For years, investing apps had been a novelty. Now, they’re synonymous with brokerage accounts. And contemplating how straightforward they’re to make use of, it is sensible that new traders are turning to cell platforms to get into the inventory market.
Under, we’ve listed on-line brokerages whose cell apps characteristic every little thing a brand new investor would possibly want. All of those platforms provide:
Fee-free buying and selling. By now, free buying and selling is the norm within the business. Any dealer or app you take into account mustn’t cost commissions. Some brokers prefer to flaunt this as a differentiator, however actually, it’s a desk stakes providing.
Fractional shares. The flexibility to purchase shares in no matter greenback quantity you need, slightly than by the variety of shares you need, is a really constructive improvement within the business, particularly for brand new traders. Whereas not each main dealer affords fractional shares, the entire apps beneath do.
Low or no minimums. Minimums are unusual lately, however be sure to keep away from any dealer that requires upfront deposits of a number of hundred (and even a number of thousand) {dollars}. We’ve excluded these from our checklist.
So long as the investing app you select affords the above, you’re probably in good palms. However listed here are our 5 favourite apps, together with the perfect choices they bring about to the desk.
Our 2026 checklist of the perfect investing apps for rookies
Constancy: One of the best app general
Yearly when Constancy receives an ideal rating in our rubric, we marvel: What did we miss? The place are the failings on this legacy dealer? And invariably we arrive on the identical conclusion that, as soon as once more, Constancy actually does have every little thing most traders need and little or no they don’t.
What makes Constancy such a robust selection
Belief, peace of thoughts and help. Constancy has been working since 1946, and manages investments that complete round $6 trillion. The variety of clients they serve is someplace round 50 million, but they nonetheless handle to supply 24/7 telephone help. This can be a family-owned, privately-held firm that way back established itself as a frontrunner within the business, and it’s maintained that fame by way of to at present. Once I’m utilizing the app, I don’t really feel like I’m being nudged towards merchandise I don’t want or devices and methods which might be too superior for me. It simply does what I would like it to do, and that’s extraordinarily refreshing in a world the place consideration is very worthwhile forex.
Straightforward to make use of, straightforward to be taught. In the event you’re new to investing, it’s true that Constancy truly has greater than you want. However the fantastic thing about the app is that these additional choices gained’t get in your approach if you happen to’re on the lookout for very fundamental buy-and-hold inventory investing. Then if you’re able to broaden your portfolio, be taught extra about investing ideas and methods or open different kinds of accounts (like a retirement account), that’s all very simply accomplished in-app.
👉 See how we price Constancy’s charges, options, and minimums
Account charges (annual, switch, closing, inactivity)
Annual charge: $0
Inactivity charge: $0
Closing charge: $0
Rate of interest on uninvested money
Variety of no-transaction-fee mutual funds
Shares, mutual funds, ETFs, choices, bonds and stuck earnings, valuable metals, crypto
Three: Constancy.com, cell app, Constancy Dealer+
Obtainable for iOS and Android
A number of knowledge suppliers, together with Argus, Zacks, CFRA and S&P World
Buyer help choices (consists of how straightforward it’s to seek out key particulars on the web site)
24/7. Hours range by contact methodology, however you may get assist by way of telephone, e mail, chat, over social media or at a bodily department.
Need to see Constancy in motion? Senior Investing Author Alana Benson exhibits us what it seems to be like to purchase an index fund contained in the app:
What Constancy does not do as properly
As famous earlier, there actually aren’t any downsides for brand new traders simply beginning out and who need a taxable brokerage account. In the event you’re on the lookout for a really particular providing, different brokers could spike above Constancy in these areas, although. So if that’s you, hold your choices open (and hold studying).
Public: One of the best for constructing a diversified portfolio
I’m excited to speak about Public, as a result of it’s an app that simply two years in the past I might not have included on this checklist. However for a really new app (it’s solely been round since 2019), it’s proven an distinctive capacity to maintain including options at present’s traders arguably want most, slightly than showy bells and whistles that don’t deliver a ton of worth. And all of those additions have made it the most effective apps for simply constructing a diversified portfolio. Here is what you will get:
A extremely good index-building AI device
Public’s Generated Belongings characteristic helps you construct your individual customized index (that’s only a checklist of shares) primarily based on the standards you enter. I used to be skeptical at first, however after I examined it, I understood the hype. I requested it to create a diversified index of climate-resilient industrials, and it shortly created a customizable index of twenty-two firms. Furthermore, you may direct it to rebalance wherever from each day to yearly, and even backtest your index and examine it to the S&P 500. Nonetheless, there’s a $1,000 minimal to truly put money into your customized index.
Straightforward income-focused investing
Public offers traders 3 ways to get excessive yields on zero- or low-risk investments: A diversified company bond account, which at the moment affords 5.46%; a Treasury account, at the moment yielding 3.57%, and a high-yield money account, yielding 3.3%. All of those are well-explained and simple to fold into your general portfolio.
Direct indexing
It’s a reasonably large achievement for Public to start out providing direct indexing — a way that entails investing in every particular person inventory listed in an index, slightly than, say, an ETF that tracks the index. Whereas it’s not good (there are funding minimums starting from $1,975 for 100 shares to round $80,000 for 499 shares) the interface is remarkably straightforward to make use of and perceive — stunning for a extremely technical providing. In the event you can handle the minimums, it is a useful gizmo for a technique often called tax-loss harvesting, which entails promoting investments at a loss to offset capital positive aspects taxes.
Funding Plans
Public lets customers select both pre-made portfolios or customise their very own of as much as 20 shares, ETFs or cryptocurrencies, choose allocations for every asset, and set common contributions to this portfolio. Every contribution is then distributed in keeping with your set allocation. One of these basket investing is changing into extra frequent, however Public’s is way from the perfect of the bunch. Nonetheless, it provides to Public’s enchantment as a superb app for constructing diversification.
👉 See how we price Public’s charges, options, and minimums
$0 ($2.99 per commerce for after-hours trades or OTC shares, for non-Premium members.)
$0. Public pays choices merchants a rebate of $0.06 to $0.18 per choices transaction, as a share of their payment-for-order-flow income, relying on quantity
Account charges (annual, switch, closing, inactivity)
$75 ACAT outgoing switch charge (partial or full). No annual charge for non-Premium members — Public Premium prices $10 a month or $96 a 12 months.
$3.99 month-to-month inactivity charge for accounts with no exercise for six months and balances beneath $70. Prompt withdrawals price 3.5% of the quantity withdrawn, with a minimal of $1.
Rate of interest on uninvested money
New customers can decide right into a high-yield money account with yield of over 4% by checking a field at sign-up.
Variety of no-transaction-fee mutual funds
Shares, ETFs, choices, cryptocurrency, American Depositary Receipts, fractional shares and bonds.
Public’s cell and net platforms provide a easy sign-up, funding and buying and selling expertise, however are pretty fundamental with regards to instruments like charts and screeners.
Public’s iOS and Android apps are each well liked by customers and provide just about the identical options as the online buying and selling platform.
Analysis from Morningstar, TradingView and S&P World. Public affords earnings name playback, in addition to bespoke firm metrics like subscriber numbers.
Buyer help choices (consists of how straightforward it’s to seek out key particulars on the web site)
E mail and chat help obtainable from 9 a.m. to five p.m. Japanese, Monday by way of Friday. Responses prioritized for Premium members. Web site is pretty straightforward to navigate.
1% match on all rollovers and contributions.
What I do not like about Public
There are two components of Public’s enroll course of I actually didn’t like: It defaulted to opening a margin account, which new traders ought to keep away from. After which, there was a small field routinely checked that enrolled me of their Securities Lending Program. I’ve no intention of lending out my shares (which Public’s clearing firm Apex sometimes makes use of to facilitate short-selling), so I might have most popular this wasn’t checked by default. It’s straightforward sufficient to alter this in your account settings after the very fact, however it’s the truth that it was the default possibility that rubbed me the improper approach.
Webull: One of the best paper buying and selling device
Webull has all the time had a really enjoyable (and useful) paper buying and selling platform. In the event you haven’t heard of paper buying and selling, it’s mainly a inventory market simulator that permits you to observe putting trades with pretend cash. It’s an important device for constructing confidence utilizing these highly-technical and infrequently daunting platforms. Webull’s paper dealer:
Enables you to observe buying and selling shares, choices and futures with a pretend $1,000,000.
Contains all knowledge, charting, evaluation, newsfeeds and every little thing else you’d see in an actual buying and selling surroundings.
Can itself be complicated, however that’s why the low-stake surroundings is so useful.
Within the above photographs, you may see how practical Webull’s paper buying and selling platform is. From left to proper: the inventory/ETF buying and selling platform, the choices chain, and the futures buying and selling interface.
If you have already got a major investing app, Webull may very well be a robust complementary dealer due to this characteristic. However we should always word Webull, like Constancy, acquired an ideal rating in our rubric, regardless of its barely worse UX. So it actually has a ton going for it past paper buying and selling, too. Learn Webull’s full, detailed evaluate right here and take a look at its fast info beneath.
👉 See how we price Webull’s charges, options, and minimums
$0 per commerce and $0 per contract on fairness choices. $0.30 to $0.50 per contract on non-equity choices akin to index choices.
Annual charge: $0.
Inactivity charge: $0.
Outgoing switch charge (partial or full): $75.
Rate of interest on uninvested money
3.6% for Premium customers. 3.25% for non-Premium customers with property totaling greater than $25,000, and 0.5% beneath that.
Variety of no-transaction-fee mutual funds
None; mutual funds not obtainable.
Shares, ETFs, Treasury bonds, Choices, ADRs, Crypto, Futures, Prediction markets
5: Internet, desktop, two cell apps (Webull and Webull Lite), APIs.
Obtainable for iOS and Android.
Greater than a dozen suppliers, together with Benzinga, Nasdaq Whole View, S&P, Dow Jones and CBOE.
Buyer help choices (consists of how straightforward it’s to seek out key particulars on the web site)
Buyer help is offered by telephone from 9:00 a.m. Japanese time to 4:15 p.m. E mail and an in-app assist middle can be found 24/7.
1% contribution match without cost accounts, 3.5% for paid accounts.
The place Webull falls brief
As Webull has continued so as to add new choices (retirement accounts, entry to cryptocurrency, IRA matching, superior buying and selling options, and many others.), it feels just like the app is actually filling up. The place there was beforehand ample white house is now cluttered with advertisements for Webull’s many further companies. There’s not numerous respiratory room anymore, and the uncluttered UX is one thing I cherished about Webull within the early days. That mentioned, all the brand new choices are undoubtedly factor, and certain offset the declining UX. However I’ve to say I miss the tremendous slick expertise of years in the past.
Robinhood: One of the best for an IRA match (and an extremely easy UX)
Robinhood has lengthy been identified for its mobile-friendly interface, and for good cause. It’s one of many best-designed apps (of any app, not simply buying and selling apps) I’ve ever used, second solely to maybe Chipotle’s app.
However since Robinhood’s management in UX is firmly established, I need to heap reward as an alternative for its IRA match program — which Robinhood pioneered, and which most of its opponents have copied. Right here’s the way it works:
With a Robinhood Gold membership ($50/12 months or $5/month), Robinhood will match your IRA contributions by 3%. Meaning if you happen to max out your IRA in 2026 ($7,500 for these below 50 years previous) Robinhood will provide you with $225 to place towards your IRA.
A cool twist: that $225 is taken into account curiosity earnings inside your IRA, which means it doesn’t rely towards your annual contribution restrict, successfully letting you contribute $7,725 in 2026.
Robinhood Gold comes with numerous advantages, so it might be tempting to contemplate it a separate, unrelated price. Nonetheless, it’s price remembering if you happen to get Gold particularly for the IRA match, you web out a match of solely $175, not $225.
The match with out Gold is much less compelling: At 1%, that quantities to $75 additional, which sure, is free cash, however gained’t be a gamechanger on your retirement financial savings.
👉 See how we price Robinhood’s charges, options, and minimums
$0 for brokerage accounts, Robinhood Gold accounts and IRAs.
$0 for fairness choices. $0.50 for index choices, or $0.35 for Gold accounts.
Account charges (annual, switch, closing, inactivity)
No annual or inactivity charges. $100 ACAT outgoing switch charge. Robinhood Gold prices $5 a month or $50 per 12 months. Matching funds in IRAs could also be taken again if cash is withdrawn in lower than 5 years. Prompt withdrawals price 1.75% of the quantity withdrawn, with a minimal charge of $1 and a most of $150.
Rate of interest on uninvested money
0.01% without cost accounts, 3.5% for Gold accounts (as of November 2025).
Shares, ETFs, Choices, Cryptocurrency, American Depositary Receipts for over 650 international firms, Futures, Fractional shares. Bonds solely obtainable within the type of bond ETFs.
Variety of no-transaction-fee mutual funds
Not rated; no mutual funds.
Robinhood’s cell and net platforms are identified for his or her easy sign-up, funding and buying and selling processes. The dealer now additionally affords a desktop platform, Robinhood Legend.
Cell buying and selling platform consists of customizable alerts, information feed, superior charting and skill to pay attention dwell to earnings requires some firms. Critiques are principally constructive, though the typical star score on each iOS and Android is beneath the 4.5 star line.
Entry to skilled analysis from Morningstar and Degree II market knowledge from the Nasdaq Inventory Change (with Gold subscription).
Buyer help choices (consists of how straightforward it’s to seek out key particulars on the web site)
24/7 chat help. Telephone help obtainable from 7:00 a.m. ET to 9:00 p.m. ET, Monday – Friday. First rate suite of academic articles and webinar occasions, and an easily-navigable web site.
1% match on IRA contributions without cost accounts, 3% for Gold accounts.
What I nonetheless don’t love about Robinhood
I’ve been reviewing Robinhood for over half a decade. I’ve cherished watching them mature far past what feels just like the wild west days of 2020 and 2021. However they nonetheless make the majority of their income from methods antithetical to confirmed long-term investing practices, they usually push these methods on app customers. Pay attention to this. As a product of Silicon Valley, Robinhood is aware of get your consideration, and for my part, even affect your habits.
M1: One of the best for constructing customized portfolios
Earlier I discussed Public’s Funding Plans had been good, however not nice. So now let’s take a look at M1’s “Pies” customized portfolio characteristic, which for my part, is the perfect amongst any dealer I’ve reviewed.
M1 makes it tremendous easy to create a basket of property (shares and ETFs), set an allocation for every, automate contributions and have these contributions dispersed accordingly amongst all property within the basket. So what units M1’s aside from different, comparable basket buying and selling options, like these supplied by Constancy and Public? Lots.
On excessive balances, it’s free. M1 costs a $3/month platform charge, which isn’t nice. Nonetheless, balances of $10,000 or extra see this charge waived. Public’s comparable portfolio builder costs a per-transaction charge of $1.99 for portfolios with 20 shares in them. Constancy costs $4.99 for his or her model of the service.
Embrace as much as 100 property. The everyday M1 consumer can construct a customized portfolio containing as much as 100 shares or ETFs — way over Constancy’s 50 and Public’s 20. And, just by calling and requesting it, I had my restrict raised to 150.
Flexibility with mannequin portfolios. In order for you some professional assist, M1 additionally affords pre-built pies primarily based on themes. And when you can’t edit these instantly, you can recreate them as a customized pie and alter accordingly fairly simply. Alternatively, you can embrace a pre-built professional pie as one “slice” of your individual customized pie. There’s numerous mixing and matching that may go on right here.
On this video, Bella Avila from the NerdWallet Investing crew walks us by way of opening an M1 account for the primary time:
I need to clarify that M1 shouldn’t be a inventory buying and selling app, in the identical approach the others on this checklist are. In truth, M1 solely executes trades throughout two home windows every buying and selling day. It’s designed to assist long-term, hands-off traders create a customized portfolio, then let it run. If that’s what you’re on the lookout for, it’s a superb selection. In the event you’re seeking to actively commerce shares, it’s not.
👉 See how we price M1’s charges, options, and minimums
$100 ($500 for retirement accounts).
Choices buying and selling not obtainable.
Account charges (annual, switch, closing, inactivity)
Annual charge: $36 (charged month-to-month) on balances below $10,000.
Inactivity charge: $50 (charged on accounts with balances as much as $50 with no buying and selling or deposit exercise for 90+ days).
Closing charge: Full and partial outgoing ACAT: $100; IRA closing charge: $100.
Rate of interest on uninvested money
Variety of no-transaction-fee mutual funds
None; mutual funds not obtainable.
Two: M1.com and cell app.
Obtainable for iOS and Android.
Buyer help choices (consists of how straightforward it’s to seek out key particulars on the web site)
Buyer help is offered from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m EST on days when the market is open.
The place M1 fall brief
M1 has a rarely-seen $100 funding minimal to get began, plus that $3 month-to-month platform charge and a fairly excessive steadiness requirement to waive it. I’d argue the companies acquired are price these minimums and charges, however that’s as much as everybody individually.
