With the explosion of online investing over the past couple of years, Aussies looking to invest now have a much larger selection of potential brokerage apps for buying and selling both ASX & international shares.
Now that there’s so many potential brokers to choose from, it’s easy to suffer from paralysis of choice as to “which Australian broker app is best for me?”
Here’s our picks for the best Aussie broker apps for new investors – and our reasons why – to help get you started.Â
NOTE:Â we are not affiliated with any of these apps or companies nor paid by them, and are only featuring Australian broker companies here.
1. Stake
Pros:
- Slickest and fastest interface of any of the Aussie mobile brokerage apps
- Allows easy US trading & reasonably fast deposits
- Quick setup with no paperwork
- Ridiculously cheap $3 ASX trading brokerage fees
Cons:
- Forex fees aren’t too cheap
- App is fairly bare-bones unless you pay for Stake Black (monthly sub)
- Company hasn’t been around long (CHESS sponsorship helps with peace of mind however)
- Unable to see live buy/sell depth
Ideal for:Â those who look for a modern UI, and aim to trade both ASX & US stocks; also price-conscious investors. Those who don’t need too much research data within their broker.
Stake is the platform I’d been using for my American stock market purchases for the last couple of years, and also have since switched to for the ASX – and there was plenty that drew me to the app initially. Simply put: it’s currently the best combo of price/UI/safety out there at the moment.
There’s no denying it; as a bit of a tech/design snob, in terms of UI/UX Stake’s interface is by far the most appealing of any of the other Aussie brokerage apps out there in my opinion.
It’s very fast and lightweight, and doesn’t have as many of the loading errors or clunky UI choices that most of the other apps have at least to some degree.
Data and performance are presented cleanly for both your watchlists and stocks you’re holding, they provide easily downloadable contract notes & buy/sell notification emails for forwarding onto portfolio tracking systems like Sharesight, and their pricing data updates in real time.
Stake’s signup process was also by far the quickest/smoothest of all the CHESS-sponsored brokers we’ve tried, being able to be completed digitally without any hassle.
There’s no denying it; in terms of UI/UX Stake’s interface is by far the most appealing of any of the other Aussie brokerage apps out there in my opinion.
Outside of purely cosmetic aspects, Stake also is currently offering the cheapest brokerage fees for any CHESS-sponsored broker on the market now that they’ve launched their ASX offering as of October 2021 – at just $3 per trade.
I don’t know how that’s profitable/sustainable for them as a business, but such a ridiculously low fee sure benefits the consumer. It also allows you to be less conservative with buying smaller trade parcels and/or dollar-cost-averaging more frequently without too much profit being eaten up by broker fees.
Stake’s main downside is a lack of live market depth; you can’t view the buy to sell ratios on stocks you’re looking to purchase, which is a bummer. There were initially also issues where you couldn’t amend the price of an order you had in place – you’d have to cancel and then re-place a new order – however this has since been fixed.
It’s also lacking in “statistical research” in general unless you’re willing to fork out the money for their Stake Black premium product (currently $9 per month) which gives access to broker price targets, instant purchasing power when selling a stock without having to wait for the money to clear, and similar benefits.
For newbies or long-term ETF investors this won’t be too much of a big deal, and for those who want it the $9 per month subscription can be offset a fair bit by Stake’s cheap/flat brokerage vs. other brokers mentioned here anyway (depending on how frequently you trade).
Their customer service also isn’t the fastest/most responsive, although it’s okay – and truth be told, none of the non-bank brokers are amazing in this department.
While their ASX offering is thus basic, as of now it’s currently the easiest for us to recommend as the go-to all-round introductory broker for basically any active Australian investor who is looking for a cheap and easy – yet still pretty slick – place to get started.
Note that this doesn’t apply to high-frequency/day traders… but if you’re one of those, then you likely wouldn’t be needing to Google this article in the first place.
If this changes in the future, we’ll update this article to reflect that fact. Until then, if you don’t know who to go with when starting out… just go with Stake.
Website: https://hellostake.com/au
2. Commsec
Pros:
- Some of the best research data of any of the Aussie brokerage apps
- UI is the best of any of the ‘big banks’ brokerage platforms, and is quite good in general
- Backed by one of the biggest companies in Australia means a lot for peace of mind
- Able to see live order flows, integrated broker ratings & much more
- “T+2” trading functionality lets you access funds you don’t have (risky!)
Cons:
- Expensive to the point of being a major turnoff in terms of brokerage fees
- Returns data does not factor in brokerage fees, dividends, etc.
- USA / foreign trading interface is clunky and terrible overall
- Requires a Commonwealth Bank ‘CDIA’ account to get the most out of
Ideal for: premium users who trade the Australian market solely & want additional peace of mind; those looking for great research data & willing to pay for trading alongside it.
Of all the bigger banks’ brokerage platforms, Commonwealth’s Commsec dominates the scene courtesy of its far better user interface, robust and easily accessible research data, and general overall ‘premium’ package.
There’s a reason it’s the leader in Australian brokerage app market share, and it’s not just because it’s run by one of the biggest companies in the country.
While Aussie banks have a reputation for dated tech, Commsec is just a really solid app overall that covers all the corners of everything you need for ASX trading – live order flow, real-time pricing, comprehensive analysis, and both solid desktop and mobile app interfaces.
The backing of a major bank along with CHESS sponsorship makes Commsec pretty much the most ‘secure’ broker you can go with.
While it’s not ‘beautiful’ from a UI perspective, it’s thoughtfully designed and easy to access most of what you need on your phone. They also score extra points for having prompt and responsive customer service teams, so if you have an issue they’re far quicker to help you resolve them than most of the other smaller brokers.
The backing of a major bank along with CHESS sponsorship also makes them pretty much the most ‘secure’ broker you can go with, if you’re either the paranoid type or a baller-tier investor for whom security is paramount.
The main downside is that all of this comes at a cost. Brokerage fees on Commsec can add up extremely quickly; you pretty much need to have a CDIA account set up with them just to lower the brokerage costs from ‘eye-watering’ down to merely ‘painful’.
$20 (oh, excuse me, $19.95) transaction fees for the commonly-purchased share parcel range of $1000 – $10,000 is pretty unreasonable in this day and age, and has been the main reason why many of the other smaller brokers on this list have been able to steal an increasing amount of market share.
As for international trading with Commsec, in simple terms: don’t bother. Their setup for international trades is clunky as hell, using a white-labelled solution with a 3rd party partner (Pershing) and a terrible interface, along with high fees.
Compared to the rest of their pretty excellent ASX offering, the platform is dismal and you’d be better served using pretty much any other broker on this list for US trading. Why CBA don’t invest the effort to set up their own dedicated internal overseas investing integration after all this time boggles me.
Website: https://www.commsec.com.au/
3. SelfWealth
Pros:
- Solid “all-rounder” in terms of brokerage fees, CHESS sponsorship, & support
- Ability to view/mimic other investors’ portfolios
- Web interface has good functionality overall
- Starting to add in more comprehensive research data
Cons:
- Buggy app with some ongoing interface issues
- Can no longer claim cheapest brokerage as advantage
- Customer service can be slow/backlogged
- Many dislike the “social competition” element
Ideal for: those after a trustworthy broker with CHESS sponsorship & reasonable fees; to trade both ASX & US markets at a reasonable price.
It’s hard to believe that SelfWealth now feels like something of the “old guard” given it hasn’t really been around that long, however relative to some of these new upstart apps it’s something of a dinosaur having been around in some form since 2011.
This speaks in SelfWealth’s favour as a longer-running and increasingly-trusted platform amongst Aussie brokers outside of the fossils of the big banks; that it continues to grow and take market share is a testament to how well it’s stood the test of time.
On the downside, the platform does have some aspects that make it feel like a bit more of a ‘legacy’ player and less agile as a result, and while it’s pumped more money into development in recent years it’s starting to lose some of its previous competitive advantage.
SelfWealth’s main selling point in the past has been that it offered both low brokerage fees – a capped $9.50 per trade regardless of size – for ASX trades, while also offering the security of the individual HIN / CHESS sponsorship system.
It thus provided the ‘best of both worlds’, allowing you to save money on trades while having peace of mind if things should go pear-shaped, while also not having to rely on one of the big banks.
Overall, SelfWealth is still a very solid all-rounder that makes for a reliable starting point for new investors.
In recent times, platforms like Stake and Superhero have started to encroach on its turf, undercutting brokerage fees in certain aspects, offering newer and slicker user interfaces, and generally trying to appear more ‘modern’.
It didn’t help that SelfWealth has had some teething issues in its rollover to an entirely new app – one that made the previous version redundant despite being reliable, and causing some frustrations as a result.
They’ve been playing a little bit of catch-up since, and have recently incorporated much-needed features – such as instant deposits and live pricing – that help make them more competitive.
The company has also talked about rolling out cryptocurrency integration in some form, however exactly when or what that is remains to be seen; if they can pull it off, it may provide some much-needed differentiation moving forward.
SelfWealth also offers a somewhat contentious ‘social platform’ inside it in which your investment performance is rated against other SelfWealth users; some love it, some hate it, as it goes with any feature that people seem to feel strongly about one way or another.
Overall, SelfWealth is still a very solid all-rounder that makes for a reliable starting point for new investors; however they need to get moving before some of the newer, more agile platforms continue to steal some of their thunder.
Website: https://www.selfwealth.com.au/
4. SuperHero
Pros:
- Free brokerage on buying ETFs a major selling point
- Provides easy + quick setup to trade both ASX & US stocks
- Cheap brokerage on domestic trades
- App is quick and lightweight, does the job & includes market depth
- Superannuation platform is gaining steam
Cons:
- Custodian model & no CHESS sponsorship or individual HIN a ‘safety concern’ for the paranoid
- App is adequate if unspectacular & fairly bare-bones
- Lacking some features, and minimal research content
- Personal nitpick: unable to switch stock performance charts to a standard 3-year period
Ideal for: those looking to Dollar Cost Average (DCA) into ETFs; those who aren’t fussed about CHESS sponsorship.
One of the newer kids on the Australian investing block, Superhero came out of the gates swinging by offering a combination of at-the-time lowest brokerage fees for ASX trading, and completely free purchasing of ETFs – along with a massive marketing campaign – to make for an appealing package for the budget-conscious investor.
This came at the expense of declining to follow the standard Aussie CHESS sponsorship / individual HIN model and instead opting for the US-style custodial model (where your shares are “bulk registered” under the company’s entity rather than your own individual ID number) in order to provide cheap fees.
While Stake has since undercut those rates as far as domestic stock purchases go (at a $3 flat rate vs. Superhero’s $5), Superhero still offers an extremely reasonable rate along with an app that, while it is fairly basic, has all the core needs to get you started quick-smart with investing from your phone – and includes market depth, which Stake currently does not.
Superhero still offers an extremely reasonable brokerage rate along with an app that, while it is fairly basic, has all the core needs.
The app is fairly minimal, lightweight and reliable, although it lacks some of the more notable tools – such as more granular research & advisor data – of some of the heavier hitters on this list. Their layout decision to have your total performance at the very bottom of the UI which you have to scroll down to view is a minor annoyance and a weird design decision as well.
Without a doubt, Superhero’s main benefit for the average investor will be its free brokerage on ETFs. For those looking to make regular contributions or Dollar Cost Average, this allows you to put in smaller sums when you have even a few hundred dollars lying around without having to mentally tally up the cost each time you make a purchase.
You still do pay brokerage at the time you choose to sell the ETFs, but given the entire purpose behind ETFs is generally long-term holds, this impact is negligible in terms of overall cost.
In addition, befitting their brand name, Superhero have begun making a strong push into the Superannuation space, offering users the ability to transfer their existing super into the Superhero platform and have more control over of how your retirement money is invested.
They provide the choice of putting your super into different general and more passive “themes”, or going the active route and allocating money into specific ETFs and various approved individual stocks.
It’s an interesting route to take, with the revenue of which may help to contribute towards them being able to continue to compete on brokerage fees in the future.
Website: https://www.superhero.com.au/
5. Raiz
Pros:
- Provides a way to monetise your “loose change”
- Fulfils a niche vs. traditional broker apps
- App is clean, well-designed and offers good tracking
- Good choice for “non-stock-picker” & newbie investors
- Can invest in small amounts
Cons:
- Small selection of portfolios only
- Not a “traditional” broker
- Requires monthly fee
- Active or “serious” investors may want to look elsewhere
Ideal for: absolute beginners looking to get started with passive investing, and/or optimise their saving habits
Unlike the rest of the brokers on this list, Raiz fulfils a different niche in that it’s largely oriented around making regular, small investment contributions left over from your daily purchases and converting them into money to be invested.
Dubbed “micro-investing”, they aim to take advantage of the combined power of regular smaller investments & compounding over time to give you investment returns without requiring active management.
The platform takes a lot of the stress/thought/time required to make regular investments, particularly after you’ve chosen your initial setup process/combination (which can be changed easily at a later date).
It’s essentially almost set up to be an “alternative to a savings account”, with those dissatisfied with the dismal returns our banks are giving us these days able to instead have their money automatically invested into a number of set-and-forget investment portfolios handled by Raiz.
The app offers multiple portfolios to choose from with different levels of risk ranging from Conservative all the way up to Aggressive and even ‘Emerald’, with the holdings of each consisting of various ASX-based ETFs.
Unlike the rest of the brokers on this list, Raiz fulfils a different niche in that it’s oriented around making regular, small investment contributions.
Each plan requires a monthly management fee, ranging from under $5 per month for accounts with balances under the AUD $20k mark, and those over that number billed at a 0.275% annual fee instead.
These in turn can be engaged with in several ways – you can choose to invest your money in each portfolio either by the “Round up” method that invests the remaining $ of your daily purchases; contribute a regular/Recurring amount on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis; or just make lump sum payments in bigger chunks once you’ve saved up enough.
Of course, the downside to such an offering is that it’s entirely oriented at newer investors who are willing to put their trust in Raiz’s team to best manage their money; if you’re looking to actively pick individual stocks then this automatically excludes Raiz (and other micro-investing apps) by default.
However, given Raiz’s portfolios have performed quite well since inception – and even the most conservative of which is currently blowing bank account returns out of the water in the low interest rate environment – for those just getting started it’s a great way to ‘turn off your brain’ without the stress and time investment required to keep up to track with individual stocks.
Website: https://raizinvest.com.au/
The “Best of the Rest”:
Pearler:Â completely contrary to the “memestock craze” centric audience many other low-cost brokerage apps have been aimed at, Pearler takes the opposite view. Designed to encourage long-term, get-rich-slow investments, Pearler offers free brokerage on ASX ETFs as well as the ability to auto-invest into a number of established portfolios.
These include our old friend VDHG, as well as ethical ETFs and more. The paltform has longer-term goal-tracking functionality included to encourage “keeping your eyes on the prize” on the road to your target goal investment amount.
Link: https://pearler.com/
Commsec Pocket: Commonwealth Bank’s “lite” offering is an extremely basic and stripped-down app designed for beginners/those who don’t want to bother acquire more than the basics in investing knowledge, with only a small handful of diversified ETFs to choose from.
In return, the platform charges a minimal $2 transaction fee to purchase, a simplified UI, and 7 different ETFs ranging from broad market indexes to a couple of thematic-index ETFs such as tech & healthcare. It’s fine as a “gateway drug” to more advanced investing, although its range of ETFs is still a little too limited in our view.
Link: https://www.commsec.com.au/Pocket
MarkeTech:Â one of the better broker app offerings for those who want a combo of expanded research tools along with brokerage that won’t break the bank, Marketech is a fairly new broker to the scene out of Perth.
It allows you to access more detailed charting, real time/live market depth, and see company specific news and announcements (along with alert notifications) from within the app. As a result, it’s one that’s tailor-made for those more advanced traders interested in the likes of Technical Analysis (TA) & day trading, making for a cheaper alternative to the likes of the expensive Iress-esque professional products out there. Includes CHESS/individual HIN sponsorship.
Link: https://marketech.com.au/
ThinkMarkets:Â the main point of differentiation for app ThinkMarkets vs. the other more ‘traditional’ brokerage apps on this list is its offering of additional (and riskier) investment types within the one platform.
While it also offers basic stock trading with an $8 brokerage fee for trades all the way up to $200k, it’s also another more technical offering with the opportunity to invest in crypto, forex, CFDs, and various other asset sub-types. It does lack live price data streaming in real-time, however does update on refresh. Includes CHESS/individual HIN sponsorship.
Link: https://www.thinkmarkets.com/
NABTrade:Â NAB’s offering that’s roughly equivalent to CommSec is similar in that you’d probably only use it as your default broker if you’re already a NAB bank account holder. It’s a solid platform with a decent user interface (on the website; the app isn’t great however) & access to both Australian & international stocks, and with a slightly cheaper brokerage fee amount in some cases than CommSec as well.
In addition, for international shares you often end up paying extra conversion fees as NABTrade automatically moves the funds from any foreign share sales back into your AUD account, taking a clip at the time as well. Overall, we’d only recommend it if you’re with NAB already… and even then, not so much.
