid the broker for routing customer orders to a particular execution venue. The remuneration could therefore be more important to the broker than the order fee paid by the customer. The EU has now generally banned these payments. Germany had made use of the possible transitional arrangement and continued to permit the practice for domestic customers until June 30, 2026. Since the following day, the ban has also applied to the German market. Neobrokers therefore had to reorganize their execution systems, price lists and incentives.
This does not mean that every previous PFOF execution was automatically bad for the customer. On the contrary: it was what made inexpensive and often even free share savings plans and low-cost order executions possible in the first place. A BaFin study reached a mixed conclusion: for smaller order volumes, PFOF venues could be advantageous when transaction costs were included. For larger orders and lower liquidity in the reference market, this advantage partly disappeared. Small savers in particular therefore benefited.
Fees and trading venues reorganized
Scalable Capital* relies on a combination of price changes and its own trading infrastructure. Together with Börse Hannover, it created the “European Investor Exchange” (EIX) so that it can earn a share of order fees in future without passing them on to customers. Especially in the FREE tariff, the trading venue is an important price anchor, because a trade costs a flat 0.99 euros there. With PRIME+, the fee is waived for orders of 250 euros or more, while the subscription has a monthly base fee of 4.99 euros. Savings-plan executions remain free in both models.
At the same time, Xetra is becoming cheaper and thus one of the largest German trading venues. The order fee is falling from the former 3.99 euros to 1.99 euros, and the additional trading-venue fee is being removed. From September 1, 2026, gettex, the former trading partner for the PFOF process, will also cost 1.99 euros per trade. For investors, this shifts the old ranking: gettex is no longer automatically the cheaper alternative to Xetra, while EIX moves into the cheapest position.
At first glance, PRIME+ can considerably reduce the costs of an order execution. Yet 4.99 euros per month correspond to 59.88 euros per year, which significantly reduces the calculated saving, because only after 61 qualified trades per year would the base fee alone be offset by the order costs. Other services and conditions of the offer, such as better interest terms, cheaper crypto ETPs or additional features like portfolio analysis or price alerts, are not taken into account.
Trade Republic bundles exchange prices
Trade Republic* is pursuing a different approach from Scalable Capital. According to company statements, the new so-called best-price execution is intended to automatically compare tradable real-time prices from all relevant liquid exchanges. An aggregated order book then combines the available bid and ask prices. For automatic execution, Trade Republic quotes a flat processing fee of 1 euro per trade, plus third-party costs and spreads.
A Direct-Price order can also be used. This allows the trading venue to be selected specifically, for example Xetra, Euronext, NYSE or Nasdaq. Trade Republic quotes 2 euros per trade regardless of the order size. The selection is supposed to be available for market, limit and stop orders. To support this, the company has developed an extensive web terminal with charting, screeners, workspaces and live market data. The app is no longer intended to cover only savings plans and simple individual orders, but also more active trading workflows.
The difference is economically interesting. With a Best-Price order, the algorithm searches for an available price. With a Direct-Price order, the order screen determines the trading venue, for which a higher fixed fee is charged. Free choice is therefore not actually free of charge and is no guarantee that the selected venue will deliver the cheapest overall result for every order.
A 250-euro order makes the price differences visible
The current models can be roughly compared side by side using an order of more than 250 euros. The percentages refer only to the visible fee. Spreads, third-party costs and the actual execution price achieved are not included.
| Model | Execution | Visible fee | Share at 250 euros |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scalable FREE on EIX | EIX | 0.99 euros | 0.40 % |
| Scalable PRIME+ on EIX | EIX | 0 euros from 250 euros, plus 4.99 euros per month | 0 % per order |
| Scalable at Xetra | Xetra, since July 8, 2026 | 1.99 euros | 0.80 % |
| Scalable at gettex | gettex, from September 1, 2026 | 1.99 euros | 0.80 % |
| Trade Republic Best-Price | automatic comparison of liquid exchanges | 1 euro plus third-party costs and spreads | 0.40 % plus |
| Trade Republic Direct-Price | freely selectable trading venue | 2 euros | 0.80 % |
Best price is not the same as lowest overall cost
A visible price is only one part of the order bill. In Scalable Capital’s current execution principles, the price of the financial instrument and all costs associated with the execution make up the total charge. These include commissions, trading-venue charges, clearing fees and settlement fees, among other items. Other criteria can include execution speed, probability of execution, liquidity, order type and trading hours.
For an order of more than 250 euros, a 1-euro fee corresponds to 0.4 % of the order volume. 1.99 euros is just under 0.8 %, while 2 euros is exactly 0.8 %. A spread of a few basis points can already exceed the difference between two trading venues. The long-term perspective on the impact of fees shows how small fees affect many transactions. With small orders, the fixed fee has an even stronger effect; with larger orders, execution quality gains relative importance.
The time of day can also make a major difference: during the main trading hours, many securities are more liquid and spreads are often narrower. For foreign securities, smaller companies or orders outside the most important trading hours, the order fee can recede into the background compared with the available market price. A favorable fee point is then not sufficient evidence of good execution.
The calculation remains simpler for savings plans
For savings plans, the calculation remains considerably simpler. Scalable Capital* continues to execute savings plans without an order fee, and Trade Republic* also advertises free savings plans. For long-term investors who regularly invest in broadly diversified asset classes and rarely place individual orders, the new exchange-selection models are therefore less important. The trade-off between a one-off purchase and a savings plan shows why ongoing product costs, the scope of the savings plan and tax treatment must be considered together.
The picture is different for frequent individual orders, small order amounts and less liquid securities. Fixed fees, spreads and possible deviations in the execution price add up more quickly there. The new transparency can help make these costs visible. It does not automatically make the decision easier, however, because more choice also means more comparison work.
The competition among neobrokers is therefore shifting from the simple claim of “trading for free” to a more complicated question. Who controls the order route, which trading venue supplies the liquidity and how is the broker paid for its infrastructure? Scalable Capital is relying more heavily on EIX as its own price and liquidity anchor. Trade Republic is building a price comparison across several exchanges and a chargeable choice of trading venue. Both models are responses to the same regulatory problem, but they distribute costs and dependencies differently.
Neobrokers in 2026 are therefore not simply becoming more expensive or cheaper. They are becoming more in need of explanation.
