Tickmill vs Pepperstone 2026: Raw vs Razor Costs Tested

TL;DR: Pick Tickmill if you trade mainly on MetaTrader and want the cheapest simple raw pricing — Tickmill Raw is $6 round turn against Pepperstone Razor at $7 on MT4/MT5, TradingView and Pepperstone’s own platform, and Tickmill wins gold outright on published typical spreads. Pick Pepperstone if you want cTrader, a wider licence footprint including ASIC and BaFin, more than double the instruments, and an account you can open with no minimum deposit and fund from $10. On cTrader, Pepperstone matches Tickmill at $7 all-in on EUR/USD — and beats it on GBP/USD. In this Tickmill vs Pepperstone matchup the $1 commission gap on MetaTrader is real, but it is not the whole decision.

How We Compared Tickmill vs Pepperstone

I compared Tickmill vs Pepperstone on what changes your P&L: all-in cost per lot — spread plus commission, not spread alone — on EUR/USD, GBP/USD and XAU/USD, which entity you contract with, platforms, instrument range, funding, VPS and EA conditions, and leverage by entity.

Every figure was checked against the brokers’ own sites first, then cross-checked independently where pages differed by entity. That mattered twice. First, Tickmill publishes a “typical” spread — EUR/USD 0.1 pips, GBP/USD 0.3, gold 0.09 — while Pepperstone publishes an “average” — EUR/USD 0.1, GBP/USD 0.2, gold 0.12. Close enough to compare, but not identical statistics, so I keep the labels separate. Second, Tickmill’s DFSA presence is a Dubai representative office of Tickmill UK Ltd (F007663), not a standalone DFSA trading entity like Pepperstone’s.

Neither broker provided a funded test account, so costs use published spreads plus commissions in liquid hours. “From 0.0 pips” is a floor, not your fill at news time.

At a Glance: Tickmill vs Pepperstone

Feature	Tickmill	Pepperstone
Regulators / entities	FCA, CySEC, FSA Seychelles, FSCA South Africa; DFSA Dubai representative office only	ASIC, FCA, CySEC, BaFin, DFSA, SCB Bahamas, CMA Kenya
Account types	Classic (spread-only), Raw (MT4/MT5), Raw for TradingView / Tickmill Trader; swap-free option	Standard (spread-only), Razor (raw + commission); swap-free option; Pro for eligible clients
EUR/USD raw spread	From 0.0 pips, published typical 0.1 pips on Raw	From 0.0 pips, published average 0.1 pips on Razor
Commission per lot	Raw MT4/MT5: $3.00/side ($6 round turn). TradingView Raw: $3.50/side ($7 round turn)	Razor MT4/MT5, TradingView, own platform: $3.50/side ($7 round turn). Razor cTrader: $3.00/side on forex ($6 round turn); gold on cTrader $3.50/side
Spread-only account EUR/USD	Classic from 1.6 pips, no commission	Standard from ~1.0 pips, average ~1.1 pips, no commission
Minimum deposit	$100 on Classic, Raw and TradingView Raw (varies by base currency)	No minimum ($0 to open); $10 minimum funding by card / e-wallet
Platforms	MT4, MT5, TradingView, Tickmill Trader — no cTrader	MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, plus Pepperstone’s own platform and app
Leverage by entity	1:30 retail under FCA and CySEC; up to 1:1000 under FSA Seychelles	1:30 retail under ASIC, FCA, CySEC and BaFin; 1:200 retail under SCB Bahamas; 1:400 under CMA Kenya; up to 1:500 professional
Instruments	~600+ symbols, 62 forex pairs	1,350+ CFDs (93 forex, 1,162 share CFDs, plus indices, commodities, ETFs and crypto CFDs)
Funding	Cards, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller and local methods by entity; no broker deposit or withdrawal fees	Cards, bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Apple Pay / Google Pay and local methods by entity; no deposit fee on most methods, no inactivity fee
Founded / HQ	2014	2010, Melbourne

Tickmill: Full Review

Our full Tickmill review covers account opening and execution in more depth.

Account Types and Costs

Tickmill keeps the menu short, and I prefer it that way. Classic is spread-only: from 1.6 pips on EUR/USD, no commission. Simple, and expensive — at the “from” figure alone that is $16 per standard lot, more than double the Raw all-in cost below. Nobody trading more than occasionally should be on Classic.

Raw is the product this comparison is about. On MT4/MT5: spreads from 0.0 pips, a published typical of 0.1 pips on EUR/USD and 0.3 on GBP/USD, and $3.00 per lot per side on forex and precious metals — $6 round turn. That is $1 per lot cheaper than Pepperstone Razor on the same platforms, every trade, with no volume tier to qualify for. At 200 lots a month that $1 is $200; at 1,000 lots it is $1,000.

The catch is platform-specific. The separate Raw account for TradingView — also your route to Tickmill Trader — charges $3.50 per side, $7 round turn. On TradingView the advantage disappears and the two brokers cost exactly the same in commission. If you choose Tickmill for the $6 headline, you are choosing MetaTrader Tickmill. Price your platform first, then your broker. Swap-free accounts are available for eligible clients, with handling charges that can apply instead of swaps — swap-free does not mean cost-free.

Regulation and Safety

The group is regulated by the FCA in the UK (Tickmill UK Ltd, FRN 717270), CySEC in Cyprus (Tickmill Europe Ltd, 278/15), the FSA in Seychelles (Tickmill Ltd, SD008) and the FSCA in South Africa (FSP 49464). Client money is segregated, negative balance protection applies under FCA and CySEC, eligible UK clients get FSCS cover, and CySEC clients get Investor Compensation Fund cover up to €20,000.

Be precise about Dubai: Tickmill’s DFSA reference (F007663) is a representative office of the UK company, not a DFSA-licensed trading entity; Pepperstone holds a DFSA licence in its own right. Most international sign-ups outside the UK, EU and South Africa land on the Seychelles entity: same Raw pricing, but no FSCS or ICF scheme and much higher leverage. Check the company name on your client agreement — that name, not the logo, is your regulator.

Platforms

MT4, MT5, TradingView and Tickmill Trader, Tickmill’s own DXtrade-based web and mobile platform. Credible — until you notice the hole: Tickmill has no cTrader. No cTrader, no cTrader Automate, no cTrader depth-of-market workflow, at any price. If your bots or manual execution live on cTrader, Pepperstone wins by default.

What Tickmill does well is MetaTrader properly: full EA, hedging and scalping support, an FX Blue Advanced Trading Toolkit, and FIX API access. TradingView and Tickmill Trader require the TradingView Raw account at $3.50 per side.

On VPS, Tickmill is weaker: no free VPS tier — only a 20% discount on BeeksFX packages, a discount on a cost you still pay monthly. Pepperstone sponsors a free VPS at a reachable threshold (below).

Instruments and Funding

Focused, not vast: 62 forex pairs and roughly 600+ symbols in independent counts — indices, commodities including gold and oil, bonds, around 500 share CFDs on MT5, and a small crypto set. For majors, gold and headline indices it is enough; for breadth, Pepperstone’s list is more than twice as long.

Funding covers cards, bank transfer, Skrill, Neteller and regional methods by entity, with no broker deposit or withdrawal fees on Tickmill’s side. The $100 minimum applies across all three accounts.

Tickmill Pros and Cons

Pros: Cheapest simple raw pricing on MetaTrader at $6 round turn; typicals of 0.1 pips on EUR/USD and 0.09 on gold; FCA and CySEC entities with compensation schemes; no scalping, hedging or EA restrictions; no broker deposit or withdrawal fees.

Cons: No cTrader at all; TradingView Raw at $3.50/side erases the headline advantage; no free VPS, only a 20% BeeksFX discount; $100 minimum deposit; ~600+ instruments; DFSA presence is a representative office, not a trading licence; Classic from 1.6 pips is poor value.

Not for you if…

• You trade on cTrader, or might want to — Tickmill cannot serve you there.
• You are in the US or Canada — Tickmill accepts clients from neither country.
• You want to test live execution with $10 — the minimum is $100.
• You need a free sponsored VPS — you will be paying BeeksFX, with a discount, every month.

Pepperstone: Full Review

Our full Pepperstone review covers platforms in detail, and our earlier IC Markets vs Pepperstone comparison shows how Razor stands up against the other $6-on-cTrader benchmark.

Account Types and Costs

Pepperstone offers two structures. Standard is spread-only: no commission on forex, EUR/USD from around 1.0 pips and averaging around 1.1 pips, GBP/USD averaging around 1.2 pips. That average makes Standard materially cheaper than Tickmill Classic’s “from 1.6 pips” for a low-frequency trader who refuses commission accounts — the one corner where Pepperstone’s spread-only offer is clearly ahead.

Razor is the raw account: spreads from 0.0 pips, published averages of 0.1 pips on EUR/USD, 0.2 on GBP/USD and 0.12 on gold, plus commission. You need the full schedule, not the headline: $3.50 per lot per side ($7 round turn) on MT4, MT5, TradingView and Pepperstone’s own platform, dropping to $3.00 per side ($6 round turn) on cTrader for forex. Gold is the exception — on cTrader, spot gold commission is $3.50 per side, not $3.00, so the cTrader discount is a forex discount. Check your contract specifications before assuming a $6 gold trade.

There is no barrier to testing: no minimum deposit to open, $10 minimum funding by card and e-wallet. Against Tickmill’s flat $100, Pepperstone is the account you can fund small and judge on your own fills first.

Regulation and Safety

Pepperstone’s strongest card. The group is regulated by ASIC in Australia (AFSL 414530), the FCA in the UK (FRN 684312), CySEC in Cyprus (388/20), BaFin in Germany (151148), the DFSA in Dubai (F004356), the CMA in Kenya (128) and the SCB in the Bahamas (SIA-F217).

Pepperstone has ASIC, BaFin and a full DFSA entity; Tickmill has none of those in that form. Both have FCA and CySEC, so UK and EU traders are well covered at either — FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients, ICF up to €20,000 under CySEC. Protection still follows your entity: a Bahamas account carries SCB oversight, not FCA rules, and Australia runs no compensation scheme at any broker.

Platforms

MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView and Pepperstone’s own platform and app — five routes, the broadest choice here. TradingView is Razor-only for CFD accounts, but on the account you would open anyway.

cTrader is the decisive gap: depth of market, cTrader Automate for C# automation, and Pepperstone’s cheapest forex commission. Tickmill offers nothing in its place. Pepperstone’s own platform is also better than MetaTrader for phone-first trading, though it does not run EAs. For the wider field, see our guide to the best cTrader brokers.

EA conditions are permissive, and the VPS deal is the best here. Pepperstone’s own VPS page offers free Core, Plus and Pro plans to active premium clients who traded at least $1,000,000 notional in the past 60 days — roughly 10 lots for Core — renewing monthly while volume is maintained; under the Bahamas entity you must also be a Pro client. Tickmill has no free tier at any volume.

Instruments and Funding

Pepperstone lists 1,350+ CFD markets — 93 forex pairs, 26 index CFDs, 1,162 share CFDs, 40 commodity CFDs, 95 ETF CFDs and 31 crypto CFDs in its published breakdown. The forex count alone beats Tickmill’s 62 pairs, and the share list is in a different league.

Funding is broad: cards, bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and local rails by entity, with no deposit fee on most methods and no inactivity fee. Swap-free accounts are available, with an admin fee that can apply after an initial period.

Pepperstone Pros and Cons

Pros: Seven licences including ASIC, FCA, CySEC, BaFin and a full DFSA entity; cTrader at $6 round turn on forex; free VPS from about 10 lots per 60 days for qualifying clients; no minimum deposit, $10 to fund; 1,350+ instruments and 93 forex pairs; good proprietary platform and app.

Cons: Razor on MetaTrader, TradingView and its own platform is $7 round turn — $1 per lot more than Tickmill Raw; gold does not get the $3.00 cTrader rate; TradingView is Razor-only; published “average” spreads and Tickmill’s “typicals” are not identically measured.

Not for you if…

• You trade only on MetaTrader, at volume, and nothing else matters — you will pay $1 per lot more than Tickmill for the same job.
• You are in the US or Canada — Pepperstone accepts clients from neither; both are on its restricted list.
• You want spread-only pricing on TradingView — at Pepperstone, TradingView means Razor and commission.

Head-to-Head Costs

Here is the worked maths, with every assumption labelled. One standard lot is 100,000 units. On EUR/USD and GBP/USD a pip is worth $10 per lot in a USD account. On gold, one lot is 100 ounces, so a spread of 0.09 means $0.09 per ounce, or $9 per lot. Tickmill figures use its published typical spreads; Pepperstone figures use its published average spreads. Slippage and swaps are excluded — they vary by trade, not by brochure.

EUR/USD, per lot, round turn

• Tickmill Raw (MT4/MT5): 0.1 pips = $1 spread + $6 commission = $7 all-in
• Tickmill Raw (TradingView): $1 + $7 = $8 all-in
• Pepperstone Razor (MT4/MT5, TradingView, own platform): 0.1 pips = $1 + $7 = $8 all-in
• Pepperstone Razor (cTrader): $1 + $6 = $7 all-in

Dead level at each broker’s cheapest route; $1 to Tickmill if you stay on MetaTrader.

GBP/USD, per lot, round turn

• Tickmill Raw (MT4/MT5): 0.3 pips = $3 + $6 = $9 all-in
• Tickmill Raw (TradingView): $3 + $7 = $10 all-in
• Pepperstone Razor (MT4/MT5, TradingView, own platform): 0.2 pips = $2 + $7 = $9 all-in
• Pepperstone Razor (cTrader): $2 + $6 = $8 all-in

Pepperstone’s tighter published GBP/USD figure erases Tickmill’s commission edge on MetaTrader, and cTrader puts Pepperstone $1 ahead. If GBP/USD is your main pair, the EUR/USD headline misleads you.

XAU/USD (gold), per lot, round turn

• Tickmill Raw (MT4/MT5): 0.09 = $9 + $6 = $15 all-in
• Tickmill Raw (TradingView): $9 + $7 = $16 all-in
• Pepperstone Razor (MT4/MT5, TradingView, own platform): 0.12 = $12 + $7 = $19 all-in
• Pepperstone Razor (cTrader): $12 + $7 = $19 all-in — gold commission on cTrader is $3.50/side, not the $3.00 forex rate

Gold is Tickmill’s clearest win: $4 per lot cheaper than Pepperstone on MetaTrader, from both the tighter typical (0.09 against 0.12) and the lower commission. Gold traders should weight this more than the EUR/USD tie.

Two warnings. First, typical and average are published figures, not guarantees; around CPI, rate decisions and rollover, spreads at both brokers widen, sometimes sharply. Second, spread-only accounts are not competitive for active trading: Pepperstone Standard at a 1.1-pip average costs about $11 per EUR/USD lot, and Tickmill Classic starts from 1.6 pips, about $16 per lot. For the wider field, see our roundup of the lowest spread forex brokers in 2026.

Head-to-Head Regulation and Leverage by Entity

Both brokers can give a UK trader an FCA entity at 1:30 with FSCS cover, and an EU trader a CySEC entity at 1:30 with ICF cover. Past that shared core, Pepperstone keeps going: ASIC for Australians, BaFin in Germany, a full DFSA entity in Dubai and a CMA entity in Kenya. Tickmill answers with FSCA in South Africa and, for most other international clients, Seychelles.

• FCA and CySEC (both): 1:30 maximum on major forex pairs for retail clients, lower on minors, gold, indices and shares, with negative balance protection and compensation schemes.
• ASIC and BaFin (Pepperstone only): 1:30 retail on majors on the same pattern. Tickmill has no local entity in Australia or Germany.
• Pepperstone SCB (Bahamas): up to 1:200 retail on major pairs. Pepperstone CMA (Kenya): up to 1:400. Pepperstone professional clients: up to 1:500 on majors, with eligibility tests and reduced retail protections.
• Tickmill FSA (Seychelles): up to 1:1000 on forex per its published entity terms — the highest ceiling here, attached to the entity with no compensation scheme. Professional clients under Tickmill’s CySEC entity can also access materially higher leverage than 1:30, subject to classification.

My position is firm: 1:30 is enough for any retail strategy not designed to blow up. A 1:1000 ceiling is a fact about the Seychelles entity, not a benefit to shop for.

Head-to-Head Platforms

Strip the logos away and the platform contest is one question: do you need cTrader?

MetaTrader (MT4/MT5) is a dead heat on features — every EA, indicator and signal service exists for it at both brokers, with no strategy restrictions — and Tickmill wins it on price, $6 round turn against $7. If MetaTrader is your home, Tickmill is the cheaper landlord.

cTrader exists only at Pepperstone. It is the best manual execution interface either broker offers, it carries Pepperstone’s cheapest forex commission at $6 round turn, and cTrader Automate gives C# bot traders a route Tickmill cannot match. Any cTrader requirement, present or plausible, settles the comparison.

TradingView is available at both at identical $7 round-turn commission — Tickmill via TradingView Raw, Pepperstone on Razor only. Choose on regulation and range, not cost. Proprietary platforms are closer: Pepperstone’s own platform is the more polished mobile experience; Tickmill Trader is newer and competent; neither runs MetaTrader EAs. On top sits the VPS split — free at Pepperstone from a reachable volume, discounted-but-paid at Tickmill.

How to Choose

Answer five questions honestly and the choice makes itself:

1. What platform do you actually trade on? cTrader — Pepperstone, no contest. MetaTrader only — Tickmill, on cost. TradingView only — commission tied at $7; decide below.
2. What do you trade most? Gold — Tickmill, by $4 per lot on published figures. GBP/USD — Pepperstone on cTrader, tied on MetaTrader. EUR/USD — tied at each broker’s cheapest route, Tickmill ahead on MetaTrader alone.
3. Where do you live? UK or EU — either FCA/CySEC entity works. Australia — Pepperstone, for ASIC. UAE — Pepperstone’s DFSA entity is a trading licence; Tickmill’s is a representative office. US or Canada — neither; you need a locally regulated broker.
4. Do you run EAs around the clock? Yes, at real volume — Pepperstone’s free VPS from roughly 10 lots per 60 days beats paying BeeksFX monthly, and can outweigh the $1 MetaTrader commission gap. No — ignore the VPS and price the trades.
5. How much are you starting with? Under $100 — Pepperstone only: no minimum to open, $10 to fund. Well above that — test both on demo, then on small live accounts, and keep the one whose fills match its published spreads for your strategy.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Tickmill or Pepperstone?
It depends on platform and pair. On MetaTrader, Tickmill Raw at $6 round turn beats Razor at $7, and Tickmill is $4 per lot cheaper on gold at published spreads. On cTrader, Pepperstone matches Tickmill at $7 all-in on EUR/USD and beats it at $8 against $9 on GBP/USD. On TradingView, commissions are tied at $7 round turn at both.

Is Tickmill or Pepperstone better regulated?
Pepperstone, on breadth. Both hold FCA and CySEC licences, but Pepperstone adds ASIC, BaFin, a full DFSA entity and CMA Kenya, while Tickmill adds FSCA South Africa and Seychelles, and its DFSA presence is a representative office. Your protection still depends on the entity on your client agreement.

Does Tickmill offer cTrader?
No. Tickmill’s current platform list is MT4, MT5, TradingView and Tickmill Trader. Pepperstone offers cTrader alongside MT4, MT5, TradingView and its own platform. If you need cTrader, Pepperstone is the only choice of the two.

What are the minimum deposits at Tickmill and Pepperstone?
Tickmill: $100 across Classic, Raw and TradingView Raw, varying by base currency. Pepperstone: no minimum to open, with a $10 minimum funding amount by card or e-wallet.

Can US or Canadian traders use Tickmill or Pepperstone?
No at either broker. Both the US and Canada appear on both brokers’ restricted lists in current published terms. North American traders need a broker regulated locally in the US or Canada.

Which broker is better for gold trading?
On published cost, Tickmill: a 0.09 typical spread plus $6 round-turn commission is about $15 per lot all-in, against Pepperstone Razor at a 0.12 average plus $7, about $19 per lot. Pepperstone counters with cTrader execution and wider platform choice — but on cost alone, gold belongs to Tickmill.

Final Verdict

For a MetaTrader trader who mainly trades EUR/USD and gold, I would open Tickmill Raw first. The $6 round turn is the cheapest simple pricing here, the gold maths is not close, and there are no tiers or platform tricks between you and that price. It is a narrower broker — fewer instruments, no cTrader, no free VPS, $100 to start — built well around one job.

Open Pepperstone instead if you use or want cTrader, you live in Australia or want the widest licence footprint, you trade GBP/USD on cTrader, you run EAs and can qualify for the free VPS, or you want 1,350+ instruments and an account you can fund with $10 and judge on live fills first. For most traders who cannot honestly answer “MetaTrader only, forever,” Pepperstone is the safer default — it never loses by more than $1 per lot, and it wins entire categories Tickmill does not contest.

If I were funding one account today, I would fund Pepperstone Razor on cTrader for platform and regulation, and keep Tickmill Raw as the gold and high-volume MetaTrader venue. With costs this close, the platform you trade best on is worth more than the $1 you might save choosing wrong.

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Risk disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Consider whether you understand how CFDs and margin forex work and whether you can afford that risk. Leverage limits, investor protection, and available features vary by the entity that contracts with you and by your country of residence — always confirm your specific entity’s terms before depositing.

Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you open an account through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you — it keeps our reviews independent and free.