The best demat account for beginners is the one that matches how you invest.
Most “best demat account” lists are ads wearing ranking clothes. This page works differently: it writes the criteria down in the order a beginner meets them, shows what each criterion costs at Upstox, Zerodha, Groww and Angel One, and refuses to name a winner. Every figure was read from the broker’s own pricing page and checked on 16 September 2026.
What this page does, and what it refuses to do
A demat account is not a product with a winner. It is a set of charges and a piece of software, and how good it is depends on what you do with it. A broker whose delivery brokerage is zero looks generous until you notice the per-scrip charge on every sale. A broker with the highest AMC in the table can cost you nothing at all for years, because the BSDA rules cap that charge while your holdings stay small.
So this page does not rank anyone. It teaches the five checks in the order you meet them, shows what each one costs at four brokers, and leaves the decision where it belongs, which is with your own trade count. The comparison table further down is framed the same way: each row is a criterion, each cell is what that criterion costs, and no row carries a score.
Two things are worth saying before the checks. The first is that the account with the smallest headline fee is often not the one that costs least to use, and the difference shows up months later on a contract note. The second is that the statutory layer, meaning STT, stamp duty, exchange transaction charges, the SEBI turnover fee and GST, is identical at every broker in India and is set by government and the exchanges rather than by the broker. No comparison can win on that layer, and any table that folds it into a brokerage row is making every broker look expensive.
If you want the other half of this, what a year of holding and using one account actually adds up to, that arithmetic sits in how much a demat account costs in a year. This page stays on the decision in front of you: which criteria to check, and what each one costs where.
What a beginner should check, in order
Five checks, each one answerable in a few minutes on the broker’s own pricing page. Figures below were read on 16 September 2026.
The total first-year cost
Opening, plus the first year of AMC, plus the brokerage on the orders you will actually place. Opening is ₹0 for a standard individual account at all four brokers below, and the first year of AMC is free at each of them. The variable part is your own trade count, not the rate card, which is why this check comes before any table.
The AMC that starts in year two
This is the fee that recurs whether or not you trade. Upstox publishes ₹300 + GST (non-BSDA), which is ₹300 plus 18% GST, so ₹354 a year. Zerodha publishes the same headline for non-BSDA accounts, charged quarterly. Angel One publishes ₹60 plus GST per quarter, which is ₹240 plus GST across a year, triggered after your first trade in each quarter. Groww publishes ₹0 with no slab table. Under the BSDA rules every one of those figures is ₹0 while holdings stay under ₹4 lakh.
DP charges on the first sale
This is what your first sale costs, per scrip. Upstox publishes ₹20 + GST per scrip per day, sell only. Zerodha publishes ₹15.34 per scrip on sell. Groww and Angel One publish ₹20 plus GST per scrip on the sell side. Buy three companies and sell all three on one day, and this charge arrives three times, which on small orders is more than the brokerage on those same orders.
What the app has to do for you
For most beginners that means SIPs in mutual funds, IPO applications from the same app, and statements you can download without writing to support. Upstox publishes ₹0 commission on mutual funds and IPOs and ₹0 brokerage on IPO applications. Zerodha publishes ₹0 commissions and ₹0 DP charges on direct mutual fund investments. Groww publishes ₹0 transaction charges on mutual funds. Angel One does not publish either figure, and the table further down says Not published rather than filling the gap.
Support you can actually reach
An answer on the day you need it is worth more than a few rupees of brokerage, and no pricing page settles it. The priced version of phone support is the call and trade charge: Upstox publishes ₹75 + GST, Zerodha ₹50 per order through a dealer, Angel One ₹20 per order. Groww does not publish that charge on the pages we read. If you expect to need a human, test the channel before you fund the account.
What each criterion costs
One row per criterion, one column per broker. Read it as a price list for the checks above, not as a scoreboard: no row is weighted, and the column you care about depends on what you do.
| Broker | Account opening | AMC from year two | Equity delivery | Equity intraday | DP charge on a sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Our partner | ₹0 | ₹300 + GST (non-BSDA) | ₹20 per executed order | ₹20 or 0.1% (lower) | ₹20 + GST per scrip per day, sell only |
 | ₹0 online (NRI ₹500) | ₹300 + 18% GST per year (non-BSDA) | Zero brokerage (₹0) | 0.03% or ₹20 (lower) | ₹15.34 per scrip on sell |
 | ₹0 | ₹0 | ₹20 or 0.1% (lower), min ₹5 | ₹20 or 0.1% (lower), min ₹5 | ₹20 + GST per sell (₹0 under ₹100) |
 | ₹0 (NRI approx ₹500) | ₹60 + GST per quarter (non-BSDA) | ₹20 or 0.1% (lower), min ₹5 | ₹20 or 0.1% (lower), min ₹5 | ₹20 + 18% GST per ISIN, sell only |
Upstox
Our partner- Account opening
- ₹0
- AMC from year two
- ₹300 + GST (non-BSDA)
- Equity delivery
- ₹20 per executed order
- Equity intraday
- ₹20 or 0.1% (lower)
- DP charge on a sale
- ₹20 + GST per scrip per day, sell only
Zerodha
- Account opening
- ₹0 online (NRI ₹500)
- AMC from year two
- ₹300 + 18% GST per year (non-BSDA)
- Equity delivery
- Zero brokerage (₹0)
- Equity intraday
- 0.03% or ₹20 (lower)
- DP charge on a sale
- ₹15.34 per scrip on sell
Groww
- Account opening
- ₹0
- AMC from year two
- ₹0
- Equity delivery
- ₹20 or 0.1% (lower), min ₹5
- Equity intraday
- ₹20 or 0.1% (lower), min ₹5
- DP charge on a sale
- ₹20 + GST per sell (₹0 under ₹100)
Angel One
- Account opening
- ₹0 (NRI approx ₹500)
- AMC from year two
- ₹60 + GST per quarter (non-BSDA)
- Equity delivery
- ₹20 or 0.1% (lower), min ₹5
- Equity intraday
- ₹20 or 0.1% (lower), min ₹5
- DP charge on a sale
- ₹20 + 18% GST per ISIN, sell only
Published rates, checked 16 September 2026. “(lower)” means whichever is lower. “Not published” means the broker does not publish it; it is not an estimate. Statutory charges apply on top at every broker.
Two notes on reading it. DematOpen is an Authorized Person of Upstox and earns when an account opens through this site, which is why the Upstox row carries a partner badge, and you pay nothing extra for opening through us: these are the broker’s published charges, the same for every customer. And a cell reading Not published means the broker does not publish that figure on the page we read. It is not an estimate, and we do not fill it from another broker’s rate card.
For the annual cost of holding the account rather than the cost of a criterion, the AMC explained and the BSDA limits cover the fee that starts in year two, and the DP charge explained covers the per-scrip fee on the sell side, and the DP charge comparison shows what each broker publishes for it.
Three beginner situations, and the criterion each one turns on
Figures checked 16 September 2026 and read from each broker’s own pricing page.
You will buy shares and hold them
Two columns decide this one: the recurring AMC and the delivery brokerage. Groww publishes ₹0 on the AMC line with no conditions attached. Upstox and Zerodha publish ₹300 plus GST from year two for non-BSDA accounts, and Angel One ₹240 plus GST a year. On delivery brokerage Zerodha publishes Zero brokerage (₹0), while Upstox publishes ₹20 per executed order, Groww ₹20 or 0.1% (whichever is lower), min ₹5 and Angel One ₹20 or 0.1% (whichever is lower), min ₹5. If your holdings stay under ₹4 lakh and you hold one account, the AMC column drops to ₹0 at all four.
See every column side by sideYou will trade intraday
The percentage rate decides this, and only if your orders are large enough for it to bite. Upstox publishes ₹20 or 0.1% (whichever is lower). Zerodha publishes 0.03% or ₹20 (whichever is lower). Groww and Angel One both publish ₹20 or 0.1% with a ₹5 minimum. Below the crossover the flat rate wins, above it the percentage wins, and the difference between 0.03% and 0.1% is the entire conversation on active turnover.
Price your own order sizeYou are opening your first account this month
Opening cost, the first-year AMC and how quickly the account activates decide this stage, and none of them separates the four brokers much. What separates them is what you do next: a SIP, an IPO application, a first sale. Price those three actions on the matrix above before you sign up, then read how the opening process actually runs so nothing surprises you at the KYC step.
How opening actually worksMistakes beginners make before the first trade
Four beliefs that cost money in the first year, and what each one gets wrong.
A free account is a free account
Free describes opening, and usually the first year of AMC. It does not describe the DP charge on your first sale, the brokerage on every order, the statutory charges that apply everywhere, or the AMC from year two on a non-BSDA account.
The account with the lowest AMC is the lowest-cost account for me
AMC is one column of five. A ₹0 AMC broker with a ₹5 minimum on every equity order and a per-scrip DP charge can cost more across a trading year than a ₹300 AMC broker whose delivery brokerage is zero. Price the columns you will actually hit.
A second account is harmless, I will just use one
BSDA eligibility needs exactly one demat account in your name as sole or first holder. A spare account anywhere ends the eligibility, and that is what keeps the AMC at ₹0 under ₹4 lakh of holdings. A second account costs you the exemption, not only its own fees.
The largest advertiser must be the safest choice
Advertising budget and account quality are different things. The five checks above cost nothing to run and answer the question faster than a slogan can, and every broker you are likely to consider is regulated by SEBI and covered by the same depository rules.
Who we are, said plainly
This is the part most ranking pages bury.
DematOpen is an Authorized Person of Upstox
We facilitate account opening with Upstox, a SEBI-regulated stockbroker, and we earn when an account opens through this site. You pay nothing extra for that: the charges in every table here are the broker’s published charges, the same for any customer who opens the account directly. That earning relationship is a bias, and the correct response to a bias is not to pretend it away but to show sources. Every figure on this page and on our comparison pages is read from the broker’s own pricing page, including the ones that look worse for Upstox, and all of it was checked on 16 September 2026. We do not provide investment advice, and nothing here tells you what to buy, sell or hold. Investments in securities markets are subject to market risks. Read all relevant documents before investing.
If you have read this far and still want a single name, the honest answer is that the criteria point in different directions for different readers, and the arithmetic in what a year of a demat account costs shows how far apart those answers can land. When you are ready to open one, the online opening walkthrough takes about fifteen minutes, and the account opening guide covers the paperwork and verification steps in the order they arrive.
Questions people ask
The ones this page raises, answered the same way the rest of the site answers them.
There is no single answer to that question, which is why this page does not give one. A beginner who buys index funds and holds has a different cost profile from one who trades intraday, and the same account can be the cheaper one for the first and the more expensive one for the second. What can be answered is narrower and more useful: what each criterion costs at each broker, which is what the table on this page shows. Apply the five checks in order, price your own trade count, and the answer follows from your numbers rather than from a list.
Free describes the opening fee, and at Upstox, Zerodha, Groww and Angel One it also describes the first year of AMC. It does not describe the DP charge on your first sale, the brokerage on every order, the statutory charges that apply at every broker in the country, or the AMC from year two on a non-BSDA account. The honest question is not whether the account is free but what your own year of activity costs, and that is arithmetic you can do from the columns above.
You should not trust any comparison page blindly, including this one. DematOpen is an Authorized Person of Upstox and earns when accounts open through this site. What you can check is the method: every figure comes from the broker’s own pricing page, was read on 16 September 2026, and the criteria are written down so you can apply them without us. Where a broker does not publish a figure, the table says Not published instead of filling the gap.
Five things, in this order: the total first-year cost, the AMC that starts in year two, the DP charge on the first sale, whether the app supports SIPs, IPO applications and downloadable statements, and whether support can be reached when something goes wrong. The first three are columns in a table. The last two need a look at the app and the help pages before you commit, because no rate card describes them.
No, and a second account carries a cost that has nothing to do with fees. BSDA eligibility requires you to be the sole or first holder of exactly one demat account across both depositories. A spare account anywhere ends that eligibility, which is what keeps the AMC at ₹0 while your holdings stay under ₹4 lakh. If you want to compare two brokers, compare them on paper or in a free trial of the app rather than by opening a second account.
Yes. You can hold accounts with more than one broker where the BSDA conditions allow it, and you can transfer shares from one demat account to another. Closing an account you no longer use is a normal cleanup step, and for a non-BSDA account it removes the recurring AMC obligation entirely.