Fidelity
Every year when Fidelity receives a perfect score in our rubric, we wonder: What did we miss? Where are the flaws in this legacy broker? And invariably we arrive at the same conclusion that, once again, Fidelity really does have everything most investors want and very little they don’t.
You can read the long, detailed list of everything Fidelity offers in our full review here, but if you’re a new investor looking to get started investing via an app, here’s what’s likely most important to you.
What makes Fidelity such a strong choice
Trust, peace of mind and support
Fidelity has been operating since 1946 and manages investments totaling around $7.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2026. They serve around 50 million customers, yet they still manage to offer 24/7 phone support. This is a family-owned, privately held company that long ago established itself as an industry leader and has maintained that reputation to this day. When I’m using the app, I don’t feel like I’m being nudged toward products I don’t need or instruments and strategies that are too advanced for me. It just does what I want it to do, and that’s extremely refreshing in a world where attention is highly valuable currency.
Easy to use, easy to learn
If you’re new to investing, it’s true that Fidelity actually has more than you need. But the beauty of the app is that those extra offerings won’t get in your way if you’re looking for very basic buy-and-hold stock investing. Then when you’re ready to expand your portfolio, learn more about investing concepts and strategies or open other types of accounts (like a retirement account), that’s all very easily done in-app.
What Fidelity doesn’t do as well
As noted earlier, there really aren’t any downsides for new investors just starting out and who want a taxable brokerage account. However, beginning in June 2026, we began monitoring an interesting change: prohibitively high transaction fees on select ETFs. You can read more about the new fees here, but basically, Fidelity started charging a 5% fee that tops out at $100 on more than 100 ETFs.
While many of the ETFs are pretty niche, some are all over the headlines right now. The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM), for example, has more than doubled in price since it started trading in April. I bring this up because a new investor chasing a hot sector could easily discover this ETF, but it now carries a hefty fee to purchase on Fidelity.
Otherwise, I could say Fidelity’s investment selection isn’t as broad as other brokers’ because it lacks futures and unrestricted forex trading. While that may be a drawback for advanced traders, beginners probably shouldn’t go anywhere near those instruments, anyway.
If you’re looking for a very specific offering, other brokers may spike above Fidelity in a few key areas. So if that’s you, keep your options open (and keep reading).
Fees
$0per trade for online U.S. stocks and ETFs
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Fees
$0per trade for online U.S. stocks and ETFs
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Fidelity is one of the largest and most well-established brokerages, and it shows. Fidelity charges no trading commissions, offers an extensive set of no-fee, no-minimum index funds. It also stands out for its top-notch research tools, a renowned trading platform and very strong customer service.
Public
I’m excited to talk about Public because it’s an app I wouldn’t have included on this list just two years ago. But for a very new app (it’s only been around since 2019), it’s shown an exceptional ability to keep adding features that today’s investors arguably need most, rather than showy bells and whistles that don’t bring much value. And all of these additions have made it one of the best apps for easily building a diversified portfolio.
What I like about Public
A really good index-building AI tool
Public’s Generated Assets feature helps you build your own custom index (that’s just a list of stocks) based on the criteria you input. I was skeptical at first, but after I tested it, I understood the hype. I asked it to create a diversified index of climate-resilient industrials, and it quickly created a customizable index of 22 companies. Moreover, you can even backtest your index and compare it to the S&P 500. However, there is a $1,000 minimum to actually invest in your custom index.
Agent–based trading
I said I’d be back when this was finally rolled out, so here I am. And I’m excited to report that this feature seems as cool as I’d hoped so far. When I tried it the day it was available, I got a network error screen, but I’ll forgive that. When I fired it up again, it worked great. As a test, I created an agent that would identify the top five dividend aristocrats by yield and purchase a fixed amount on the first of every month. The agent will take any profits from the previous month to put toward the next month’s purchase.
I think this feature alone could make Public worth a try, whether you want to use it for more tactical trades or longer-term strategic positioning.
Easy income-focused investing
Public gives investors three ways to get high yields on zero- or low-risk investments: A diversified corporate bond account, which currently offers more than 6%; a Treasury account (whose yield will depend on what kind of Treasury ladder you build) and a high-yield cash account, yielding more than 3%. All of these are well explained and easy to integrate into your overall portfolio.
Direct indexing
It’s a fairly big achievement for Public to start offering direct indexing — a technique that involves investing in each individual stock listed in an index, rather than, say, an ETF that tracks the index. While it’s not perfect (there are investment minimums ranging from $2,150 for 100 stocks to around $70,000 for 500 stocks), the interface is remarkably easy to use and understand — surprising for a highly technical offering. If you can manage the minimums, this is a great tool for a strategy known as tax-loss harvesting, which involves selling investments at a loss to offset capital gains taxes. And we should note that the minimums for this service have actually come down a bit in the last few months. Previously, the minimum for 500 stocks was $80,000 (although the minimum for 100 stocks rose slightly from the previous $1,975).
Investment Plans
Public lets users choose either premade portfolios or customize their own of up to 20 stocks, ETFs or cryptocurrencies, select allocations for each asset, and set regular contributions to this portfolio. Each contribution is then distributed according to your set allocation. This type of basket investing is becoming more common, but Public’s is far from the best of the bunch. Still, it adds to Public’s appeal as an excellent app for building diversification.
What I don’t like about Public
There are a couple parts of Public’s sign-up process I really didn’t like: There was a small box automatically checked that enrolled me in their Securities Lending Program. I have no intention of lending out my stocks (which Public’s clearing company, Apex, typically uses to facilitate short-selling), so I would have preferred this wasn’t checked by default. It’s easy enough to change this in your account settings after the fact, but it’s the fact that it was the default option that rubbed me the wrong way.
Another thing worth mentioning about Public: It doesn’t have mutual funds, international accounts or custodial accounts.
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IRA Match
1% of contributions or rollovers/transfers
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IRA Match
1% of contributions or rollovers/transfers
Public provides free stock and ETF trades, pays you to trade options, and gives traders access to crypto and bonds, as well as a high-yield cash account. The platform will appeal to traders looking for a low-cost options broker and access to many types of assets.
Webull
Where Webull shines
Webull has always had a very fun (and helpful) paper trading platform. If you haven’t heard of paper trading, it’s basically a stock market simulator that lets you practice placing trades with fake money. It’s a great tool for building confidence using these highly technical and often daunting platforms. Webull’s paper trader:
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Lets you practice trading stocks, options and futures with a fake $1,000,000.
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Includes all data, charting, analysis, newsfeeds and everything else you’d see in a real trading environment.
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Can itself be confusing, but that’s why the low-stakes environment is so helpful.
In the images above, you can see how realistic Webull’s options and futures trading platforms are in the paper trading account.
If you already have a primary investing app, Webull could be a strong complement to it thanks to this feature. Read Webull’s full, detailed review here and check out its quick facts below.
Where Webull falls short
As Webull has continued to add new offerings (retirement accounts, access to cryptocurrency, IRA matching, advanced trading features, etc.), it feels like the app is literally filling up. Where there was previously ample white space is now cluttered with ads for Webull’s many additional services, including gambling-like products like prediction markets. There’s not a lot of breathing room anymore, and the uncluttered UX is something I loved about Webull in the early days. The app’s built-in forum also has weird, seedy vibes.
Promotion
Get 12 free shares up to $3,600when you open and fund an account with Webull
IRA Match
1% on contributions (3.5% for Webull Premium subscribers)
Promotion
Get 12 free shares up to $3,600when you open and fund an account with Webull
IRA Match
1% on contributions (3.5% for Webull Premium subscribers)
Webull will appeal to the mobile-first generation of casual investors with its slick interface for desktop and mobile apps. The brokerage also delivers an impressive array of tools for active traders and a wide investment selection, including stocks (plus fractional shares), options, ETFs, crypto, commodities and futures. However, it lacks access to mutual funds outside of its IRA offering.
Robinhood
Robinhood has long been known for its mobile-friendly interface, and for good reason. It’s one of the best-designed apps (of any app, not just trading apps) I’ve ever used, second only to perhaps Chipotle’s app. (Weird comparison, I know, but if you’ve ever used Chipotle’s app, you probably know what I mean.)
But since Robinhood’s leadership in UX is firmly established, I want to heap praise instead for its IRA match program.
What Robinhood does well
Robinhood pioneered the IRA match. Here’s how it works:
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With a Robinhood Gold membership ($50/year or $5/month), Robinhood will match your IRA contributions by 3%. That means if you max out your IRA in 2026 ($7,500 for those under 50 years old), Robinhood will give you $225 to put toward your IRA.
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A cool twist: that $225 is considered interest income within your IRA, meaning it doesn’t count toward your annual contribution limit, effectively letting you contribute $7,725 in 2026.
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Robinhood Gold comes with lots of benefits, so it may be tempting to consider it a separate, unrelated cost. However, it’s worth remembering that if you get Gold specifically for the IRA match, you net out a match of only $175, not $225.
The match without Gold is less compelling: At 1%, that amounts to $75 extra, which, yes, is free money, but won’t be a game-changer for your retirement savings.
Now, onto the not-free trading agent. Along with your $5-per-month Gold subscription, you’ll get access to Robinhood Cortex and Robinhood Agents, which can place trades for you. So far, Robinhood, Public and Interactive Brokers are the only apps on this list that have built-in AI trading agents. But I’ll note that Public’s doesn’t require any additional subscription (though there are things like investment minimums on Public).
There’s a lot more to learn (and sometimes love) about Robinhood. Here’s our full review.
What I still don’t like about Robinhood
I’ve been reviewing Robinhood for over half a decade. I’ve loved watching them mature far beyond what feels like the Wild West days of 2020 and 2021. But they still make the bulk of their revenue from people trying high-risk, short-term trading strategies antithetical to proven long-term investing practices, and they push these strategies on app users. Be aware of this. One of the most recent (and most egregious) examples of this is how Robinhood has built sports betting markets into its app and started to display them prominently. As a product of Silicon Valley, Robinhood knows how to get your attention, and in my opinion, even influence your behavior.
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IRA Match
1% on contributions (3% for Robinhood Gold members)
Promotion
Noneno promotion available at this time
IRA Match
1% on contributions (3% for Robinhood Gold members)
At Robinhood, trades of stocks, ETFs and their options are commission free, as are cryptocurrency trades. (Other fees may apply, including on index options.) Robinhood Gold offers a high interest rate on uninvested cash and low margin rates. The company does not offer mutual funds or individual bonds.
M1 Finance
What’s noteworthy about M1
Earlier, I mentioned that Public’s Investment Plans were good but not great. So now let’s look at M1’s “Pies” custom portfolio feature, which in my opinion, is the best among any broker I’ve reviewed. (I’ve already extolled M1’s Pies in a separate piece, which goes far more in-depth than I will here.)
M1 makes it super simple to create a basket of assets (stocks and ETFs), set an allocation for each, automate contributions and have those contributions dispersed accordingly among all assets in the basket. So what sets M1 apart from other similar basket-trading features, like those offered by Fidelity and Public? A lot.
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On high balances, it’s free. M1 charges a $3/month platform fee and a $100 account minimum, which isn’t great. However, balances of $10,000 or more see the fee waived. Public’s comparable portfolio builder charges a per-transaction fee of $1.99 for portfolios with 20 stocks in them. Fidelity charges $4.99 for their version of the service.
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Include up to 100 assets. The typical M1 user can build a custom portfolio containing up to 100 stocks or ETFs — far more than Fidelity’s 50 and Public’s 20. And, simply by calling and requesting it, I had my limit raised to 150.
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Flexibility with model portfolios. If you want some expert help, M1 also offers pre-built pies based on themes. And while you can’t edit these directly, you could recreate them as a custom pie and adjust accordingly pretty easily. Alternatively, you could include a pre-built expert pie as one “slice” of your own custom pie. There’s a lot of mixing and matching that can go on here.
I want to make clear that M1 is not a stock trading app in the same way the others on this list are. In fact, M1 only executes trades during two windows each trading day. It’s designed to help long-term, hands-off investors create a custom portfolio, then let it run. If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s an excellent choice. If you’re looking to actively trade stocks, it’s not.
Where M1 falls short
M1 has a rarely seen $100 investment minimum to get started, plus a $3 monthly platform fee and a pretty high balance requirement to waive it. I’d argue the services received are worth the minimums and fees, but that’s up to each person.
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M1 Finance stands out for its unique investment approach — it helps investors visualize their portfolios as a pie, with “slices” made up of different securities. The mix of automation and manual investing will appeal to beginner investors who want to grow their skills and long-term investors who want help maintaining their portfolio allocation.
Interactive Brokers
What’s noteworthy about Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is oriented towards really advanced traders. Want to buy South African stocks? Malaysian agricultural futures contracts? Options on French bonds? Interactive Brokers has you covered.
It has, by far, the widest investment selection of any broker we review, thanks to its variety of asset classes (including stocks, bonds, options, ETFs, mutual funds, futures, currencies, crypto, event contracts and physical precious metals) as well as direct access to dozens of international exchanges.
Other trading features that stand out about Interactive Brokers: IBKR also has the widest research and data offerings of any broker we review, with more than 140 services available from more than 40 providers. However, not all of those are free; some require a paid subscription.
Where Interactive Brokers falls short
Interactive Brokers is not an app that’s great for advanced traders and beginner investors. Its flagship app, IBKR Mobile, is great for the former and slightly terrifying for the latter. The amount of information packed into every screen can be intimidating to anyone who isn’t a pro, and the big (100 share) default order size may scare off small-balance investors, despite the fact that Interactive Brokers offers fractional shares.
IBKR has made some progress on this beginner-unfriendliness in recent years through IBKR GlobalTrader, a second app. Below are two screenshots: The one on the left is from the powerful-but-cluttered IBKR Mobile app, and the one on the right is from the slightly cleaner and more stripped-down IBKR GlobalTrader app.
Don’t judge me for letting my phone battery get that low. I had a long day.
A few other notes about IBKR: It still charges a per-contract fee for option trades. IBKR Pro users also pay commissions of a fraction of a cent on stocks in exchange for faster and more efficient order execution, although free accounts don’t.
Best Online Broker for Advanced Traders
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Options contract fee
$0.65
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Options contract fee
$0.65
Don’t let the name fool you: IBKR Lite offers commission-free stock trading (including international trade capabilities), more than 21,000 mutual funds, and a well-featured platform.
