Wealthsimple vs TD (2026): should you move your TFSA and savings?

For the money you save and invest, Wealthsimple usually costs less and pays more than TD. TD wins at everything that needs a branch and a person: in-person help with cash and cheques, and an advisor you can sit down with. Wealthsimple vs TD also isn’t an either-or choice. The two do different jobs well, and the cheapest setup often uses both.

What’s the difference between Wealthsimple and TD?

Both will hold your chequing, your savings and your TFSA, and both can invest your money for you or let you trade on your own. What differs is the company behind them. TD is one of Canada’s Big Five banks, a CDIC member with a national branch network and a full range of products. Wealthsimple is an investing company that added banking. It has no branches, isn’t a bank, and charges no monthly account fees.

The two also price things in opposite ways. TD charges a monthly fee on most chequing plans and waives it if you keep enough money in the account, from $3,000 to $6,000 depending on the plan. Its better savings rates need one of those paid plans too.

Wealthsimple charges nothing for the accounts. Its fees are on the investing side: management fees, currency conversion, and paid extras like US-dollar accounts. Its rates and perks go up with how much you hold there, first at $100,000 and again at $500,000.

Wealthsimple: how it works, and what it costs

You open and run every Wealthsimple account in the app or on the web, and there’s no branch to visit. Its pricing page (opens in a new tab) sets three tiers by your total assets there: Core from $1, Premium from $100,000 and Generation from $500,000 (as of September 2026).

What the accounts pay

The Chequing account (opens in a new tab) has no monthly fee or minimum and pays 1.25% for Core clients, 1.75% for Premium and 2.25% for Generation. Core and Premium clients get another 0.5% by having at least $2,000 deposited directly within 30 days, so a paycheque sent to the account lifts a Core client to 1.75%. Wealthsimple also reimburses eligible ATM fees, in Canada and abroad.

For savings there are two more accounts. The Savings account (opens in a new tab) pays 2.5% to everyone, however much they hold, but it’s only available as a non-registered account. Inside a TFSA, RRSP or FHSA, the Registered Savings Account (opens in a new tab) pays the tier rate instead, 1.25% to 2.25%.

What investing costs

Stock and ETF trades cost $0, and there’s no fee per options contract. On trades, the cost that remains is currency conversion. Buying a US-listed stock from a Canadian-dollar account converts at 1.5%, and a US-dollar account costs Core clients $10 a month, though it’s free from Premium up.

Managed portfolios charge 0.5% a year at Core and 0.4% at Premium, plus the ETFs’ own fees, which Wealthsimple lists at 0.12% to 0.15% for its Classic portfolios (opens in a new tab). It also sells mortgages and a 2% cash-back credit card, which costs Core clients $20 a month unless they direct-deposit $4,000 a month or hold $100,000. And it runs a prize draw, Monthly Millionaire, with entries for the money you save or move in.

Where your money is held

Wealthsimple isn’t a bank, so it isn’t a CDIC (opens in a new tab) member itself. Chequing balances are held in trust for you at CDIC-member banks, spread across up to 10 of them for up to $1 million of combined coverage. The Registered Savings Account is also held in trust at CDIC members, insured to $100,000. The 2.5% Savings account and your investments are covered by CIPF instead, which protects you if the firm fails, not if the market falls. Our page on whether Wealthsimple is safe goes through each account.

TD: how it works, and what it costs

TD’s Canadian bank serves about 16 million clients through more than 1,000 branches and more than 2,800 ATMs, per its corporate profile (opens in a new tab). It sells everything under one roof: chequing, savings, GICs, mortgages, credit cards, US-dollar accounts, and investing through a branch advisor or an app.

What the accounts cost and pay

Apart from the student account, TD’s chequing plans charge a monthly fee, per its chequing page (opens in a new tab) (as of September 2026):

• Minimum Chequing: $3.95 a month for 12 transactions, with no balance waiver
• Every Day Chequing: $11.95, or $0 with a $3,000 daily balance
• Unlimited Chequing: $17.95, or $0 with $4,000
• All-Inclusive Banking Plan: $30.95, or $0 with $6,000

Students pay nothing until they turn 23, or longer with proof of full-time post-secondary enrolment, and Minimum Chequing is free for some groups, including newcomers in their first year.

TD’s savings rates are low unless you qualify for a boosted rate. The ePremium Savings Account pays 0.45%, and only once the balance reaches $10,000. The Growth Savings Account posts 0.40% to 0.65% from $10,000. Its boosted rate, 0.50% to 1.50% from $5,000, needs Unlimited or All-Inclusive chequing plus two of three qualifying transactions a month: a direct deposit, a pre-authorized payment or an online bill payment. The High Interest TFSA Savings Account pays 0.30%, per TD’s rates page (opens in a new tab).

What investing costs

At a branch, TD sells its own mutual funds, such as the Comfort Portfolios. The Comfort Balanced Portfolio’s fund facts (opens in a new tab) list a management expense ratio (MER) of 1.91% a year, and that includes the ongoing commission paid for the service and advice you get from your representative.

TD also has cheaper routes if you pick your own investments. TD Easy Trade (opens in a new tab) includes 100 free stock and ETF trades a year, then charges $9.99, with no account fees and a free US-dollar account. TD Direct Investing (opens in a new tab) charges $9.99 a trade, or nothing on a list of select ETFs, plus $25 a quarter on accounts under $15,000 unless you meet a waiver, such as a $100 monthly contribution.

TD is a CDIC member itself, so eligible deposits are insured to $100,000 per category, and a TFSA deposit is its own category. Its investing accounts sit at TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., which is a CIPF member (opens in a new tab), as is Wealthsimple’s investing arm.

Which is better for your TFSA?

Wealthsimple, for most people. If your TFSA holds a branch-sold TD portfolio like Comfort Balanced, a Wealthsimple managed portfolio cuts the yearly cost by about two thirds. If it holds cash, Wealthsimple pays more than four times TD’s rate. The exception is someone who picks their own investments and wants to stay at TD, because TD Easy Trade is close to free.

Over one year, at September 2026 prices:

The cash row uses Wealthsimple’s Core rate of 1.25% against TD’s 0.30%.

If a TD advisor manages your TFSA now

The first row sets Wealthsimple’s Core fee of 0.5%, plus 0.12% to 0.15% in fund costs for a Classic portfolio, against the 1.91% on TD’s Comfort Balanced Portfolio. They aren’t identical products, and the TD fee pays for an advisor you can meet in person. Still, the gap is about $630 a year on $50,000, and it grows with the balance.

If you pick your own investments

The cost difference mostly disappears here. TD Easy Trade covers 100 trades a year, and TD cites research showing Canadians with online investing accounts make about 20 trades a year. Wealthsimple still wins past the hundredth trade.

For US stocks, TD has the edge over a Wealthsimple Core account. Its US-dollar account is free, though TD still earns a spread when you convert Canadian dollars to fill it. A Wealthsimple Core client pays $10 a month for the same kind of account.

Which pays more on savings?

Wealthsimple, by a wide margin. Its Savings account pays 2.5% on any amount. TD’s ePremium pays 0.45% from $10,000, and its Growth account reaches 1.00% to 1.50% on $10,000 and up only if you hold a paid chequing plan and meet its monthly conditions.

Put $20,000 away for a year and the Wealthsimple Savings account earns $500. At TD it’s $90 in ePremium, $80 at Growth’s posted rate, or $200 with the boost.

The catch is that the Savings account is covered by CIPF rather than CDIC, and it can’t sit inside a TFSA. If you want CDIC coverage on the cash, Wealthsimple’s Chequing account pays 1.25% and is held in trust at CDIC members. Some accounts elsewhere pay more than either for a few months, and our roundup of high-interest savings accounts compares them.

Which is better for everyday banking?

Wealthsimple, unless you need a branch. Its Chequing account has no fee, pays interest, and refunds ATM fees. TD is the better fit if you handle a lot of cash or cheques, want to sort problems out face to face, or already keep enough in a TD plan to waive its fee.

Unlimited Chequing costs $17.95 a month, or $215.40 a year, unless you keep $4,000 in it every day. The waiver has a cost too, because $4,000 at Wealthsimple’s Core rate would earn $50 a year, or $70 with direct deposit. So if you keep that much in chequing anyway, what TD actually costs you is that $50 to $70 of interest, and the plan unlocks TD’s boosted savings rate. If the balance dips below $4,000 on any day of the month, you pay the full fee.

Can you use both?

Yes, and the split usually follows what each one does well. TD covers the things that need a bank: a branch nearby, cash and cheques, your mortgage or US-dollar banking. The money that sits still, your savings and your TFSA, is what tends to earn more and cost less at Wealthsimple. Keeping a TD chequing account open costs nothing on the student plan or with $3,000 in Every Day Chequing, so it’s worth checking which plan you’re on. Our pages on alternatives to TD and alternatives to Wealthsimple cover the other options.

What it costs to move money out of TD

TD charges $150 plus tax to transfer a TFSA or RRSP to another institution, and $15 to close a bank account and send the balance elsewhere, per its list of service fees (opens in a new tab). Its brokerage charges $150 per account too. Wealthsimple reimburses one transfer-out fee for every $25,000 (opens in a new tab) you move in, so on a smaller TFSA you pay TD’s fee yourself.

Both pay you to move investments in

The offers change often. As of September 2026, Wealthsimple matches 1% (opens in a new tab) of what you bring over from another institution when it’s $25,000 or more, if you sign up for the offer before you transfer. The match is capped at $20,000 and paid over 24 months while the money stays invested. TD pays 3% cash back when you move $2,500 or more from another institution into a registered account at TD Direct Investing or TD Easy Trade, and 1% into a non-registered one, up to $15,000 in cash back, if you register by October 23, 2026 (opens in a new tab) and keep the assets there until November 30, 2028. Read the holding rules before you move anything, because both pay out over about two years.

Free draw tickets for your savings, at TD or Wealthsimple

We make Lodavo, a free app that works with both and rewards saving with tickets in a weekly cash draw. Connect a TD chequing or savings account, or your Wealthsimple Chequing account, and every $25 in it gets you a free ticket. At least $100 goes to a winner every week, and the jackpot is $10,000.

Your money stays where you decided to keep it, so the rate you chose above is still the rate you earn. Investment accounts at either firm, including an invested TFSA, don’t count toward tickets.

Neither Wealthsimple nor TD paid to appear in this comparison.

Which one to pick

Wealthsimple is usually the better home for a TFSA or savings that sit in TD mutual funds or a savings account paying under 1%, because on an ordinary balance the gap runs to hundreds of dollars a year. TD is the better choice for anything you need to do in person, and a TD plan makes sense if you already hold enough to waive its fee. If you pick your own investments and like TD, TD Easy Trade is close enough on cost that staying is reasonable. Rates, fees and offers change, so check both providers’ own pages before you move money.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.