The field here is a lot narrower than it was when we compared RESP providers. Wealthsimple and Questrade, the two names that usually dominate a “best account” conversation in Canada, don’t offer Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) at all, which means this comparison is really a choice between the big banks and a handful of credit unions. That’s not a knock on the program, it’s just a reflection of how specialized an RDSP is to administer, with income-tested government grants and bonds layered on top of standard registered-account rules.
- How We Judged These
- The Quick Comparison
- RBC Direct Investing, for Existing RBC Customers
- TD Direct Investing, for the Widest Investment Menu
- BMO, CIBC, and Scotiabank, for Existing Customers of Those Banks
- Credit Unions, for In-Person Guidance Through the Paperwork
- Why Wealthsimple and Questrade Aren’t Here
- What to Ask Before You Commit to a Provider
- What This Actually Costs Over Time
- What to Do Next
How We Judged These
Three things matter most for an RDSP specifically, more than they do for something like a TFSA. What it costs to trade inside the account once government money starts arriving, since that money still needs to sit in some kind of investment. How wide the investment selection actually is, since a plan holding both grants and personal contributions for decades benefits from more than a GIC-only menu. And how the provider handles the RDSP-specific paperwork, since this is one account type most bank staff handle far less often than a TFSA or RRSP.
The Quick Comparison
| Provider | Account Fee | Trading Cost | Investment Style | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBC Direct Investing | $0 | $9.95 per trade (under 150 trades a quarter), $0 on 50+ select ETFs and mutual funds | Fully self-directed | Existing RBC customers who want everything in one login |
| TD Direct Investing | $0 on RDSP specifically | $9.99 per trade, $7.00 for active traders | Fully self-directed, widest investment menu | Parents who want stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs all available in one account |
| BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank | Varies by institution | Varies by institution | Full-service, advisor-assisted | Existing customers who want to stay within one bank relationship |
| Credit Unions | Varies by institution | Varies, often GIC and mutual fund focused | Advisor-guided | Families who want in-person guidance through the RDSP paperwork |
RBC Direct Investing, for Existing RBC Customers
RBC’s self-directed platform charges $9.95 per online trade for stocks and ETFs under 150 trades a quarter, dropping to $6.95 past that threshold, with no account maintenance fee on the RDSP itself. That per-trade cost is standard bank-brokerage pricing, but RBC also offers more than 50 commission-free ETFs, so a parent who sticks to that specific list pays effectively nothing to trade beyond the fund’s own management fee.
RBC also runs a pre-authorized contribution service called RDSP-Matic, letting a family set up automatic recurring deposits rather than remembering to contribute manually each year. That’s a small feature, but for an account where consistent contributions directly determine how much grant money shows up, automating it removes one more way a family could accidentally miss out. Transferring the account to a different provider later costs $150, the same fee RBC charges to leave its other registered accounts.
TD Direct Investing, for the Widest Investment Menu
TD charges $9.99 per trade for stocks and ETFs, or $7.00 for active traders placing 150 or more trades a quarter, matching the general pricing across TD’s self-directed accounts. Where TD stands out specifically for the RDSP is the account fee structure. TD applies a $25 quarterly maintenance fee across most of its registered accounts, but that fee is explicitly waived on the RDSP, a distinction I haven’t seen mentioned as clearly by the other big banks.
TD’s investment menu inside a self-directed RDSP also runs wider than a typical bank account, covering stocks, bonds, mutual funds, GICs, and ETFs in one place rather than steering account holders toward proprietary mutual funds by default. For a plan that could realistically sit open for 40 or 50 years given the RDSP’s long timeline, having a genuine range of investment choices from the outset matters more than it would in a shorter-lived account.
BMO, CIBC, and Scotiabank, for Existing Customers of Those Banks
All three of these institutions confirm they offer RDSPs directly on their own websites, including Scotiabank’s disability savings plan page, and if you already bank with one of them, that existing relationship is worth checking first before assuming you need to open something new elsewhere. I wasn’t able to confirm a specific, current commission schedule for RDSP trading at any of the three with the same certainty I have for RBC and TD, and rather than estimate, the honest move here is to send you to ask directly. Call and ask for the exact per-trade cost, the account maintenance fee if any, and the specific investment menu available inside an RDSP before assuming it matches what that bank charges for a TFSA or RRSP, since RDSP pricing isn’t always identical to the bank’s other registered products.
Credit Unions, for In-Person Guidance Through the Paperwork
Most credit unions across Canada offer RDSPs as well, and the practical experience tends to mirror what I found comparing RESP options at credit unions. You’re generally working with a person rather than an app, the investment menu leans toward GICs and mutual funds rather than a wide ETF selection, and setting up the account typically means an appointment rather than an online form.
Given how much paperwork and eligibility documentation an RDSP requires compared to a simpler account, that in-person approach suits some families better here than it would for something as straightforward as opening a TFSA. The tradeoff is the same one that applies everywhere else. GIC and mutual fund-heavy portfolios tend to carry higher embedded costs than a self-directed ETF portfolio, even when the credit union charges no separate account fee you can point to.
Why Wealthsimple and Questrade Aren’t Here
If you’ve read a comparison of RESP or TFSA providers before landing on this one, you might expect Wealthsimple or Questrade to show up given how competitive their pricing is elsewhere. Neither currently offers an RDSP. Wealthsimple’s own list of account types doesn’t include it alongside the TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, and RESP options it does support, and Questrade’s account type pages show the same gap.
That’s a real limitation worth naming plainly rather than glossing over, since anyone comparing RESP notes to RDSP notes on this site could reasonably assume the same providers would carry over. If either platform adds RDSP support in the future, that would meaningfully change this comparison, since the cost advantage both have shown in other account types would likely apply here too. For now, a traditional bank or credit union is the only path to opening one.
What to Ask Before You Commit to a Provider
A handful of questions apply regardless of which institution you’re considering, and asking them upfront saves a lot of frustration later. Confirm whether the branch or advisor you’re speaking with has actually processed an RDSP before, since staff turnover means this specialized account sometimes lands with someone handling it for the first time, which can slow down an already document-heavy opening process. Ask whether the institution supports the account directly or routes it through a third-party administrator behind the scenes, which is common at smaller credit unions and doesn’t change your rights but does affect who you’ll actually be calling with questions down the road.
Also worth confirming directly is how the provider handles a beneficiary who eventually loses DTC eligibility or approaches the mandatory withdrawal age, since not every branch representative is equally familiar with those later-stage rules even if they handled the account opening smoothly.
What This Actually Costs Over Time
Because RDSP contributions typically aren’t traded as actively as a self-directed TFSA, the day-to-day trading commission matters less here than the account-level fee structure does. TD’s RDSP-specific waiver of its usual $25 quarterly fee is a genuine, ongoing saving of $100 a year compared to what the same institution charges on a TFSA or RRSP, and it’s the kind of detail easy to miss if you’re comparing providers purely on their advertised per-trade commission.
The bigger cost driver over the life of an RDSP is almost always the investment choice itself rather than which bank holds the account. A plan sitting mostly in a bank’s proprietary mutual funds, with management expense ratios well above 1%, will cost meaningfully more over 20 or 30 years than the same balance held in a low-cost ETF at either RBC or TD’s self-directed platforms.
What to Do Next
If you’re comfortable managing your own investments and want the widest selection, TD’s self-directed RDSP is the strongest case here, helped along by the waived quarterly fee. If you already bank with RBC and want everything under one login, confirm RBC’s current commission-free ETF list before assuming the per-trade fee applies to whatever you plan to buy. And if you’d rather sit down with a person and walk through the DTC and eligibility paperwork together, a credit union or your existing bank’s advisor-assisted option is worth booking an appointment for.
Whichever provider you choose, confirm directly that they apply for the grant and bond automatically once contributions start, and ask how they handle the carry-forward calculation if there’s any banked entitlement from prior years. Those two answers say more about a provider’s actual competence with this specific account than any commission schedule does on its own.
