Two Brokers With No-Fee Index Funds: Fidelity and E*TRADE
No-fee index funds are broad-market funds with no expense ratio. Here's what to know about them, and where to buy them.The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.
Most brokerages offer a range of low-cost index funds. Many of these charge an expense ratio, or a percentage fee paid by the investor that helps the fund cover operating costs. But some brokerages, such as Fidelity and E*TRADE, take it a step further by offering families of index funds with zero expense ratios. You will, however, need an account with these brokers to access their proprietary funds. We'll go into the pros and cons of this arrangement a little lower.
But as a quick summary:
Fidelity → 4 fee-free index funds, rated in 2026 as having the Best Investing App, and was also rated as the Best Broker for Beginners.
E*TRADE → 5 fee-free index funds, and regularly scores exceptionally well for its large selection of in-depth educational content.
Company | NerdWallet rating | Account minimum | Fees | Promotion | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Best App for Investing | 5.0/5 | $0 | $0 per trade for online U.S. stocks and ETFs | None no promotion available at this time | Learn moreon Fidelity's website |
Learn moreon Fidelity's website | |||||
Learn moreon Fidelity's website | |||||
Excellent educational resources | 4.5/5 | $0 | $0 per trade. Other fees apply. | Get up to $1,500 when you open and fund an E*TRADE brokerage account. Terms apply. | Learn moreon E*TRADE's website |
Learn moreon E*TRADE's website | |||||
Learn moreon E*TRADE's website | |||||
Fidelity's free index funds
Back in 2018, Fidelity Investments launched the first-ever index funds with no expense ratios. Today, the “Fidelity ZERO” family includes four such funds, all of which also have no trading fees or investment minimums.
Fund | About | One-year return |
|---|---|---|
Fidelity ZERO Large Cap Index Fund (FNILX) | Similar to an S&P 500 index fund. | 29.29% |
Fidelity ZERO Extended Market Index Fund (FZIPX) | Tracks a custom index of small-cap and mid-cap U.S. stocks, heavily weighted toward industrials and financials with notable tech and health care exposure. | 34.94% |
Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX) | Broad custom index of U.S. stocks across small-, mid-, and large-cap companies. | 29.92% |
Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (FZILX) | Invests in large-cap stocks outside the U.S., primarily financial, industrial, and tech stocks from Europe and emerging markets. | 33.59% |
Source: Fidelity website. Data is current as of market close May 31, 2026, and is intended for informational purposes only. | ||
» Read our full review of Fidelity
E*TRADE's free funds
Last April, E*TRADE joined the zero-fee fund party with the launch of its “No Fee Index Funds” family. Like their Fidelity counterparts, E*TRADE’s fee-free mutual funds also have no trading fees or investment minimums.
Fund | About | One-year return |
|---|---|---|
E*TRADE No Fee Large Cap Index Fund (ETLGX) | Tracks the 500 largest companies in the U.S. | 29.42% |
E*TRADE No Fee Total Market Index Fund (ETTOX) | Tracks the largest 3000 U.S. companies. | 29.76% |
E*TRADE No Fee International Index Fund (ETISX) | Contains large-cap stocks from outside the U.S. (mostly Europe and Asia). | 23.75% |
E*TRADE No Fee Municipal Bond Index Fund (ETMUX) | An index fund of tax-advantaged muni bonds. Its current yield is 4.25%. | 6.51% |
E*TRADE No Fee U.S. Bond Index Fund (ETBOX) | Contains a diversified portfolio of U.S. corporate and treasury bonds, with a current yield of 4.25%. | 4.58% |
Source: Morningstar (bond fund yields) and E*TRADE website (returns). Data is current as of market close May 31, 2026, and is intended for informational purposes only. | ||
» Read our full review of E*TRADE
What to watch for when investing in free index funds
Fidelity and E*TRADE’s fee-free index funds may have lower costs than their competitors, but there are a few potential catches you should consider before buying them.
Only available from Fidelity or E*TRADE
Most standard mutual funds are available at any broker that offers mutual funds, but Fidelity and E*TRADE’s free funds are exclusive to those respective brokers. If you invest in them and later want to move to another broker, you’ll have to sell them and buy something else.
Best App for Investing  Fidelity |  E*TRADE |
Learn moreon Fidelity's website | Learn moreon E*TRADE's website |
Fees$0per trade for online U.S. stocks and ETFs | Fees$0per trade. Other fees apply. |
Account minimum$0 | Account minimum$0 |
PromotionNoneno promotion available at this time | PromotionGet up to $1,500when you open and fund an E*TRADE brokerage account. Terms apply. |
Proprietary indexes could be less diversified
Most index funds track an established third-party index, such as the S&P 500, and pay licensing fees to the index provider (S&P Global in the case of the S&P 500). To keep costs minimal, Fidelity and E*TRADE maintain their own indexes for their zero-fee funds, which means their returns may slightly diverge from those of similar index funds that charge expense ratios.
In particular, both Fidelity and E*TRADE’s S&P 500-like free funds are a hair more tech-heavy than the S&P 500 index itself, which may be worth keeping in mind amid concerns about an AI bubble in tech.
They could institute fees in the future
In the past, some other financial institutions initially offered funds at no cost but later began charging expense ratios. SoFi offers two exchange-traded funds — the SoFi Select 500 ETF (SFY) and the SoFi Next 500 ETF (SFYX) — that once had completely waived expense ratios, but now charge expense ratios (albeit very small ones).
Are any free index ETFs available now?
The index funds above are only available from Fidelity or E*TRADE, but there are also two exchange-traded funds at the moment with zero expense ratios, which are available through any broker that offers ETFs: the BNY Mellon US Large Cap Core Equity ETF (BKLC), which has a portfolio similar to an S&P 500 ETF, and the BNY Mellon Core Bond ETF (BKAG), which has a portfolio similar to a total bond market ETF.
According to our VettaFi screen, these are the only two ETFs on the market that currently have both gross and net expense ratios of 0.00%. There are many other ETFs that may sometimes temporarily waive their expense ratios for a few months as a marketing tactic, but these also list gross expense ratios which will kick in when the waiver period expires.
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