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Personal Finance · head to head

Fidelity vs Lago

Fidelity logo

Fidelity

Personal Finance

Building a better financial future

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lago logo

Lago

Accounting

Open-source billing infrastructure for usage-based models

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Lago has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Fidelity options trades carry a 0.65 USD per contract fee on top of zero commission; Lago free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
  • They diverge on capability: Fidelity covers Commission-free trading, Lago covers Real-time usage metering.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fidelity and Lago actually diverge.

Attributes where Fidelity and Lago differ
AttributeFidelityLago
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modeltransactionFreemium with optional paid tiers
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, IOS, AndroidWeb, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC
CategoryPersonal FinanceAccounting
Founded1946Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Fidelity

  • Commission-free trading
  • Retirement planning
  • Advisory services
  • Research tools
  • Bank accounts
  • Investment accounts
  • Web support
  • IOS support

Only in Lago

  • Real-time usage metering
  • Multiple pricing models
  • Automated invoicing
  • Prepaid credits
  • Entitlements
  • Multi-currency support
  • Payment orchestration
  • Revenue analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Fidelity

  • Commission free trading of US stocks and ETFsnot Lago
  • Holding IRAs, 401(k) plans and taxable brokerage accountsnot Lago
  • Trading bonds, options and mutual funds from one accountnot Lago

Lago

  • Building usage-based billing for high-volume APIs and infrastructurenot Fidelity
  • Implementing metered billing for AI and tokenized servicesnot Fidelity
  • Creating subscription and hybrid pricing modelsnot Fidelity
  • Managing multi-currency billing for global companiesnot Fidelity
  • Maintaining billing infrastructure without vendor lock-innot Fidelity

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Fidelity

  • Options trades carry a 0.65 USD per contract fee on top of zero commission
  • Non Fidelity mutual funds carry a 49.95 USD transaction fee per purchase
  • Secondary market bonds cost 1.00 USD per bond, while new issues are free
  • A foreign settlement fee of 50 USD applies per trade
  • Margin rates are tiered by debit balance, from 11.825 percent below 25,000 USD down to 7.50 percent at 1 million USD or more, against a base rate of 10.575 percent effective 12 December 2025
  • Margin liquidation by the broker costs 32.95 USD per liquidation

Lago

  • Free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
  • No specific pricing published for Pro annual plan or Scale plan
  • Self-hosted and on-premise deployments require engineering resources
  • Community support only on free tier
  • Scale plan requires annual contracts and sales engagement

Pricing, plan by plan

Fidelity

On request
  • Brokerage$undefined/month
    • Commission-free trading
    • Research tools
  • Advisory$undefined/month
    • Personal advisor
    • Wealth management

Lago

Free
  • Build (Free)Free
    • 10,000 managed entities per month
    • 5M usage events per month
    • 1K events per second rate limit
  • Pro$399/month
    • 10,000 entities included (graduated pricing to 100K)
    • 25M usage events included (to 500M with graduated rates)
    • 10K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
  • Scale$null/custom
    • Custom entity and event volumes
    • 50K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
    • RBAC and SSO (SAML)

Which should you pick?

Choose Fidelity if

  • You need commission-free trading.
  • You work on Web, IOS, Android.
  • You also want retirement planning.
Fidelity review

Choose Lago if

  • You need real-time usage metering.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
  • You also want multiple pricing models.
Lago review

Questions people ask

Is Fidelity or Lago better?
Neither clearly leads. Fidelity starts at On request and Lago at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fidelity or Lago?
Lago has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Fidelity and Free for Lago.
Does Fidelity or Lago run on more platforms?
Fidelity runs on Web, IOS, Android. Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
Can I use Lago for free?
Yes. Lago has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Fidelity starts at On request.
What is Fidelity best used for?
Fidelity is most often used for commission free trading of us stocks and etfs, holding iras, 401(k) plans and taxable brokerage accounts, trading bonds, options and mutual funds from one account. Of those, commission free trading of us stocks and etfs and holding iras, 401(k) plans and taxable brokerage accounts are not what Lago is typically brought in for.
What can Fidelity do that Lago cannot?
Fidelity covers Commission-free trading, Retirement planning, Advisory services, Research tools. Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lago: Can I use Lago open-source for free?

Yes, Lago is open-source under the AGPLv3 license and can be self-hosted. The cloud-based Build plan is also free with limits of 10,000 entities and 5M events per month.

Source
Lago: What payment providers does Lago integrate with?

Lago integrates with Stripe and Adyen for payment processing. It is not a payment processor itself but orchestrates payments through these providers.

Source
Lago: Does Lago support multiple currencies?

Yes, Lago supports multi-currency billing with automatic currency conversion for global businesses.

Source
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