The 9 Best Online Brokers in Canada for 2026: Fees, Tools, and Support Compared

The $7,000 TFSA contribution limit for 2026 brings total lifetime room to $102,000 for anyone eligible since 2009. That's real money to deploy. Picking where to deploy it matters more than most investors think, because "free" rarely means free, and the gap between a good broker and a mediocre one compounds over 20 years.

Here's the ranked list, focused on what actually costs you money or saves you time.

1. Questrade, Open a USD sub-account inside your RRSP, not just a CAD one.

Commission: $4.95, $9.95 per equity trade. No commission on ETF purchases (sales cost $4.95, $9.95).

Questrade's edge is the native USD account inside registered plans. You can hold U.S. dollars without triggering automatic FX conversion on every trade. For anyone buying Apple, Microsoft, or a VOO-type S&P tracker, this eliminates the 1.5% spread most brokers bake into currency conversion. A $50,000 U.S. equity position over five years saves roughly $1,500 in hidden FX drag.

The platform skews desktop-heavy. Mobile app is functional, not elegant. Customer service wait times during March RRSP season regularly exceed 45 minutes. Worth it if you trade U.S. stocks frequently.

2. Wealthsimple Trade, Truly zero commissions, but you pay on the FX spread.

Commission: $0 on Canadian and U.S. equities.

Wealthsimple charges nothing to buy or sell stocks. The catch: a 1.5% markup when converting CAD to USD. That's $750 on a $50,000 trade. For someone building a portfolio of Canadian dividend stocks (Enbridge, Royal Bank, CNR), this is the cleanest option in Canada. For U.S. exposure, the math flips unless you're buying Canadian-listed U.S. equity ETFs like VFV.

Fractional shares are standard. You can buy 0.3 shares of Shopify. The app is the best-designed in Canada. No desktop platform. Phone support is chat-only.

3. Interactive Brokers Canada, Lowest costs for active traders, steepest learning curve.

Commission: $1 USD per trade (minimum), or 0.005 USD per share.

IBKR's fee structure is per-share, not per-trade, which makes it the cheapest for volume. A 500-share trade of a $40 stock costs $2.50 USD, not $9.95. The platform is built for people trading options, futures, or international equities. If you don't know what "Level 2" market data means, this is overkill.

Customer support is email-first. Phone callbacks take 24-48 hours. The TFSA and RRSP setup works, but the interface assumes you already know what a margin call is.

4. TD Direct Investing, Best research package, but you pay for it in commissions.

Commission: $9.99 per equity trade (drops to $6.99 if you make 150+ trades per quarter).

TD owns Morningstar Premium access, real-time news from Reuters, and a desktop platform (WebBroker) that doesn't crash during earnings season. The trade-off is the highest standard commission among discount brokers. You're paying for reliability and depth.

Branch access is the differentiator. You can walk into a TD branch and get help with a mistaken trade or a locked account. That's worth something during tax season or estate settlement.

5. RBC Direct Investing, High commissions, but it talks to your RBC chequing account.

Commission: $9.99 per equity trade.

RBC's value proposition is ecosystem lock-in. Your brokerage account links to your RBC high-interest savings account and your Avion credit card. Transfers are instant. You can set up a "cash sweep" so uninvested cash automatically moves to a 3.5% savings account overnight.

The platform is average. Research tools are thinner than TD's. Customer support is strong. If you already bank with RBC, the convenience is real.

6. BMO InvestorLine, Free trades on 80+ ETFs, high fees otherwise.

Commission: $9.99 per equity trade. $0 on select commission-free ETFs.

BMO's commission-free ETF list includes most Vanguard, iShares, and BMO funds. If you're building a three-ETF portfolio (VEQT, VBAL, or similar), this is effectively a free account. Buy anything else and you're paying $9.99.

Platform is dated. Mobile app was redesigned in 2024 and now works. Desktop WebBroker still looks like 2012.

7. National Bank Direct Brokerage, High interest on idle cash, clunky interface.

Commission: $6.95 per equity trade (one of the lowest among bank-owned brokers).

National Bank pays 4.25% on uninvested CAD cash balances as of early 2026, the highest in Canada. For anyone holding $20,000 in cash while waiting to deploy, that's $850 a year versus the $0 most brokers pay.

The web platform is slow. The mobile app is worse. English-language customer support is good; French-language support is excellent.

8. CIBC Investor's Edge, Average everything, but integrates with CIBC banking.

Commission: $6.95 per equity trade.

CIBC's brokerage is the middle of the pack on every axis. Not the cheapest, not the most feature-rich, not the best research. If you bank with CIBC and want a brokerage account that shows up on the same login, it works.

9. Scotia iTRADE, Low fees, outdated desktop tools.

Commission: $6.99 per equity trade.

Scotia's pricing is competitive. The desktop platform (FlightDesk) hasn't been meaningfully updated since 2019. If you trade exclusively on mobile, it's fine. If you want real-time charting or multi-window layouts, look elsewhere.

The decision tree is simpler than the list suggests. Heavy U.S. stock exposure: Questrade or IBKR. Canadian-only passive ETF investor: Wealthsimple or BMO. Active trader who needs research: TD. Everyone else: pick the one your bank owns and get the ecosystem convenience.