Checked by hand in July 2026. The full detail is in the table below.
Disnat no longer charges commission on stock trades. Fees alone can't settle this one anymore. What's actually still at stake:
Checked by hand in July 2026. The full detail is in the table below.
The criteria that change something day to day, minus the marketing checkboxes.
| Criterion | Wealthsimple | Desjardins |
|---|---|---|
| Commission on stocks and ETFs | $0 | $0 at Disnat |
| Inactivity fees | None | $30 per quarter on non-registered accounts, with several exemptions |
| Minimum balance | None | None to open |
| Automated managed account | 0.5% per year, 0.4% above $100,000 | Managed portfolios through the caisse, fees vary by product |
| USD conversion fee | 1.5%, then 0.5% above $25,000 and 0% above $100,000 | Conversion applies depending on the account |
| TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP | Yes | Yes |
| Physical branches | None | Caisse network across Quebec |
| Mortgage, line of credit, insurance | No | Yes |
| Annual patronage dividend | No | Yes, varies by caisse |
| Service in French | Yes | Yes, natively |
| Built-in tax filing | Yes, free | No |
| Crypto in the same account | Yes | No |
| Client contest | Monthly Millionaire, $1M per month | No equivalent |
| Sign-up bonus | $25 with LOIO3A, plus $10 by Interac from us | Occasional promotions |
Manually verified in July 2026. Fee schedules change: confirm with each institution before deciding.
Disnat, the Desjardins online brokerage, dropped its commission on buying and selling Canadian and US stocks. The argument online brokers had been making against traditional institutions for a decade just disappeared in Quebec.
A difference in shape remains. Disnat charges $30 per quarter in inactivity fees on non-registered accounts, or $120 a year. Those fees vanish once you make six trades in twelve months, reach $15,000 in your portfolio, hold a registered account, or fall between 18 and 30 years old. Most people clear one of those without trying. A small dormant non-registered account does not.
Wealthsimple charges no inactivity fee and requires no minimum balance on any account type. On a starter portfolio of a few thousand dollars that you feed slowly, that's the only pricing difference still visible.
An advisor you can sit across from doesn't get replaced by an app. Desjardins has caisses throughout Quebec, including regions where the banks closed their branches years ago. For a first RRSP, a slightly complicated setup or an estate question, having someone in front of you is often worth what it costs.
Patronage dividends are the other piece. As a co-operative, Desjardins returns part of its surplus to members. The amount depends on the caisse and the year, but it's a return a private company like Wealthsimple will never make.
Then there's everything Wealthsimple simply doesn't offer: mortgages, lines of credit, car loans, insurance. If the goal is one institution for everything, the conversation ends there.
Wealthsimple Tax is free and built into the same account. Filing without paying for software, year after year, adds up to a number that isn't trivial.
The app is also more pleasant to use. That matters when you open it several times a week. Crypto sits in the same interface as your investments, which Desjardins doesn't offer. And the Monthly Millionaire contest awards a $1,000,000 grand prize every month, with no equivalent at any Canadian bank.
The most concrete point is still account opening. Five minutes from a phone, no appointment, no trip anywhere.
You live in Quebec, your caisse knows you, and you want to talk to someone when a question comes up: stay with Desjardins and open Disnat for the self-directed slice of your savings.
You manage your own investments, never set foot in a branch, and want as little friction as possible: Wealthsimple.
Torn between the two? Take both. Keeping your chequing account at the caisse while investing at Wealthsimple is a very common setup, and the $35 offered at sign-up makes the trial free. The one thing to watch is your TFSA and RRSP limits, which apply across all your accounts rather than per institution. Work out your TFSA room here.
Nothing forces a choice today. Open an account with code LOIO3A, deposit $100, and walk away with $35 total: a $25 bonus plus $10 by Interac e-Transfer after the claim form.
Copy the code and open Wealthsimple →