Upstox Vs Zerodha

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Investing in stocks is quite overwhelming, especially when you are a beginner. The right brokerage firm can simplify the learning curve and help you trade efficiently.

When it comes to choosing online brokerage firms, investors have two major choices - Zerodha and Upstox. Though both these firms look similar at the outset, they have key differences.

Zerodha is one of the oldest and most popular online brokerage firms with over 80 lakh clients placing millions of orders every day. Operating since 2010 with its headquarters in Bengaluru, Zerodha contributes to over 15% of all Indian retail trading volumes.

Upstox, on the other hand, is headquartered in Mumbai and commenced operations in 2012. Backed by Tiger Global and Ratan N Tata, Upstox has seen rapid growth to become the second-largest online brokerage with 80 lakh+ investors.

In this article, we compare zerodha and upstox side-by-side to help you decide the right online brokerage firm that best fits your investing and trading needs.

Upstox Vs Zerodha: A Detailed Comparison (2022 Updated)

Overview of Zerodha

Zerodha is one of the oldest and most popular online brokerage firms in India. The brainchild of Nithin Kamath, Zerodha commenced operations on 15th August 2010.

After a decade-long experience as a broker, Nithin founded Zerodha to help traders and investors overcome the hurdles of technology, cost and support in online trading. Nithin Kamath was named as one of the “Top 10 Businessmen in India to Watch Out For” in 2016 by The Economic Times.

The word Zerodha is a play on the words Zero and Rodha (meaning barrier in Sanskrit). True to its name, Zerodha breaks all barriers for trading, making it easy for beginners to get started with stocks.

Today, Zerodha has changed the landscape of the Indian trading sector and has over 80 lakh customers who place millions of orders every day, contributing to over 15% of all Indian retail trading volumes.

Besides offering competitive pricing, Zerodha is a pioneer in developing technology for ease of trading. The company offers a referral program that enables investors to refer other customers, which has helped in boosting the popularity of Zerodha. 

The company has won several awards like:

1. The Best Retail Brokerage of the Year Award in 2018 by the NSE (National Stock Exchange)
   
   
2. The Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 (startup category) by Ernst & Young
   
   
3. The Best Retail Broker of the Year 2017 by Outlook Money.

Salient Features of Kite - Zerodha’s Trading Mobile & Web-based App

Kite is a sleek, fast and efficient trading platform from Zerodha. With excellent usability and efficient features, Kite makes investing in the stock market incredibly easy. 

Here are some of the top features of using Kite for stock market investing:

1. Universal instrument search: Search from over 90,000+ stocks across multiple exchanges quickly. Add your favourite stocks, derivatives, bonds, metals and commodities to your watchlist and track instantly. 
   
   
2. Sleek and thoughtful UI: The carefully designed interface makes stock buying, selling, tracking and analysing super easy. You can also manage your portfolio with just a few taps. 
   
   
3. Get access to 20 market depth: Kite provides you with deeper insights into the market with 20 market depth or level 3 data. Using this data, you can develop successful intraday trading strategies. 
   
   
4. Advanced charting: Kite also provides access to hundreds of indicators, tools and studies to create customisable charts. By using extensive historical data, you can develop sophisticated trading strategies. 
   
   
5. GTT (Good till triggered) orders: You can place triggers to enter or exit stock holdings until your price is met. Additionally, you can place stop-loss to prevent extensive losses. 
   
   
6. Baskets: You can create, execute and manage multiple stock baskets; and use real margins to spread orders and build futures trading strategies and options trading strategies.
   
   
7. Alerts: In Kite, you can stay in the know 24 x 7 and create powerful market alerts for stocks, futures, options and commodities. 
   
   
8. Build P&L statements: Kite console crunches millions of historical trade breakdowns to help you keep track of corporate actions, transfers and splits to compute the most accurate and up-to-date profit and loss statements.

You can use Kite trading app as a mobile app or via a browser. The mobile app is available for both iOS and Android simplifying your investment and trading needs. 

Overview of Upstox

Upstox is a tech-first online broking firm in India offering trading opportunities at competitive prices. The company makes it easy for investors and traders to trade across different segments like equities, futures, options, currency and commodities.

Backed by some of the biggest investors including Ratan Tata, Kalaari Capital, GVK Davix and Tiger Global, Upstox has grown to become one of the biggest brokerage firms in India.

Upstox was earlier known as RKSV Securities. The company changed its brand name to Upstox in 2016 to reflect its modern technologies. The motto of the company is to provide an easy-to-use trading platform to all at low brokerage fees.

The Upstox trading platform makes it super easy to buy and sell stock by offering trading analysis, charting and other rich trading features.

The platform is built on Omnisys NEST RMS (Risk Management System) and Omnisys NEST OMS (Order Management System).

Ravi Kumar, Kavitha Subramanian and Shrini Viswanath are the three co-founders of Upstox. Ravi Kumar holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine, and handles investor and product relations at Upstox.

Kavitha, an alumnus of IIT Bombay and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, is in charge of customer experience, finance and strategy at Upstox. Shrini holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science from the University of Illinois and leads technology at Upstox.

Upstox empowers users with advanced technological tools, helping them make savvier investment decisions. The zero-brokerage model of Upstox is based on the company’s strategical use of technology and design to cut costs at every level, thereby transferring the benefits of cost-savings to the end-user.

The company promises to deliver glitch-free technology to make trading a breeze. With strong technological background, Upstox is on its way to becoming the leader in low-cost brokerage in India. 

Salient Features of Upstox Trading Platform 

1. Types of accounts: Clients can open three types of accounts with Upstox: 
   1. Individual account
      
   2. HUF (Hindu Undivided Family) account
      
   3. Corporate or partnership account
2. Paperless account opening: You can open a digital, paperless demat account immediately with just your PAN and Aadhaar details. If you face any difficulties with account opening, the customer service team of Upstox can guide you through the process.
   
   
3. Trading platforms: Upstox offers three trading platforms: 
   1. Upstox Pro Web - Can be accessed from any web browser
      
   2. Upstox Pro Mobile - A mobile app, available for both iOS and Android to help you trade on the go
      
   3. NEST Trading Terminal
4. Trading hours: Upstox has the following trading hours: 
   1. For NSE Cash/NSE F&O/ BSE Cash timings are: from 9.15 am to 3.30 pm
   2. For Currency Derivatives timings are: from 9 am to 5 pm
   3. For MCX timings are in two slots: 10 am to 11.30 pm from April to October and from 10 am to 11.55 pm from November to March

Trading Account and Demat Account Opening Fees and AMC 

Both Zerodha and Upstox allow individual investors to open a demat account for free. However, the AMC (annual maintenance charges) for demat accounts and trading accounts slightly vary between the two brokers.

Zerodha charges Rs. 200 for opening a trading account, while Upstox charges Rs. 249 for the same. The demat account AMC charges at Zerodha is Rs. 300, while Upstox offers this service for free.

Here’s a quick comparison of the trading account and AMC charges at Zerodha and Upstox: 

Brokerage

Zerodha offers FREE brokerage charges for all equity delivery instruments both at BSE and NSE. Intraday and F&O (Futures & Options) charges are fixed at a flat fee of Rs. 20 per order or 0.03%, whichever is lower on intraday trades across currency, commodity and equity.

Upstox, on the other hand, charges a brokerage fee of Rs. 20 or 2.5%, whichever is lower on equity trades. Upstox charges a brokerage fee of Rs. 20 or 0.05%, whichever is lower on all commodity, currency, futures and options and equity intraday trading.

However, note that the brokerage fee of Rs. 20 or 2.5%, whichever is lower, applies only to customers who created an account with Upstox on or after 21st September 2021.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the brokerage charges at Upstox and Zerodha:

*Note that this table lists the charges only for the default account options at Zerodha and Upstox. The brokerage charges are likely to vary slightly if you hold other premium accounts.

Charges

Besides the brokerage and intraday trading charges mentioned above, both Zerodha and Upstox have other charges too. Comparing these additional charges can help you choose the right online brokerage firm that best fits your needs. 

Transaction Charges

Let’s take a look at upstox vs zerodha charges/zerodha vs upstox charges.

Features

Both Zerodha and Upstox offer a plethora of features for both beginners and advanced traders. Both these trading platforms have mobile apps for both iOS and Android for quick trading on the go.

Besides mobile apps, these platforms also offer additional features like trading software, mutual fund investments, etc. to make it easy for traders to build their wealth and investments in the long run. 

Leverage (Margin)

The margin for intraday trading is up to 20% of the trade value (5x leverage) at both Zerodha and Upstox. 

Review

Zerodha and Upstox are two popular discount brokers (also known as budget brokers or flat-fee brokers) in India. They are tech-first online brokers offering low-cost brokerage services.

As they are technology-driven, they maintain low operations costs allowing them to offer trading services to their customers at a very low brokerage fee.

However, unlike full-scale brokers, online discount brokers do not offer add-on services like trading advisory, research, trading suggestions, wealth management, portfolio management, a dedicated relationship manager or local branch support.

When compared with full-service brokers, discount brokers like Zerodha and Upstox charge significantly lower brokerage fees.
In this section, we compare the average customer ratings and reviews of Zerodha and Upstox on several parameters. 

**Note that these ratings are based on average customer reviews. 

Investment Offerings Comparison

Here’s a quick run-through of the different investment options available at both Zerodha and Upstox. This table helps you identify the types of investments that can be done through these platforms. 

Pros and Cons of Upstox

Upstox is one of the easiest and most user-friendly discount brokerage platforms right now. The company offers an easy-to-use mobile app and web-based trading platform.

The low commission fee and frequent improvements and updates have made it one of the fastest-growing brokerage platforms in India.

Helpful trading tools, competitive pricing and easy-to-use features make using Upstox a pleasant experience, even for absolute beginners with no experience in the stock market. Opening a demat account with Upstox is quite easy.

The entire process is paperless and done online. All you have to do is fill out the application form by providing a few key details, upload the essential supporting documents and complete the application process within a day.

Here are the top benefits and drawbacks of using Upstox as your brokerage platform:

Pros:  

1. Zero brokerage fees for delivery
2. Excellent and easy to use trading platform
3. Available as a mobile (iOS and Android) and web-based application 
4. Fixed, flat brokerage fee, irrespective of trading volume
5. Zero charges for opening a demat account
6. Numerous offers from time to time 
7. Backed by Ratan Tata and Tiger Capital

Cons:  

1. Does not offer banking or insurance services 
2. Takes a bit of time for beginners to understand the various features and tools of the platform 
3. Good till cancelled (GTC) orders are not supported in Upstox

If you are looking for exciting offers and great deals on trading, Upstox is an excellent choice as the platform has numerous offers from time to time. Also, the low brokerage charges and high margins make the platform an excellent choice to build your portfolio in the long run.

Pros and Cons of Zerodha

Zerodha is one of the most trusted and well-known brokerage firms in India. The company kick-started the discount broking model by offering an industry-disrupting pricing model of zero brokerage for delivery and a fixed flat fee of Rs. 20 for other trades.

The biggest reason why millions of customers prefer Zerodha is the intuitive and easy-to-use UI and excellent customer support. You can reach out to the customer care team via email, call or online chat and get an immediate response.

Additionally, Zerodha has an extensive online portal to help beginners understand the ins and outs of the stock market. You can make use of the articles, tutorials and calculators to learn all about shares and build your skills as a smart trader.

Beginners can check out Zerodha Varsity (an extensive online collection of trading resources) and the trading QnA portal to learn all about stocks and share market trading.

Here are the top benefits and drawbacks of using Zerodha as your brokerage platform:

Pros:

1. Helps customers trade in stocks, futures & options, IPO, derivatives (currency, commodity and stocks), direct mutual funds, government securities and bonds. 
2. Low-fixed brokerage charges for trading. 
3. Zero brokerage charges for delivery. 
4. Zero fees for opening a demat account.
5. No minimum balance is required in the account. You can add/withdraw funds as and when desired. 
6. Excellent customer support.
7. Easy to use trading platform. 
8. The biggest online stock broker in India with 80 lakh+ customers.

Cons: 

1. The one complaint that customers have with Zerodha is that there are some delays during trading hours. 
2. Does not offer a 3-in-1 demat-trading-banking account like some leading banks.