Best Investment Platforms in SA: 2026 Honest Comparison

Fees Will Quietly Rob You If You Let Them

I need you to understand something before we get into the platform reviews. The difference between a 0.3% annual fee and a 2.5% annual fee might sound like nothing. It's not. It's the difference between retiring comfortably and retiring eish.

Look at this — R500,000 invested for 20 years at 10% average return:

• 0.3% annual fee: Grows to ~R3,200,000
• 1.5% annual fee: Grows to ~R2,600,000
• 2.5% annual fee: Grows to ~R2,100,000

That "small" 1.5% difference costs you over R600,000 over 20 years. Gone. Into the platform's pocket instead of yours. Fees are the single most controllable factor in your investment returns, and most people don't even look at them.

That's why this review exists. I've used most of these platforms myself, and I'm going to tell you exactly what each one charges, where they're lekker, and where they're not.

Quick Comparison

Platform	Best For	Min Investment	TFSA	JSE	US Stocks	Crypto	Monthly Fee
EasyEquities	Beginners, small amounts	R1	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	R5–R25 (Thrive)
Satrix	Passive ETF investing	R1 (debit order)	Yes	ETFs only	Via ETFs	No	None
Allan Gray	Long-term unit trusts	R500 lump / R500 debit order	Yes	Via funds	Via funds	No	None (fund fees apply)
Interactive Brokers	Advanced, global access	$0	No	No	Yes	No	None
Standard Bank OST	JSE direct, larger trades	~R100 (min brokerage)	Yes	Yes	No	No	None
Capitec EasyEquities	Capitec customers, beginner	R1	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	R5–R25 (Thrive)
eToro	Social/copy trading	$50	No	No	Yes	Yes	None (spreads)

EasyEquities — Everyone's First Platform (For Good Reason)

Look, if you're in your 20s or 30s in SA and you invest, you probably started on EasyEquities. The app is clean, you can invest from R1, and it gives you JSE stocks, US stocks, ETFs, crypto, and retirement products all in one place. It's genuinely made investing accessible.

But you need to understand the actual cost, because it's more complicated than it looks.

The fees breakdown (verified against the official Cost Profile, Feb 2026)

Brokerage (per trade):

• JSE shares and ETFs: 0.25%
• US shares: 0.25% (there's no such thing as "commission-free US trading" here — don't let anyone tell you otherwise)
• Crypto: 0.50–0.75%

The EasyFX forex cost — this is where it really adds up on US stocks. Two separate costs:

• Transfer fee: 0.50% (plus tax) per conversion
• Exchange rate markup: 0.6–0.7% above the Mid WM/Reuters spot rate

Round-trip that's ~2.3% in forex costs alone (roughly 1.15% each direction). So a R100,000 conversion to Dollars and back to Rands costs you about R2,300 in forex spread, on top of the brokerage and Thrive fee.

The Thrive Fee:

EasyEquities charges a flat R25 per month Thrive fee. It's NOT tiered by portfolio size.

The fee is waived if you:

• Reach Thrive Level 3 or higher in a given month (achievable by meeting loyalty criteria — see their Thrive dashboard)
• Are under 21 or over 65
• Are a corporate entity
• Have an active EasyCredit loan or EasyProtect policy

On a R5,000 portfolio, that R25/month = R300/year = 6% annual fee just from Thrive alone. On R50,000 it's 0.6%. On R500,000 it drops to 0.06%. So unless you're hitting Thrive Level 3, the flat R25 fee hits small portfolios hardest — often a deal-breaker for casual investors with under R20,000 invested.

ETF TERs (Total Expense Ratios) are separate — charged by the fund provider (Satrix, Ashburton, etc.), not EasyEquities. Typically 0.10–0.40% per year, deducted from returns automatically.

The good stuff

• Lowest barrier to entry in SA — fractional shares from R1
• Clean app, easy to use, even your parents can figure it out
• JSE, US stocks, crypto, ETFs, unit trusts, RAs — everything in one place
• TFSA available — invest up to R46,000/year tax-free
• Bundles let you create custom portfolio mixes

The not-so-good

• Flat R25/month Thrive fee hurts small portfolios badly
• 0.25% US brokerage is higher than many think (not "commission-free")
• Forex round-trip cost of ~2.3% on US stocks stacks up
• Customer support can be slow when the market is moving
• No limit orders on some instruments

My take

Start here if you're a beginner and you have at least R25,000 to invest. The interface is excellent and the JSE/TFSA experience is solid. But if you're running a sub-R20,000 portfolio without hitting Thrive Level 3, the flat R25 fee is a real drag. And if you're investing serious money (R10k+/month) into US stocks specifically, you're paying ~2.3% forex round-trip on top of 0.25% brokerage each way — which is why people with larger US portfolios move to IBKR.

Satrix — The Boring One (That Quietly Wins)

Satrix is the ETF arm of Sanlam Investments. There's nothing flashy about it. No crypto, no individual stocks, no fancy social features. Just low-cost index-tracking ETFs, a debit order, and silence.

It's beautiful.

The fees

• No platform fee, no brokerage when investing via Satrix unit trusts
• Fund TERs are incredibly low — Satrix 40 is 0.10%, Satrix MSCI World is 0.35%, Satrix S&P 500 is 0.20%
• TFSA available with no extra platform charges

The good stuff

• Literally the cheapest way to invest passively in SA
• Set up a debit order, forget it exists, check in once a year
• Strong range: JSE, S&P 500, MSCI World, bonds, property
• No minimum for debit order investments

The not-so-good

• No individual stock picking — ETFs and unit trusts only
• The interface is... functional. Let's leave it at that.
• No US stocks or crypto directly
• If you want to actively trade, look elsewhere

My take

If you want the cheapest possible passive investing, this is it. Set up a Satrix TFSA, debit order R3,833/month into the MSCI World ETF, and go live your life. It's the "braai and chill" approach to investing. Not exciting. Very effective.

Allan Gray — Your Parents' Favourite

Allan Gray is the institution your financial advisor recommends and your tannie has had since 2005. They're one of SA's biggest and most respected fund managers.

The fees (verified March 2026 Fund List)

Platform administration fee (LISP) — yes, they do charge one, contrary to common belief:

• 0.5% p.a. on the first R1m
• 0.2% p.a. on the next R2m
• 0.1% p.a. on the next R7m
• 0.075% p.a. on the balance over R10m
• All excluding VAT (add 15%)

Fund management fees — the flagship Balanced Fund (AGBF) has a performance-based fee:

• Minimum: 0.30% p.a. (excl. VAT)
• Maximum: 1.30% p.a. (excl. VAT)
• In recent years, the Total Investment Charge (TIC) has frequently run above 1.5% — and the Orbis Global Balanced Feeder has seen TICs over 2% due to performance fees. From 1 October 2026, the Orbis Global Balanced Feeder switches to a fixed 1.4% p.a., regardless of performance.

All-in cost for a typical retail investor in the Balanced Fund on the Allan Gray platform: roughly 1.5–2% per year (platform fee + fund TIC + VAT).

The good stuff

• Excellent long-term track record — the Balanced Fund has beaten most competitors over 10+ years
• Professional fund management — a team of very smart people picking stocks for you
• Solid RA and TFSA options
• Great reporting and communication

The not-so-good

• The "no platform fee" assumption is wrong — there IS an admin fee on top of the fund TIC
• Performance fees on some funds have historically pushed all-in costs above 2%
• No individual stocks, no US access, no crypto
• The eternal question: does their stock picking beat a passive ETF by more than the ~1.5–2% fee drag? Over very long periods, the evidence is mixed.

My take

Good for people who want a professional managing their money and are fully aware of the all-in cost. The Balanced Fund is genuinely well-run. But for your TFSA specifically, paying ~1.8% all-in versus Satrix's 0.10–0.35% is a very high bar for the active manager to clear. On a R500,000 portfolio over 20 years, that fee difference alone costs you hundreds of thousands in lost compound growth.

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) — The Grown-Up's Platform

IBKR is a US-based brokerage available to SA residents. If EasyEquities is the Toyota, IBKR is the BMW — more power, less hand-holding.

The fees

• No monthly fee
• US stock brokerage: $0.0035 per share with a $0.35 minimum per trade (so on small trades the minimum kicks in)
• Forex conversion: 0.002% commission with a $2 minimum per conversion, and IBKR passes through the interbank rate with no spread markup — vastly better than EasyEquities' 0.50% transfer fee + 0.6–0.7% markup
• No JSE access

The good stuff

• By far the cheapest way to buy US and global stocks from SA
• The forex spread is so tight it's basically free
• Access to US, UK, Europe, Asia, futures, options — the world
• Powerful research tools and real-time data
• Margin accounts if you're experienced

The not-so-good

• The interface is complex — not for beginners
• No JSE (you need a separate platform for SA stocks)
• No TFSA — can't wrap these investments tax-free in SA
• You manage your own exchange control (R1 million discretionary or R10 million with tax clearance)
• Customer support isn't SA-focused

My take

If you're investing R10,000+/month into US stocks, the forex savings versus EasyEquities are massive. On R20,000/month in US stocks, the difference between IBKR's 0.002% forex and EasyEquities' 0.70% saves you roughly R1,680/year. But you still need a SA platform for your TFSA and JSE. Use IBKR alongside, not instead of.

eToro — The Instagram of Investing

eToro's thing is "social trading" — you can see other investors' portfolios and copy their trades. Sounds lekker on paper. The reality in SA is different.

The fees

• No brokerage on stocks (you trade the spread)
• Forex conversion: 1.5% when depositing Rands — that's steep
• $5 per withdrawal — adds up quick
• Spread costs built into buy/sell prices
• Overnight fees on leveraged positions

The honest truth

For most South Africans, eToro is a bad deal. The 1.5% forex conversion is nearly double EasyEquities and 750x IBKR. On a R50,000 deposit, you lose R750 before you've invested a cent. It's not FSCA-regulated (Cyprus/EU regulation instead). The copy trading feature sounds clever but "past performance doesn't guarantee future results" exists for a reason — and you're paying extra fees for the privilege of copying someone who might blow up tomorrow.

No TFSA, no RA, no SA tax wrappers. If you specifically want social trading features, ja, eToro serves that niche. Everyone else should look elsewhere.

Standard Bank Online Share Trading

The old-school option. Standard Bank's platform gives you direct JSE access.

The fees

• Brokerage: 0.40% of trade value (minimum R100 per trade)
• No monthly fee if you trade quarterly; otherwise R50/quarter inactivity fee
• TFSA available

My take

That R100 minimum brokerage is the killer. On a R1,000 trade, you're paying 10% in fees. Eish. But for larger, less frequent JSE trades (R25,000+), the 0.40% is reasonable and you get solid research, analyst coverage, and IPO access. If you're investing R500–R2,000 at a time, EasyEquities or Satrix are way cheaper.

So What Should YOU Use?

Just starting out (R100–R5,000/month)

EasyEquities or Satrix TFSA. Pick whichever app you like more. The fee difference between them is small compared to the difference between investing and not investing.

Investing R5,000–R20,000/month

EasyEquities TFSA (max ~R3,833/month) plus a taxable account on EasyEquities or Satrix for the rest. For pure JSE ETFs, Satrix is marginally cheaper.

Investing R20,000+/month with global ambitions

IBKR for US/global stocks (the forex savings add up fast) plus Satrix or EasyEquities TFSA for your R46,000 annual tax-free allocation plus a 10X or Sygnia RA if you want retirement savings.

Want maximum simplicity

Satrix TFSA with a monthly debit order into the MSCI World ETF. Lowest fees, automated, globally diversified. Check it once a year. This is boring, and boring is how most millionaires actually got rich.

Want to trade actively

IBKR for global markets, EasyEquities for JSE. If you're trading frequently, per-trade costs matter — IBKR wins for US, EasyEquities is solid for JSE.

Run Your Own Numbers

Want to see exactly how fees eat into YOUR returns over 10, 20, or 30 years? Try our Investment Fee Comparison Calculator — plug in the platforms you're considering and see the difference in Rands. And if you're deciding between a TFSA and a taxable account, our TFSA vs Taxable Calculator shows the exact cost of tax drag over decades.

The Straight Talk

There's no single "best" platform. There's the best one for YOU.

But here's what's universally true:

Max out your TFSA first. Any platform that offers one. R46,000/year, tax-free forever. This is the closest thing to free money the government gives you.

Fees compound, just like returns. A 1% difference over 20 years costs you hundreds of thousands. Don't ignore it.

Don't overthink the platform choice. The gap between EasyEquities and Satrix is marginal. The gap between investing and not investing is massive. Pick one and start. You can always switch later.

The best platform is the one you actually use. If the interface annoys you, you won't invest consistently. Pick what feels right, set up a debit order, and let compound interest do the rest. Sharp.