Is Wealthsimple actually free?
How free84/100
Value8/10
How these scores work
Free Score (0–100) follows a fixed rubric: cards up front, auto-billing, hard time cutoffs, withheld core features, and paying with your data or attention all deduct points. 90–100 truly free · 70–89 free forever · 45–69 squeezed · 15–44 trial mechanics · under 15 fake or gone. Value (0–10) is editorial: real-world worth of the free offering measured against its paid equivalent. Full rubric on the methodology page.
Yes — for Canadians, buying and selling stocks is genuinely commission-free with no minimums and no card needed to start.
What it’s worth
Old-school brokers charged $5–10 per trade; buying Canadian stocks here is $0.
What you get free
- Commission-free Canadian stock and ETF trades
- No account minimums
- Registered accounts (TFSA, RRSP) at no fee
- Fractional shares
In practice: investing without the toll booth — Canadian trades cost nothing and minimums don't exist.
Drawbacks
- A currency-conversion fee on USD trades
- Research tools are basic
- Canada only
Also paywalled
- USD accounts that skip the currency-conversion fee
- Premium perks and rates
Free facts
| Verdict | Free Forever |
| Card required | No |
| Auto-bills | — |
| Account | Required (Canada) |
| Limits | Premium tiers exist; FX fees on USD trades |
| The real cost | Commission-free trading; currency conversion is where fees hide. |
The catch
'Commission-free' isn't 'fee-free': converting CAD to USD to buy American stocks carries a currency exchange fee unless you pay for a premium tier. That's the quiet toll.
The smart play
- Trade Canadian tickers freely — the currency-conversion fee lives on USD trades
- Buying US stocks often? Price the premium tier against what you're losing to FX
- The registered accounts (TFSA, RRSP) cost nothing extra here
More info — tap to expand
The FX toll, explained
Buying US stocks means converting CAD to USD, and the conversion carries a fee each way on the basic tier. Trade US names often and those slices exceed what commissions ever were — premium tiers sell USD accounts precisely to end this. Canadian tickers carry no such toll.
What protection you have
Wealthsimple's brokerage is a regulated Canadian dealer with standard investor protections on accounts. Commission-free doesn't mean informal — the free tier sits inside the same regulatory frame as the banks' brokerages.
Last checked: July 2026 · Verdict: Free Forever — a real permanent free plan. signup and fair limits — but no clock and no card.
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