India’s retail participation in the equity and derivatives market has skyrocketed in recent years. With multiple discount brokers available, choosing the best stock broker depends on several factors, not just low brokerage. In this blog, we will compare five leading Indian platforms: Dhan, Zerodha, Groww, Upstox, and Angel One, to help market participants identify the right platform for them.
Dhan
Dhan is a technology-first brokerage platform offering equities, Futures and Options (F&O), commodities, mutual funds, and IPOs through an integrated ecosystem. Its infrastructure runs on DEXT, Dhan’s proprietary trading engine offering its users lightning-fast execution.
Dhan charges zero brokerage for equity delivery, ETFs, IPOs and mutual funds. Equity intraday and MTF trades are charged at ₹20 or 0.03% per executed order, whichever is lower, while equity and commodity F&O trades are charged at ₹20 per executed order.
Beyond equities, Dhan also allows investors to buy and hold gold and silver at live MCX rates through its Gold Vault feature, with holdings maintained in ComRIS accounts, making it one of the best stock broker.
Zerodha
Zerodha’s Kite platform is known for its clean interface, broad product coverage and strong investor education ecosystem. It supports equity, mutual funds, IPOs, commodities, currencies and derivatives.
Zerodha introduced the flat-fee discount brokerage model in India, and its Kite platform offers integration with Sensibull, which is available free for Zerodha users. It also offers Coin for direct mutual fund investing and Varsity, its free financial education platform.
Zerodha charges zero brokerage on equity delivery trades, ₹20 or 0.03% per executed order, whichever is lower, for intraday and futures. Furthermore, it charges ₹20 per executed order for Options trades. The brokerage rises to ₹40 per F&O order if the account balance is negative or the collateral margin cash shortfall exceeds ₹5 lakh.
Groww
Groww started off as a mutual fund investment platform but later grew to include investments in stocks, F&Os, US stocks, and even IPOs. Its simple interface makes it a popular choice for first-time investors.
Users can check the allotment of IPOs and track application status directly in the Groww app, alongside their mutual fund and equity portfolio in one consolidated view.
Groww charges ₹20 or 0.1%, whichever is lower, with a minimum brokerage of ₹5 on equity trades and a flat ₹20 per executed F&O order. For investors building a cross-product portfolio across mutual funds, stocks, and IPOs, Groww’s single-interface approach reduces the need to switch between multiple apps.
Upstox
Upstox offers both mobile and web-based trading across various segments like equities, mutual funds, IPOs, commodities and derivatives. It displays OI, India VIX, Max Pain, and Greeks across its option chain, and supports basket orders of up to 20 contracts at once.
Traders can also monitor up to 8 live charts simultaneously on the web platform. Brokerage is ₹20 for equity delivery, ₹20 or 0.1% for intraday, ₹20 or 0.05% for futures and ₹20 for options trades.
Upstox offers free Trade APIs and TradingView chart integration with direct order placement, making it a popular choice among active traders.
Angel One
Angel One blends discount pricing with in-house research and advisory. The SmartAPI provided by it helps in algorithmic trading without any API subscription fee. It also offers Insta Trade, which brings charts, live Profit and Loss (P&L), and order entry to a single screen.
It charges zero brokerage for the first 30 days, subject to a maximum benefit of ₹500. After that period, equity delivery and intraday brokerage is the lower of ₹20 or 0.1% per executed order, with a minimum brokerage of ₹5. Futures, options, currency and commodity trades are charged at ₹20 per executed order.
The platform offers integration with Sensibull and Streak for strategy analysis and supports algorithmic order types such as Smart Orders and trailing stop-losses.
Conclusion
There is no single platform that is suitable for every Indian investor. Dhan may be attractive for active traders, Zerodha for investors seeking a simple and established ecosystem, Groww for beginners, Upstox for chart-focused traders, and Angel One for users who value research and assisted market information.
Therefore, before selecting a broker, market participants should compare them to find the right broker that aligns with their investment style, experience and trading requirements.
