Every investing app in India is free to someone. The question that decides what you actually pay is who that someone is: you, or a fund house, an insurer or an exchange paying the app to route you. This guide reads the published pricing pages of the main Indian investing apps and sets out what each one charges, under which SEBI registration it operates, and where the numbers simply are not published.
The three business models behind every investing app
Almost every app in this space sits in one of three buckets, and the bucket predicts the conflicts of interest better than any review does.
Brokerage. The app is a SEBI-registered stock broker and earns per executed order. Groww is registered as a stock broker under SEBI number INZ000301838 and is a trading member of NSE, BSE and MCX. Its published equity brokerage is ₹20 or 0.1% per executed order, whichever is lower, with a minimum of ₹5, and ₹0 for account opening and annual maintenance. Direct mutual funds on Groww are listed at zero charges. Fisdom publishes a DIY plan at ₹20 per executed order across delivery, intraday, futures, options and currency. The same pattern runs through Zerodha Kite, Upstox, Angel One, Dhan, 5paisa and Paytm Money.
Commission (regular plans). The app distributes regular-plan mutual funds and is paid a trail commission out of the fund's expense ratio. You never see a bill; the cost is inside the fund's NAV. Scripbox states this in as many words on its pricing page: its Regular plan is ₹0 per month and "We earn commission from AMCs."
Fee-only. The app is a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser and charges you directly, precisely so it has no commission to defend. Scripbox is registered as an investment adviser under INA200001041; Fisdom's entity carries INA200005323 alongside portfolio-manager registration INP000008950 and broker registration INZ000209036. PowerUp Money's advisory entity, Powerup Money Wealth Management Private Limited (formerly Uniorbit Wealth Management Pvt Ltd), publishes RIA number INA000019798.
Why the registration type is the real disclosure
A stock broker is paid on activity. An investment adviser registered under SEBI's IA regulations is paid by the client. A distributor is paid by the manufacturer. When an app holds several registrations at once, as Fisdom does, read which entity is serving you on a given screen. Registration numbers are printed in the footer of each of these companies' own websites, which is the only place worth reading them.
What each app publishes
| App | Published charge | Registration shown on its own site |
|---|---|---|
| Groww | Equity: ₹20 or 0.1% per executed order, whichever is lower, min ₹5. Account opening ₹0, AMC ₹0. Direct mutual funds: zero charges. MTF interest 14.95% p.a. | Stock broker INZ000301838; DP IN-DP-417-2019; ARN-111686 |
| Fisdom (DIY) | ₹20 per executed order across equity delivery, intraday, futures, options, currency futures. DP AMC free first year, then ₹299 + GST. MTF interest 2% per month. SuperTrade terminal ₹500 per month. | INA200005323, INP000008950, INZ000209036 |
| Fisdom (Classic) | Percentage brokerage with relationship-manager service; terminal and call-and-trade free | As above |
| Scripbox (Regular) | ₹0 per month; Scripbox earns commission from AMCs | Investment adviser INA200001041 |
| Scripbox (Direct) | From 0.8% of portfolio + GST, payable quarterly, minimum fee may apply; eligible above ₹50L portfolio | As above |
| PowerUp Money | Direct funds only, "do not charge any commissions on your investments"; no price published for the Elite tier on its site | RIA INA000019798, IA-BSE membership 2465 |
| Tijori Finance | Free plan ₹0; Monthly ₹330/month; Yearly ₹3,500/year | Research tool, not a broker |
| Kuvera | No fee table readable on its public pages | Site brands itself "Kuvera by CRED" |
Two entries in that table deserve their caveats stated out loud. Kuvera's public pages render through JavaScript and returned no readable pricing or registration text when fetched, so nothing is claimed here beyond the "Kuvera by CRED" branding its own page title carries. PowerUp Money's site answers the commission question but does not publish a rupee price for its Elite tier anywhere I could read; treat any figure you see quoted elsewhere as unverified.
Groww alternatives, honestly sorted
"Groww alternative" is usually one of three different requests.
If you want the same discount-broking model with a different interface, the swap is lateral: Zerodha Kite, Upstox, Dhan, Angel One and 5paisa all sit in the same investing space and compete on order pricing and terminal quality. Check each one's own pricing page on the day you decide; per-order charges in this segment change.
If you want mutual funds without a trading app attached, that is a different product. Coin by Zerodha and Kuvera are direct-plan platforms, and Scripbox will sell you advice on top. INDmoney adds account aggregation on top of investing.
If you want research rather than execution, neither a broker nor a distributor is the answer. Tijori Finance sells a subscription; Smallcase sells curated baskets that you execute through a broker you already have.
Fisdom vs Groww
On published brokerage the two are close: Groww lists ₹20 or 0.1% whichever is lower with a ₹5 floor; Fisdom's DIY plan lists a flat ₹20 per executed order. The differences sit around the edges. Groww publishes ₹0 account opening and ₹0 AMC. Fisdom publishes a free first year of DP AMC and ₹299 + GST from the second year, with a ₹999 lifetime-waiver option, and a ₹500 per month desktop terminal on the DIY plan. Fisdom also carries an advisory and PMS registration and sells a relationship-managed Classic plan with percentage-based brokerage, which Groww does not offer. Fisdom's site states its distribution runs through India's top banks; Groww's is direct to consumer.
Kuvera vs Goalwise
Goalwise is the harder half of this comparison, because goalwise.com did not resolve to any IP address when checked for this article, so there is no current pricing page to quote. Anyone still searching this comparison is effectively choosing among live platforms, and the honest answer is to compare Kuvera against Coin by Zerodha, Scripbox's Direct plan and PowerUp Money instead.
Where the adjacent apps fit
Ditto sits outside investing altogether: its site sells term life and health insurance advice through IRDAI-certified advisers and books free consultation calls. If you are looking for a Ditto alternative you are shopping for insurance advice, not a fund platform, and the fee question to ask any such service is whether it earns commission from the insurer it recommends.
OneScore is a free credit-score app; its own site says it gives Experian and CIBIL scores with lifetime-free credit reports and no ads. A OneScore alternative is any other free bureau-score app, not an investing platform.
Rupeek is an asset-backed gold-loan company by its own description, arranging loans against gold through bank partners, with a Gold Card offering 0% interest up to 45 days. It is a borrowing product. It has no "market sentiment" dimension in the investing sense, and anything framing it that way is describing something other than what Rupeek's own site sells.
How to compare these apps without getting spun
- Identify the registration first. Broker, distributor, or registered investment adviser — it tells you who pays the app.
- Read the vendor's own pricing page, on the day. Third-party comparison tables in this category go stale quickly and repeat each other's errors.
- Separate the visible fee from the invisible one. ₹0 per month on a regular-plan platform is not free; the trail commission is inside the fund's expense ratio.
- Count the charges beyond brokerage: DP charges per sell, AMC from year two, auto square-off penalties, payment gateway fees, MTF interest.
- If an app will not publish a price, treat the silence as information.
Our personal finance and investing category pages list each of these platforms with their own official links.
FAQ
Is the PowerUp Money app free or paid?
PowerUp Money states on its own site that it offers only Direct mutual funds and does not charge commissions on your investments, but it does not publish a rupee price for its Elite tier anywhere on the pages we read. Its advisory services are provided by Powerup Money Wealth Management Private Limited under SEBI RIA number INA000019798. Because it operates as a registered investment adviser rather than a distributor, any charge would be a fee billed to you rather than a commission from a fund house — confirm the current amount inside the app before subscribing.
What are PowerUp app charges?
No charge schedule is published on powerup.money, so we are not going to quote one. What the site does confirm: direct plans only, no commission taken on investments, RIA registration INA000019798 with perpetual validity from March 2026, and IA-BSE membership 2465. If you see a specific subscription price quoted on a blog or app-store listing, verify it against the app's own in-product plan screen.
Fisdom vs Groww: which costs less?
Both publish ₹20-class brokerage, so the difference is in the surrounding charges. Groww publishes ₹0 account opening, ₹0 AMC, and ₹20-or-0.1%-whichever-is-lower with a ₹5 minimum per equity order. Fisdom's DIY plan is a flat ₹20 per executed order with DP AMC free for the first year and ₹299 + GST after, plus ₹500 per month for its SuperTrade desktop terminal. Light mutual-fund investors will find Groww's direct-fund zero-charge line simpler; traders who want a relationship manager will look at Fisdom's Classic plan, which is percentage-priced rather than flat.
Kuvera vs Goalwise: which should I use?
Neither comparison is live any more in a useful sense. goalwise.com does not currently resolve, so there is no pricing page to compare against. Kuvera's own public pages render via JavaScript and published no readable fee table when fetched, though the site brands itself "Kuvera by CRED". If you want a direct-plan mutual fund platform today, compare Kuvera against Coin by Zerodha, Scripbox's Direct plan at from 0.8% of portfolio + GST, and PowerUp Money's commission-free direct-only model.
What is a good Groww alternative?
It depends which half of Groww you use. For stock broking, Zerodha Kite, Upstox, Dhan, Angel One, 5paisa and Paytm Money are direct substitutes on published per-order pricing. For direct mutual funds only, Coin by Zerodha, Kuvera and PowerUp Money remove the trading surface entirely. For advice rather than execution, Scripbox is a SEBI-registered investment adviser (INA200001041) that publishes both a commission-funded Regular plan at ₹0 per month and a fee-only Direct plan from 0.8% of portfolio + GST.
Is Scripbox free?
Scripbox's Regular plan is ₹0 per month, and its pricing page explains why: "We earn commission from AMCs." That commission comes out of the regular-plan fund's expense ratio, so it is a cost you bear indirectly rather than a fee you pay. Its Direct plan, which uses lower-cost direct funds, starts at 0.8% of portfolio plus GST payable quarterly, is offered for portfolios above ₹50 lakh, and may carry a minimum fee. Scripbox's own pricing page also states that it will not provide direct funds without a fee.
What is a Tijori Finance alternative?
Tijori Finance is a research subscription, not a broker, so its alternatives are other research and screening tools rather than investing apps. Tijori publishes a Free plan at ₹0, a Monthly plan at ₹330 per month and a Yearly plan at ₹3,500 per year. If you mainly want curated portfolios rather than raw data, Smallcase covers a different need; if you want fundamentals bundled into a place you already trade, check what your broker includes before paying for a separate subscription.
Sources
All figures above were read from each company's own website on 23 September 2026.
- Groww — Brokerage Charges & Pricing: https://groww.in/pricing
- Fisdom — Pricing: https://www.fisdom.com/pricing-mobile/
- Fisdom — home page (registration numbers): https://www.fisdom.com/
- Scripbox — Pricing Plans: https://scripbox.com/pricing
- PowerUp Money — home page and FAQ: https://powerup.money/
- Tijori Finance — Subscription Plans: https://www.tijorifinance.com/plans
- Kuvera: https://kuvera.in/pricing
- Ditto: https://joinditto.in/
- OneScore: https://www.onescore.app/
- Rupeek: https://rupeek.com/
