Best Investing Apps of April 2024: A Comprehensive Guide (2024)

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The best investment apps offer all kinds of investors access to worthwhile trading accounts and investment products on mobile devices and desktops. Get easy access to stocks, bonds, ETFs, crypto, and more with low fees, access to research, educational resources, and accessible user interfaces.

The investment platform features in this list are also frequently mentioned in some of our other guides, like the best cryptocurrency investment apps and the best apps for beginner investors.

If you're interested in stock trading or other investment vehicles, a good place to start is with some of the best apps for trading stocks and other great investment apps with no fees.

Top Investing Apps from Our Partners

Complete Editorial Review of the Best Investment Platforms

These are the best investment apps available to traders as chosen by Business Insider's editors in 2024

Best Investing Apps of 2024

• E*TRADE: Best investment app overall
• SoFi Invest: Best investment app for beginners
• Betterment: Best for automated investing
• Fidelity Go: Best investment app for low-cost investing
• Robinhood Investing: Best investment app for active investing
• Acorns Invest: Best investment app for mobile
• M1 Finance: Best stock app for portfolio customization
• Ellevest: Best stock app for goal-driven investing
• Charles Schwab: Best for automating large balances
• Vanguard: Best investment app for retirement plans
• Wealthfront Investing: Best for socially responsible investing apps

Best Investment Apps Comparison

Best Investing App Overall

E*TRADE

E*TRADE is a one-stop shop for investing and the overall best app. Whether a seasoned investor or a beginner, you'll find what you want with this investing app. E*TRADE is also a great stock trading app for eliminating all stock and ETF trading fees.

The investing app trades mutual funds, bonds, options, futures, IPOs, and CDs.

E*TRADE's Core Portfolios is an app for trading stock and other assets if you're not interested in self-directed investments. After you fill out a risk profile to share your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance, you'll get a recommended tax-sensitive portfolio of ETFs. E*TRADE also offers socially responsible ETFs and smart beta ETFs.

A regular E*TRADE brokerage account has no account minimum to open, but to open an account with Core Portfolios, you'll need at least $500. If you're investing $25,000 or more, E*TRADE's Blend, Dedicated, and Fixed Income Portfolios are worth considering. In addition to a more customized portfolio, these plans include one-on-one advising with a financial consultant.

What to look out for: While you can open an account and choose a Core Portfolio with $0 down, you'll need to fund the account with at least $500 to get started investing. Investors should also note that Morgan Stanley acquired E*TRADE on October 2, 2020.

E*TRADE Review

Best for Beginners

SoFi Invest

SoFi Invest is one of the best apps for trading stocks, with no advisory fees or subscription fees. Stockand ETF trades also don't charge fees. The investing app offers both low-cost, self-directed, and automated portfolio options suitable for all kinds of investors.

For those with a set-it-and-forget-it attitude, SoFi Invest automated investing app will recommend a portfolio of ETFs based on your risk tolerance. Once you decide which portfolio is appropriate, you can invest as little as $1.

SoFi Invest provides features like portfolio rebalancing, free access to certified financial planners (CFPs), and a new 2% IRA match on eligible contributions (only available through April 15, 2024).

SoFi Money (Member FDIC) is a checking/savings account hybrid with a competitive interest rate, a debit card, and unlimited ATM fee reimbursements that can store money you're not ready to invest yet.

What to look out for: There are only five investment portfolio options available for passive investors, ranging from conservative to aggressive. Despite no advisory charges, you'll still incur fees from the ETFs included in your portfolio.

SoFi Invest Review

Best for Automated Investing

Betterment

Betterment Investingis one of the strongest stock apps for investing and one of the best robo-advisors for minimal fees, account flexibility, CFP access, and goal-based investing. The app invests in stock ETFs, bond ETFs, and cryptocurrencies.

Betterment Investing also offers investors cryptocurrency portfolios, socially responsible portfolios, tax-loss harvesting, personalized retirement plans, and options for charitable giving. No minimum requirement is required to open an investing account, but the investing app does charge a 0.25% annual fee (or $4 per month).

You can use the investment app's goal-building strategies, such as retirement savings and income, creating a financial safety net, meeting cash goals, and building toward a major purchase.

In addition, Betterment offers four different crypto portfolios, three socially responsible portfolios, Core portfolios for long-term investing, and a Goldman Sachs Smart Beta portfolio aimed at outperforming the market. Betterment also offers a cash reserve account, which is convenient for folks looking for the convenience of having their checking account and cash account on the same platform.

What to look out for: You won't be able to access ongoing advisor access with a basic Betterment digital account, and only account holders with at least $100,000 get unlimited access with Betterment premium. Otherwise, ongoing financial guidance must be purchased for around $299 per session.

Betterment review

Best for Low-Cost Investing

Fidelity Go

Fidelity Go is Fidelity's robo-advisor investing app that is easy to understand and is great for beginners and people who don't want to spend a lot of time or incur too many fees building wealth. It's one of the best investment apps with no fees (some fees may apply depending on your account and investment options).

After answering questions about your age, risk tolerance, and goals, a team of experts will select an appropriate portfolio made up exclusively of Fidelity Flex mutual funds, none of which charge additional management fees or fund expenses. That means you pay 0.35% for accounts with $25,000 or more balances.

You only need N/A to start investing through this online brokerage, and the professionals behind the Fidelity Go investment app will periodically rebalance your portfolio. You can change your investment strategy anytime from seven different conservative and aggressive allocations.

What to look out for:Fidelity Go doesn't offer tax loss harvesting or ETFs.

Fidelity Go review

Best for Active Traders

Robinhood

Robinhood Investing is a top app for beginner investors looking for commission-free trading options for US-exchange-listed stocks, ETFs (and fractional shares of both), options, and cryptocurrencies. The stock trading app doesn't have a minimum account size requirement for stocks, ETFs, and options trades.

Robinhood offers a 1% IRA match on eligible contributions into a traditional or Roth IRA (Robinhood Gold members earn up to a 3% match).

For access to larger instant deposits, research reports from Morningstar, and NASDAQ market data, investors can upgrade to Robinhood Gold for a $5 monthly fee. The membership includes up to $50,000 in instant deposits, plus $1,000 of margin and a 5.00% interest on any excess margin used.

If you're interested in trading cryptocurrencies, you'll have access to 17 different assets, including bitcoin, bitcoin cash, dogecoin, ether, and more.

What to look out for:Despite being one of the best investment apps for beginners, Robinhood doesn't offer a robo-advisor or automated features. Only hands-on traders should open an account with this investment app. In addition, Robinhood is lacking in investing research and advanced trading tools.

Robinhood review

Best Investment App for Mobile

Acorns Invest

As one of the best stock trading apps for beginners, Acorns Invest is the best investing app for mobile traders seeking automated trading strategies and customized ETF portfolios. The simplified trading platform provides account holders beginner-friendly charting tools, easy portfolio diversification, and ESG portfolios.

Acorns' easy-to-use interface is designed mainly for the convenience of investing through a mobile device. Users can open a regular individual brokerage account, IRA, custodial account, emergency fund, and cash account on the same platform.

After completing a questionnaire about your investment goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance, Acorns will create a personalized stock and bond ETF portfolio based on your answers. But you can also pay extra to hand-pick stocks and cryptocurrencies.

What to look out for: Although fairly low-cost, Acorns is more expensive than some beginner-friendly investing apps as it requires at least a $3 monthly fee. Acorns has plans up to $9 a month.

Acorns Invest review

Best Investment App for Portfolio Customization

M1 Finance

M1 Finance offers some of the best advanced features in an investment app. It offers brokerage accounts, cash management accounts, and lending, all under the same roof. On the investing end, you can trade stocks and ETFs on your own or choose from among 60 different curated portfolios, thanks to its Pies feature.

The investing app's Pies gives you two options: build your investment strategy with stocks and ETFs or choose from pre-built pies (also known as Expert Pies). With M1 Finance's Expert Pies, you can sift through multiple portfolios to find the Pie that best aligns with your personal goals (like general investing, responsible investing, retirement investing, and more).

But customization and expert portfolios aren't the only perks the M1 Finance investing app offers; the stock trading app also provides fractional share investing and automated investing features. Suppose you want to leave the maintenance of your portfolio to the professionals. In that case, you can use the investment app's auto-invest settings to schedule portfolio contributions and have M1 Finance automatically rebalance your investments when necessary.

You can also access much more with an M1 Plus subscription. This includes a morning and afternoon trading window (standard M1 users' trades only execute during a morning window), custodial accounts, smart transfers, and more.

What to look out for: You can only invest in stocks and ETFs with M1 Finance. If you want to diversify your portfolio outside of these investment types, you may need to consider other investment platforms.

M1 Finance review

Best for Goal-Driven Investing

Ellevest

Ellevest is one of the best investing apps that encourages you to build an investment philosophy around your goals. Your access to these goals can vary based on your chosen membership plan.

Then, this female-forward online adviser takes it a step further and considers your gender, lifespan, and earning potential to create a custom portfolio of mostly ETFs. You can also opt for a socially responsible allocation if that's important to you.

As afiduciary, Ellevest automatically rebalances and regularly updates your performance forecast, taking into consideration fees, taxes, and the occasional market crisis to show you whether you're on track to meet each of your goals — and what you can do to make up for it if you're not.

The app also provides learning resources like email courses and live workshops. Financial and career coaching can also be purchased à la carte at a discount. Most recently, they also added banking accounts*.

Ellevest charges a monthly membership fee ranging from $5 to $9 monthly. There are no additional investment advisory fees on top of the monthly membership, but the ETFs in your portfolio charge underlying fees.

What to look out for: You'll have to spring for the higher-tier offerings if you want more specific guidance for your goals beyond "build wealth." Ellevest does not offer automated tax-loss harvesting, which can be valuable for investors with higher balances. As with any investment app that charges monthly fees rather than per-account advisory fees, it's important to note how much of your balance they represent.

Ellevest review

Best for Auto-Investing Large Balances

Charles Schwab

You'll find any type of investment you're looking for at the Charles Schwab stock trading app. These include (but aren't limited to) self-directed stock trading, crypto coin trusts and bitcoin futures, mutual funds, and retirement accounts. But it's the Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, the brokerage's robo-adviser, that ultimately outshines competitors.

The Premium version of the investment app requires a minimum investment balance of $25,000 but combines automated investing with ongoing financial planning. Your risk tolerance profile will help experts design a custom portfolio of Schwab ETFs that will be rebalanced regularly. All portfolios include a cash allocation deposited in a Schwab high-yield account. A free add-on feature, Schwab Intelligent Income, can help you generate a monthly paycheck from your brokerage or retirement accounts.

You'll pay an initial planning fee of $300 to meet with a certified financial planner and a flat $30 a month for ongoing guidance whenever you need it, but no asset under management fee. Once your balance reaches $50,000, free tax-loss harvesting is available.

There are also comprehensive online financial planning tools available that let you link up various accounts to track your progress toward goals and forecast different scenarios on your own.

What to look out for: Minimum balance requirements disable anyone with less than $5,000 from investing in Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. As with any investment, you're responsible for paying the underlying fees in the ETFs in your portfolio.

Charles Schwab review

Best for Retirement Plans

Vanguard

Vanguard is an undeniable leader in investing as one of the top online brokerages. The stock trading app offers a large selection of investment options, self-directed brokerage accounts, and managed account options. But Vanguard is the best investment app for retirement plans, such as a traditional or Roth IRA.

Moreover, Vanguard offers SEP IRAs, 401(k) rollovers, individual 401(k)s, and SIMPLE IRAs. With a Vanguard retirement account, you'll get access to numerous ETFs, such as Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF and Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF. You can also access Vanguard's All-in-One retirement funds. But most funds require between $1,000 to $3,000 minimum to invest.

On top of multiple retirement account options, Vanguard provides investors with a handful of retirement tools and additional resources, including tax loss harvesting features and ESG investing options.

A standard Vanguard brokerage account doesn't cost anything to open, but you'll have to invest at least $3,000 for Vanguard Digital Advisor and $50,000 for Vanguard Personal Advisor Services.

What to look out for: Vanguard's managed accounts, including its robo-advisor, are pricier. It also doesn't have many options for advanced traders.

Vanguard review

Best for Socially Responsible Investing

Wealthfront

Wealthfront is an investment app for folks looking for socially responsible investing options, tax-loss harvesting, and low-cost automated trading. This investment app is fairly low-fee with only a $1 ($500 for automated investing) minimum. It also has a low-cost bond ETF portfolio.

Socially responsible investing portfolios through Wealthfront are great for long-term investing goals. Moreover, these portfolios rely on Blackrock funds that track ESG indices. Socially responsible investing is available through Wealthfront's self-directed brokerage account and the investment app's robo-advisor.

Wealthfront also offers IRAs, smart beta investing, US direct indexing, auto-rebalancing features, and a handful of crypto selections.

What to watch out for: Wealthfront's robo-advisor platform has a higher minimum than competitor investment platforms. Plus, there's no ongoing human advisor access.

Best Investment Apps Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why You Should Trust Us: Our Expert Panel on The Best Investment Apps

Investing feels more accessible than it's ever been. Whether you prefer a hands-off approach or love to pore over market research and make trades — or fall somewhere in between — the best investment apps and stock trading apps can make it that much easier to reach your goals.

Our list of best apps for investing skews toward so-called robo-advisors — which use an algorithm to manage your investments — because, in many ways, these types of stock trading apps feel more accessible to average investors; fees and balance minimums are generally low, and your big-picture goals can help create an individualized and diverse portfolio that doesn't require much ongoing maintenance.

But we've also included a few of the best online brokerages that offer both active trading and automated portfolios.

We interviewed the following three investing experts to inform our picks for the best investment apps:

• Brian Fry, CFP, founder at Safe Landing Financial
• Charlotte Geletka, CFP, CRPC, managing partner at Silver Penny Financial Planning
• Kaysian Gordon, MBA, CFP, CDFA, CPA, wealth manager at Clarus Group

What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of using an investment app?

Brian Fry:

"Using an investment app helps you better understand your financial situation. An app can greatly help to track progress toward financial goals and investment performance. [A disadvantage is that] using an app might lead to more trading instead of focusing on investing toward your financial goals."

Charlotte Geletka:

"An investment app can be great for keeping informed and up to date, but it can also allow you to make impulse decisions so proceed with caution."

Kaysian Gordon:

"It depends on how much guidance you're looking for. A robo-advisor can create a portfolio based on a series of questions you have answered. However, we know that as humans, we're way more complex than what a robo-advisor can provide."

Who should consider using an investment app?

Brian Fry:

"DIY investors should work with an investing app that best suits their situation. Whether that's the ability to trade investments online, have a robo-advisor, or [get] access to a call center. Every platform offers similar but different resources. The key is finding the one that works best for you."

Any other advice for those interested in investment apps?

Brian Fry:

"Choose the platform that simplifies the investing and rebalancing process and offers the best transparency. Find the app that provides the best user experience and greatest value to your unique financial situation."

Kaysian Gordon:

"It goes back to doing the research and looking at the things that are important to you."

Other Investment Apps We Considered

These investment apps haven't earned a spot in our "best of-" category, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad idea to invest with them. Here are some runner-up investing apps.

• Merrill Edge: Merrill Edge is a division of the popular brokerage Merrill Lynch (Merrill Lynch is now a division of Bank of America). Merrill Edge is best for active traders who want to trade low-cost stocks, ETFs, and options. The investment app provides a number of worthwhile features, including flexible withdrawals, access to BofA Global Research, goal-building strategies, commission-free trades, and goal-building strategies. But it's more expensive then similar platforms.
• Marcus Invest: Marcus Invest is an investment app for beginners to invest in over 50 stock and bond ETF portfolios based on goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon. The main advantage of Marcus Invest is that users get access to regular asset allocation with Marcus Invest employees and automatic portfolio rebalancing features. Marcus Invest does not offer individual stocks, mutual funds, crypto, or other assets.
• JP Morgan Investing: JP Morgan Investing is an investment app and brokerage best for existing Chase customers seeking beginner-friendly automated investing strategies, multiple account options, retirement tools, and portfolio customization. However, the investment app doesn't offer a huge selection of trading tools or education savings plans.
• Ally Invest: Ally Invest is an online investment app for low-cost investing and banking on the same platform. This investment app is best suited for beginners looking to trade stocks and ETFs without complicated trading features getting in the way. However, the app doesn't offer as many worthwhile trading features as similar active trading apps.
• Interactive Brokers: Interactive Brokers is a strong investment app for all kinds of investors. The app offers various payment plans that offer users access to brokerage options, investment portfolios, advanced trading tools, and more. But Interactive Brokers' platform can be difficult to navigate and may be off putting to newer traders.
• tastytrade: tastytrade, previously called tastyworks, is an online brokerage offering commission-free stocks and ETFs for retail investors. However, tastytrade specializes in options and futures trades with little professional guidance. The investment apps also offer various commodities and a limited selection of cryptocurrencies.

Our Methodology: How We Reviewed The Best Investment Apps

People may have varying risk capacities and financial goals they're working toward, but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't prefer a cheaper way to invest. Therefore, the cost was a huge factor in determining our list.

Personal Finance Insider's rating methodology for investment platforms examines companies that offer platforms that keep fees to a minimum (generally below 0.50% of assets under management, or AUM, for balances under $100,000) and offer a high-quality experience. In some cases, that means access to free financial planning tools — or financial planners themselves — and clear and easy-to-understand investment options.

We compared nearly two dozen brokerages, placing heavy weight on their advisory and trading fees, investment philosophy, investment options, and available account types. User experience is also important, so we looked at each brokerage's accompanying mobile app and scoured reviews on the Apple Store and Google Play to find out what regular users think of the product.