15 Best Investment Apps and Platforms [Free + Paid]

Roughly 70 million years ago—near the end of the Cretaceous period, just before the extinction of the dinosaurs—people who wanted to buy and sell stocks had to pick up a land-line phone and suffer through a 15-minute call with their broker.

But over the next few thousand millennia, man evolved and created a simpler (and more civilized!) way of building a portfolio: investment apps.

If you have a desktop, tablet, and/or smartphone, then you have all you need to buy and sell stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, crypto, and so much more. But that’s not all these programs can do—they can also help keep you up on the latest investing news, research new opportunities, and if you’re just getting started, even help you learn how to invest.

The thing is, there are so many stock apps out there that it can be difficult to sort through them all. Fortunately, we’re here to do the work for you.

Today, we’re going to highlight the best investment apps and platforms we’ve come across. It’s a wide selection of brokers that serve investors of virtually any experience level and age.

Each investing app offers its own set of features—everything from screeners and charts to educational videos and town hall-style meetings with corporate CEOs. We’ll highlight these features (and note where there are shortcomings) so you can make the most educated decision about where to invest your money.

One last note: The key word here is “invest.” Many apps can serve multiple groups—in fact, some of the apps below serve both active traders and buy-and-hold investors. For active traders, we’ve evaluated these and other programs as stock trading apps. But if you just want to grow your money over time, with maybe only the occasional trade, keep reading as we evaluate these investment apps for that specific purpose.

Best Investment Apps and Platforms—Our Top Picks

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Best Online Investment Apps and Platforms

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1. E*Trade (Ideal for Intermediate Investors + Traders)

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• Available: Click “Open Account” below
• Best for: Intermediate investors
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

E*Trade has long been seen as a leading stock investment app for retail investors. E*Trade provides investors access to educational resources that assist you with conducting investment research and analysis and diversifying your portfolio.

E*Trade, like most of the best stock investing apps, offers zero-commission stock, ETF, and options trading. It also has a leg up on some platforms by offering $0-commission mutual fund trading. Options still incur a 50- to 65-cent contract fee, however.

E*Trade has two platforms, both of which are free, and both of which have web and mobile versions:

Power E*Trade

Power E*Trade is designated for more intermediate-to-advanced traders. Features include:

• Advanced charting that includes intraday and historical options; more than 100 studies; over 100 drawing tools; and the ability to automatically identify technical patterns
• Snapshot Analysis, which lays out risk-reward probabilities in your options trading
• Powerful stock and trade scanner; use preset filters or customize as you wish
• Paper trading to test out strategies without putting your money at risk
• Ability to design exit strategies

Like with the Power E*Trade web platform, the Power E*Trade app is a more powerful version of its basic counterpart. This app allows you to use preset scans, work with interactive charts, place complex options trades, and more.

E*Trade

The “basic” E*Trade web platform might be more suitable for beginning-to-intermediate traders and investors, but that doesn’t mean it’s short on features.

E*Trade’s main web platform includes everything you need to keep up to date on your portfolio, including real-time quotes, charts, market commentary, and stock news. The latter includes free access to Thomson Reuters and TipRanks research. Meanwhile, you’ll have ample tools at your disposal, including stock, mutual fund, bond, and ETF screeners; trade optimizers; backtesters; and more.

E*Trade also touts its educational resources, which includes articles, videos, and classes, as well as monthly webinars and live events. But we will note that its educational content is difficult to sort through.

To open a free E*Trade brokerage account, click “Open Account” below.

 

2. Wealthfront (Best Robo-Advisor for Small Balances)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Investors with small balances, investors that want robo-advisory services
• Platforms: Desktop web app, Apple iOS and Google Android.

Wealthfront is a popular robo-advisor that offers numerous account types, including individual, joint, and trust taxable brokerage accounts, Traditional, Roth, SEP, and Rollover IRAs and 529 plans.

While some of its robo-advisor competitors have a relatively high minimum balance requirement of a few thousand dollars or much more, Wealthfront requires a fairly small initial deposit of $500 to open an account. (Again, that’s high for an investment account, but low for a robo-advisory product.) So if you don’t have a huge sum invested already to move into the account or to rollover from an existing account like a 401(k) or other IRA, this account might be a good choice.

Wealthfront offers some valuable perks with its accounts, including automatic tax-loss harvesting, automatic rebalancing, automatic trading, and the option to customize your expert-built portfolio. This top robo-advisor also offers access to a 529 plan (or the ability to link an external one to your account) to help with saving for educational expenses. This is an uncommon feature for most standalone robo-advisors outside of a traditional brokerage, so it’s well worth noting.

If you’re considering putting this on your shortlist, just note that Wealthfront does charge a 0.25% annual management fee across the board. That’s more affordable than some robo-advisors, but it’s also not free. Learn more on Wealthfront’s website.

 

3. Betterment: Best for Tax-Loss Harvesting

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• Available: Click the “Get Started” button below
• Best for: Set-it-and-forget-it investors; investors who prioritize simplicity, tax-loss harvesting
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Betterment is a robo-advisor platform that allows you to invest in pre-built portfolios—with different themes and goals—in taxable accounts as well as individual retirement plans.

Betterment’s primary offering is ETF-only portfolios that provide varying types of exposure depending on your risks and interest. For instance, Core is a stock-and-bond portfolio that keeps you invested in most domestic and international securities, in the ratio of stocks to bonds that’s most appropriate for you. Social Impact buys stocks and bonds of companies with “a demonstrated focus on supporting social equity and minority empowerment.”

There are no self-directed options, however. The portfolios buy fractional shares of ETF index funds tracking benchmarks like the S&P 500 to keep you invested in stocks and bonds. But the service does not allow you to invest in individual stocks or bonds. The app has added crypto portfolios holding digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but again, you can’t buy them individually—only through pre-built portfolios held in separate crypto accounts.

That makes Betterment one of the best investment apps for beginners—especially those who don’t want to be particularly active in selecting what they hold.

One interesting perk that stands out: Betterment’s tax-loss harvesting feature.

If you invest in a taxable account, and you sell an investment for a gain, you’ll owe taxes on those gains. (What you owe differs depending on whether you’ve held that investment for more than a year.) However, if you sell an investment for a loss, you can use that to offset your capital gains, and thus the taxes you’d pay on them, or if your loss is more than your gains (or you don’t have any gains at all), you can even reduce taxes owed on your personal income, subject to a $3,000 annual cap.

It can be a complicated strategy, but Betterment’s Tax Loss Harvesting+ automates the process for you. It will regularly check your portfolio for tax-loss harvesting opportunities, then take the proceeds from selling those investments and reinvest them where it makes sense for you.

Just note that Betterment is different from many traditional brokers in that it’s a subscription-based product. Betterment charges $4 per month to start; however, if you set up recurring monthly deposits totaling $250, or reach a balance of at least $20,000 across all Betterment accounts, the fee changes to 0.25% of all assets under management. Betterment Premium provides unlimited financial guidance from a Certified Financial Planner™. Premium costs 0.65% annually, and upgrading requires having at least $100,000 in assets with Betterment.

 

4. Robinhood (Best Simple Stock Trading App for Beginners)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Beginner traders
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Robinhood is a pioneer of commission-free trading, jumping into the investing public’s consciousness in 2013 when they rolled out commission-free trading. They remain a standout option for cost-minded investors thanks to their continued $0 commissions on stocks, ETFs, and options, as well as for its fractional trading, which allows people to invest with as little as $1.

More importantly, though, Robinhood has evolved from a bare-bones app appealing to mostly beginner investors to a fuller-featured account suitable for a wider range of experience levels.

For instance, Robinhood now offers individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Roth IRAs via Robinhood Retirement. Functionally, it comes up short compared to many other IRA providers because of its investment options. It offers just stocks and ETFs; like with its brokerage account, mutual funds aren’t available. Options aren’t currently available, though Robinhood has explicitly stated that options will be made available soon.

However, Robinhood Retirement still stands out from the pack because it’s the only IRA provider that offers matching funds. If you open up an IRA with Robinhood Retirement, Robinhood will match 1% of any IRA transfers, 401(k) rollovers, and annual contributions to your account—and 3% if you pay for the Robinhood Gold service ($5 per month)—typically almost immediately after you make your contribution. Better still: Any matches made on annual contributions don’t count toward your contribution limit.

(Friendly message from your Young and the Invested tax expert: The reason the IRA match doesn’t count toward your annual IRA contribution limit is because Robinhood treats it as interest income in your IRA.)

You can choose your IRA investments yourself, but Robinhood’s Portfolio Builder can also provide you with a custom recommended portfolio made up of five to eight ETFs.

Robinhood has long catered to younger investors with its gamified interface and growing library of educational content. But over the years, it has added a boatload of other features for new and experienced investors alike. Advanced Charts, for instance, provides simple and customizable charts with a variety of technical features.

Sign up for a Robinhood brokerage account or Robinhood retirement account today.

Related: Best Robinhood Alternatives for Stocks

5. Webull (Ideal for Intermediate Investors + Traders)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Self-directed investors and intermediate traders
• Platforms: Desktop app (Windows, macOS, Linux), web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Webull first hit the investing world in 2018 and made a splash by offering free stock trading, as well as commission-free trading of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and options. And since then, it has become one of the best stock apps for intermediate traders and investors, though many of its features are helpful to beginners as well.

For one, Webull remains friendly to wallet-conscious traders today. It costs nothing to open a Webull account. Stocks, ETFs, and options still trade commission-free. Many options have $0 contract fees. And Webull has no deposit minimums. On top of that, it offers fractional shares, which allows investors to start buying for as little as $1. So beginners working with small dollar amounts can still easily diversify across numerous investments.

Newer investors can also learn trading skills through the courses in Webull’s education center, and even practice their skills via Webull’s paper trading service.

And Webull is available across just about every platform, allowing you to research, trade, and track your stocks on your smartphone, tablet, or desktop.

Why choose Webull to trade stocks?

Webull provides investors with several useful features and tools, including:

• Customizable screeners for both stocks and ETFs
• Preset lists–including Top Gainers, Top Losers, Most Active, and Best-Performing Industries—investors can use to identify opportunities
• Voice commands: Simply speak to buy, sell, or look up information about a ticker
• “Big Button Mode”: Populates giant buttons on your screen that allow you to quickly make trades with just a push.
• Charting tools
• Free real-time stock quotes and stock alerts

We’ll point out that while Webull allows for many types of commission-free trades, other costs will still apply to a few transactions. For instance, a 55-cent contract fee applies to certain options trades. And Webull doesn’t directly charge fees for trading cryptocurrencies; however, it does build a 1-percentage-point markup into the price of cryptocurrency when you buy or sell crypto.

One particularly noteworthy shortcoming for investors is that you can’t buy mutual funds on Webull. Yes, ETFs offer a wide array of diversified strategies, but the mutual fund world offers some cheap index funds and many successful actively managed strategies.

Regardless, Webull remains one of the best, and most cost-friendly, trading platforms you can come across. And on top of all the free features mentioned above, Webull also runs frequent promotions that allow investors to collect free stocks.

Read more in our Webull review, or sign up at Webull today.

Related: 10 Best Stock Picking Services, Subscriptions, Advisors & Sites

6. SoFi Invest® (Best for Personal Finance-Focused Investors)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Traders looking for an all-in-one personal finance experience
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

SoFi is a multi-faceted financial company that offers everything from credit cards and insurance to student loans and mortgages … and they also allow you to trade and invest through its SoFi Invest app.

With SoFi Invest, you can invest as actively or as passively as you’d like.

The Active SoFi Invest Brokerage Account has no required minimum balance, charges no commissions on stock, ETF, and options trades, and its options trading has no contract fees, either.

The interface is still very much geared toward younger, less experienced investors—everything is focused on simplicity and ease of use, rather than an expanse of sophisticated tools. SoFi also offers budget-friendly features such as fractional shares, which allow you to invest for as little as $1. And SoFi even provides a social element, such as bringing SoFi members together at exclusive events.

Want to put your portfolio on autopilot? SoFi’s robo-advisory services will create a portfolio for you for an annual 0.25% assets under management fee (that can be designed to address one or several goals) and auto-rebalance it for you as necessary over time.

And unlike many brokerage companies with limited offerings, SoFi’s app allows you to manage a much wider range of financial services and products, such as banking, student loans, insurance, and mortgages.

SoFi also occasionally has sign-up bonuses attached to its brokerage accounts, which you can read more about below. You can also visit SoFi to learn more or sign up today.

Related: 10 Best Debit Cards for Teens [Reviewed by a Father + CPA]

7. Public.com (Investing App With Alternative Assets)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: New investors with limited capital
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Public.com is a commission-free investing app, geared toward Millennials and Gen-Zers, that as of late has built up the types of assets available to its users. On Public, users can invest in not just stocks and ETFs, but also more than 25 different cryptocurrencies—and more recently, alternative assets from art to sneakers.

That last point is worth a callout. Alternative assets are a relative rarity among investing apps. They can be difficult to research (and thus difficult to properly invest in), but they can provide uncorrelated returns compared to the stock and bond markets, so many savvy investors like to diversify into these assets.

But while the number of tradable assets on Public.com is growing, it’s still somewhat limited: It doesn’t offer mutual funds, options, bonds, or futures. New users are also limited to individual brokerage accounts.

The “Public” part of the name nods at the platform’s social aspect. For one, you can make your portfolio holdings open to other users, and conversely, you can look through other Public users’ portfolios.

Public also acts as a micro-investing app, allowing you to invest in fractional shares with as little as $1.

Users can also upgrade their experience with the $10/month Public Premium subscription.

Public Premium offers some features that are included in some free brokers’ services, but other features help to justify the cost. For instance, Premium offers extended-hours trading (8 to 9:30 a.m., and 4 to 8 p.m. EST) and stock price alerts—several competitors, such as TradeStation and E*Trade, offer these services at no charge. However, Premium also provides:

• Advanced data on companies—Public.com’s examples include Tesla quarterly deliveries by model or Apple’s annual sales by continent
• Institutional-grade research provided by Morningstar
• Members-only analysis about events including major economic report releases, earnings announcements, and more
• Exclusive audio programming by Public.com’s expert analysts

What makes Public.com different?

Unlike other free stock trading apps found on this list, Public.com does not monetize its trading activity through receiving payment for order flow (PFOF). PFOF, in brief, is money that a market maker pays a brokerage firm for routing trades through that market maker.

By removing PFOF from the platform’s monetization, Public.com believes it’s better aligning its financial incentives with the best interests of its customers.

Read more in our Public.com investing app review.

For Public.com disclaimer, please see the fine print at the bottom of this article.

Related: The 7 Best Closed-End Funds (CEFs) to Buy

8. J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing (Best Investment App From a Major Bank)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Self-directed investors, Chase customers
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing acts as an investing solution offered from Chase and is accessible through the Chase Mobile^® app or Chase.com.

You can use this investing app to make unlimited commission-free trades in thousands of investment options, including a wide range of stocks, ETFs, fixed income, mutual funds and options.

The investing app allows you to utilize tools to build your portfolio including screeners and watchlists—both useful for building diversified portfolios and staying on top of market activity.

The app provides personalized news and J.P. Morgan research and market analysis to empower informed investment decisions. You can leverage these resources to design your own target allocation for your investments.

Consider using J.P. Morgan’s Self-Directed Investing platform if you’d like the flexibility to invest as much as you want without paying any commissions on equity and options trades. Some regulatory fees and fund expenses may apply.

You can choose an account that’s right for you: an individual taxable account, Traditional IRA or Roth IRA. All carry a $0 minimum.

Open your J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account today and get up to $700 when you open and fund an account with qualifying new money:

• $50 when you fund with $5,000-$24,999
• $150 when you fund with $25,000-$99,999
• $325 when you fund with $100,000-$249,999
• $700 when you fund with $250,000 or more

Learn more by visiting J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing’s website to see if it’s the right fit for your needs.

Related: 15 Best Stock Research & Analysis Apps, Tools and Sites

9. M1 (Customizable Robo-Advisor for Passive Investors)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Passive investors
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

M1 is something of a hybrid between self-directed (you manually choose what to invest in, and determine when to buy and sell) and automated investing (AI helps make decisions for you and manages your account). The result is effectively a highly customizable robo-advisory service—one executed so well that it’s our favorite robo-advisor service.

M1’s investing platform is based around Pies. Your portfolio is represented as a Pie (a pie chart); every stock and ETF you decide to buy becomes a slice of that pie—and because M1 supports fractional shares, you can add virtually any stock or ETF to your portfolio. From there, you set each holding’s “weight”—what percent of your Pie each slice should account for, so, say ETF X will always be 25% of your portfolio, while Stock X should always be just 5%.

After that, whenever you fund your M1 account, it will automatically invest your money based on these targets. You can take the automation even further by setting up recurring deposits into your M1 account.

From there, M1 can automatically rebalance your portfolio for you, or you can go in and manually change how small and large each Pie slice is. If you really want to put it on autopilot, you can invest in M1’s Expert Pies—professionally pre-built portfolios designed for different investment goals. (And if you want something in the middle, you can even combine Expert Pies with your own custom choices.)

One major callout before going any further, however, is that while M1 Finance offers pre-made portfolios aligned to several investing goals, the company is not an advisory service.

Also worth noting is that, unlike traditional online brokers, you cannot trade stocks and ETFs throughout the trading day. At 9:30 a.m. every day the New York Stock Exchange is open, M1 processes all of the orders it has received since the previous trading session.

That’s something of a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, on the rare occasion you would need to jettison a position immediately during the trading day, you couldn’t do that with M1. And that single window is an extreme hindrance to people who want to trade stocks. But for truly buy-and-hold investors, that single window won’t stop you from achieving your goals—and it could actually stay your hand from panic-selling in the middle of the day.

Consider opening an investment account with M1, or read more in our M1 review.

Related: Best Debit Cards for Kids to Save and Spend

10. Firstrade (Ideal for Beginner Investors + Traders)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Beginners, traders looking for low options fees
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Firstrade might not have the same name recognition among younger investors as platforms such as Robinhood and Acorns. But if you’re just beginning to invest, it could very well be your best option regardless.

For one, Firstrade has some of the best trading fees among all investing apps.

On the investing front: $0 commissions on stock and ETF trading are par for the course. But where Firstrade stands out is mutual funds, offering free trading of no-load mutual funds, load mutual funds, and no-transaction-fee (NTF) mutual funds. It’s also pretty friendly to beginner traders: Firstrade goes a step above the zero-commission options trading offered at other apps by also not charging contract fees nor assignment fees.

Firstrade also allows investors to buy and sell roughly 40 digital currencies—a better selection than some other beginner investing apps, though not as robust as some higher-powered platforms. Crypto trading is technically commission-free, too. But like other brokers, it adds a markup (Firstrade charges 1%) on both sides of each crypto trade.

The mobile apps, for iOS and Android, are user-friendly; features include Face ID login, charting, and real-time streaming quotes. But users should know that the mobile experience is pared down compared to the primary web experience.

Firstrade also offers a scaling cash bonus for new accounts depending on how much money you use to fund your account. The promo states cash bonuses are up to $4,000, but that’s for a deposit of more than $1.5 million. Cash bonuses for more common beginner-investor sums include:

• $50 on a deposit of at least $5,000
• $100 for at least $10,000
• $300 for at least $25,000
• Firstrade also will provide up to $200 to cover any transaction fees

Looking for a comprehensive solution for all of your investing needs? Learn more about Firstrade or sign up today.

Related: 10 Best Stock Advisor Websites & Services to Seize Alpha

11. Acorns (Invest Simply With Pre-Built ETF Portfolios)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Investors looking for simple, automated investing
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Acorns is an investing app geared toward minors, young adults, and millennials by offering “Round-Ups”: The app rounds up purchases made on linked debit and credit cards to the nearest dollar, investing the difference on your behalf.

For example, if you purchase a coffee for $2.60 on a linked credit card, Acorns automatically rounds this charge up to $3.00 and puts the 40-cent difference aside. Once those Round-Ups reach at least $5, they can be transferred to your Acorns account to be invested.

The Acorns investment offering itself is a simple, automated platform that uses pre-built portfolios of ETFs to keep investors exposed to stocks and bonds.

Acorns has the following subscription options:

• Acorns Personal ($3 per month): Includes an Acorns Invest investment account, as well as Acorns Later for tax-advantaged investment options such as Roth IRAs. Also includes Acorns Checking, a bank account that has no account fees, lets you withdraw fee-free from more than 55,000 ATMs nationwide, and Smart Deposit, which allows you to automatically invest a bit of each paycheck into your Acorns accounts.
• Acorns Personal Plus ($6 per month): Everything in Acorns Personal (Acorns Invest, Later, and Checking), plus Premium Education, which are live onboarding sessions covering account setup, Round-Ups, setting up recurring investments, and more; Emergency Fund; and a 25% bonus on Acorns Earn rewards (up to $200 per month).
• Acorns Premium ($12 per month): Everything in Acorns Personal Plus, plus Acorns Early, which allows you to open a custodial investment account for your child so you can begin investing for them while they’re a minor; custom portfolios that allow you to hold individual stocks; live Q&As with financial experts; a 50% match on Acorns Earn rewards (up to $200 per month); $10,000 in life insurance; even the ability to set up a will for free.

Personal Plus and Premium subscribers also get access to a powerful way to accelerate their savings: Later Match. While most people are aware that employers will sometimes match funds you contribute to your 401(k), “matches” are virtually unheard of in retirement accounts like IRAs, where there’s no employer to kick in extra cash. However, Acorns itself will match 1% or 3% on new contributions to IRAs for Personal Plus and Premium subscribers, respectively. 

Learn more in our Acorns review.

Related: Best Custodial Accounts: How to Start Investing for Kids

12. Vanguard (Best for Vanguard Fund Investors)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Basic trading options with cheap mutual fund investing
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Vanguard has long been regarded as the low-cost index fund investing service provider. In fact, in 1975, John Bogle launched the first U.S.-listed index fund available to retail investors. Now, Vanguard offers numerous dirt-cheap index products in both its mutual fund and exchange-traded fund lineups.

But Vanguard also offers low-cost investing, and no account minimums, through its brokerage and other accounts. That means commission-free trading not just on Vanguard products like VTI or VTSAX, but also on stocks, all other ETFs, and all no-transaction-fee mutual funds. But investors and traders still shoulder some costs. Unless you have more than $1 million in your account, transaction-fee mutual funds cost $20 per trade. And if you have a higher risk tolerance, you can trade options on Vanguard—but while commission-free, you’ll still incur a $1 contract fee on options trades.

Vanguard’s web and mobile versions are very much geared toward beginning investors, though the latter is better-designed. The web version can be downright clunky at times, and it can be difficult to access some of the features. I used to use the app to manage my work’s 401(k) plan, and I’ll admit to its bloat and lack of clarity on calculating investment returns on a percentage basis. The mobile apps run more smoothly, and I like the secure two-step login. But certain features, such as price alerts, aren’t available on mobile.

My main beef with Vanguard’s apps is that they make it difficult to measure the performance of individual holdings. All that said, Vanguard might have made this by design, incentivizing you to check your funds less often and thus living by their buy-and-hold ethos.

Still, if you’re a beginner who’s not sure if you’ll be more into trading, or more into long-term investing, a Vanguard account is a good place to start.

Related: 7 Best Stock Portfolio Management Software Tools + Apps

Other Noteworthy Investing Apps

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All of the apps above are what most people would consider “traditional” investing platforms—places where you can buy (at a minimum) stocks and/or ETFs, though often much more.

Below, we discuss a few more platforms that fall outside the norm but are still popular among investors looking for alternative investments.

13. Coinbase (Best Investment App for Cryptocurrency)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Basic trading options with cheap mutual fund investing
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Coinbase is one of the earliest cryptocurrency exchanges, and it has since become one of the most trusted, boasting nearly 110 million accounts across individuals and businesses.

In addition to facilitating the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies, Coinbase offers debit cards, the ability to borrow using Bitcoin as collateral, educational resources, and more to people who want to participate in a “cryptoeconomy.” Coinbase also allows institutional-scale investing, helps companies accept cryptocurrency as payment, and offers cryptocurrency compliance solutions for financial firms and even government entities.

The Coinbase platform provides an intuitive, spartan interface that allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies and NFTs with ease. For people who would like to trade cryptocurrencies rather than just buy and hold them, you can use Advanced Trade, which offers advanced charting tools, rewards on crypto balances, and more. Advanced Trade, which lives on Coinbase, is similar in features and pricing to Coinbase Pro, which lived separately and is being shuttered this year. Unlike many subscription upgrades, Advanced Trade costs nothing to access.

One knock on Coinbase is its murky fee structure: Basic Coinbase users’ fees vary widely depending on several factors, including trade size and liquidity. Coinbase will disclose whatever fee it will ultimately charge at the time of transaction, but there’s no good way to tell what your fees will be ahead of time.

That said, you can get more predictable fees through Coinbase Advanced Trade. Fees there are on the taker/maker model; you’re a taker if you place an order and it’s immediately fulfilled, and you’re a maker if you place an order that can’t be immediately filled, so you wait for someone else to place an order that matches yours. Fees start at 60% taker/40% maker for trades under $10,000, then decline in tiers as order sizes grow.

Cryptocurrency statistics show millions of new users join this market every month, driving many coins into the mainstream and pushing companies to adopt them as a form of payment. However, the past year has seen enormous disruption in the cryptocurrency space, including the bankruptcies of several large exchanges and other crypto-related businesses. While Coinbase does offer security features including two-step verification, encrypted password management, and constant monitoring for data breaches, investors should still remain vigilant if they decide to enter the crypto space.

 

14. Fundrise (Real Estate Investing for Everyday Investors)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Investors interested in residential and/or commercial real estate
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Fundrise provides diversification by allowing its investors to access several real estate funds, each of which holds a number of properties and is designed to provide varying levels of risk and income.

This popular real estate investment platform offers numerous ways to invest, including:

• Starter and Basic accounts: Investors can now access Fundrise for as little as $10. People who open a Starter account ($10-plus minimum investment) or Basic account ($1,000-plus) have their money automatically invested in the Flagship Real Estate Fund, which seeks a balanced objective of income and growth.
• Core, Advanced, and Premium accounts: Core ($5,000-plus), Advanced ($10,000-plus), and Premium ($100,000-plus) accounts all have access to more specialized strategies. The four primary funds, from low risk/income to high risk/income, are Fixed Income, Core Plus, Value Add and Opportunistic. These accounts also have varying amounts of access to Fundrise’s “eREITs.” Also, Advanced and Premium accounts may invest in the Fundrise eFund, which is a tax-efficient partnership that can also hold non-REIT-eligible assets with “unique potential.”
• Fundrise iPO: This “internet public offering” allows investors to buy a stake in Fundrise’s parent company, Rise Companies Corp.
• Innovation Fund: This fund does not invest in properties, but rather private high-growth technology companies. While the fund expects to focus primarily on late-stage companies, it can hold early- and late-stage private companies, as well as some public equities. (Fundrise would likely invest in these publicly traded companies prior to their IPO, or initial public offering.)

You do not need to be an accredited investor to invest in Fundrise, but several of its funds are closed to non-accredited investors.

Learn more about Fundrise, including its various tiers, to determine what level of investing is best for you.

 

15. Vinovest (Invest in a Cellar’s Market)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Investing in wine and whiskey
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

You don’t need to be a wine connoisseur to understand why fine wine can be a worthwhile investment. Its quality can improve over time. Supply and demand work in your favor, too, as a good vintage will slowly disappear over time to normal consumption. As a result, fine wines can deliver long-term, stable growth. It also does not correlate strongly with the economy, so it can act as a hedge against inflation and economic recessions.

Unfortunately, you can’t simply buy a bargain wine from the grocery store, stick it in your basement for a few years, and expect to reap an eventual profit. If you want to make money from wine, it needs to be of high quality, ideally rare, and stored in optimal conditions.

Unless you already have vast wine knowledge and a professional storage setup, we recommend using an app like Vinovest. Vinovest ensures wine authenticity, stores it for you, and ships it to buyers when you’re ready to sell.

Vinovest offers two ways of investing in wine: Managed and Trading.

With Managed, you start by funding your account (Vinovest has a relatively small minimum funding requirement of $1,000). From there, you take a quick survey about your goals and preferences, then Vinovest will help you build a wine portfolio. And if you’d like, you even have the option to discuss wine investment strategies with an advisor.

The platform analyzes millions of historical data points to select and authenticate the best investment-grade wine. Factors include age, critic scores and ratings, liquidity, wine producer brand equity, secondary market pricing, and risk-to-return ratio.

Vinovest’s Managed product has four investment tiers:

• Starter ($1,000 minimum balance, 2.50% annual fee): Basic account that provides access to Vinovest’s world-class wines and insurance.
• Plus ($10,000 minimum balance, 2.35% annual fee): Includes benefits of Starter tier, but adds access to portfolio reviews, some wines not available in Starter, and early access to other additional benefits.
• Premium ($50,000 minimum balance, 2.15% annual fee): Includes benefits of Plus tier, as well as wine futures, customized portfolio construction options, full access to auction-only wines, and exclusive invitations to Vinovest wine tastings and events.
• Starter ($250,000 minimum balance, 1.90% annual fee): Includes benefits of Premium tier, as well as access to Vinovest’s most exclusive wines, personalized quarterly portfolio insight reports, and access to the Vinovest Advisory Council.

Liquidity in the Managed product is a mixed bag. If you’d like to cash out, Vinovest will help you try to sell your wines, sometimes within a few weeks. However, If you sell your wine before the “ideal selling window,” which varies by wine and is listed in the wine details page, you will incur a 1.5% listing fee.

In all cases, you have 100% ownership of your wines. In fact, if you decide you’d actually like to taste some of that rare wine yourself, Vinovest will ship it to you. (Shipping charges will apply; the price includes insurance.)

Vinovest’s Managed accounts are primarily maintained by Vinovest experts and the platform’s artificial intelligence algorithm. But if you’re more of a DIY-er, you can opt for the Trading account, where you choose what to buy and sell, and the prices at which you want to try to buy and sell. We only suggest using this account if you’re an experienced wine investor.

Trading has no management fees, but it does incur a 2.5% buy-side trading fee that includes three months of storage, a 1% sell-side trading fee, and a 1.5% annual storage fee, billed monthly.

And if you prefer a spirit with a little more bite, Vinovest now allows users to invest in whiskey. You can buy entire casks of American Whiskey from the likes of Whistle Pig and Breckenridge, or Scotch from Macallan, Highland Park, and more. You’ll receive a sample bottle from your cask every year, and if you decide it’s too good to sell, they’ll bottle the rest for you. You can start investing in whiskey via Vinovest for as little as $300; just note that Vinovest’s whiskey investing currently only offers managed accounts, with similar terms and fees as Vinovest’s wine-based managed accounts.

You can learn more or sign up at Vinovest, or dive deeper into this platform by reading our Vinovest review.

 

What Are Investment Apps?

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Investment apps are the modern gateway to the stock, bond, and other markets, helping people make, manage, research, and track their investments.

Also, when we talk about investment apps, we generally mean one of two things: an app that prioritizes long-term investing completely, or an app that does have trading functions but also many of the features that long-term investors need.

Aside from enabling you to invest in numerous types of assets like stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, options and more, these apps can also help you manage your investment portfolios, research potential investment opportunities, and track their performance over time—all from the comfort of your home (or on the go). Investment apps are almost always available on mobile devices and web browsers, though some also have desktop apps. And the target investor can run the gamut, from novices learning the basics to experienced pros who want the most advanced tools available.

Features to Look for in the Best Investment Apps

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Here’s a great rule of thumb: The best investment app for me isn’t necessarily the best investment app for you.

Maybe you’re more experienced with futures. Maybe you’ve only started investing. Maybe you want as many stock research tools as possible. Maybe you rarely trade, so all you care about is a clean, simple interface that’s easy to use when you need it.

Your preferences are ultimately what will determine which app or brokerage account is best suited for you.

When we compiled this list of the best investment apps, we considered a number of features that are important to traders of varying experience levels. Among them?

Educational resources

Investing can be an intimidating and complex task. Having access to educational resources like investor tutorials, webinars, article libraries and other learning materials helps users of all experience levels better understand the fundamentals of investing and feel confident when making their own investment decisions.

Good investing apps offer resources to educate users on topics such as portfolio selection, risk management, tax optimization strategies, and market trends.

Research tools

No two apps are the same, but the better investing apps tend to include access to research tools. Investment research tools allow investors to access financial data and news, analyze market trends, and make informed decisions about their investments. They can help investors identify investments with potential for growth, compare returns of different investments over time, screen for stocks with desirable characteristics, and more.

Having the ability to explore new opportunities with in-app research tools will give investors an edge in their investment decisions.

Multiple account types (e.g., taxable and retirement accounts)

Having multiple account types within a single app interface simplifies your financial planning, management, and oversight, and also allows you to choose the type of accounts that best suit your individual needs. Consolidating accounts into one location can make it easier to keep sight of your numerous investment goals and determine just how well—or how poorly—your diversification efforts are progressing.

Investment options

Not every investor requires access to a broad spectrum of investment options. Just stocks or just ETFs might do the trick for your investment goals.

But, as they say, even if you don’t want to attend the dance, it’s still nice to have an invite. That’s why many investing apps offer access to numerous investment options. If nothing else, the larger the choice of investments, the more you can personalize your portfolio to your exact wants and needs.

Fractional shares

Fractional shares allow you to start investing with tiny amounts of money, often as little as $1. Not only does this give small-money investors the opportunity to diversify their portfolios in ways that were previously not possible, but it also makes investing more accessible to people of all backgrounds. A few popular stocks cost in the hundreds and thousands of dollars per share—so if you only have $100 to invest, fractional shares make owning a piece of those stocks possible. It’s truly a revolutionary feature: You don’t need $100,000 to invest in a fully diversified portfolio of stocks and funds because of arbitrary share prices anymore.

Robo-advisor functionality with tax-loss harvesting

If you’d like to remove emotion from your investing, automate how and what you invest in, or simply build a diversified portfolio with a few taps of your finger, robo-advisors can help. Some even go so far as to help with your tax bill through coordinated tax-loss harvesting, or the practice of locking in losses to offset gains made elsewhere in your portfolio.

The result? A lower tax bill and more money kept in your pocket—or your portfolio.

Commission-free trading

What’s effectively become table stakes in modern investing, commission-free trading is the price of entry for most investors. Every app on this list features commission-less trading on at least stocks and ETFs, passing more savings to you and your ability to invest more.

Trustworthy brand

Investors want to interact with brands that instill convenience, effectiveness and satisfaction through the products and services they buy from them. When brands can deliver a positive experience, consumers begin to trust the brand and feel comfortable using their services. This requires consistency, honesty and transparency, as well as aligning business actions with the values that the company promotes.

Web-based platform

In a mobile-first world, having a web-based platform that works through a browser or app is essential. Previously, many brokerages required you to work through a stockbroker or with a desktop-based application. To make accessing your investments as easy and convenient as possible, modern investment apps come equipped with a web-based platform to access your portfolio, make investment decisions, conduct research and more.

Strong customer service

Much like a kicker in football, no one pays attention to customer service until they really need it. And if you’ve had to call in for help before, you know how dramatically a strong customer service response can impact your opinion of a service. That’s why many investors sign up for platforms with solution-oriented customer service departments … and swipe left on apps with unhelpful help lines that operate during very limited hours.

No minimum balance or monthly fee

Another outcome of shedding trading commissions and embracing a fractional world has been the dramatic reduction in minimum account balances and near-elimination of monthly fees. These have become the standards for apps to meet, almost necessitating these features to compete in the investing market.

Cash management account

A cash management account provides investors with a secure, interest-paying way to store their unused cash in an investment account. These liquid balances leave uninvested cash in an insured savings vehicle, minimizing cash held in non-interest-bearing accounts.

How Much Money Do I Need to Open an Investment App?

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While some brokers require some varying minimum deposit to invest, most brokerages have moved to having no minimum required deposit.

You can’t invest with no money, of course, but increasingly, you can invest with very little money. Brokerages that offer fractional shares often enable you to buy stocks or ETFs with as little as $1.

How Do I Open an Account With an Investment App?

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A process that once largely involved stepping into an office, filling out a lot of paperwork, and dealing with physical checks has largely been migrated online. In most cases, you’ll …

1. Fill out a quick application.
2. Decide which kind of account you want (if they offer multiple account types)
3. Wait for approval (time can vary from hours to a couple days)
4. Fund the account (options for this vary, but can include online money transfers, wire transfers, transferring funds from another brokerage account, or mailing a check)

Best Investment Apps FAQ

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Can you trust investment apps?

In general, absolutely. Almost all of the investment apps above enjoy Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) insurance, which protects up to $500,000 of your investments in the event your brokerage firm fails. (Just note: SIPC insurance doesn’t protect against losses incurred simply by investing.)

But investors should note that some alternative investments, such as cryptocurrency, are not covered by SIPC insurance. Cryptocurrency, for instance, is not covered—so, for instance, while your Firstrade account might be covered by SIPC, the cryptocurrency you hold there will not be.

Coinbase, Fundrise, and Vinovest do not offer SIPC protection.

What can I invest in without losing money?

We’re sorry to have to say it, but there’s no such thing as a guaranteed investment. Virtually anything you invest in holds some risk of losing your money.

Thus, every investment decision ultimately boils down to weighing the potential reward with the potential risk.

With a few investments, there is virtually no risk. Savings accounts, for instance, are FDIC-insured up to $250,000, which means even if the bank in charge of your account goes under, you’ll still get your money back. The only way you wouldn’t get your money back is if the federal government (and thus the FDIC) collapsed. Possible? Sure. But extremely unlikely.

A stock, on the other hand, is far more risky. Companies can go in and out of favor—faulty products, bad leadership, all sorts of negative drivers can send a stock lower. And while you can avoid some losses by staying informed about the company and the fundamentals of your stock, you can’t predict every downturn.

That said, the upside of a stock is very high compared to savings accounts, which have yielded well less than 1% for a very, very long time. Stocks, on the other hand, average anywhere between 7% to 10% growth annually, depending on the study.

And if you want to know something that will really keep you up at night: While you’re much more likely to get every single dollar back from that savings account, that doesn’t mean you won’t lose money on the investment—in a way. Inflation eats away at the purchasing power of the dollar—when inflation goes up 2%, that effectively means what once cost $1.00 now costs $1.02. So if your money is stuck in a savings account earning, say, just 0.1% annually, the purchasing power of that money isn’t keeping up with inflation—and will thus be worth less to you than what it was worth when you first put it in the account.

What is the best app to start investing?

As I wrote near the start of this article, the best app for me might not be the best app for you. You might want a simple, set-it-and-forget-it portfolio with just a handful of choices, while I might want a self-directed account with all the investment options I can handle.

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve gone through our breakdown of common features these investment apps provide. Our advice? Think about which ones stood out most to you, then re-evaluate the app descriptions above to see which apps deliver on those features.

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Public.com Disclaimer

This does not constitute investment advice. Investing involves the risk of loss, including the potential loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities available on Public are offered by Open to the Public Investing, Inc. (OTTP), a member of FINRA & SIPC, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Public Holdings, Inc. Brokerage services for alternative investments are offered by the Dalmore Group, LLC, a member of FINRA and SIPC. Alternative investments are over-the-counter equity securities that have been issued pursuant to Regulation A of the Securities Act of 1933. Cryptocurrency trading is provided by Apex Crypto LLC (NMLS ID 1828849). Apex Crypto is licensed to engage in the virtual currency business by the New York State Department of Financial Services. New customers of OTTP receive free stock valued between $3 – $1,000 (0.3% receive the maximum value).