eToro vs Interactive Brokers: Portfolio Size Decides This One

These two are not really competitors

eToro scores 4.7 and Interactive Brokers scores 4.7 in our rankings, which tells you almost nothing useful on its own. They earn those scores for opposite reasons: eToro because it removes obstacles for people who do not yet know what they are doing, IBKR because it removes ceilings for people who do.

Someone opening a first account with a few hundred to invest and someone managing a six-figure multi-currency portfolio are not choosing between the same two things. Almost every real decision here is settled by which of those two you are.

Cost: the answer flips with account size

eToro charges no commission on real stocks, which makes it very cheap for small, infrequent purchases. Its costs sit at the perimeter: currency conversion when you fund in something other than dollars, a withdrawal fee, and an inactivity charge if you go quiet for a long time. On a small account that moves money around, those perimeter costs are the whole cost.

Interactive Brokers charges commission, but at rates designed for volume, and its currency handling is materially cheaper because you can hold and convert currencies at close to interbank rates. On a large portfolio, that difference in conversion alone can dwarf any commission saving elsewhere.

So the cost comparison genuinely inverts. Below a few thousand, eToro is usually cheaper. Well into five figures with multi-currency activity, IBKR usually is.

Market access

eToro covers the US, UK and EU across a substantial set of exchanges, which is more than enough for the overwhelming majority of portfolios. If you want Apple, Nvidia, a FTSE constituent and a broad ETF, you will not notice a limitation.

Interactive Brokers is in a different category, reaching dozens of exchanges across most of the developed and much of the emerging world, alongside bonds, futures, options and currencies. If you want to buy a specific listing on a specific exchange, IBKR is very often the only one of the two that can.

This is the cleanest deciding question available: name the markets you want. If eToro carries them, market access is not a reason to move.

Platform and experience

The eToro app is designed so that a person who has never bought a share can do so without reading anything. Copy trading extends that idea, letting you mirror another investor while you learn what a portfolio looks like.

IBKR's platform is comprehensive and correspondingly demanding. Order types, routing, analytics and risk tooling are all there, and the interface does not go out of its way to be welcoming. Their simplified mobile experience has improved this considerably, but the underlying product is still built for someone who knows the vocabulary.

Neither approach is wrong. Giving a beginner the full IBKR terminal is a good way to make them never invest again; giving a professional the eToro app is a good way to make them leave.

Safety

Both are regulated by serious authorities in multiple jurisdictions, and both segregate client assets. eToro operates under the FCA, CySEC, ASIC and MFSA depending on your region, and IBKR similarly runs regulated entities across the UK, EU, US and Asia.

Your protection depends on which entity holds your account, not on the brand. A UK client typically falls under FSCS cover; an EU client under the local investor compensation scheme. Both protect against the broker failing, not against your investments falling in value.

On this dimension there is no meaningful gap. Neither is a risk you need to price in.

The honest recommendation

Start with eToro if you are starting. The friction it removes is worth more at the beginning than the capability it lacks, and nothing about the choice is permanent.

Move to, or start with, Interactive Brokers when one of three things is true: your portfolio has grown into five figures and currency costs are becoming visible, you want a market eToro does not carry, or you have specific requirements around order types and routing.

A reasonable number of investors end up using both, with a long-term core at IBKR and a smaller eToro account for the things it does well. That is not indecision, it is just using each for what it is good at.