Best Self-Directed RESP Accounts

Best Self-Directed RESP Account: Ranking at a Glance

The nine brokers below are every online broker we score that offers an RESP, in score order. The yearly cost column uses our standard buy-and-hold test profile: one $2,000 Canadian trade a month, a pattern that suits regular RESP contributions. It does not include RESP account fees, which are listed in their own column.

Not on the list. Interactive Brokers does not describe RESPs on the pages we checked, moomoo says RESPs are not available, Webull lists no RESP, and the TD Direct Investing account list we checked does not include one. If you would rather have the portfolio chosen for you, our best RESP providers ranking adds the robo-advisors that offer managed RESPs.

Use the RESP grant calculator below to see the grant money each child can collect from your contributions, including the additional CESG, the Canada Learning Bond and the B.C. and Quebec programs, projected to the year the child turns 17.

Master Comparison Table: Tools for Running Your Own RESP

This table focuses on what matters once the account is open: the plan types, what you pay to trade and hold, and the tools that keep a growing family plan invested. Search or sort any column. “Not published” means the broker did not state the item on the pages we checked on October 22, 2026.

Reading the table. For a self-directed RESP, the three columns that cost real money are the account fee, the trade price and the transfer-out fee. Fractional shares and DRIP do not change the price, but they decide whether small contributions and dividends sit in cash or get invested.

The 9 Self-Directed RESP Brokers, Ranked

Each card covers what it is like to run a self-directed RESP at that broker: the trading cost, the account fee at different balances, the tools for small contributions and what is stated about family plans. The scores come from our published broker rating methodology.

1. How We Ranked Self-Directed RESP Accounts

The order comes from our overall broker score. We do not build a separate RESP score. The nine brokers are the ones we score that offer an RESP, listed by their overall score. Each factor is scored from 0 to 5 and weighted as shown below. The full rubric is in how we rate online brokers, and how WealthScale makes money explains our business model. Our editorial standards describe how figures are sourced and dated.

How the cost score is built. Questrade’s two test profiles cost $90.00 (active) and $0.00 (buy-and-hold), an average of $45.00. Its cost score is 5 minus $45.00 / $80 = 4.4375, shown as 4.44. CIBC’s profiles cost $346.20 and $83.40, an average of $214.80, which gives 5 minus 2.685 = 2.315, shown as 2.31. RBC averages $286.80 and scores 1.415, shown as 1.42.

What the score does not include. RESP account fees, plan types and grant administration are not part of the broker score, because they apply to one account type only. We show them in their own columns and sections so you can weigh them yourself. A broker that states a family plan does not get extra points for it, and a broker with a $100 small-balance fee does not lose points for it.

Ties. Questrade (3.979) and Wealthsimple (3.954) both round to 4.0. Ties are ordered by the unrounded score, then by name.

Other account lists. The same score orders our best TFSA accounts and best FHSA accounts lists, and every ranking sits on our compare online brokers hub.

2. What Running Your Own RESP Involves

The jobs you take on. A self-directed RESP gives you every decision a managed plan would make for you. You choose the investments, buy them when contributions arrive, decide when to rebalance, and move toward safer holdings as the first tuition bill gets closer. You also keep track of how much each child has received in grants and when each grant deadline falls.

Where it pays off. The cost gap widens as the plan grows. A robo-advisor’s fee is a percentage of the balance, so on $40,000 the three ranked robo-advisors cost $148.00 to $332.00 a year, while a $0-trade broker with no RESP fee still costs $0.00. Over the many years an RESP stays open, that difference adds up.

Where it does not. If you are unlikely to rebalance, or would leave contributions in cash for months, a managed plan’s automatic investing may be worth its fee. A self-directed plan only works if you actually run it. Our RESP provider rankings compare both routes side by side, and our robo-advisor comparison covers managed fees in full.

A middle path. Some families pick a broker with fractional shares and DRIP, buy one or two broad funds and rebalance once a year. That keeps the work small while keeping costs at the broker level.

3. What a Self-Directed RESP Costs at Four Balances

Why balance matters more than trades. Six of the nine brokers charge $0 to trade Canadian stocks and ETFs, so at those six the account fee, where one applies, is the bigger cost. Four brokers have one, and each switches off at a different balance. The table shows a year’s cost at four balances with four quarterly purchases (six at $30,000, to allow two rebalancing trades). These examples are hypothetical and assume standard commissions and no fee waiver.

Where each fee switches off. CIBC’s $100 applies at $10,000 or less, so it hits the $8,000 plan ($27.80 in commissions plus $100) but not the $12,000 one. Desjardins’s $50 and Scotia iTRADE’s $25 apply below $15,000, so both drop away at $18,000. National Bank’s $100 applies until $20,000 in eligible assets on May 31, so it still applies at $18,000. Scotia iTRADE at $12,000: 4 x $9.99 = $39.96 plus $25 = $64.96.

Waivers that change the answer. CIBC exempts new clients in their first year and young and student investors with qualifying chequing. National Bank waives its fee for subscribers aged 30 or under. Desjardins’s separate $30 quarterly inactivity fee does not apply when you hold a registered account. If a waiver fits you, that broker’s fee column drops to commissions only.

4. Family RESP at an Online Broker: How It Works

Who can be named. A family plan can hold several beneficiaries, and it is the only RESP that can. Each one must be related by blood or adoption to every living subscriber and must be under 21 when named. Each needs a social insurance number and Canadian residency at the time of naming. A newborn sibling can be added later, as long as the same tests are met. Among the nine brokers, Questrade, Wealthsimple and Qtrade state that they offer a family RESP online.

Each contribution belongs to a child. Grants are worked out per beneficiary, so every contribution is credited to one named child. A family that puts $5,000 into a two-child plan and splits it $2,500 each collects $1,000 of CESG ($500 per child). Putting all $5,000 against one child collects only $500 of basic CESG in a normal year, because the grant applies to the first $2,500 per child, unless that child has unused grant room to catch up.

Limits are per child. Each beneficiary has a $50,000 lifetime contribution limit across all RESPs and a $7,200 lifetime CESG maximum. The Canada Learning Bond tops out at $2,000, the BCTESG at $1,200 and the QESI at $3,600 per child. If grandparents run their own plan for the same child, their contributions count against that child’s $50,000 too.

What to ask your broker. How does it show each child’s contributions and grants on statements? Can you set the split for each contribution online? If one child does not go on to school, how will it handle that child’s grant balance? Getting answers in writing before you transfer a large family plan saves trouble later. Our RESP guide covers the rules behind each answer.

5. Grant Administration: What Each Broker Publishes

The broker files the requests. You do not apply for the CESG, the Canada Learning Bond, the BCTESG or the QESI with the government yourself. The RESP provider requests each grant with your contributions and the child’s details, and the money is paid into the plan. A broker that does not offer a program cannot request it for you.

What we could verify. None of the nine brokers’ pages we checked names the grant programs it requests. Wealthsimple’s RESP page, for example, does not mention the CESG, the CLB, the BCTESG or the QESI. We therefore make no claim about which broker administers which grant. What the brokers do state about plan types is in the master comparison table above.

The questions to send before you open. Please ask, in writing: Do you request the basic and additional CESG? Do you request the Canada Learning Bond? If we live in B.C., do you request the BCTESG, and if we live in Quebec, the QESI? What do you need from us for the income-tested grants? Keep the reply with your records.

Deadlines that sit with you. The BCTESG can be requested from the 6th birthday until the day before the 9th. The QESI needs the child to be under 18 and a Quebec resident on December 31. The CLB must be requested before the beneficiary turns 21, and the CESG stops after the year the child turns 17. CESG is paid at 16 and 17 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, with nothing withdrawn. Our guide to RESP grants sets out each program’s rules, and the RESP grant calculator projects each child’s grants to age 17.

6. Building the Portfolio by Years to School

The deadline shapes the mix. An RESP has a known end date: the first tuition bill. Money needed in 15 years has time to ride out a market fall; money needed in two years does not. A self-directed RESP lets you set that balance yourself. WealthScale does not recommend specific investments or portfolios, but the stages below show the questions families usually work through.

Rebalance with new money first. When contributions arrive, put them toward whichever part of the plan is below your target. That keeps the mix on track without selling, which matters at brokers that charge per trade.

Families with children of different ages. A family plan holds one set of investments for everyone, while the first child may need money years before the youngest. Some families set the mix by the oldest child’s timeline and accept that the younger children’s share is more cautious than it needs to be. Others keep the oldest child’s expected first-year costs in cash or GICs and leave the rest in growth holdings.

Where to look next. Our step-by-step guide on how to invest in Canada explains asset classes, and the best GIC rates in Canada page lists current term rates for the final years. The compound interest calculator shows how regular contributions grow over the years you have left.

7. Contributions, Commissions, DRIP and Fractional Shares

The grant is the same whenever you contribute in the year. The CESG is 20% of the first $2,500 per child in a calendar year, whether you add it in January or in twelve monthly amounts. What changes is how soon the money is invested and how many trades you pay for. Money contributed earlier in the year has longer to grow, and fewer, larger purchases mean fewer commissions.

Why fractional shares matter in an RESP. If an ETF unit costs more than your monthly contribution, a whole-share broker leaves the money in cash until enough builds up. With fractional shares, a $100 contribution buys $100 of the fund the day it lands. Wealthsimple offers them from $1; Questrade and CIBC offer them too.

Why DRIP matters. Dividends paid into an RESP sit as cash unless they are reinvested. A DRIP does it automatically. At Questrade it reinvests in fractions once fractional shares are on; at National Bank it buys full shares only, so small dividends can still wait in cash.

Automating contributions. Set up a pre-authorized contribution from your bank so the grant-earning $2,500 per child goes in without thought. At Wealthsimple, recurring RESP purchases draw only on cash already in the account, so schedule the contribution a few days before the purchase.

8. Self-Directed RESP in Canada: US Holdings and Currency

The 15% that does not come back. US dividends paid into an RESP have 15% withheld by the US when the broker holds your Form W-8BEN, or 30% without it. The treaty exemption for retirement accounts does not reach RESPs, and the tax cannot be recovered as a foreign tax credit inside the plan. That is a lasting drag on any US dividend-paying holding in an RESP.

Paying to hold US dollars, or paying to convert. Two of the nine brokers publish a priced US-dollar option for RESPs, and they cost the same: Wealthsimple’s US-dollar account is $10 plus tax a month on Core ($120 a year before tax), and Scotia iTRADE’s U.S.-Friendly RESP is $30 a quarter ($120 a year). Questrade says its registered accounts hold US dollars at no extra cost. Without a US-dollar option, every US trade is converted: 1.5% at Questrade and Wealthsimple, and about 1.6% to 1.70% on smaller amounts at the bank-owned brokers that publish a rate.

The break-even. A US-dollar account lets later sales and dividends stay in US dollars, but getting into US dollars still costs a conversion: inside a Wealthsimple USD account, a conversion under $10,000 costs 1.5%. At 1.5%, the $120 yearly fee equals the cost of converting $8,000 ($120 / 1.5% = $8,000), so a family that rarely trades US holdings may pay less by converting each time. At Questrade, holding US dollars costs nothing extra, so the question does not arise.

Plain Canadian dollars. Holding only Canadian-dollar investments in an RESP sidesteps conversion altogether. If you want US-listed holdings, our guide on how to buy US stocks in Canada explains the options, and our Wealthsimple USD accounts review covers that account in detail.

9. Paying for School and Closing the Plan

Educational assistance payments. Grants and investment growth reach the student as educational assistance payments (EAPs). In the first 13 consecutive weeks of a full-time program (at least 10 hours a week), EAPs are capped at $8,000. In a part-time program (at least 12 hours a month), the cap is $4,000 for each 13-week period. At a broker, you sell enough holdings to raise the cash before you request each payment, which is why the final years are often held in cash or GICs.

If no child goes on to school. Investment income can be paid to the subscriber as an accumulated income payment (AIP) only if three conditions line up: there is one subscriber who is a Canadian resident, and either the plan is past the year of its 9th anniversary with every beneficiary 21 or older and not eligible for EAPs, or it is the plan’s 35th-anniversary year, or every beneficiary has died. An AIP is taxed as income plus an extra 20% (12% in Quebec).

The RRSP route. Up to $50,000 of AIPs over a lifetime can go into your RRSP instead, within your available RRSP room, in the year received or the first 60 days after. Form T1171 waives the withholding. Our RRSP guide explains how contribution room works.

Planning the last trades. Before the first EAP request, check how your broker pays EAPs out and how long the request takes. Selling in small pieces over the final year or two, rather than all at once, lowers the chance of having to sell everything on a bad day.

10. Moving an Existing RESP to a Self-Directed Broker

The new broker does the work. Open the self-directed RESP with the same plan type and the same beneficiaries, then sign the new broker’s transfer form. The money moves directly between the two plans and stays inside the RESP system. Please do not withdraw and re-contribute: a withdrawal is not a transfer.

Fees on the way out and in. Most brokers charge $150 to move a plan out. Wealthsimple charges $0. On the way in, Questrade rebates up to $150 per account, RBC up to $200 on $15,000 or more, Qtrade up to $150 per client on $15,000 or more under its Fall Offer 2026, and Wealthsimple up to $150 per account on $25,000 or more, although its self-directed RESP transfers in are still in beta. The transfer fee calculator below shows which brokers would cover your old firm’s fee for the amount you enter.

Partial transfers. If you move only some holdings, Desjardins charges $25 per security on a partial transfer rather than the $150 full-transfer fee, which can make a partial move cheaper when only one or two holdings are involved.

Moving from a group plan. Ask the group plan dealer for the exact amount that would transfer and the fees that will not be returned before you start. Read the prospectus sections on transfers and early exit.

Timing. Avoid moving a plan in the months before a BCTESG deadline or just before an EAP request, and keep December contributions out of the transfer window so they count in the right year. Our guide on how to transfer an investment account covers the forms step by step.

What You Need and What a Self-Directed RESP Gives You

How to Open a Self-Directed RESP, Step by Step

1. Choose the broker. Use the ranking and the balance table in Section 3 to pick a broker whose fees fit your starting balance and buying pattern.
2. Choose the plan type. Pick a family plan for siblings or grandchildren and an individual plan when the child is not related to you by blood or adoption.
3. Apply online. Enter your details and each child’s name, date of birth and social insurance number.
4. Switch on the grant requests. Confirm the CESG and additional CESG, and the CLB, BCTESG or QESI where you qualify.
5. Fund the plan. Link your bank account and set up a pre-authorized contribution, or transfer an existing RESP with the broker’s transfer form.
6. Invest the money. Buy your chosen holdings, switch on DRIP if offered, and record your target mix.
7. Review every January. Check that last year’s grants arrived, rebalance with new money and adjust the mix as school gets closer.

10 Strategies for Running a Self-Directed RESP

Illustrative Example: A Family Plan for Two Children in B.C.

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