How can investors compare brokerage plans?

You compare the full cost stack, not just brokerage, across delivery, intraday, and F&O segments specifically, since a broker’s pricing can differ meaningfully by segment, and your own trading mix determines which segment’s pricing actually matters most to you. Beyond brokerage itself, you look at DP charges (relevant if you do a lot of delivery selling), account maintenance charges (an annual or periodic fixed cost regardless of trading activity), MTF interest rates if you’re likely to use leverage, and any platform or data feed charges for real-time pricing or advanced charting. You use each broker’s brokerage calculator with your actual typical trade size and frequency, rather than comparing headline rates in isolation, since a flat-fee model and a percentage model can favour different brokers depending on whether your typical trade value is small or large. You also factor in service quality and platform reliability alongside pure cost, since the cheapest plan isn’t necessarily the best value if execution quality or support responsiveness is meaningfully worse.