T. Rowe Price vs Fidelity & Others: Highlights
• A variety of taxable and tax-deferred investing accounts can be opened at T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, Schwab, and Fidelity.
• Both managed and brokerage accounts are available at all four investment firms, although tradable products can vary quite a bit.
• Banking services are available at all four firms, and these, too, differ in quality.
Fidelity vs. Schwab, T. Rowe Price, and Vanguard Introduction
If you’ve been using T. Rowe Price only for its mutual funds, you may want to look at its brokerage service as well. Here’s how that brokerage service stacks up against three of the industry’s biggest names:
T. Rowe Price and Competitors: Fees
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Margin
Rate |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Charles Schwab
|
$0
|
$49.95 ($0 to sell)
|
11.825%
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Fidelity
|
$0
|
$49.95
|
11.825%
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Vanguard
|
$0
|
$20
|
12%
|
$25*
|
$25*
|
|
T. Rowe Price
|
$0
|
$0 or $35
|
$19.95 + $1.00 per contract
|
$10
|
$10
|
T. Rowe Price and Competitors: Services
Charles Schwab: $0 commissions + ACAT rebate + satisfaction guarantee at Charles Schwab.
Visit Schwab Website
Vanguard, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price: none
Investment Accounts
As an asset manager, T. Rowe Price creates and manages mutual funds and ETFs. As a securities firm, it also offers investment-advisory and brokerage accounts. The latter setup can trade stocks, options, bonds, and funds from T. Rowe Price and other fund families. The other three firms run their investment businesses in much the same way.
T. Rowe Price charges $50 to close or transfer a brokerage account. It also has a $30 annual fee that can be avoided in a variety of ways. Vanguard has similar fees. Fidelity and Schwab have no such fees. They also impose no minimum deposit requirements to open accounts. T. Rowe Price, by contrast, requires $1,000 or $2,500 to open a brokerage account, depending on the exact type of account (retirement or non-retirement).
T. Rowe Price has shut down new precious-metals purchases and incoming transfers, so gold and silver are no longer realistic brokerage choices there. At Schwab, futures and forex can be traded on top of the securities that T. Rowe Price offers. Fidelity has cryptocurrencies.
On the advisory side of investing, T. Rowe Price does offer managed accounts, although its advisory lineup is not as broad as what Schwab and Fidelity provide.
Winner: We call it a draw between Fidelity and Schwab
Banking Services
T. Rowe Price no longer offers Brokerage Advantage accounts, which did have some banking tools attached to them. Some mutual funds in regular brokerage accounts are eligible for checkwriting, and that is about the only banking feature available here.
The other three firms offer much more. FDIC-sweep programs are available at all three broker-dealers, and these services provide much more than the standard $250k of protection. Debit cards and checks are available at Fidelity and Schwab with a variety of bonuses, such as ATM fee refunds. These two titans also have credit cards with several perks.
Winner: Pretty close between Schwab and Fidelity
Margin Accounts
Brokerage clients at all four securities firms can trade on margin. Borrowing other customers’ money does come at a price, not surprisingly. Here is the rundown on that cost:
Schwab: 10.075% to 11.825%*
Fidelity: 10.075% to 11.825%
Vanguard: 10% to 12%*
T. Rowe Price: 10.125% to 10.125%
*Schwab and Vanguard negotiate margin rates with clients who have more than $500,000 in debit balances. Presumably, this will be a small number of folks.
Winner: T. Rowe Price
Websites
Brokerage clients at T. Rowe Price will find a user-friendly website with lots of tools. These include a trade ticket, a research platform, a watchlist with trade buttons, a bond marketplace, information on projected cash flow, and more.
The other three websites have similar tools and details. The area where Schwab seems to pull ahead of its competitors is in thinkorswim. This is the company’s advanced web-browser platform. It has pro-level tools, like Level II quotes, and free paper trading.
Winner: Schwab
Mobile Apps
Trading and account management continue on the four companies’ mobile apps. T. Rowe Price clients can research securities, look over account performance, and place trades.
The Vanguard app is a little simpler than the T. Rowe Price app. Vanguard’s app removes a lot of tools its website has, and non-Vanguard mutual funds cannot be traded on the mobile software.
At Fidelity and Schwab, it is possible to trade mutual funds from any family on their mobile apps. Schwab has a thinkorswim app for super-charged trading, while Fidelity’s main app combines trading and cash-management tools. The thinkorswim app is even more advanced than its website parent.
Winner: Schwab
Desktop Platforms
Schwab and Fidelity complete the software competition with thinkorswim and Active Trader Pro, respectively. These two platforms deliver tons of advanced charting and trading resources. Examples include direct-access routing, integrated option spreads, pairs trading, live streaming of business news, time & sales data, contingent orders, lots of graphing tools, and so much more.
Winner: Schwab
Supplementary Services
IPO Service: Schwab and Fidelity customers can get in on upcoming primary stock sales before they start trading on the secondary market.
Fractional Shares: Brokerage customers at T. Rowe Price can buy fractional shares of stocks. Fidelity customers can trade stocks and ETFs in whole dollars. Schwab limits dollar-based stock investing to S&P 500 stocks, while Vanguard limits dollar-based trading to Vanguard ETFs.
Recurring Mutual Fund Purchases: A mutual fund can be enabled for systematic purchases at any of the four broker-dealers in this competition. T. Rowe Price requires the fund to be a no-load fund. Schwab offers the service on the sell side, and Fidelity offers the service for stocks.
Extended Hours: Available at Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab, with the largest number of hours at the latter two.
DRIP Service: Available at all four brokerage houses.
Individual Retirement Accounts: Tax-deferred accounts are available at all four investment firms. Vanguard and T. Rowe Price do have IRA fees in some situations.
Fully-Paid Securities Lending Program: Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab customers can earn extra cash in their accounts by loaning out their shares of securities.
Winner: Fidelity and Schwab
Our Recommendations
Beginners: An investment-advisory account at one of the big three firms (Vanguard, Schwab, or Fidelity).
Advanced Stock Trading: We would pick Schwab with its great trading platforms. Fidelity is a close second.
Mutual Funds: T. Rowe Price is famous for its mutual funds and ETFs, but the other three companies in this faceoff have their own lineups. Plus, T. Rowe Price funds are available inside brokerage accounts at Schwab and Fidelity, who are our top two picks here.
Small Accounts: T. Rowe Price and Vanguard are the worst two. Schwab and Fidelity have no minimums for brokerage accounts, and Fidelity has no minimum for its robo program.
Retirement Planning & Long-Term Investing: We defend Fidelity and Schwab for both advisory and brokerage customers.
Judgment
T. Rowe Price may be popular for its mutual funds and ETFs, but having a strong asset-management arm does not automatically make it the best choice for a brokerage or investment-advisory account.
Charles Schwab: $0 commissions + ACAT rebate + satisfaction guarantee at Charles Schwab.
Visit Schwab Website
Vanguard, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price: none
Updated on 4/2/2026.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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