Fidelity vs Schwab: Which Brokerage Should You Choose?

Account minimums and trading costs

Both Fidelity and Schwab charge $0 to open a brokerage account and $0 in commissions on online U.S. stock and ETF trades. Neither has an edge on the basics that most self-directed investors use every day.

Options traders pay the same $0.65 per-contract fee at both firms, with no base commission on top. Where the two diverge is fund minimums: Fidelity's ZERO index funds require no minimum at all, while Schwab's low-cost index funds, like SWTSX, also carry no minimum — so this line is effectively a tie once you move past the flagship products.

Mutual funds outside each firm's proprietary lineup can still carry minimums in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, so check the specific fund's prospectus before assuming $0 applies everywhere.

Fidelity's ZERO funds vs. Schwab's near-zero lineup

Fidelity's four ZERO funds — FZROX, FZILX, FNILX, and FZIPX — charge a literal 0.00% expense ratio, confirmed in Fidelity's own SEC-filed prospectus. They track Fidelity's proprietary in-house indexes rather than licensed benchmarks like the S&P 500, which is how Fidelity avoids paying an index-licensing fee.

Schwab doesn't offer a true 0% fund, but its Schwab Total Stock Market Index Fund (SWTSX) and Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX) both run around 0.02%, among the cheapest licensed-index funds in the industry.

The tradeoff most comparisons skip: Fidelity's ZERO funds aren't portable — only Fidelity offers them, so you can't hold the exact same fund if you move your account elsewhere. Schwab's index funds track widely licensed benchmarks you can replicate at almost any brokerage. See our index fund vs ETF comparison for how that portability question plays out with ETFs instead of mutual funds.

Robo-advisors: Fidelity Go vs. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios

Fidelity Go has no minimum to open, charges nothing for balances under $25,000, and moves to a 0.35% annual fee once your balance crosses $25,000 — at which point you also get one-on-one coaching. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios requires a $5,000 minimum but charges no advisory fee at all, no matter how large your balance grows.

Schwab's robo does hold a meaningful cash allocation inside the portfolio, which is how it funds a $0 advisory fee — that cash sits at a lower yield than a fully invested portfolio would earn, so the real cost isn't zero, it's just paid through opportunity cost on the cash sleeve rather than a line-item fee.

For a first-time investor with under $5,000, Fidelity Go is the only option of the two that will even accept the account. For a larger, buy-and-hold balance where you're comfortable with Schwab's cash allocation, Intelligent Portfolios' $0 fee wins on paper. Run both scenarios through the investment growth calculator before deciding.

Branches, banking, and everyday cash

Schwab operates a larger branch network — over 400 locations versus Fidelity's roughly 200 investor centers — so Schwab is more likely to have a branch near you if in-person service matters. Schwab Bank's High Yield Investor Checking account also rebates ATM fees worldwide with no minimum balance and no monthly fee, a feature aimed squarely at people who want one account to handle both investing and daily spending.

Fidelity's Cash Management Account competes closely, with no account fees and a debit card, but it doesn't carry Schwab's global ATM-fee-rebate guarantee. Neither account pays interest as high as a dedicated high-yield savings account, so use our high-yield savings calculator if the checking-account cash itself is meant to be a real savings vehicle rather than a spending buffer.

Where the comparison actually turns on you, not the brokerage

A detail investors rarely check before opening an account: Fidelity's ZERO funds and Schwab's near-zero funds only matter as much as the balance you're running them on. On a $10,000 balance, the gap between a 0.00% Fidelity ZERO fund and a 0.02% Schwab index fund is about $2 a year — real, but not decision-driving on its own.

What actually should drive the decision for most people is the feature they'll use weekly, not annually: Schwab's branch network and rebated ATM fees for someone who banks in person, or Fidelity's $0-minimum robo-advisor for someone starting with a small first deposit. Treat the expense-ratio gap as a tiebreaker, not the headline.

If you're deciding between a taxable account and a retirement account first, that choice matters more than which of these two brokerages you pick — see our brokerage vs IRA comparison before opening either account.

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