tastytrade charges you to open an options position and caps that charge at $10 per leg. Public.com charges you nothing and instead pays you a per-contract rebate on most equity and ETF options. That is not a rounding difference in commission schedules; it is two opposite pricing philosophies, and which one actually costs less depends on how many contracts you trade per leg and whether you are trading single stocks or index options.
Key Takeaways
- tastytrade charges $1 per contract to open, $0 to close, capped at $10 per leg (verified 2026-08-06). Cost is flat once you scale past 10 contracts on a leg.
- Public.com charges $0 commission and $0 per-contract fee on equity/ETF options, and instead pays a volume-tiered rebate of $0.06 to $0.18 per contract (verified 2026-08-27). You get paid more, not less, as you trade more.
- Index options (SPX, NDX, VIX, CBTX) are the exception on Public: they are priced separately at $0.35 to $0.50 per contract, not rebated, and have no cap.
- tastytrade has a full paper-trading simulator, backtesting, and futures. Public has none of the three.
- For a small equity-options trade, Public is close to free or even pays you. For a large index-options trade, tastytrade’s per-leg cap can end up cheaper.
The Fee Models Are Opposites
tastytrade’s options pricing is straightforward: $1 per contract to open a position, $0 to close it, capped at $10 per leg (verified 2026-08-06 against tastytrade’s own published fee schedule). That cap matters more than the headline rate. Once a single leg of a trade reaches 10 contracts, the cost stops climbing. Trade 10 contracts on a leg or 100, you pay the same $10 to open that leg.
Public.com works in reverse. There is no commission and no per-contract fee on equity and ETF options. Instead, Public pays the trader a rebate, tiered by the account’s monthly contract volume: $0.06 per contract at 0 to 999 contracts a month, $0.10 at 1,000 to 4,999, $0.14 at 5,000 to 9,999, and $0.18 at 10,000 or more (verified 2026-08-27 against Public’s published options-fee page). There is no cap on the rebate. The more you trade, the more you are paid per contract, not less.
Put concrete numbers on it. A hypothetical trader opens a 4-leg iron condor with 3 contracts on each leg (12 contracts total) for illustration only, not a recommendation. On tastytrade, each leg costs 3 contracts times $1, or $3, well under the $10 cap, for a total open cost of $12 across the 4 legs. Closing is free. On Public, the same 12 contracts at the base rebate tier pay the trader $0.06 times 12, or $0.72. The trader is out $12 on tastytrade and up $0.72 on Public, a swing of nearly $13 on a single small trade.
Now scale the same illustrative trade up to 15 contracts per leg (60 total), enough to hit tastytrade’s per-leg cap. Each leg costs $10 to open regardless of the extra contracts past 10, for a total of $40 across 4 legs. On Public, 60 contracts at the base tier pay the trader $0.06 times 60, or $3.60. tastytrade’s cap keeps the cost from growing linearly, but it never goes negative. Public’s rebate, structurally, never turns into a cost on equity and ETF options. For a trader whose size stays under the mid volume tiers, Public is difficult for tastytrade’s capped-fee model to beat on straight cost, at least on the equity and ETF side.
Index Options Flip the Comparison
The rebate story does not extend to SPX, NDX, VIX, or CBTX. Public prices those separately at $0.35 to $0.50 per contract, charged, not rebated, and with no cap (verified 2026-08-27). tastytrade applies its usual $1-per-contract-open, $10-per-leg-cap structure to index options the same as equity options.
That changes the math. Using the higher end of Public’s index range ($0.50/contract) as a hypothetical, a single-leg SPX trade of 10 contracts costs $5.00 on Public, still cheaper than tastytrade’s capped $10. But at 20 contracts on that same leg, Public’s uncapped per-contract fee reaches $10.00, roughly matching tastytrade’s cap, and every contract past that point tastytrade is flat while Public keeps charging. A trader who regularly sizes index positions above roughly 20 contracts per leg is likely to find tastytrade’s cap cheaper on that specific slice of their trading, even though Public wins on the equity and ETF side of the same account.
| Factor | tastytrade | Public.com |
|---|---|---|
| Equity/ETF options, open | $1/contract, capped at $10/leg | $0, plus rebate $0.06-$0.18/contract |
| Equity/ETF options, close | $0 | $0, plus rebate |
| Index options (SPX/NDX/VIX/CBTX) | Same as equity: $1/contract, capped at $10/leg | $0.35-$0.50/contract, no cap, not rebated |
| Paper trading | Yes, full simulator | No |
| Backtesting | Yes (via tastytrade tools) | No |
| Futures | Yes | No |
| Fractional shares | No | Yes |
| Account minimum | $0 | $0 |
| Data last verified | 2026-08-06 | 2026-08-27 |
The Tooling Gap tastytrade’s Fee Buys
tastytrade’s per-contract charge is not just a cost, it funds a platform built specifically around options selling. The paper-trading simulator lets a trader test a strategy, an iron condor adjustment rule, a specific delta-neutral setup, with real market data and no capital at risk before ever placing it live. Backtesting tools let a trader check how a strategy would have performed across past volatility regimes rather than trusting a rule of thumb. Public has no paper-trading mode and no backtesting tool for options at all. A trader who wants to validate an approach before committing real money has to do that validation somewhere else, or skip it.
Futures access is the other gap. tastytrade supports futures and futures options alongside equity options in one account, useful for a trader who hedges an equity options book with /ES or /MES futures, or who trades futures options directly for their different tax treatment (Section 1256 contracts). Public does not offer futures at all, so a trader who wants that instrument has to hold a second account somewhere else regardless of what the fee comparison says.
Who Each Platform Actually Fits
tastytrade fits a trader who:
- Wants to test a strategy on paper before risking capital
- Trades futures or futures options alongside equity options
- Sizes positions consistently above roughly 10 contracts per leg, where the fee cap does most of its work
- Wants a platform built specifically around premium-selling mechanics like probability of profit and defined-risk structuring
Public fits a trader who:
- Trades mostly equity and ETF options at moderate size, where the rebate consistently beats a per-contract charge
- Wants fractional shares in the same account as options, which tastytrade does not offer
- Does not need paper trading, backtesting, or futures, or is comfortable sourcing those elsewhere
- Trades index options only occasionally or in small size, before Public’s uncapped per-contract fee overtakes tastytrade’s cap
Neither platform fits a trader who wants an all-in-one account spanning equity options, futures, and paper-tested strategy development at the lowest possible cost across every size and instrument. That combination does not exist on either platform alone; it requires accepting tastytrade’s fee for the tooling or Public’s tooling gap for the rebate.
Bottom Line
Public.com wins on raw cost for most equity and ETF options traders because it pays a rebate instead of charging a fee, and that gap only widens with volume. tastytrade wins once a trader needs paper trading, backtesting, futures, or trades index options in real size, where its $10-per-leg cap starts beating Public’s uncapped index pricing. Pick the platform that matches what you actually trade, not just the headline fee structure.
FAQ
Q: Is Public.com really free for options trading?
A: On equity and ETF options, yes, and Public actually pays the trader a per-contract rebate on top of $0 commission and $0 per-contract fee (verified 2026-08-27). Index options (SPX, NDX, VIX, CBTX) are the exception: those are charged, not rebated, at $0.35-$0.50 per contract.
Q: Does tastytrade’s $10-per-leg cap apply to the whole trade or each leg separately?
A: Each leg separately. A 4-leg iron condor can cost up to $40 to open (4 legs times the $10 cap) if every leg individually reaches the cap, not $10 for the whole structure.
Q: Can I paper trade on Public.com before going live?
A: No. Public has no paper-trading simulator for options. tastytrade does, and it is one of the clearer reasons to choose tastytrade over Public despite the fee difference.
Q: Which platform is cheaper for SPX options specifically?
A: It depends on size. At smaller contract counts per leg, Public’s uncapped $0.35-$0.50 per contract is usually cheaper than tastytrade’s capped fee. Past roughly 20 contracts on a single leg, tastytrade’s $10 cap tends to come out ahead since Public’s index pricing has no ceiling.
Q: Does either platform charge for closing a position?
A: No. Both tastytrade and Public charge $0 to close options positions; tastytrade’s per-contract charge and Public’s rebate both apply on the open side only.
For traders who want to test a premium-selling approach with real market data before committing capital, tastytrade includes a full paper-trading simulator alongside its capped per-contract pricing. Traders focused on lower-volume equity and ETF options who want the rebate itself can review Public.com’s options platform directly.