Both brokers now charge $0 commission on Canadian and US stocks and ETFs, which quietly erased the reason most people used to pick one over the other. What's actually left to compare in 2026: currency conversion fees, account variety, robo-advisor pricing, and how the platforms feel to use. Both now charge $0 commission on stocks and ETFs. Here's what's actually still different in 2026.
For plain stock and ETF trading, it no longer matters which one you pick. Both are commission-free now. What still separates them is the currency conversion fee, how many account types each one supports, robo-advisor pricing if you want a managed portfolio, and whether you'd rather use a simple app (Wealthsimple) or a more powerful self-directed platform (Questrade).
Picking a broker is one of the last money steps, not the first. If you still carry high-interest debt or have no emergency fund yet, the money order of operations shows what to do before you open an account.
Questrade removed commissions on stock and ETF trades in February 2025. A lot of "Wealthsimple vs Questrade" comparisons still online were written before that and describe Questrade's old per-share pricing. If you've read that Questrade charges to trade stocks, that's out of date now.
| Wealthsimple | Questrade | |
|---|---|---|
| Stock trades (CA & US) | $0 | $0 |
| ETF trades (CA & US) | $0 | $0 |
| Options | $0 per contract | $0 on most contracts |
| Account / inactivity fees | None | None |
| Minimum to open | $0 | $0 |
| Transfer out to another broker | $0 | $150, full or partial |
Some Questrade order types can trigger a small Electronic Communication Network (ECN) fee depending on how an order routes. It's not a flat per-trade cost, and standard market or limit orders (what most casual investors already use) avoid it.
Where the real cost usually shows up
With trading itself free at both, currency conversion is the fee that actually matters if you ever buy US-listed stocks or ETFs (which includes plenty of popular ones) from a CAD account.
| Wealthsimple | Questrade | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard FX fee | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| Holding US dollars | USD account: $10/month on Core, included at $100,000+ (Premium) | Free, in any account |
| How to avoid it | Hold USD in a USD account, where larger conversions cost less: 1.5% under $10,000, falling to 0% at $100,000 or more per conversion | Hold USD for free, or use Norbert's Gambit (a manual DIY conversion using a dual-listed stock) to convert for a fraction of the 1.5% |
Both headline rates are 1.5% as of September 2026, so the real difference is what it costs to hold US dollars once you have them. Rates are adjusted periodically, so confirm the live rate before a large conversion. If you only buy Canadian-listed securities, this entire section doesn't apply to you.
| Account | Wealthsimple | Questrade |
|---|---|---|
| TFSA | Yes | Yes |
| RRSP | Yes | Yes |
| FHSA | Yes | Yes |
| RESP | Yes | Yes |
| LIRA | Yes | Yes |
| Non-registered / margin | Yes | Yes |
| RRIF | Yes | Yes |
| Corporate | Yes (Business account) | Yes |
| Trust | No | Yes |
Both now cover RRIFs and corporate investing, so for almost everyone this section is a tie. The one real gap is trusts: if you invest through a family trust, only Questrade supports it.
If you'd rather not pick your own investments
Both brokers also offer a "do it for me" managed option, and here the pricing genuinely diverges: Questrade's is cheaper at every tier.
| Wealthsimple Invest | Questwealth Portfolios | |
|---|---|---|
| Under $100,000 | 0.50% | 0.25% |
| $100,000+ | 0.40% | 0.20% |
| $500,000+ | 0.20–0.40% | 0.20% |
Both fees are on top of the underlying ETF MERs inside the portfolio (typically ~0.1–0.2% more). Wealthsimple's Premium tier ($100,000+) adds tax-loss harvesting and a higher interest rate on uninvested cash, which can partly offset the fee gap for larger accounts.
Most people just getting started (opening a first TFSA or RRSP, buying a broad ETF like XEQT, and not touching it often) will find the trading-fee difference between these two is now zero. So the decision comes down to which app you'd rather open every week. If that's an easy call for you already, that's a perfectly good reason on its own. If you're specifically optimizing for the lowest cost on a managed portfolio, or you buy a lot of US-listed stock, Questrade is the more deliberate pick.
Finance Simulator projects TFSA, RRSP and FHSA growth on your real contribution amount and timeline, whichever broker you land on. Free, no account, nothing sent to a server.
For basic stock and ETF trading, they're tied: both charge $0 commission on Canadian and US-listed stocks and ETFs, and both charge a 1.5% currency conversion fee. The real differences are holding US dollars (free at Questrade, $10 a month for a Wealthsimple USD account below $100,000), transferring out ($0 at Wealthsimple, $150 at Questrade), and managed portfolios, where Questwealth Portfolios (0.20% to 0.25%) undercuts Wealthsimple's managed investing (0.4% to 0.5%).
No. Questrade removed commissions on stock and ETF trades in February 2025. Before that, Questrade charged per-share fees on stock trades while ETF purchases were already free, and a lot of older comparisons online still describe that outdated pricing.
Neither: both charge 1.5% to convert between Canadian and US dollars. The difference is what happens after. Questrade lets you hold US dollars for free in any account and supports Norbert's Gambit, which can cut the conversion cost to a fraction of that. Wealthsimple's USD account costs $10 a month on the Core tier and is included once you have $100,000 or more (Premium).
They are now close. Both offer the TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP, RRIF, LIRA, non-registered and margin accounts, and both support corporate investing. The remaining gap is trusts: Questrade offers trust accounts and Wealthsimple does not.
Wealthsimple is generally considered easier to start with: a simpler mobile-first app, a managed portfolio option that requires no investing knowledge, and a more guided account setup. Questrade's self-directed platform (especially the advanced IQ Edge desktop platform) has a steeper learning curve but more tools once you're comfortable, which suits investors who want more control.
Yes, at either broker individually, and you can also split accounts across both if you want: for example a self-directed TFSA at one and a managed RRSP at the other. There's no rule limiting you to a single brokerage, though consolidating tends to make tracking your overall portfolio simpler.
Questwealth Portfolios, Questrade's robo-advisor (formerly called Portfolio IQ), charges a 0.25% management fee on balances under $100,000 and 0.20% above that, plus the MERs of the ETFs inside each portfolio. Wealthsimple's managed investing charges 0.5% on the Core tier, 0.4% at Premium ($100,000+), and 0.4% down to 0.2% at Generation ($500,000+).
Questrade charges $150 to transfer an account out to another brokerage, whether you move all of it or part of it. Wealthsimple reimburses the transfer-out fee your old institution charges when you move $25,000 or more. Going the other way, Wealthsimple charges nothing to transfer out, and Questrade reimburses transfer-out fees charged by your old institution, up to $150.
Fee figures on this page reflect publicly available pricing as of September 2026 and were cross-checked against the brokers' own pricing and help pages and independent broker-comparison sources. Both brokers change pricing periodically, so confirm current rates directly with Wealthsimple/Questrade before acting. This page is educational and is not financial, tax, or legal advice. See the terms of use.