Demat account comparison: five brokers, one honest table.
Upstox, Zerodha, Groww, Angel One and ICICI Direct on the charges a first-time investor actually meets: opening, AMC, brokerage and DP charges. Every figure read from each broker’s own pricing page on 16 August 2026, with links to the sources.
The comparison
Sort through the rows that matter, not the ones that fill a page. The head-to-head pages go deeper on each pair.
| Charge | UpstoxOUR PARTNER | Zerodha | Groww | Angel One | ICICI Direct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account opening | ₹0 | ₹0 online | ₹0 | ₹0 | ₹0 to ₹975 depending on scheme |
| AMC after year one | ₹0 first year; ₹300 + GST from year two (non-BSDA) | ₹0 first year (accounts opened from 1 June 2026); ₹300 + GST from year two (non-BSDA) | ₹0 (no AMC charged) | ₹0 first year; ₹240 + GST per year from year two (non-BSDA) | ₹0 first year; ₹700 + taxes from year two (non-BSDA) |
| Equity delivery | ₹20 or 0.1% per order, whichever is lower | ₹0 brokerage | ₹20 or 0.1% per executed order, whichever is lower (minimum ₹5) | ₹20 or 0.1% per order, whichever is lower (minimum ₹5) | Scheme-based (brokerage plans from 0.07%) |
| Equity intraday | ₹20 or 0.05% per order, whichever is lower | ₹20 or 0.03% per order, whichever is lower | ₹20 or 0.1% per executed order, whichever is lower (minimum ₹5) | ₹20 or 0.1% per order, whichever is lower (minimum ₹5) | ₹20 per order on the NEO plan |
| Futures & options | Futures: ₹20 or 0.05%, whichever is lower. Options: flat ₹20 per order. | Futures: ₹20 or 0.03%, whichever is lower. Options: flat ₹20 per order. | ₹20 or 0.05% per executed order, whichever is lower (minimum ₹5) | Flat ₹20 per executed order | ₹0 futures charges and ₹20 per order for options and intraday on the NEO plan |
| Mutual funds | ₹0 commission | ₹0 commission and ₹0 DP charges | ₹0 commission on direct mutual funds | ₹0 commission | ₹0 commission on direct mutual funds |
| IPO applications | ₹0 application fee | ₹0 application fee | ₹0 application fee | ₹0 application fee | ₹0 application fee |
| DP charges (sell side) | ₹20 + GST per scrip per day, charged only when you sell from your Demat account | ₹15.34 per scrip on sell (₹3.5 CDSL fee + ₹9.5 Zerodha fee + ₹2.34 GST), irrespective of quantity | Depository ₹3.5 + Groww ₹16.5 per sell transaction (₹0 for debit value under ₹100) | ₹20 per ISIN per sell transaction (as published) | Scheme-based; published on the plan page |
Upstox
OUR PARTNER
Zerodha
Groww
Angel One
ICICI Direct
*Figures as published on each broker’s pricing page and checked on 16 August 2026. Statutory charges (STT, stamp duty, exchange fees, SEBI fees, GST) apply at every broker. Confirm current rates on the broker’s official pricing page before opening an account.
Upstox
Our partnerA discount broker run by RKSV Securities India Pvt Ltd, regulated by SEBI. DematOpen is an Authorized Person of Upstox, so every account opened through this site is opened with Upstox.
- SIPs start at ₹100 a month.
- ISO 27001 certified; fund transfers via UPI are free.
- Paperless KYC with DigiLocker; account opens in about 15 minutes.
Zerodha
India’s largest stockbroker by active clients, run by Zerodha Broking Ltd. Known for zero brokerage on equity delivery and the Kite app.
- No brokerage on equity delivery, direct mutual funds and IPO applications.
- Coin platform for direct mutual funds.
- First-year AMC waiver applies to resident individual accounts opened from 1 June 2026.
Groww
Groww Invest Tech Pvt Ltd, a discount broker that started as a mutual fund app. India’s largest broker by active customers per its own pricing page.
- No account opening fee and no AMC as published.
- Statutory charges (STT, stamp duty, exchange, SEBI) apply as on every broker.
- UPI-mandate funded orders carry 1% brokerage with no cap — use bank transfers instead.
Angel One
Angel One Ltd, a listed full-service discount broker (formerly Angel Broking) with a large retail base.
- New customers get brokerage up to ₹500 waived for the first 30 days.
- AMC is charged only after your first trade each quarter.
- NRI and non-resident accounts carry a different charge schedule.
ICICI Direct
ICICI Securities’ full-service broker, integrated with ICICI Bank accounts in a 3-in-1 structure (bank + trading + demat).
- 3-in-1 structure ties trading, demat and savings account together.
- The account-opening page we checked still says “Copyright 2021” — confirm current terms with ICICI Direct before relying on them.
- Prepaid brokerage plans start at 0.07% (7 paise per ₹100).
Head-to-head comparisons
Side-by-side verdicts, where each broker wins, and the beliefs people usually get wrong about each pair.
How to read any broker table
Three habits that stop a fee table from misleading you.
Check the date
Brokers change rates quietly. A table without a “checked on” date is a guess wearing a suit. This one says 16 August 2026 because that is when we read every source.
Separate brokerage from statutory
Brokerage is the broker’s fee. STT, stamp duty, exchange charges, SEBI fees and GST are set by regulation and identical everywhere. A table that folds them together makes every broker look expensive.
Ask who made the table
Every broker comparison site has an incentive. Ours is Upstox, and we say so on this page and in our footer. The defence is not neutrality, it is sources: every row links to the broker’s own page.
Questions people ask
The ones this comparison raises, answered the same way the rest of the site answers them.
Measured by opening and holding cost: Groww charges ₹0 opening and ₹0 AMC with no time limit. Upstox charges ₹0 opening with a free first year, then ₹300 + GST on non-BSDA accounts. Zerodha and Angel One sit in between with year-two AMCs of ₹300 and ₹240 plus GST. Every figure here was checked on 16 August 2026 and can change.
We compare on charges a beginner will actually encounter: account opening, AMC, delivery brokerage, intraday brokerage, mutual fund commission, IPO fees and DP charges on selling. Platform feel and customer support matter too, but they are harder to put in a table, so we say what can be verified and leave the rest to you.
DematOpen is an Authorized Person of Upstox. Accounts opened through this site are opened with Upstox, and DematOpen earns from that relationship. That bias is exactly why every figure in this table links to the broker’s own pricing page so you can check it yourself.
No. STT, stamp duty, exchange transaction charges, SEBI fees and GST apply at every broker and vary with your trade value, so they belong in a calculator, not a comparison row. The brokerage calculator on this site shows them line by line for any trade you enter.
BSDA is the Basic Services Demat Account. If your holdings stay under ₹4 lakh and you hold only one demat account, SEBI rules cap your AMC at ₹0, and ₹100 + GST between ₹4 lakh and ₹10 lakh. Every broker in this table follows those tiers, which is why the AMC rows say “non-BSDA”.