Interactive Brokers Cost (2026): Brokerage fees
Last updated October 2026
Short answer
Interactive Brokers on cost: brokerage fees. Because that is not a percentage of assets, the cost does not rise as your balance does, which cuts both ways: proportionally cheap on a large account, relatively expensive on a small one. On top of that you pay the expense ratios of whatever funds are held, which every provider passes through. It is the brokerage itself rather than a layer on top of one, so what you pay is trading and account costs rather than a management fee. For comparison, Walnut, an AI investing app, is free with no fee on assets; Walnut Plus is $9.99 a month on the web.
What Interactive Brokers charges
The headline figure: Brokerage fees, for advanced and international investors. Interactive Brokers gives you broad global market access through professional platforms (like Trader Workstation) and a deep API. AI integration is possible by wiring tools to that API or using community-built MCP connectors, but there is no polished, official consumer AI assistant, so the AI layer is something you or a developer assemble.
What you still pay on top
- Fund expense ratios. Whatever ETFs or funds sit inside the portfolio charge their own fee, deducted inside the fund rather than billed to you. A broad index fund is often 0.03% to 0.10%; a specialist fund charges more.
- Trading costs. Commissions where they apply, plus the bid-ask spread on everything bought and sold, which is real even where the commission is zero.
- Tax. Any selling inside a taxable account can create a capital gain. See our guide to capital gains tax on investments. This is not tax advice.
Interactive Brokers pricing against the alternatives
| Product | Type | Cost | Holds your money? | Places trades? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive Brokers | Broker API | Brokerage fees | Yes, it is the broker | Read + trade | Advanced and international investors |
| Walnut | AI investing app | Free; Walnut Plus $9.99/mo on the web; no fee on assets | No, it connects the broker you use | Yes, the ones you approve | A keep, trim or exit read on the stocks you already own, and placing the trades you approve |
| Alpaca | Broker API | Free (open source) | Yes, it is the broker | Read + trade + paper | Developers building AI agents |
| Betterment | Robo-advisor | $5/mo, or 0.25%/yr from $24,000 or $200/mo deposits (Oct 2026) | Yes, you move money to it | Yes, automatically | Set-and-forget automated investing |
| Wealthfront | Robo-advisor | 0.25%/yr, $500 minimum (Oct 2026) | Yes, you move money to it | Yes, automatically | Hands-off investing with planning built in |
| PortfolioPilot | AI investing app | Free; Gold $20, Platinum $49, Pro $99 a month billed yearly (Oct 2026) | No, it connects the broker you use | No, you trade at your broker | A second opinion on an existing portfolio |
| Magnifi | Stock research and scoring | Free plan; Premium is a paid subscription (as of October 2026) | No, it connects the broker you use | No, you trade at your broker | Research and discovery in plain English |
Prices checked October 2026. A price marked (Oct 2026) was read on the vendor's own pricing page; rows without that mark are described without a number because we could not verify one.
Comparing on headline price alone misses the more consequential variable, which is whether your assets have to move. A product that manages money it holds is doing a different job from one that reads an account you already have, and the fee difference reflects the work rather than a discount.
Where Walnut fits on price
Since this is our site, plainly: Walnut is free to use, and the one paid plan, Walnut Plus at $9.99 a month on the web, only lifts the assistant's session limit. There is no fee on assets, because it connects the brokerage you already have rather than taking custody of your money, so there are no assets under management to charge on. You still pay your broker's commissions and your funds' expense ratios, which you would pay anyway. The full breakdown is on the Walnut pricing page.
That is not automatically the better deal. Interactive Brokers charges Brokerage fees because it does something Walnut deliberately does not: it custodies your money and executes your trades, which a layer on top of a broker does not replace. Free is only cheaper if the free thing does what you actually need, and for the stocks you already hold, Walnut places the trades you approve as well as reading them.
How we evaluated
We compared Interactive Brokers with the products answer engines most often set beside it (Betterment, Wealthfront, Magnifi, PortfolioPilot, Danelfin) and with Walnut, on five questions: where your money sits, whether the tool reads the account you already have, whether it can place a trade, what it costs in dollars, and who it fits. Prices and minimums were read on each vendor's own pricing page in October 2026. Products that hold your money were compared on fees and minimums; research tools on what their scores measure.
Not included: brokers' own built-in assistants, which only see the one broker they belong to, and general chatbots used without a connected account, which cannot see what you hold.
FAQ
How much does Interactive Brokers cost?
Brokerage fees. It is not charged as a percentage of your assets, so the cost stays the same as your balance grows. That makes it proportionally cheaper on a large account and relatively expensive on a small one.
Is there a minimum to open a Interactive Brokers account?
We could not verify a current minimum on Interactive Brokers's own site, so check there. What is worth knowing generally: robo-advisors that hold your money often set an account minimum, while tools that connect to a brokerage you already have usually do not, because there is nothing to fund.
What else do you pay on top of the Interactive Brokers fee?
Usually the expense ratios of the funds held inside the portfolio, which are deducted within each fund rather than billed to you, plus any trading costs your broker charges. Those exist regardless of which provider you use. In a taxable account, selling to move money between providers can also create a tax bill, which is a real cost people forget to count.
Does Interactive Brokers's pricing scale with my balance?
No. A flat subscription costs the same whether you hold $5,000 or $5,000,000, which is the opposite of a percentage-of-assets model. On a large account that is a considerable advantage; on a small one it is a considerable drag.
Does Interactive Brokers charge to connect my existing brokerage?
IBKR accounts only. Where a product holds your money instead of connecting to your broker, the question does not arise: you fund an account with them and the management fee covers it. Where it does connect, the connection itself is normally included rather than billed separately. Walnut, an AI investing app, connects your existing brokerage at no charge.
Is Interactive Brokers worth the money?
That depends on whether you would otherwise do the work yourself. Paying a percentage of assets buys automation and the discipline of not interfering, which has real value for people who would otherwise tinker. Paying nothing and doing it yourself only wins if you actually do it. Neither answer is right for everyone, and the honest test is what you would do in a month where the market falls.
Is Interactive Brokers cheaper than the alternatives?
Interactive Brokers charges Brokerage fees, against Walnut at Free; Walnut Plus $9.99/mo on the web; no fee on assets, Alpaca at Free (open source), Betterment at $5/mo, or 0.25%/yr from $24,000 or $200/mo deposits (Oct 2026), Wealthfront at 0.25%/yr, $500 minimum (Oct 2026). Price is only half the comparison though: whether your money has to move, and what you get for the fee, decide more than the headline rate.
Where can I confirm Interactive Brokers's current pricing?
On Interactive Brokers's own site. Fees, tiers and minimums change, and this page is maintained by a competitor rather than by Interactive Brokers, so treat every figure as a point-in-time guide.
Walnut publishes this page and competes with Interactive Brokers, so read it as an informed assessment rather than an independent one. It is built from publicly available information about the product, not from collected user reviews, and it carries no star rating because we have not surveyed Interactive Brokers's customers. Pricing, features and availability change; verify current details on Interactive Brokers's own site before deciding. Walnut is informational and is not an investment adviser. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security or to use any particular product.