DEGIRO vs Trading 212 vs Lightyear — Which Broker for Irish ETF Investors?
Six years after Trading 212 launched in Ireland and four years after Lightyear arrived, DEGIRO still holds the lead for most Irish ETF investors. The honest reasons why — and the specific cases where each of the newer platforms wins.
Not financial advice. The information on etf.ie is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or investment advice. ETF investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital. Tax rules may change — always verify current Revenue guidance and consult a qualified financial adviser or tax professional before making investment decisions.
| Feature | DEGIRO | Trading 212 | Lightyear |
|---|---|---|---|
| ETF trade fee | €1 handling on Core Selection ETFs | €0 commission | €0 commission FX spread applies |
| Custody/annual fee | €0 (no platform fee) | €0 | €0 |
| ETF selection | 2,000+ UCITS ETFs | 700+ ETFs | ~400 ETFs |
| Fractional shares | No (full units only) | Yes | Yes |
| Regulation (Irish customers) | BaFin (Germany) IBKR sub-custodian, €100k cash / €20k | BaFin (Germany) €100k cash / €20k investment | EFSA (Estonia) €20k investor protection |
| FX fee | 0.25% per FX conversion | 0.15% per conversion | 0.35% on non-EUR trades |
| Savings plan / auto-invest | No | Yes (Pies) | No |
| Irish tax reporting | No auto report | No auto report | No auto report |
Fees as of April 2026. Always verify current terms directly with each broker.
Why DEGIRO still leads
DEGIRO has been the default choice for cost-conscious Irish ETF investors since it entered the Irish market, and despite genuine competition, it remains the strongest all-round option for most investors. Here's why.
ETF selection
DEGIRO offers access to over 2,000 UCITS ETFs across multiple exchanges — Xetra, Euronext, the London Stock Exchange, and others. For Irish investors who know exactly which ETF they want (by ISIN), DEGIRO almost certainly has it. Trading 212's 700+ and Lightyear's ~400 cover the most popular funds, but investors looking for niche exposures — specific sector ETFs, bond ETFs, smaller regional funds — will find DEGIRO's range unmatched.
The core ETF list and zero-commission trades
DEGIRO's "core ETF list" includes hundreds of ETFs (including VWCE, IWDA, EIMI, CSPX) that can be traded once per day at €0 commission + €1 handling fee. Outside the core list, standard per-trade commissions apply and vary by exchange. For monthly investors placing one trade per month in a core ETF, the annual cost is effectively €12 in handling fees — negligible.
Regulation and asset security
DEGIRO operates under BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht — Germany's federal financial regulator) — one of Europe's most rigorous. Client assets are held in a separate legal entity, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), and are legally ring-fenced from DEGIRO's own assets. DEGIRO also uses Interactive Brokers as its sub-custodian for many holdings, adding another layer of institutional-grade infrastructure. Investor compensation up to €20,000 under the German Investor Compensation Fund (ICF) is available, with the regulatory and custodial structure providing further practical protection beyond the headline number.
Track record and stability
DEGIRO was founded in 2013, has processed millions of transactions, and was acquired by flatexDEGIRO AG (a publicly listed company) in 2021. It has operated through multiple market crises without customer issues. Trading 212 and Lightyear are much newer, with shorter track records to assess under stress.
When Trading 212 wins
Trading 212 is genuinely excellent for a specific type of investor — and for some Irish investors it's the better choice.
Fractional shares and small regular investments
Trading 212 supports fractional share purchases — you can invest €50 in VWCE even if one unit costs €120+. For investors who want to invest a fixed amount each month (e.g. €100) regardless of the current unit price, this is a real advantage. DEGIRO only sells full units, which means some cash may sit uninvested each month.
Auto-invest Pies
Trading 212's "Pies" feature allows you to create a portfolio allocation (e.g. 90% IWDA, 10% EIMI) and have deposits automatically distributed according to that allocation. This approximates the regular savings plan functionality that many European brokers offer but Irish-accessible platforms have largely lacked. For a set-and-forget monthly investor, this is a compelling feature.
The regulation question
Trading 212's EU customers — including Irish residents — are onboarded by Trading 212 EU GmbH, regulated by Germany's BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) and passported into Ireland under MiFID II. (Some older EU accounts still sit under Trading 212 Markets Ltd, regulated by CySEC in Cyprus.) Either way it is not Central-Bank-of-Ireland supervised. Under the German entity, uninvested cash is protected up to €100,000 per person per partner bank by the German deposit guarantee, plus 90% up to €20,000 of investor compensation; your ETF holdings sit in segregated custody. That cash protection is actually stronger than the flat €20,000 ceiling at DEGIRO, Lightyear or XTB — though, as ever, it only matters for cash, not your ring-fenced fund units.
Lightyear — the Estonian-regulated alternative
Lightyear launched in Ireland in 2022. Note: as of 2026 Lightyear's Irish customers are served by Lightyear Europe AS, regulated by Estonia's Finantsinspektsioon (EFSA) under EU passporting — not by the FCA (UK Financial Conduct Authority) directly. UK customers are served by a separate Lightyear UK entity which is FCA-regulated. The investor compensation ceiling for Irish residents is therefore €20,000 under the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund, not the £85,000 FSCS (UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme) figure that applies to UK customers. Always check which Lightyear entity your account is held with — the in-app documents will tell you.
However, Lightyear's ETF range (~400 funds) is the most limited of the three, and it currently has no auto-invest feature. Its FX fee (0.35%) is higher than both DEGIRO and Trading 212 for non-EUR denominated trades. The cash interest rate on uninvested balances — paid on GBP, EUR and USD, and competitive relative to Irish bank accounts — is a genuine plus for investors who hold significant cash.
Real-money cost on your actual contribution
The verdict below leans on a single observation: even the worst-case broker on this page costs you a few hundred euro over a decade — not a few thousand. The calculator below proves it for your numbers. Set a monthly buy and a time horizon; it computes total broker leakage on each platform plus IBKR and XTB for context.
What CSPX actually costs you each month
Enter your monthly buy and how long you'll keep going. We compute total broker leakage — commission, FX, custody — across five Ireland-accessible brokers. Fund-level expenses (the 0.07% TER) are identical everywhere, so we strip them out and just show the bit you can change.
The verdict
For most Irish ETF investors, DEGIRO remains the strongest default. Its ETF range is unmatched, the core ETF list makes popular funds effectively free to trade, its BaFin regulation and IBKR sub-custody provide genuine institutional-grade asset security, and the platform is mature and stable.
Choose Trading 212 if: you invest small amounts monthly, want fractional units, or want auto-invest Pies to automate allocation between two funds. The CySEC regulatory concern is real but manageable for most portfolio sizes.
Choose Lightyear if: you hold meaningful cash between investments and want to earn EUR interest on it, you mainly trade EU-listed ETFs (where there's no commission), and you're comfortable with EU passporting via Estonia's EFSA.
Honest perspective: all three are legitimate brokers serving thousands of Irish customers without major incidents. The differences in fees over a decade of investing are typically a few hundred euros — not a few thousand. If you've already opened an account with one of them and are happy with it, switching just to chase the "best" option rarely pays off after factoring in transfer fees, account-opening time, and the potential to crystallise gains you don't want to crystallise yet.
None of the three produces a finished Irish Exit Tax statement — DEGIRO, Trading 212 and Lightyear all hand you raw account exports, and Trading 212's only country-specific report is for Germany (Anlage KAP). Calculating and declaring your exit tax and deemed disposal obligations is your job regardless of platform. See our step-by-step filing guide.
Related guides
Not financial advice. The information on etf.ie is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or investment advice. ETF investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital. Tax rules may change — always verify current Revenue guidance and consult a qualified financial adviser or tax professional before making investment decisions.