Best RESP Providers in Canada for 2026

Best RESP Providers Canada 2026: Ranking at a Glance

This table lists every provider in score order: first the online brokers, which you run yourself, then the robo-advisors, which run the portfolio for you. Scores are out of 5 and shown to one decimal. Where two providers share a rounded score, the order follows the unrounded score. “RESP plan types” shows what each provider states about family and individual plans; where it says “not specified”, the provider lists RESPs without naming the types on the pages we checked.

Who is missing and why. Interactive Brokers, moomoo, Webull and TD Direct Investing are not on this list. Interactive Brokers does not describe RESPs on the pages we checked, moomoo states that RESPs are not available, Webull lists only cash, margin, TFSA and RRSP accounts, and the TD Direct Investing account list we checked does not include RESPs. RBC InvestEase is left out of the robo ranking because it offers TFSA, FHSA, RRSP and non-registered accounts only.

Use the RESP grant calculator below to see how much CESG, additional CESG, Canada Learning Bond and provincial grant money your contributions could attract each year, with a projection to the year your child turns 17. The grant amounts are the same whichever provider you pick.

Master Comparison Table: RESP Brokers Side by Side

This is the full view of the nine brokers, with every cost that can touch an RESP. You can search and sort it. Each figure comes from the broker’s own published pricing or account pages on October 22, 2026. “Not published” means the broker did not state the item on the pages we checked, so we do not fill it in.

How to read the fee column. An RESP account fee is charged on top of trading costs, and most of these fees apply only below a balance. The thresholds differ: $15,000 at Desjardins and Scotia iTRADE, $20,000 at National Bank (counted on May 31) and $10,000 at CIBC. Section 3 turns these rules into yearly dollar costs for four families.

The 9 Online Brokers That Offer RESPs, Ranked

Each card explains why the broker sits where it does, what an RESP costs there, which plan types it states and the kind of family it fits best. The scores come from our broker rating methodology, and no broker can pay for a position.

Managed RESPs: The 3 Robo-Advisors Ranked

A robo-advisor picks a portfolio for you, rebalances it and reinvests contributions. We rank robo-advisors on their own score: fees 45%, account types 15%, portfolio choice 15%, minimum 10% and access to advice 15%. Four robo-advisors meet our publishing rule (both the management fee and the fund costs are published), and three of them offer RESPs.

The robo-advisor fee calculator below shows the yearly management fee at each ranked robo-advisor for the balance you enter, so you can compare them at your own RESP size.

Robo-advisors we could not rank. Justwealth offers RESPs with target date portfolios, no minimum for RESPs and a minimum fee of $2.50 a month on RESPs, but its fee tiers are published only as an image. BMO SmartFolio offers RESPs, but its 0.4% to 0.7% advisory fee breakpoints and its fund costs are not published. We list both for completeness and leave them unranked. Our full best robo-advisors in Canada ranking covers every account type.

1. How We Ranked the Best RESP Providers in Canada

One score for every broker. The broker list uses our overall broker score, not a separate RESP score. Each broker gets six sub-scores from 0 to 5, multiplied by fixed weights: costs 35%, account types 15%, US investing 15%, cash and margin rates 10%, platform features 15% and safety 10%. A broker appears on this page only if it offers an RESP. The full rubric is in how we rate online brokers and robo-advisors, and how WealthScale earns money is in our advertiser disclosure. Our editorial standards explain how each figure is sourced and dated.

A worked total. Questrade: costs 5.0 x 0.35 = 1.75; account types 5.0 x 0.15 = 0.75; US investing 5.0 x 0.15 = 0.75; cash and margin 0.5 x 0.10 = 0.05; platform 4.5 x 0.15 = 0.675; safety 3.5 x 0.10 = 0.35. The total is 4.325, shown as 4.3. Desjardins’s total of 4.275 also rounds to 4.3, so the unrounded score decides the order.

What the cost score measures. Costs are the average yearly cost of two standard profiles at published prices: an active investor and a buy-and-hold investor making $2,000 trades in a $20,000 TFSA, counting commissions and account fees. That is why the six brokers here with $0 stock and ETF trades all score 5.0 on cost, while the $6.95 to $9.99 brokers fall to between 2.0 and 2.92. The US score uses US-dollar registered accounts and US commissions. RESP account fees are not part of the broker score, so Section 3 shows them separately in dollars.

2. Which RESP Provider Type Suits Which Family

Self-directed online brokers. You choose every investment, decide when to buy and rebalance yourself. Costs are trading commissions, any account fee and the fees inside the funds you pick. At the four brokers with $0 trades and no RESP account fee, a family that buys ETFs every month can pay $0 to the broker, though the funds themselves still carry their own costs. This route suits parents who are comfortable choosing and adjusting a portfolio, and who want full control over contribution timing.

Robo-advisors. You answer questions, and the robo-advisor builds, rebalances and reinvests a portfolio for you. You pay a yearly percentage of the balance plus fund costs: from 0.37% to 0.83% all-in on $50,000 among the three we rank. That cost grows with the plan, so a $40,000 RESP costs $148 to $332 a year. It suits parents who want the RESP to run itself and value automatic rebalancing over the lowest cost.

Bank and co-operative brokerages. The bank-owned dealers (BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotia iTRADE and National Bank) and Desjardins, part of a co-operative group, all offer RESPs, and having the account next to your chequing account can make automatic contributions easy. The trade-off is cost: CIBC, RBC and Scotia iTRADE still charge $6.95 to $9.99 per trade outside their $0 ETF lists, and four of the six have a small-balance fee.

Group plan dealers. A group plan pools families’ savings, sets the contribution schedule for you and chooses the investments. Section 6 explains how they work in general terms. They suit a narrow group: families who want no decisions at all and are sure they can keep up a fixed schedule for many years.

3. Yearly RESP Costs for Four Families

What we assumed. Each family buys Canadian-listed ETFs online at the broker’s standard commission and does not limit itself to a $0 ETF list. Account fees are applied as published for a parent over 30 with no other assets at the firm. CIBC’s $100 fee is shown from the second year, because new clients are exempt in year one. Robo-advisor costs are the management fee plus the highest published fund cost, so they are the most you would pay. These examples are hypothetical.

How the numbers add up. CIBC for the starter family: 12 x $6.95 = $83.40 in commissions plus the $100 fee at $10,000 or less, for $183.40. Scotia iTRADE for the same family: 12 x $9.99 = $119.88 plus the $25 RESP fee under $15,000, for $144.88. At $25,000 that fee falls away, leaving $119.88. National Bank’s $100 applies at $5,000 and $12,000 because both are under its $20,000 waiver; Desjardins’s $50 applies at both because they are under $15,000. Questwealth on $25,000: 0.25% = $62.50 plus up to 0.12% = $30.00, for $92.50.

What changes the picture. If a CIBC, RBC or Scotia iTRADE family buys only from the broker’s $0 ETF list, commissions drop to $0 and only the account fee is left. A National Bank parent aged 30 or under pays no $100 fee.

What these figures leave out. Fund costs inside any ETFs you buy at a broker, US-dollar account fees and transfer fees are not included. Section 7 covers US investing, and Section 10 covers transfers.

4. Family RESP Providers and Individual Plans

The family plan rule. A family plan can name more than one beneficiary, and it is the only kind of RESP that can. Every beneficiary must be related by blood or adoption to each living subscriber and must be under 21 when named. Each one needs a social insurance number and Canadian residency when designated. That makes a family plan the natural home for siblings, and for grandparents saving for several grandchildren.

The individual plan. Any RESP that is not a family plan has a single beneficiary. It is the route when the subscriber is not related to the child by blood or adoption, such as a godparent or a family friend. If a provider offers only a family plan, those savers cannot use it.

What each provider states. The table shows what we found on each provider’s own pages. “Not specified” does not mean the plan type is unavailable; it means we could not confirm it, so please ask before you apply.

An individual plan for yourself. Wealthsimple’s individual plan is for the subscriber’s own education. It can hold savings for an adult going back to school, but it will not attract the CESG, which stops at the end of the year the beneficiary turns 17.

Limits apply per child, not per plan. The $50,000 lifetime contribution limit and the $7,200 CESG maximum belong to each beneficiary across all RESPs. Two plans for the same child, say one from the parents and one from a grandparent, share one $50,000 limit. Excess contributions cost 1% a month, split among the subscribers by their share. Our RESP guide covers these rules in full.

5. How RESP Providers Handle Grants

The rates are fixed by government, not by the provider. No provider can pay more or less grant than the rules allow. What a provider controls is which programs it requests for you. Grant money is paid into the RESP through the provider (the promoter), so a provider that does not offer a program cannot collect it on your behalf.

What the providers publish. None of the providers’ pages we checked listed which grant programs they request. Wealthsimple’s RESP page, for example, does not name the CESG, CLB, BCTESG or QESI. So this page makes no claim about which provider handles which grant. Before you open, please ask the provider in writing whether it requests the CESG and additional CESG, the CLB, and the BCTESG or QESI if you live in B.C. or Quebec.

Timing rules that depend on you. The BCTESG can be requested from the 6th birthday until the day before the 9th, and a missed window cannot be reopened. The CESG at 16 and 17 is paid only if at least $2,000 went in by the end of the year the child turned 15, or at least $100 a year in any four years before then, without withdrawal. The CLB comes with $25 more in the first year to help with opening costs. Our RESP grants guide covers each program in detail.

A change from April 2028. The Government of Canada will open an RESP automatically to deposit the CLB for eligible children born in 2024 or later who are not named in an RESP by age 4, with opt-out requests from 2027. That plan collects the bond only; contributions you make yourself are what earn the CESG.

6. Group Plans Explained in General Terms

How they work. A group plan, sometimes called a scholarship plan, pools the savings of children born in the same year. You sign up for a contribution schedule, and the dealer invests the pooled money under the rules in its prospectus. When the children reach school age, payments to students depend on the plan’s rules and on how many members stayed in until the end.

Fees. Group plans usually charge enrolment or sales fees, and these are often collected in the early years of the plan. The fee table in the prospectus shows what you pay and when. If you stop paying, change plans or close early, part of what you paid in fees may not come back to you.

Investment choice. You do not choose investments. The dealer invests the pool, and group plans commonly hold conservative fixed income. That removes decisions but also removes control over risk and cost.

Grants still apply. The CESG and other grants follow the same rules in a group plan as anywhere else, as long as the plan requests them. The $50,000 lifetime limit per child is also the same.

Where they do not fit. A group plan is a poor fit for a family whose income may change, who may move a child to a different program or who wants low, visible costs. Please read the whole prospectus, especially the sections on missed payments, leaving early and what happens if the child chooses a program the plan does not accept, before you sign.

How to compare. Put the total fees over the life of the plan next to the yearly cost of a self-directed or managed RESP at your expected balance. Section 3 gives the self-directed and robo figures for four balances.

7. US Investing and USD Accounts in an RESP

US withholding tax is not refunded inside an RESP. The Canada-US tax treaty’s exemption for retirement accounts does not cover RESPs. US dividends paid into an RESP have 15% withheld when the broker has a Form W-8BEN on file, or 30% without one, and that tax cannot be claimed back as a foreign tax credit inside the plan. The same is true in a TFSA, as our guide to US stocks in a TFSA explains.

Holding US dollars. Only some providers state a way to keep US dollars in an RESP. Questrade says registered accounts can hold US dollars at no extra cost. Wealthsimple lets you add a US-dollar account to an RESP for $10 plus tax a month on Core, included on Premium and Generation. Scotia iTRADE holds its RESP in Canadian dollars and offers a U.S.-Friendly RESP for $30 a quarter, which is $120 a year. RBC says its investment accounts can hold both currencies but does not state the price for registered accounts. The other five brokers did not state a US-dollar option for RESPs.

US commissions. Questrade, Wealthsimple, Desjardins, National Bank, Qtrade and BMO charge $0 on US-listed stock and ETF trades. CIBC charges $6.95, RBC $9.95 and Scotia iTRADE $9.99 a trade. The table shows each broker’s US-dollar option, its US commission and what 12 US purchases a year cost in commissions.

Keeping it simple. An RESP that holds only Canadian-listed investments needs no US-dollar account at all. If you do want US-listed holdings, add any USD account fee to your commissions and fund costs in our investment fee calculator, and see which brokers reinvest dividends for you on our best brokers for dividend investing page.

8. Safety: CIPF, CDIC and CIRO for RESPs

CIPF coverage has its own RESP category. If a dealer that is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) fails, CIPF covers missing cash and securities. All RESPs where you are the subscriber are covered together up to $1,000,000, separate from your general accounts (cash, margin, TFSA and FHSA, up to $1,000,000 combined) and your retirement accounts (RRSP, RRIF and LIF, up to $1,000,000 combined). CIPF does not cover a fall in market value or crypto assets.

CDIC covers deposits, not investments. If your RESP holds savings deposits or GICs at a CDIC member, those deposits are insured as their own category up to $100,000 per member institution. CDIC does not cover stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds or crypto.

CIRO oversees the dealers. The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) regulates every investment dealer in Canada, and CIPF member firms are CIRO members. For three of the nine brokers, CIRO membership follows from the CIPF listing rather than a statement on their own pages.

Robo-advisors. Wealthsimple’s managed portfolios sit with Wealthsimple Investments Inc., and CI Investment Services Inc., the dealer behind CI Direct Investing, is on CIPF’s list. Questwealth Portfolios is run by Questrade Wealth Management Inc. Whichever you choose, please confirm the name of the dealer that holds your RESP on your account agreement. Our page on whether Wealthsimple is safe walks through these protections in more detail.

9. How to Choose the Best RESP Account for Your Family

Decide the structure before the brand. The best RESP account for one family can be the wrong one for another, because plan type, balance and how much work you want to do matter more than any single fee. Work through these steps in order.

1. Decide who will run the portfolio. If you will choose and rebalance investments, start with the brokers. If you want it done for you, start with the robo-advisors and compare all-in cost at your balance.
2. Pick the plan type. Siblings, or grandchildren with one grandparent, point to a family plan. A godparent or friend needs an individual plan. Rule out any provider that does not state the type you need.
3. Estimate your balance and trades. Under $15,000, the Desjardins and Scotia iTRADE fees apply; under $20,000, National Bank’s applies unless you qualify for a waiver; at $10,000 or less, CIBC’s applies after year one.
4. List the grants you need. Every family wants the CESG. Lower-income families need the CLB, B.C. families the BCTESG and Quebec families the QESI. Ask each shortlisted provider in writing.
5. Decide on US dollars. If you want US-listed holdings, favour a provider with a stated US-dollar option, a low or no USD account fee and $0 US commissions.
6. Check the exit. Note the transfer-out fee ($0 at Wealthsimple, $150 at most others) and any rebate for moving in.
7. Open the plan and name each beneficiary. Have every child’s social insurance number ready, set up automatic contributions and confirm the grant requests are switched on.

If two providers tie. Choose the one where you already hold other accounts, so statements, contributions and transfers sit in one place. A ranking of the best online brokers in Canada can help if you want to consolidate. If you are also choosing accounts for yourself, our lists of the best TFSA accounts and the best FHSA accounts use the same broker score, and every ranking sits on our compare online brokers hub.

10. How to Switch RESP Providers

Transfer, never withdraw. Open the new RESP first, then ask the new provider to pull the money across with its transfer form. A transfer keeps contributions, grants and growth inside the RESP system. Taking the money out yourself is a withdrawal, which has its own rules and can affect the grants.

What it costs to leave and arrive. Most brokers charge $150 to transfer an account out, and several pay some or all of that back when you move in.

Timing around grant deadlines. A transfer can take time. If your child is close to a grant deadline, such as the day before the 9th birthday for the BCTESG, move early or request the grant before you switch. CESG room runs by calendar year, so make a December contribution before the transfer starts or after it finishes, not while the plan is between providers.

Leaving a group plan. Ask the dealer for the amount that would transfer and the fees that would not come back before you sign anything with the new provider. Our step-by-step guide on how to transfer an investment account covers the forms and timelines.

11. Common Mistakes When Picking an RESP Provider

Opening separate plans for siblings when one would do. A family plan holds every child in one account. Separate individual plans mean separate statements, separate contributions and, at providers with small-balance fees, separate thresholds to clear.

Treating a small-balance fee as minor. Over 10 years, a $100 yearly fee costs $1,000 before growth. Section 3 shows the balance at which each broker’s fee stops.

What You Need and What You Get

10 Strategies to Get More From Your RESP Provider

Illustrative Example: A Two-Child Family Compares Providers

Meet the Experts Behind WealthScale

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Neha Gupta is a CFA charterholder based in Winnipeg who has worked in financial markets since December 2005. She has published more than 2,600 investment articles and is Head of Operations and Finance at Whiteland Real Estate. She reviews WealthScale’s investing pages for accuracy.

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