Anybody able to get a commission rate lower than $4.95 at Fidelity Investments? If so, what rate did you get and how did you get it?
Rather than commission quotes, you should look at 2-3 patterns of your own possible trading, and cost those out. For example, 2-3 trades a week, 2-3 trades a day, 2-3 trades an hour, 2-3 trades a minute. That will whittle your choices down to 2 or 3.
Setting aside other issues such as platform, performance, and other fees, $4.95 depends on what size you are trading. If trading small size, then there are better deals. If trading large size, it isn't bad.
OTM options I pay 0.16 average per contract (including exchange fees / rebates) and .60ish for ITM contracts with IB. But I also know exactly what threshold my ETrade account is cheaper to trade in (it's also 4.95 like fidelity, and .50 per contract--which I think Fidelity is too). As tom and lidq said, it all depends on what you're doing and how you're doing it.
We have a similar retail type platform called Web Trader. It is not DMA and has no routing fees. If you are looking for an alternative to Fidelity, we charge $4.50/Trade, max order size of 10,000 shares, Our DMA software is much better, but it is a good way to start for smaller or less active accounts.