You've decided to start investing. Maybe you've been watching markets for a while, or a friend's Zerodha screenshot finally pushed you to act. Either way, you're now staring at three apps everyone seems to be using — Zerodha, Groww, and Upstox — and the question is the same for almost every first-time investor in India: which one do I actually open?
The honest answer is that all three will let you buy NSE and BSE stocks, invest in mutual funds, and see your portfolio. The differences are in the details — and some of those details matter quite a bit depending on how you plan to invest.
Here's the plain-English breakdown.
First, who are these three?
The one thing that actually separates them
Most beginners focus on brokerage charges — which is reasonable — but the most misunderstood number is the equity delivery charge. This is what you pay when you buy a stock and hold it (not intraday, just a regular investment). Here it is in one line:
Zerodha: ₹0. You buy ₹50,000 of Infosys and hold it for three years — you paid nothing to buy it and nothing to sell it (beyond statutory charges like STT and GST, which every broker charges and no one can avoid).
Groww: ₹20 or 0.05%, whichever is lower. On a ₹50,000 purchase that's ₹25. Small, but not zero.
Upstox: ₹20 or 2.5%, whichever is lower. The "2.5%" cap is high — for a ₹800 trade, that's ₹20. For a ₹50,000 trade, it's still ₹20 because the flat cap kicks in. In practice it's similar to Groww for most investors.
If you're a buy-and-hold investor — someone who buys Nifty 50 stocks or index funds and sits on them for years — Zerodha's ₹0 delivery charge is a genuine advantage that compounds over time. For someone actively trading every week, the difference narrows significantly.
Head-to-head: the numbers
| Feature | Zerodha | Groww | Upstox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equity delivery | ₹0 | ₹20 or 0.05% | ₹20 or 2.5% |
| Intraday / F&O | ₹20 or 0.03% | ₹20 flat | ₹20 or 0.05% |
| Demat AMC | ₹300/year | Free | ₹300/year* |
| Active clients | 7.9M (16% NSE share) | 13M+ (27% NSE share) | 2.75M |
| Stocks (NSE + BSE) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mutual funds | Coin app (separate) | Built-in, seamless | Built-in |
| Commodities / Currency | Yes | No | Yes |
| App simplicity | Moderate (feature-rich) | Excellent for beginners | Good |
| Charting / tools | Excellent (Kite) | Basic | Good |
* Upstox waives AMC for the first year. ₹300/year applies from year two.
What each broker is actually best at
The question nobody asks but should
Whichever broker you choose, your investments will be scattered. Stocks in your broker app. Mutual funds in Kuvera or Groww. FD in your bank. Gold somewhere. That SGB you bought three years ago.
No broker will ever show you your complete financial picture. They're not designed to — they show you what's with them, not what you actually own.
That's the gap Worthly was built for. Connect your Zerodha stocks, your Groww SIPs, your FDs, your gold — and see one honest net worth number. Not what's in one app. What you're actually worth.
See your complete picture, broker-agnostic
Zerodha, Groww, Upstox — add all of them to Worthly and see your total wealth in one place. Stocks, mutual funds, FDs, gold, real estate.
Track your wealth free →No broker login needed. Your data stays on your device.
