Sarwa vs Public.com — which broker is better?

Pros

• Free local AED transfers from UAE banks, with Sarwa's own published conversion rates (AED 3.6823 per USD in, AED 3.6639 per USD out as of 02.11.2026; about 0.5% apart)
• No custody, inactivity, account opening or account closing fee and no withdrawal fee to UAE banks, according to Sarwa; a withdrawal from Sarwa Trade to a Saudi bank costs USD 35
• One app for self-directed trading (Sarwa Trade), managed ETF portfolios (Sarwa Invest) and money market funds (Sarwa Save)
• US stocks and ETFs almost around the clock in four sessions from Sunday evening to Friday, plus fractional shares, IPO Access and Auto Trading
• Trade assets are held in a fully disclosed account at Alpaca Securities LLC, which Sarwa names as a SIPC member (USD 500,000 including USD 250,000 cash)
• An optional Shariah Screener with compliance reports from Musaffa, plus an Islamic portfolio line and an Islamic money market option, as Sarwa describes them
• Licensed by the FSRA in the ADGM under permission 190037 since 20 February 2020, shown on the public register
• Website in English and Arabic; WhatsApp support seven days a week, on weekends from 9:00 to 18:00 UAE time

Cons

• Four FSRA penalties since 2022: three for CRS and FATCA reporting failures (AED 36,000, AED 50,000 and AED 40,000) and USD 122,500 for offering shares in its own holding company without an approved prospectus; the DFSA fined the former Dubai company USD 191,100 over the same offer
• Percentage commission with no cap: the greater of USD 1 or 0.25% per stock or ETF order, so a USD 10,000 order costs USD 25
• Options at USD 4 per contract and crypto with a 1.5% spread on every buy and sell
• Only US-listed securities on Sarwa Trade: no bonds, futures, mutual funds or listings outside the US such as UCITS ETFs
• Not a bank, and Brokaro classes its regulator, the FSRA, as tier 2; we found no ADGM investor compensation scheme, and the SIPC cover belongs to Alpaca, not to Sarwa
• Card deposits cost 2.99% + AED 1 (UAE cards) or 3.99% + AED 1 (other cards), and Sarwa Invest charges at least USD 7 a month: in Sarwa's own example, USD 7 for a month on a USD 1,000 balance

Pros

• Options Rebate Program pays USD 0.06–0.18 per stock or ETF contract, typically more than the roughly USD 0.05 per contract of regulatory fees — a net-negative transaction cost that no competitor here matches
• Cheapest margin of the three: 5.15% base (Fed Funds Target Rate + 1.15%, with FFTR at 4.00% as of 17 September 2026), tiering to 4.20% above USD 50 million
• A real bond desk — fractional corporate bonds at 0.35%–0.50% of par, Treasuries at 0.10%–0.25%, plus customisable Treasury ladders (the separate Jiko 6-month T-bill account stops taking new deposits after 31 October 2026)
• Genuinely multi-asset in one login: stocks, ETFs, options, bonds, Treasuries, 60+ crypto assets, IRAs, Crypto IRAs and a high-yield cash account quoted at 3.30% APY in mid-2026
• Free ACH in and out, free incoming wires and free incoming ACAT transfers, with no minimum deposit
• Transparent, well-maintained public fee schedule — the version used for this record was updated 13 October 2026 and states every line item including the awkward ones
• Index options at USD 0.35 per contract for every customer, plus the exchange fees Public passes on

Cons

• US residents only — no international entity, so European, UK or DACH investors cannot open an account
• USD 100 to transfer securities out, plus USD 115 per security for a DRS transfer; both are the highest in this comparison
• No futures, no spot forex, no mutual funds and no desktop application — active traders will find the charting and depth-of-market shallow next to Webull or moomoo
• The options rebate is funded by payment for order flow, so you are accepting a routing model in exchange for the payment; the free Wholesale route is the default, and choosing Smart Order or Lit-Exchange routing costs USD 0.003 per share
• A USD 3.99 monthly inactivity fee applies to accounts under USD 70 with no six-month activity, and there is no paper-trading environment to practise in