Zerodha and Upstox both are pioneers of the discount brokerage industry and they seem quite similar. Most of the investors get confused about which one to choose when it comes to finalizing from Zerodha and Upstox.
We have done thorough research to understand how they both differ and who should go with Zerodha or Upstox based on the requirements that will help you become more informed and decisive.
Zerodha Overview
Zerodha is India’s largest stockbroker that contributes to more than 15% of retail trading volumes in India thanks to its over 60 lakh client base.
Started in 2010, Zerodha started the discount brokerage in India that allowed traders to save huge money that they used to pay to other traditional full-service brokers like ICICI Direct or Motilal Oswal.
Zerodha is a customer-centric company that takes pains to handle customer issues at priority, though you can’t compare with a full-service broker where you get a dedicated relationship manager.
But in the discount broker industry, they have the high standards to provide efficient customer support.
Upstox Overview
Initially started its brokerage business as RKSV securities in 2009 but switched to discount brokerage in 2011 and renamed the firm as “Upstox”.
Currently, Upstox is the 2nd largest discount broker in India with around 50 lakh customers.
Upstox is the only discount broker that offers a fully functional 3-in-1 account that serves as savings, demat, and trading account in one place. Upstox is offering the service in collaboration with IndusInd bank.
Upstox has really improved their trading platform and app but they lag in customer support where they need to focus on.
Now you have got the overview of both discount brokers, let’s have a quick comparison of what benefits they provide before digging deep into a detailed comparison.
Zerodha Vs Upstox Comparison Table
| Benefits | Zerodha | Upstox |
| Brokerage Charges | Lower of 0.03% or Rs. 20 per order | Lower of 0.05% or Rs. 20 per order |
| Account Opening Charges and AMC | Equity – Rs. 200 Commodity – Rs. 100 AMC – Rs. 300 per year (Rs. 75 per quarter) | Zero charges on Account opening AMC – Rs. 300 per year (Rs. 25 per month) |
| Margin Carry Forward | Not available | Available with share pledging |
| 3-in-1 Account Facility | No streamlined process to get a 3-in-1 account facility. | A simple online process for a fully functional 3-in-1 account |
| Customer Support | Very efficient | Not so efficient |
| Mutual Funds | Yes, through Coin App | Yes, within Upstox Pro App |
| Additional features | Smartcase – for theme-based investing Sensibull – for options trading strategy building Streak – for Algo trading GoldenPi – for bonds and debentures investment | Digital gold – to invest in digital gold |
Also read – Samco Vs Zerodha
Upstox Vs Zerodha Account Opening Charges
Upstox keeps on changing its account opening charges from time to time. Currently, they are offering ZERO account opening charges for demat & trading accounts (earlier it was Rs. 99).
On the other hand, Zerodha has a fixed account opening charges that equity and commodity trading account as below –
- Equity – Rs. 200
- Commodity – Rs. 100
So you have to pay a total of Rs. 300 if you want to trade in both equity and commodity segments on the Zerodha platform.
Upstox and Zerodha both charge Account Maintenance Charges (AMC) from their customers as below –
- Upstox AMC charges – Rs. 25 per month (annual Rs. 300)
- Zerodha AMC charges – Rs. 75 per quarter (annual Rs. 300)
Zerodha Vs Upstox Brokerage Charges Comparison
You don’t have to pay any delivery charges on Zerodha as well as Upstox which means if you buy shares and don’t sell on the same day, you don’t have to pay brokerage.
Zerodha and Upstox both are discount brokers which means they charge very little brokerage as compared to traditional brokers.
Let’s discuss brokerage charges of both peers one by one.
#1. Zerodha Brokerage Charges
Zerodha charges lower of Rs 20 or 0.03% per executed order on both buying and selling intraday.
For example, You trade for Rs. 10,000 in a day your brokerage charges would be –
10000 X 0.03% = 3
Brokerage = Rs. 3 (because lower than Rs. 20)
If you trade for Rs. 1,00,000, your brokerage would be Rs. 20 (not Rs. 30) –
100000 X 0.03% = Rs. 30
Because Rs. 20 is the highest brokerage that Zerodha can charge.
#2. Upstox Brokerage Charges
Upstox charges ZERO brokerage on stock delivery similar to Zerodha but it takes slightly higher brokerage on intraday. You have to pay brokerage of Rs. 20 or 0.05% (whichever is lower) per executed order.
Similarly, if you trade for Rs. 10,000 in a day your brokerage charges would be –
10000 X 0.05% = 5
Brokerage = Rs. 5 (because lower than Rs. 20)
(In Zerodha it was Rs. 3)
If you trade for Rs. 1,00,000, your brokerage would be –
100000 X 0.05% = Rs. 50
But actual brokerage would be Rs. 20 (not Rs. 50), because Rs. 20 is the maximum brokerage capping fixed by Upstox.
So, for high-volume trading, both Zerodha and Upstox offer similar brokerage charges that are flat Rs. 20 per order.
Upstox Vs Zerodha Margin Comparison
| Segment | Zerodha Margin Details | Upstox Margin Details |
| Equity Delivery | 1x (no margin) | 1x (no margin) |
| Equity Intraday | Up to 6x (based on the stock) | Up to 5x (based on the stock) |
| Equity Futures & Options | 1.3x of NRML margin (Span + Exposure) | Up to 2x of NRML margin (Span + Exposure) |
| Currency Futures & Options | 1.3x of NRML margin (Span + Exposure) | Up to 2x of NRML margin (Span + Exposure) |
| Commodity Futures | 1.3x of NRML margin (Span + Exposure) | Up to 2x of NRML margin (Span + Exposure) |
Zerodha Trading Platforms Vs Upstox Trading Platforms Comparison
#1. Zerodha Kite Vs Upstox Pro Web
A. Zerodha Kite (Web Platform)
Zerodha Kite is a browser-based, easy-to-use, fast trading platform. You can access more than 90,000+ stocks and F&O contracts for trading.
Zerodha Kite sends you browser notifications so that you never miss any important updates about the stock market trend changes, even when you are not using the application.
You also get 100 plus technical indicators like Fibonacci retracement, or Standard deviation to analyze the market movements for better analysis.
Advantages of Zerodha Kite
- Sleek and fast platform
- In-depth market analysis
- Push notifications even when you are not using the kite
- More than 100 technical indicators for day trading
Shortcomings of Zerodha Kite
- Platform crashes in the peak hours sometimes
B. Upstox Pro Web
Similar to Kite, The Upstox Pro Web is a snappy HTML-based trading platform that provides you real-time price fluctuations thanks to a faster refresh rate.
You also get keyboard shortcuts for quick navigation such as
| Task | Shortcut Key |
| Buy order | F1 |
| Sell order | F2 |
| Order book | F3 |
| Watchlist | F4 |
| Balance | F5 |
| Scrip detail | F6 |
You also get 107 technical indicators like Bollinger bands for market trend analysis to decide your next trade.
Advantages of Upstox Pro Web
- Faster refresh rate to get real-time price movement
- Keyboard shortcuts for quick navigation
- 107 indicators like Bollinger Bands, or Fibonacci retracement
Shortcomings of Upstox Pro Web
- Platform crawls sometimes
#2. Zerodha Kite Mobile App Vs Upstox Pro App
A. Zerodha Kite App
If your primary focus is a stock investment or trading, then the Kite app is ideal for you. Kite is a minimalist and easy-to-use app to perform your trading on the go. Kite app allows you to trade in stocks, F&Os, commodities, and invest in IPOs.
Kite is a highly secure app that comes with a 2FA security system where you have to set up a password and a 6-digit pin to ensure security.
Kite has an integrated in-built fingerprint scanner but you can enable that only if you have set up the 2FA security.
You can open the Console platform within the Kite app which is a back-office app to generate contract notes, reports and apply for IPO.
However, you have to install separate apps like Coin for mutual funds, varsity for stock investment learning, and streak for building trading strategies.
Pros of Zerodha Kite App
- Minimalist app interface
- Fast performance
- Integration with the console for reports generation and IPO bidding.
- 2FA with fingerprint enables high security
Cons of Zerodha Kite App
- Need separate apps for mutual funds or learning stock market
B. Upstox Pro Mobile App
Upstox Pro Mobile is ideal for you if you want to perform all your investment operations from a single app. Upstox Pro app is an all-in-one application to do stock trading, mutual fund investment, and buying digital gold in one place.
You can also bid for the IPO from the Upstox app, unlike in Zerodha where you are redirected to the Console platform (though within the app) for IPO filing.
Pros of Upstox Pro Mobile App
- Easy to use interface
- No lag in real time price movement
- One place for all investments like stocks, mutual funds, IPO and gold
Cons of Upstox Pro Mobile App
- User logs out from app sometimes without any reason
Upstox And Zerodha Features Comparison
| Other Features | Upstox | Zerodha |
| 3-in-1 Account (Savings, Demat and Trading A/c) | Yes. A fully functional 3-in-1 account with IndusInd bank | Yes. But only for IDBI customers and the account operation is not smooth. |
| Stock Learning Platform | Not available | Yes. Varsity app to learn about stock investment in easy language along with games and quizzes. |
| Digital Gold Investment | Yes. Available within the app | Not available |
| Algo Trading Platform | Not available | Streak platform for algo-trading without any knowledge of coding. |
Upstox Vs Zerodha Customer Support
Zerodha is quite ahead in customer support as compared to Upstox. They are very active on Twitter. This means if you post your complaint with a ticket id on Twitter tagging them, they will promptly reply and follow up on your issue.
If you raise a ticket, the Zerodha team will contact you to resolve the issue. Since they have a 48-hour window to resolve the ticket, they act quickly to resolve a customer complaint.
On the other hand, Upstox has a very sluggish customer service where your tickets keep on pending for even 2 weeks. You have to follow up multiple times to resolve the issue.
Let’s have a look at both Upstox and Zerodha’s customer support services.
| Support Type | Upstox Customer Care Contact Details | Zerodha Customer Care Contact Details |
| Email support | [email protected] | Support.zerodha.com |
| Raise a ticket | Help.Upstox.Com/support/tickets/new | Support.zerodha.com |
| New account opening | 022 4179 2991 022 6904 2291 022 7130 9991 (9:00 am – 11:00 pm) | 080 4719 2020 080 7117 5337 (10:00 am – 7:00 pm) |
| Trading support | 022 4179 2999 022 6904 2299 022 7130 9999 (8:00 am – 11:00 pm) | 080 4718 1888 080 4718 1999 (8:30 am – 4:30 pm) |
| Call & trade | 022 6130 9998 022 7130 9998 (9:15 am – 3:30 pm) | 080 4718 1888 (9:00 am – 11:30 pm) |
| @Upstox | @zerodhaonline |
Final Words On Zerodha Demat Account
If your major concern is a stock investment or stock trading and you want quality customer support, then Zerodha is the best stock broker for you.
Zerodha also offers a fast, easy-to-use app and now they have a connected IPO application within the Kite app, so all your stock-related operations are handled in one place.
And you can install other apps like Coin if you also want to invest in mutual funds without paying any commission.
Final Words On Upstox Demat Account
The Upstox demat account is best for you if you want all your investment services like stocks, mutual funds, gold, IPO in one place.
Another best part of Upstox is you can open an online 3-in-1 account that will allow you hassle-free funds transfer, along with that you can earn interest on the allocated money that resides in your savings account.
Upstox also offers a margin trading facility that is an essential feature for professional traders.
Which Is Better, Zerodha Vs Upstox?
Zerodha is better than Upstox with efficient customer support and they are more focused on technology advancement and providing better services to their clients.
Zerodha has partnered with several third-party platforms like SmartCase, Sensibull, GoldenPi to provide extended services to their customers.
Upstox, on the other hand, is more focused on providing multiple services at one place. For example, you get all stocks, mutual funds, IPO, and digital gold investment options within the platform or app.
Upstox has also integrated a 3-in-1 (Saving-demat-trading) account service to provide a hassle-free trading facility in collaboration with IndusInd bank.
Another benefit that gives Upstox the upper hand over Zerodha is the margin carry forward facility. Upstox offers their customer Margin Trade Facility (MTF) in which you can carry forward margin provided by the broker against the collateral and pledged shares.
But Zerodha doesn’t offer a margin carry forward facility.
FAQs Related To Zerodha Vs Upstox
#1. Can I Use both Upstox and Zerodha?
Yes. You can use both Upstox and Zerodha together. Not only these, but you can also operate as many demat or trading accounts as you want. There’s no restriction on the number of accounts an investor can open.
#2. Is Upstox Better than Zerodha?
Upstox is better than Zerodha in a couple of ways –
- Zero account opening charges and other account opening offers
- Margin carry forward facility
- Excellent 3-in-1 account
- One app for stock trading, mutual fund investment, IPO application and digital gold investment
#3. Is Zerodha Better than Upstox?
Zerodha is better than Upstox in their customer support, high focus on technology advancement and they have strong management team.
Other benefits of Zerodha over Upstox are as below –
- Multiple third party services such as like SmartCase, Sensibull for customers
- Algo trading available through Streak platform
- Varsity app for stock learning in easy language
- Rich support database for beginners such as account opening process, margin calculator.