Start from the market, not the brand name
Most of the brokers here look alike until you check what you can actually trade through them. 1822direkt covers stocks, etfs and funds, which is a plain share-and-fund list. 5paisa goes further with stocks, etfs and options. AGORA direct™ is the broadest of the group, spanning stocks, etfs and options. Admirals sits in the middle with stocks, etfs and forex, which matters if you want a single account for shares and contracts for difference.
At the other end, a few brands do one thing well. ACY Securities lists forex, so it suits you only if currency trading is your plan. Acre Gold, Advantage Gold and Allegiance Gold each cover metals, which is a different kind of product entirely and needs a different account. Alor Broker covers stocks, and Absa covers stocks and etfs.
Write down your market before you compare prices. If your list is currency or contracts for difference, the CFD brokers page is the shorter route. If you want shares, funds and bonds in a general account, the wider lists above are your candidates. A broker that does not cover your market cannot be made cheaper by a discount on something you will not trade.
Account type sets the rules before the price does
The account type matters more than the headline number, because it decides what you can hold, how it is taxed and what you are charged. 1822direkt offers a joint account. ABF Trade Eu offers a corporate account, which suits a company rather than an individual. AJ Bell offers isa, sipp and lisa accounts. Ally Bank offers joint, ira and roth ira accounts, and Advantage Gold and Allegiance Gold each offer a ira account.
Because these wrappers hold different things, a fee quoted for one wrapper cannot be read across to another. Brokers can both look cheap until you notice that the quoted price is for a general account while the other is for a tax wrapper. Fix the account type first, then read the charge for that specific account on the review page.
If a retirement wrapper is what you want, the AJ Bell review and the Ally Bank review set out the account types each offers. If you are investing for a company, the Abf Trade Eu review covers the corporate account and the markets it reaches.
The platform decides how the account feels every day
Platforms are where most friction shows up, and the choice is often wider than expected. AJ Bell runs a Web platform and Mobile app. Absa runs Absa Online and Online Share Trading. Actinver offers Actinver Trade Web and Actinver Trade Mobile. Aditya Birla Capital Demat offers Elevate App and Elevate Web, and Al Rajhi Capital offers Al Rajhi eTadawul.
Some brands cover more ground. Ajaib offers Web, iOS and Android. ActivTrades offers ActivTrader, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, so you can move between its own platform, the MetaTrader platform and TradingView. Alchemy Markets offers Metatrader and TradingView, Alior offers Alior Gielda, Notowania Online 3 and Alior 4 Trader, and ABF Trade Eu offers MetaTrader 5. 5paisa provides 5paisa Trading App, Trader's Terminal and 5paisa EXE.
A mobile app plus a desktop terminal is a different experience from a browser-only platform, and an application programming interface is a different experience again. Alpaca offers Trading API, TradingView and Mobile app, which suits you if you want to connect your own tools rather than work inside a screen the broker designed. If you would rather not choose, the Brokers for beginners page groups the simplest setups.
Compare charges on matching rows
Costs are only comparable when the market, the account type and the platform match. A share dealing charge on a general account is not a fair comparison with a share dealing charge inside a tax wrapper, and a per-trade charge on an exchange traded fund says nothing about what a position in a fund costs to hold.
The way to compare is to pick the market you will actually trade, pick the account type you can open, and read only those rows on each broker page. The Admirals review, the Alchemy Markets review and the Alpaca review each break the charges down by market and account, so you can line them up side by side. A wider market list also means more rows to check, which is worth doing before you commit rather than after.
Check who looks after the money
Markets and platforms tell you what you can trade and how. The last check is who holds your cash and who stands behind the firm, and that information is set out on each review page alongside the account details. Read it for the specific account type and check that it applies to where you live, because a protection arrangement in a single country may not cover you in another.
This is the part most worth slowing down on. A broker with a low charge on the market you picked, an account type you can open and a platform you can use is only a good choice if you are also comfortable with how the account is safeguarded. The reviews linked here cover both the trading details and the firm details for each brand, so you can weigh costs and safety in the same pass.
A worked shortlist
For a first account, AJ Bell and Absa both put ordinary share dealing on platforms you already know, and AJ Bell also offers a wider set of account wrappers. For an account you will hold for years inside a retirement wrapper, compare the AJ Bell review with the Ally Bank review.
For currency and contracts for difference, Admirals, ActivTrades, Alchemy Markets and ABF Trade Eu all list those markets, and the CFD brokers page narrows the field before you open accounts. For share dealing with options and crypto on a single account, Alpaca is the shortest list to check. For precious metals alone, the three metals brands are the only ones in this group that apply.
Whichever row you settle on, run the same order: confirm the market is covered, confirm the account type is one you can open, confirm the platform works the way you like, then read the charges for that exact combination and the firm details behind it. Do that for every broker on your list and the comparison does the work for you.