If you’re reading this, you likely know about Acorns. It’s a micro-investing app that rounds up your purchases and invests your spare change.
The app is great for beginners looking to start investing money for the first time in an easy way. But maybe you want an investing app at a lower cost point with more features. In that case, what Acorns alternatives do you have available?
This article will answer that question by listing other investment apps like Acorns, as well as provide insight into some apps with debit card and bank account access.
These accounts are ideal for beginning investors who want to invest their money but don’t have much income or savings yet!
Best Acorns Alternatives—Our Top Picks
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Best Investment App for Beginners
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Best Brokerage Account + Debit Card for Teens
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Best for Approaching Money for the First Time
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4.6
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4.9
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3.7
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Get your $60 account signup and net deposit bonus. |
Open a Fidelity® Youth Account for your teen, and Fidelity will drop $50 into their account. Get $100 for yourself when you open a new Fidelity account and fund with $50¹. |
Growth: $3/mo. Stash+: $9/mo. |
What is Acorns?
The Acorns app first started by introducing the novel idea of “Round-ups”, which work by taking purchases you’ve made on a credit card or debit card linked to your Acorns account and topping them up to the nearest dollar.
This money then gets swept into a robo-advisor-managed investment portfolio which automatically invests them into stock market index funds on your behalf based on how much risk you feel comfortable bearing.
This useful saving feature has enabled the service’s users to save $30 extra per month on average on top of their routine contributions made into the account—something that can grow from the tiniest of acorns into the mightiest of oaks—if you keep watering it with additional contributions.
Acorns includes two membership tiers, each with a monthly management fee:
Acorns Personal ($3/month):
- Acorns Invest: Index fund investing capabilities through “Round-ups” and account contributions
- Acorns Later: Offers tax-advantaged investment options like individual retirement accounts (IRAs)
- Acorns Checking: This service acts as your bank account, offering free withdrawals at over 55,000 ATMs nationwide, no account fees and the ability to earn up to 10% in bonus investments
Acorns Family ($5/month):
- Everything in Personal (Invest, Later and Spend), plus Acorns Early. This allows you to open an investment account for kids, or a custodial account, for your child and begin investing for them as a minor.
As a note for any Acorns investors who joined prior to a plan change made effective in May 2020, your account may still reside under the pricing structure available at the time. Unless you have changed your plan, you have been grandfathered in on your plan at that time.
The primary difference between that plan menu and the one available now is the removal of the $1 per month Acorns Lite tier (as of September 2021) and the $2 per month subscription offering fewer products at the time (only Invest and Later, not Acorns Spend or Checking).
You can remain in place on the $2 per month tier or upgrade to the $3 per month Personal to add Acorns Checking.
How Does Acorns Work?
Acorns provides money tools to look after the financial best interests of up-and-coming, beginner investors through micro-investing, banking, retirement saving and investment accounts for kids.
They’ve simplified many of these products to make them accessible to everyone without the intimidating task of figuring it out yourself.
The service works as a robo-advisor to place your Round-ups, recurring contributions and one-time contributions into age, income, risk tolerance and time horizon-appropriate exchanged traded funds (ETFs).
Your investment portfolio can invest in exchange traded funds, or investment vehicles which invest in multiple underlying securities as opposed to a single stock or bond, which focus on large company stocks, small company stocks, international stocks, corporate bonds and government bonds and more.
You can answer basic questions about yourself and the goals you have for opening this Acorns account to put your investments into assets which align with your needs.
And not only does this robo-advisor service invest your money, this platform offers you the ability to do so in small amounts over time.
Investing small amounts regularly in a diversified portfolio gives your money a chance to grow long-term. When the market is up, you get a chance to watch your money ride the high.
When the market dips—and it will—you can invest at lower prices, and stick with it for potential gains over time. Set it, forget it, and let spare change change your future!
As we’ll discuss later in this Acorns review, you’ll also want to consider whether this makes the most sense for your money or if you should also consider contributing more to your account to overcome the monthly fees charged by the service.
Once you open your account, you can tap into our automated tools like Round-ups and Recurring Investments to save and invest every day.
To jumpstart your contributions, the service offers multiple products like Found Money, Earn, and Round-ups to build a diversified portfolio quicker.
Learn more in our Acorns review.
Acorns | Invest, Earn, Grow, Spend, Later
3.6
Acorns Personal: $3/mo. Personal Plus: $5/mo.
- In under 5 minutes, Acorns allows you to get investment accounts for you and your family, plus retirement, checking, ways to earn more money, and grow your knowledge.
- Famous for investing spare change automatically through Round-ups, this all-in-one financial app helps younger generations start investing earlier.
- Invest in expert-built portfolios made up of diversified ETFs.
- Special offer: Get $10 to start*.
- Robo-advisor with affordable fees (on larger portfolios)
- Fixed fee model
- Round-Ups
- High fixed fees for small balances
- No self-directed investing options
- Limited investment selections
Related: How Does Acorns Make Money?
What Are the Best Apps Like Acorns?
In truth, no one app serves every individual person’s needs the same. Some investors choose to follow a more active approach while others would rather a set-it-and-forget style.
While I espouse the latter more so on this site, I don’t necessarily think investing in individual stocks is a bad approach when using stock analysis and research to guide your decision-making.
In fact, stock picking services like the Motley Fool’s Rule Breakers and Stock Advisor have shown tremendous outperformance over the last two decades and really represent a significant value for investors looking to rely on others for making stock picks.
Some stock newsletters may even want to practice a more active form of trading and get vetted stock alerts sent directly to their phones to take advantage of market movements.
As long as you account for your risk preferences and level of commitment to following the market, your investment choices will depend on you.
No matter your investing style, when you want to get started investing, you want to look for micro investment apps that provide the functionality you want without feeling overwhelmed.
Therefore, the best stock trading app for you depends on your experience, investing goals, and desired level of educational support.
Beginners benefit from micro investing platforms that have the least amount of fees, low-cost investment options, educational resources and the ability to build a diversified portfolio in alignment with your financial goals.
They want all of this without getting lost in distraction if they can’t make sense of the information provided.
The adage of “keep it simple, stupid” usually applies, especially at the start.
Apps that provide a one stop shop for managing your personal finances often act as a great starting point. This means including your banking, spending and investing needs.
As you develop a better understanding of the market, you’ll want to extend your investing reach into new areas and see if other investing styles suit your needs. Your app should accommodate these growing needs.
With that in mind, this list of the best micro investing apps looks to offer simplified investing experiences at the start but ones which can still serve your needs as you grow your investing knowledge.
I try to highlight free apps where possible because investing your money shouldn’t come with charges unless the service provides other value-added products for managing your money. Descriptions of each app follow the table below.
Best Investment Apps Like Acorns
| App | Best For | Fees | Promotions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Plynk Invest |
☆ 4.6 / 5 Beginners |
Free stock/ETF trades, some features may cost $2/mo | $60 in signup and net deposit bonuses |
 Stash |
☆ 4.6 / 5 Everyday people looking to start managing their finances |
$3/month – $9/month | $5 stock bonus for making a deposit of $5 or more |
 Fidelity Youth Account |
☆ 4.8 / 5 Investing in stocks |
Free, no trading commissions | Open a Fidelity® Youth Account for your teen, and Fidelity will drop $50 into their account. Get $100 for yourself when you open a new Fidelity account and fund with $50¹. |
 SoFi Invest: iOS, Android and Desktop |
☆ 4.6 / 5 Fee-free active trading and automated investing |
Commission-free trades | Free stock worth between $5 – $1,000 |
 Public.com |
☆ 4.7 / 5 Social theme-based investing interests |
Commission-free trades | $3 – $300 in free stocks for signing up |
 M1 Finance |
☆ 4.3 / 5 Fee-free active trading and automated investing |
Commission-free trades and automated investing; $125/year on M1 Plus subscription for custodial account | 3 months of M1 Plus free ($31.25 value) |
 Webull |
☆ 4.7 / 5 Self-directed investors and intermediate traders |
Commission-free trades | Twelve free stocks with $5 deposit, valued between $52 – $30,600 |
 Robinhood |
☆ 4.4 / 5 Basic stock, crypto and ETF investing |
Commission-free trades | Free stock with sign up |
 Betterment |
☆ 4.8 / 5 Investors looking to build a globally-diversified portfolio |
0.25% AUM | None |
 Greenlight Max |
☆ 4.7 / 5 Teaching investing fundamentals with guidance from parents; allows individual and index fund investing |
$9.98/month | One month free |
1. Plynk: Best Investment App for Beginners
- Available via Apple iOS and Android App on Google Play.
- Best For: Beginner investors
- Account Minimum: $0
- Sign up here
Plynk™ is an app designed to help you start investing and learn along the way, and they’re currently offering up to $60 in bonuses for new accounts.
The Plynk app helps beginner investors put their money into an investment portfolio. Specifically, Plynk offers access to a selection of stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and crypto—all starting at a single dollar.
The platform uses straightforward, easy-to-understand language to explain investing concepts. No jargon. No complex charts and tables. Just simple-language tips and how-tos.
You can use Plynk Explore to find investments based on your interests. Just answer a few questions, and the app will display stock, ETF, and mutual fund investments that mesh with your investment comfort zone.
To assist with building your financial literacy, Plynk offers complete lessons and courses on financial education, including tips, educational content and how-tos.
The Plynk app enables you to make use of a powerful investing technique called dollar-cost averaging through participating in recurring investments. By continuing to buy a fixed dollar amount of investments over time, whether the market is up or down, you can build a disciplined investing habit and lower the stress that can come from market movements.
One of Plynk’s most interesting features involves, of all things, gift cards. Specifically, you can redeem unused gift cards for money that you can use to buy stocks in your favorite companies.
If this sounds interesting to you, consider opening an account with Plynk. To make it more worth your while, they have a few special offers.
Simply open an account and link your bank account to get a $10 signup bonus. Plynk is also offering a special bonus promotion through May 18, 2023. Plynk will give you $50 for making at least $25 in net deposits made to your new Plynk brokerage account between Jan. 31 and May 18, 2023. Customers must have a minimum of $25 in net deposits during the promotional period to receive a match. That means you may be eligible for up to $60 in signup bonuses from Plynk by taking qualifying actions.
Plynk™ Invest | Helping Beginning Investors Get Started
4.6
Get started with the Plynk app for free; some features may require a $2 monthly fee in the future.
- Beginning investors can use Plynk™ to start investing for as little as $1.
- Answer just a few questions, and find suitable investments for your needs.
- Invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds and crypto.
- Plynk™ lets you redeem unused gift cards for money that you can use to invest in your favorite companies.
- Signup bonus: Plynk offers two signup bonuses: matching net deposits up to $50 signup bonus made to your account through May 18, 2023, subject to certain terms. They also offer a $10 in signup bonus for downloading the Plynk app, opening an account and linking a bank account as a new customer, for a total combined bonus of $60.
- Designed for beginning investors
- Redeem unused gift cards to invest
- Helpful educational resources
- Some features may require $2/mo. fee in the future
Related: Best Brokerage Account Sign-Up Bonuses and Promotions
2. Robinhood (Best Simple Stock Trading App for Beginners)
- Available: Sign up here
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Robinhood is a pioneer of low-cost 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 that offers a 1% match on contributions. The match, which typically hits your account almost immediately, applies to any contributions up to the IRS’s annual limits but does not count toward your contribution limit. And while you can choose your investments yourself, Portfolio Builder can provide you with a custom recommended portfolio made up of five to eight ETFs.
(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.)
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. Robinhood’s Options Strategy Builder simplifies the options-trading process by helping you build a strategy based on what you expect your target stock or ETF will do in the future. Robinhood also offers 24/7 commission-free cryptocurrency trading (though you’ll still have to pay a spread), allows extended-hours trading, and lets users earn interest through stock lending.
Robinhood does offer a paid subscription service—Robinhood Gold—with several more features mostly geared toward advanced traders. Benefits include Level II market data provided by Nasdaq, a lower charged rate on margin investing than regular accounts, higher interest on uninvested brokerage cash via the cash sweep program, and bigger Instant Deposits.
If you want to keep your banking and investing close together, you can also add a Robinhood spending account. This FDIC-insured account includes a Robinhood Cash Card issued by Sutton Bank—however, if you don’t want this physical debit card, you do have the option of having a virtual debit card only. The Cash Card is compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, and also provides you with access to fee-free withdrawals from more than 90,000 ATMs. The card allows you to round-up purchases and invest the money into your brokerage or crypto account.
Sign up for a Robinhood brokerage account or Robinhood retirement account today.
Robinhood | Commission-Free Trades, IRA Matches
4.5
Commission-free trading. Robinhood Gold: $5/mo., free 30-day trial.
- Robinhood is an investing app that became famous for offering commission-free trades on stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency.
- The platform has added a new innovation in the retirement space: the only individual retirement accounts (IRAs) with a 1% match.
- Robinhood Gold paid subscription service includes Level II market data provided by Nasdaq, higher interest rates on uninvested brokerage cash, lower margin trading rates, and bigger Instant Deposits.
- Special offer: Sign up for Robinhood, link a bank account, and fund your account with at least $10, and receive a randomly selected cash amount between $5 and $200 to put toward fractional shares.
- Good selection of available investments in brokerage accounts
- 1% contribution match on IRAs and Roth IRAs
- Automated portfolio builder in IRAs and Roth IRAs
- Intuitive interface
- Extensive educational library
- Lackluster investment selection in IRAs and Roth IRAs
- No mutual funds in brokerage or IRAs
- No robo-advisor functionality
Related: 13 Best Stock Picking Services, Sites, Advisors and Subscriptions
3. Stash: Best for Approaching Finances for the First Time
- Available via desktop, Apple iOS and Android App on Google Play
- Price: Starts at $3/month (no discounted annual fee option available)
- Sign up here
Stash is a mobile-friendly personal finance app that comes paired with investing options and a checking account. Like Acorns, Stash acts as a low-cost, all-in-one financial platform and gets included in this list as a result.
While the app primarily caters to hands-off investors looking to automate their investing, you can also actively select stocks to trade. Acorns only allows ETFs.
You can do all of this as you spend money and make recurring deposits into your account.
Stash offers custodial accounts for real beginners (young investors), or those under the age of 18. Getting started early on your investing journey can build real long-term wealth over time as your returns compound.
Stash comes with a recurring monthly fee but justifies this with a full-service personal finance platform, including access to a checking account and debit card. With purchases made on the debit card, you can round them up to the nearest dollar for Stock Back rewards.
Of note, while it does charge a monthly account service fee for its full-suite of products, it does not charge trading commissions for your investment holdings. Stash has no account minimum requirements nor ongoing minimum balance required.
Stash | Investing Made Easy
3.7
Growth: $3/mo. Stash+: $9/mo.
- Stash is a personal finance app that simplifies investing, making it easy and affordable for everyday Americans to build wealth and achieve their financial goals.
- Invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrency.
- Earn Stock-Back® rewards on every eligible debit card purchase.
- Special offer: If you sign up and make a $5 deposit, Stash will also provide a $5 sign-up bonus.
- Robo-advisor with self-directed investing capability
- Fractional shares
- Offers values-based investment options
- Get paid up to two days early when you direct deposit pay into your Stash account
- Charges monthly fee
- Smart Portfolios don’t offer tax-loss harvesting
4. Fidelity® Youth Account (Best Free Debit Card With Teen Investing)
- Available: Sign up here
- Price: No account fees, no account minimum, no trading commissions
- Promotion: Teens get $50 on Fidelity® when they open an account; parents get $100 when they fund a new account
Is your teen interested in jumpstarting their financial future? Do you want them to build smart money habits along the way?
Of course you do! Learning early about saving, spending and investing can pay off big when you start on the right foot. And one tool that can help your teen get that jump is the Fidelity® Youth Account—a brokerage account owned by teens 13 to 17 that’s designed to help them start their investing journey. They can use their own brokerage account to start their investing journey by trading most U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and Fidelity mutual funds.
Your teen will also get a free debit card with no subscription fees, no account fees, no minimum balances, and no domestic ATM fees. And they can use this free debit card for teens4 to manage their cash and spend it whenever they need.
And as for building smart money habits? You and your teen can access Fidelity’s Dedicated Youth Learning Center, which is packed with materials developed specifically to help teens develop good financial habits.
We’ll note that Fidelity Youth Account isn’t a prepaid card nor a banking app, but it’s still strongly worth considering.
Controls Parents Want and Need
A parent or guardian must have or open a brokerage account with Fidelity® to open a Fidelity® Youth Account. For new Fidelity® customers, opening an account is easy, and there are no minimums and no account fees.
Parents and guardians have plenty of tools they can use to monitor their teen’s activity: They have online account access, can follow monthly statements and trade confirmations, and can view debit card transactions made in the account.
To make it even easier, you can set up alerts to notify you of trades, transactions, and cash management activity, keeping you firmly in the loop on actions your teen takes across the Fidelity® Youth Account’s suite of products.
If your teen has an interest in learning about investing and taking their first steps toward building their financial journey, you should consider opening a Fidelity® Youth Account. The account comes custom-built for their needs, which will help them become financially independent and start investing for their future.
Read more in our Fidelity Youth Account review.
Fidelity® Youth Account | An account where teens can save, spend, and invest
4.9
Open a Fidelity® Youth Account for your teen, and Fidelity will drop $50 into their account. Get $100 for yourself when you open a new Fidelity account and fund with $50¹.
- Your teen will get a $50 reward once they download the Fidelity mobile app and activate their Youth Account².
- No monthly fees or account minimums³.
- They can invest in stocks for as little as $1 with fractional shares.
- Your teen can learn to save and spend smarter with their own debit card with no domestic ATM fees⁴.
- Teens can link their account to mobile payment apps like Venmo and PayPal⁵.
- Parents can set up alerts and monitor their teen’s account activity online, and through statements, trade confirmations and debit card transactions.
- Dedicated Youth Learning Center to help jumpstart your teen’s financial learning and build better money habits.
- No monthly account fees
- Signup offer available to new users
- Comprehensive financial suite for teens
- Parent must be a Fidelity account holder
- Account balance doesn’t accumulate interest
- No chore or allowance system
Related: Best Banking Apps for Kids & Teens [Teen Banking]
5. SoFi Invest: Best All-in-One Personal Finance Acorn Alternative
- Available via desktop, Apple iOS and Google Android.
- Price: Free trades
- Sign up here: (iOS), Android, Desktop
SoFi Invest is an app that allows you to track stocks and trade your money.
The well-known brand rivals that of Acorns in the personal finance space also has a presence in the investing world by offering free trades on stocks, ETFs, cryptos and more.
The service provides you the ability to trade actively or stand back and let its automated investing tools takeover.
This micro investing app allows you to trade in fractional share investing, called “stock bits” by SoFi. Fractional shares are tiny portions of a share of stock worth less than the full value of one share.
This means you don’t need to save up a lot of money before buying some of your favorite tech companies like Alphabet (Google), Amazon or Facebook.
The app is a great choice for investing your spare change or adding more to the market at once by tapping into savings accounts to make larger deposits on a regular basis.
Therefore, this app might make a good place to hold your investment accounts because you’ll have options of how to invest money.
Like Acorns, the company wants to serve all customers who have an interest in improving their financial situation alongside participating in their other personal finance products like refinanced student loans, money management, credit cards and more.
Start by making a $5 deposit today and maintaining this low account minimum.
SoFi Invest | Free Active + Automated Investing
4.4
Commission-free trading
- SoFi Invest allows you to trade or invest in stocks, ETFs, and options with no commissions and no account minimums. You can also invest in cryptocurrency and participate in some initial public offerings (IPOs).
- Invest for as little as $1 with fractional shares.
- Free robo-advisory services, including goal planning and auto-rebalancing.
- Special offer 1: Fund a new account with at least $10 within 30 days of opening an account, and receive $5, $10, $25, $100, or $1,000 worth of stock. (Prize level awarded at random.)
- Special offer 2: You can receive up to $100 in Bitcoin when you make you first cryptocurrency trade with SoFi.*
- Good selection of available investments
- No options contract fees
- DIY and automated investing options
- Fractional shares
- Doesn’t support mutual funds
- Limited trading tools
- Higher-than-average cryptocurrency trading fees
- No tax-loss harvesting
- No socially responsible robo-advisor functionality
6. Public.com: Best Free Investment App for Beginners Interested in Alternatives
- Price: Free trades
- Sign up here
Public.com is a commission-free micro investing app that targets Millennials and Gen-Zers who have attuned their senses to social media.
This price point compares favorably with Acorns: free is free and Acorns isn’t free.
While the company previously followed the lead of apps like Robinhood with monetizing Payment for Order Flow (PFOF), or receiving kickbacks from clearinghouses for routing trades to them, they’ve recently abandoned this practice.
Instead, they now rely on other revenue streams as well as a “tipping” system.
This places this beginner investment app firmly on the side of retail investors and not pledging allegiance to Wall Street clearinghouses.
Why is Public.com a Good Investment App for Beginners?
What Public.com is really about is making investing like an investing social network, where members can own fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, follow popular creators, and share ideas within a community of investors.
What Public.com aims to do above all else is make the stock market an inclusive and educational place, with social features that make it easy to collaborate as you build your confidence as an investor—for free (i.e., no management fee).
For younger investors who want to align their investing with their social preferences, as well as keep good company to socialize and learn from others, Public.com might be the app for you.
For those interested in starting to trade on Public.com, the online brokerage platform for beginners offers a free $10 signup bonus if you make an initial deposit.
Further, you can share your special link with others and gift them free stocks (fractional shares) as well.
If this sounds like an interesting investment app, open an account and make an initial deposit to see if the app meets your social and investing needs. Public has no account minimum requirements or minimum balance required to maintain.
Read more in our Public.com investing app review.
Public.com | Commission-Free Themed Investing
4.2
Basic: Commission-free trading. Premium: $10/mo.
- Public.com offers zero-commission trading on thousands of stocks and ETFs, available as fractional shares. The app also allows you to invest in cryptocurrency, and it’s one of the rare brokerages that allows its users to buy alternative assets.
- Uses a social feed where members can share why they believe in certain companies (or don’t) and can post comments on others’ trades.
- Can invest in curated lists of stocks and ETFs for people to aggregate investments by interest area or values.
- Subscribe to Public Premium for features such as advanced company-level data, Morningstar insights, and exclusive audio content from Public.com’s expert analysts.
- Special offer: Transfer investments from another broker to Public.com and earn between $150 and $10,000.*
- Fractional shares
- Allows you to trade alternative assets
- No payment for order flow (PFOF)
- Creative social investing features
- Doesn’t support mutual funds
- Limited investment research and other tools
7. M1 Finance: Best Robo-Advisor Micro Investing Stock App
- Available via desktop, Apple iOS and Google Android.
- Price: Free trades; $125 annual fee for M1 Plus subscription
- Sign up here
Unlike Acorns, M1 Finance offers free stock trades. Like Acorns, it also provides automated investing according to your predetermined investment decisions as this site’s top robo-advisor pick.
What we like most about this app compared to other investment platforms is the ability to make recurring deposits that automatically get invested into your portfolio. However, this is where Acorns excels as well.
You can use fractional shares on M1 Finance to break down your favorite investments into bite-sized additions to your brokerage account.
Similar to Acorns, M1 Finance acts as a singular personal finance app to assist with building wealth through automating your investments into diversified portfolios, having a bank account and linked debit card that provide market-beating interest rates and have access to valuable personal finance literature.
Most importantly, investing with M1 Finance can be as simple as depositing money, setting your stock and index fund selections and having the platform automate your investments on your behalf. Acorns doesn’t allow individual stock investing—only index fund ETFs.
I’ve said it before, but this truly automates your investments if you set up recurring deposits, allowing your wealth to build.
From there, M1 Finance automatically rebalances your portfolio in line with your stated asset allocation targets. Doing this at regular intervals has been shown to improve overall portfolio performance. Mutual funds do this when assets fall out of balance.
M1 Finance rebalances your portfolio by moving outperforming funds into underperforming ones, capturing a value effect over time as returns revert to the mean.
Consider opening an investment account with M1 Finance. M1 Plus subscriptions come with a checking account, debit card, cash back, interest and $125 annual fee.
Read more in our M1 Finance review.
M1 Finance | Smart Money Management
4.3
Basic: Free. M1 Plus: $125/yr.
- M1 Finance’s Smart Money Management gives you choice and control of how you want to invest automatically, borrow, and spend your money—with available high-yield checking and low borrowing rates.
- Basic account includes an FDIC-insured checking account and an M1 Visa debit card.
- Upgrade to M1 Plus and unlock perks including 1% cash back, 4.50% APY, ATM reimbursements, and 0% international fees.
- Invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies.
- Special Promotion: Open an account and get 3 months free of M1 Plus* ($31.25 value).
- Robo-advisor with self-directed investing capability
- Attractive cash-back and APY opportunities with M1 Plus subscription
- Doesn’t support mutual funds
- Doesn’t allow trading throughout the trading day (1 trading window for Basic, 2 for M1 Plus)
- High cost for M1 Plus service tier
*Your free trial (a $31.25 value) begins the date you enroll in the M1 Plus subscription, and ends 90 days after (“Free Trial”). Upon expiry of the Free Trial, your account is automatically billed an annual subscription fee of $125 unless you cancel under your Membership details in the M1 Platform.
8. Webull: Best Stock Trading App for Intermediate Traders
- Available via desktop, Apple iOS and Google Android.
- Price: Free trades
- Sign up here
Webull came into the stock trading world in 2018 when it started challenging Robinhood for market share.
This best stock trading app for beginners and experts alike offers commission-free stock trading (no trading fees) as well as commission-free trades on ETFs, options and cryptocurrencies (no mutual funds at this time). Acorns only allows low-cost ETFs.
The company also recently added the ability to trade fractional shares, making this a great app for micro investing.
Like most investment apps available, the company provides access to trade on your smartphone, tablet or desktop.
Further, it charges no commissions for the trades because Webull makes money on other actions you take, like Payment for Order Flow (PFOF), margin loans, interest on cash and service fees for their Nasdaq TotalView Level 2 Advances quotes subscription.
Webull also provides you access to several powerful tools you can use for in-depth trading analysis.
If these account features sound attractive, the best part might also come with knowing setting up a Webull account is free and comes with no account minimum requirements you must meet or maintain.
Finally, to de-risk your sign up, Webull also runs frequent promotions that give free stocks. Webull does not offer a bank account at this time.
Read more in our Webull review.
Webull | No Minimums, Free Trades
4.8
Commission-free trading.
- Webull is a low-cost trading and investing app that allows you to invest in stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto, and participate in initial public offerings (IPOs).
- Commission-free trades on stocks, ETFs, and options.
- Trading features include charting tools, technical indicators, customizable screeners, real-time stock alerts, and group orders.
- New users also get one free month of Nasdaq TotalView’s Level 2 Quotes service. (That subscription costs $2.99/mo. thereafter.)
- Special offer: Open an account and deposit any amount to receive 12 free fractional shares, collectively worth between $52-$36,000.
- Good selection of available investments
- Fractional shares
- Powerful technical analysis tools
- Accessible to beginning and intermediate users
- Voice commands
- Does not support mutual funds
- No robo-advisor functionality
9. Betterment: Best for Automation and Tax-Loss Harvesting
- Available via desktop, Apple iOS and Google Android.
- Price: 0.25% Management Fee (AUM)
- Sign up here
You can use the Betterment robo-advisor platform to buy fractional shares of ETF index funds like the S&P 500 in taxable accounts as well as individual retirement plans.
The Acorns alternative does not allow you to invest in individual stocks but will automatically place deposits into fractional bits of index fund ETFs aligned with your portfolio objectives.
The features of this platform make the micro-investing app most suitable to investors looking to diversify instantly as they make contributions to their accounts.
Instead of Acorns’ fixed monthly fee model, this service charges an all-encompassing 0.25% assets under management fee but can justify this expense in taxable brokerage accounts through its tax-loss harvesting feature.
Lowering your taxable income through their tax-loss harvesting feature is one of the products that justifies the 0.25% AUM fee for holdings in a taxable account.
It works by selling losses to lock in short-term capital losses and lowers your taxable income while taking your proceeds and placing them into a similar investment.
This lowers your taxable income or other capital gains and quickly covers the 0.25% annual AUM fee.
Further, based on your intended financial goal, the company provides investment advice by tailoring your portfolios to accomplish these goals.
Betterment led the way for robo-advisor services and micro-investing apps, growing from a small business to what now represents a significant book of business.
Using them has become a popular choice for people looking to invest toward specific goals without the need for any investing experience for a reasonable fee.
Betterment | Investing Made Better
3.7
$4/mo., or 0.25% annual fee*.
- The Betterment app gives you the tools, inspiration, and support you need to become a better investor.
- Start with as little as $10 and use the top-rated mobile app to set up automatic investing into diversified ETF portfolios.
- You can also invest in diversified preset cryptocurrency portfolios.
- Customize your risk tolerance and investment goals with guidance available at any time.
- More than 770,000 customers use Betterment to invest.
- Hands-off investment management
- Diversified portfolio that automatically rebalances
- Low-cost investment selection
- High account fees
- Limited investment selections
10. Greenlight (Micro-Investing App for Minors)
- Available via Apple iOS and Google Android
- Price: Free 1-month trial, $9.98/month after for Greenlight Max package
- Sign up here
Greenlight Max is an investment account for kids that comes paired with a debit card and bank account.
The Greenlight investment app is easy to use and can double as an account similar to a savings account and checking account for teens. You can establish savings goals to work toward financial goals.
The app will teach the basics of investing, how to invest money in stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
It works best if parents and/or grandparents are involved in the process because it requires linked accounts from their banks or brokerages. Plus, parents and guardians will need to approve trades made in the investment account.
The all-in-one plan teaches them important financial skills like money management and investing fundamentals — with real money, real stocks and real-life lessons.
You can use the investing feature to:
- Start investing with as little as $1 in your account (with fractional shares)
- Buy fractional shares of companies your kids admire (kid-friendly stocks)
- No trading commissions beyond the monthly subscription fee (trade stocks with parents’ permission)
- Parents approve every trade directly in the app on individual stocks and exchange-traded funds
- Kids can only invest in stocks with a market capitalization of $1 billion+
Consider opening a Greenlight Max account to start investing in a brokerage account for your kids today. The first month is free to trial the product and see if it meets your needs for giving one of the best investments for kids.
Read more in our Greenlight Card review.
Greenlight | The Investing App and Prepaid Card for Kids
4.8
Core: $4.99/mo. Max: $9.98/mo. Infinity: $14.98/mo. (Each account supports up to 5 children.)
- Greenlight offers flexible parental controls for each child and real-time notifications of each transaction.
- Greenlight is the only debit card letting you choose the exact stores where kids can spend on the card.
- Parents can use this app to teach them how to invest with a brokerage account through Greenlight Max and Greenlight Infinity plans
- Best-in-class parental controls (can prohibit specific stores)
- Can add brokerage account to invest in stocks
- Intuitive Parent and Kid apps
- Competitive cash back and interest rates
- High price points
- No cash reload options
- No parent / child lending
Related: Best Prepaid Debit Cards for Teens & Family [Reloadable]
What is Micro-Investing?
It’s hard to fight the math behind investing in small amounts consistently over time. If you can start investing as little as $100 per week (or 10% of your paycheck) by your early 30s and grow these contributions over time, you’re very likely to hit the millionaire mark by retirement. Yet, not enough people do.
Over 100 million adults in the United States don’t have an investment account, leading them toward an uncertain financial future. Many choose to deposit money into a savings account instead.
The interest earned in these bank accounts will not make a significant dent in your retirement preparation like investing can. Investing is more powerful than leaving cash in a savings account.
Fortunately, you don’t have to be in that number. With a simple approach you can easily get started by following these investing principles:
- keep it simple
- keep investing
- keep portfolios diversified
- commit to your financial health
What are Micro-Investing Apps?
Investing scares many when it really shouldn’t. While it might be hard to get started investing, it is tougher to retire without any money.
In the last decade, many services work to make investing easy and affordable.
These micro investing sites simplify your investing experience and can put you in a great position for a secure retirement.
The right time to invest is now and it all starts with a simple download of a micro investing, robo-advisor app like Acorns or its alternatives. But don’t let that investing term scare you.
A robo-investing app takes your deposits and automatically invests them in a diversified portfolio.
This personalized solution simplifies investing and earns you far more than you would by leaving cash in a savings account.
By investing $100 per week over 40 years, you can grow your investments to $1.5 million by retirement.
Doing so requires consistent contributions into your micro stock trading robo-investor app and allowing compounding interest to do the heavy lifting.
For example, the average diversified portfolio earns 8% on average. That means the 8% you might earn this year will then have 8% earned on it the next year and the next, and so on.
While your actual returns will vary year to year, this should show why getting started as early as possible makes the biggest difference.
If you want to take the first step towards a secure retirement, that means taking action today. Start by downloading a micro investing app, opening an account and setting up your recurring deposits.
Is Micro Investing a Good Idea?
Plenty of people deride micro investing because they only see it as rounding up your Starbucks purchases to the nearest dollar for the rest of your life. They reason this will only get you a small amount of money over long periods of time.
While not entirely untrue, especially after accounting for the fees of some investing platforms, micro investing doesn’t need to stop at Round-ups, Stock Backs or whatever the branded term is for topping up purchases on a linked debit or credit card.
Instead, as you age, you should try to aim for making recurring deposits into your account as your compensation rises.
This can be from side hustles, investing in real estate, investing in the best passive income ideas, or simply building up your career.
No one expects you to invest half your paycheck each pay period when you start working. It takes time to build financial security and an investment portfolio.
What micro investment apps help is to establish the habit of knowing your purchases also result in something more important: saving for your future.
As your financial resources grow, you can contribute more and more to your account, building your wealth.
Enough derision about micro investing only producing micro results.
Instead, consider micro investment apps as part of your investment strategy that ties into other long haul decisions you make about saving for retirement.
Investing for the long term requires dedication, persistence and work over time considerable amounts of time.
You might start small with a micro investment app while simultaneously starting to save through your employer’s retirement plan, your own individual retirement account (IRA), building an emergency fund, saving for a house down payment and paying off any costly debt you have.
Combined, all of these small steps add up to something big. As is often said, “the sum is more than the whole of its parts.” In totality, all these small efforts add up and move the needle in the right direction.
Micro investing as its own shouldn’t be the sole factor driving your retirement savings or for any other goal you have. It should be a tool you add to your arsenal to accelerate your wealth building.
As a side note: if you have kids who earn income, consider helping them out now by opening a Roth IRA for kids.
This will let them lock in low tax rates while they’re young and allow compounding to grow their wealth more than any major contributions later in life ever could.
Related:
- Chase First Banking Account and Debit Card for Kids Review
- Axos First Checking Account Review [Free Checking + Debit Card]
Terms and Conditions for Fidelity® Youth Account:
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