10 Best Investment Apps for Beginners September 2024
Written by
Daria Uhlig
Edited by
Lindsey Kloosterman
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Investing can be intimidating for new investors with a limited understanding of how the markets work. Investment apps ease you in, with features that automate every step of the process and resources to help you learn the ins and outs before you go at it alone.
Best Investment Apps for Beginners
The best investment apps for beginners make it easy and inexpensive to get started in investing — with as little as $5 in some cases. Most also have plenty of educational resources as well as advanced tools you can try out as you learn more.
- Ally Invest: Best for integrating investing and banking
- Acorns: Best for investing with kids
- Betterment: Best for tax-loss harvesting
- Fundrise: Best for investing in real estate and other alternative assets
- Merrill Edge: Best for asset variety
- Robinhood: Best for round-the-clock trading
- SoFi Invest: Best for access to IPOs
- Schwab: Best for the choice between simple and advanced apps
- Webull: Best for paper trading practice account
1. Ally Invest
Best for: Integrating investing and banking
Ally gives you three ways to invest: self-directed trading, robo portfolios and wealth management. Start with a professionally designed robo portfolio selected for you according to your investing style. Self-directed trading lets you trade U.S.-listed stocks, exchange-traded funds and options with no minimums and $0 commissions. However, stocks priced at less than $2 cost $4.95 to trade. Bond trading is also available for $1 per bond with a 10-bond minimum.
Robo-portfolio investing has a $100 minimum to get started. Cash-enhanced portfolios have no fees, but Ally will put 30% of your funds aside as an interest-earning cash buffer. Market-focused portfolios have a 0.30% annual advisory fee, but the cash buffer is just 2%.
The app is fully featured, with research, portfolio analysis and trading functionality. You can use the app to transfer money from your Ally Bank account to your Ally Invest account. Apple users rate it 4.7 stars, but it’s rated just 2.3 stars on Google Play.
Why it’s good for beginners: Robo portfolios provide a safety net in the form of a cash reserve that earns interest and serves as a buffer. The ability to diversify your portfolio with bonds is another plus.
What to watch for: No fractional shares, which makes it more difficult for neophyte investors to invest in higher-priced stocks.
Bonuses and promotions: None
Conclusion: Ally Invest is an excellent choice for novice investors, but it’s better suited to serious ones. With no fractional shares and high fees for shares priced below $2, Ally Invest is unlikely to appeal to investors who just want to experiment with a small amount of money.
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2. Acorns
Best for: Investing with kids
Acorns combines a digital checking account with your choice of investing accounts: Acorns Invest; Acorns Later, for your traditional, Roth or SEP IRA; or Acorns Early to add kids’ investing to your account. Acorns automatically rebalances portfolios and reinvests dividends to help your money grow faster. If you’d like, Acorns will allocate up to 5% of your portfolio toward a bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund.
After a $100 initial deposit, Acorns Invest automatically puts aside your spare change, and then invests it in your robo portfolio once you’ve accumulated $5. Acorns Later works in a similar way except that your robo portfolio will contain an age-targeted robo portfolio inside of an individual retirement account. Acorn Early requires just $5 to get started, and you can open a separate account for each child.
Acorns has three price plans to choose from. The Personal plan is $3 per month and includes investing, banking and the opportunity to earn bonus investments. For an additional $3 per month, Personal Plus pays interest on your Acorns checking and emergency savings and offers a bonus match program. The Premium account is $12 — first month free — and provides a GoHenry by Acorns kids’ debit card and educational app, plus $10,000 in life insurance and no-cost will preparation.
The app has a simple, easy-to-use interface and gives you access to all of Acorn’s account types and features. It has 4.7 stars on the Apple Store and 4.7 stars on Google Play.
Why it’s good for beginners: Acorns lets you link credit and debit cards to your investment account and round up purchases to invest your spare change. You can also designate a portion of each paycheck to be automatically invested.
What to watch for: Fees start at $3 per month. If all you or your child is investing is small change, you’ll likely wind up paying more in fees than you earn on your investments.
Bonuses and promotions: None
Conclusion: Acorns is a solid app for turning investing into an educational family affair. For that purpose, it might be worth paying a few dollars a month.
3. Betterment
Best for: Tax-loss harvesting
Betterment offers IRAs and 401(k)s, robo portfolios and crypto investing, plus digital banking with checking and high-yield cash accounts. Curated robo portfolios contain ETFs and include themes such as cryptocurrency, sustainability and technology. Optional tax-loss harvesting helps you offset investment losses.
Managing your Betterment accounts and investments is easy and straightforward using the app’s all-in-one dashboard. You can even connect non-Betterment accounts. The iOS and Android versions both get excellent ratings — 4.7 out of five stars.
Why it’s good for beginners: An extensive library of educational articles, including product guides, teaches beginners about investing and other financial topics.
What to watch for: The minimum fee is $4 per month or 0.25% annually.
Bonuses and promotions: You can earn up to APY when you open your first Cash Reserve account with a qualifying deposit.
Conclusion: Betterment is a good choice for serious beginners because of more sophisticated options like tax-loss harvesting, which lets you use investment losses to offset investment gains, thereby reducing your tax liability. While more expensive than 0% commission self-directed trading, the fee might be worth it if you keep a large balance in the high-yielding cash account.
4. Fundrise
Best for: Investing in real estate and other alternative assets
Fundrise is an investor-owned real estate investment platform. Its private real estate investment trusts invest in multifamily apartments, single-family rentals and industrial properties with the aim of maximum near-term income and long-term growth. Other opportunities include venture and private credit investing, which are less suitable for beginners.
The Fundrise website lists the real estate investments included in the portfolio so you can get a better idea of the projects your investment supports. And because you’re investing in a REIT, you can expect regular distributions from the trust.
The mobile app has many of the same features as the desktop app, including the ability to monitor your balance and get insights into your portfolio’s performance. Android users rate the app 4.6 stars and iOS users give it a nearly perfect 4.8.
Fundrise charges a 0.15% advisory fee and a 0.85% management fee for REITs.
Why it’s good for beginners: The minimum initial investment is just $10, and you don’t need to be an accredited investor to join or invest.
What to watch for: Fundrise investments are held for five years or longer. You won’t have access to your money during that time.
Conclusion: Would-be real estate investors will find a lot to like with Fundrise. REITs are an accessible, lower-risk way to get your feet wet, and unlike most REITs, you can see the Fundrise portfolio’s assets. While the investments are meant to be held for five years, Fundrise has a share repurchase program that might give you a way out early, without penalty.
6. Merrill Edge
Best for: Asset variety
Merrill Lynch is the brokerage owned by Bank of America, and Merrill Edge is the brokerage’s self-directed mobile investing platform. Merrill Edge doesn’t restrict you to a set of existing portfolios — you can invest in individual stocks as well as options, fixed-income securities and mutual funds. Stocks, options and ETFs trade commission-free and have no minimum investment. Robo accounts incur a 0.45% fee.
Self-directed investors aren’t completely on their own — Merrill Edge prescreens lists of investments and provides access to Bank of America’s Global Research. Guided Investing portfolios are based on the answers to questions you answer before opening an account. You can make changes later if your situation changes.
While the Merrill Edge mobile app gives you access to anything you’d need to do with your investment account, including transfer funds from your bank account, you’ll need a separate Bank of America app to manage banking. The Merrill Edge app scores 4.6 stars on the Apple Store and 3.2 stars on Google Play. Bank of America’s app scores better — 4.8 stars on Apple Store and 4.6 stars on Google Play.
Why it’s good for beginners: Merrill Edge investors can access exclusive digital tools, such as an Idea Builder you can use to find investment opportunities and guidance from BofA Global Research.
Bonuses and promotions: Earn a $100 to $600 bonus for investing $20,000 to $200,000 or more in a new Merrill account.
What to watch for: $1,000 minimum investment for robo investing
Conclusion: As a full-service investment brokerage, Merrill Edge provides all the options and tools a new beginner could ask for. The tie-in to Bank of America makes it an obvious choice for any current customers, but you can link your Merrill investment account to any bank account to fund your trades.
7. Robinhood
Best for: Round-the-clock trading
Robinhood has always attracted young investors, but the app’s user interface and features make it appealing to beginning investors of all age groups. You can use Robinhood to trade stocks, options and ETFs as well as a selection of cryptocurrencies. Robinhood also offers an IRA with a 1% match and custom-recommended portfolios. There are no commissions, including on options, and with Robinhood’s new 24 Hour Market, you can trade a selection of stocks and ETFs 24 hours a day, five days a week.
Robinhood Gold provides a long list of premium features, including 5% APY on your cash account, a cash-back gold card and 3% IRA matching. However, while it notes that a subscription fee applies, Robinhood does not disclose the fee on its website.
While you can trade and manage your account from the web platform, Robinhood is designed for mobile. The app is easy to understand and navigate, and it gives you full access to all of Robinhood’s features. Android users rate the app 4.1 stars on Google Play. It gets 4.2 stars on the Apple Store.
Why it’s good for beginners: Robinhood offers 24/7 access to live customer service reps via phone or chat.
What to watch for: No robo-advisor. Also, Robinhood lacks transparency around fees.
Bonuses and promotions: For a limited time, transfer funds from your IRA or roll over your old 401(k) for a 3% boost with Robinhood Gold. Your first 30 days of Robinhood Gold are free.
Conclusion: Robinhood is simple enough for beginner users, yet also sophisticated enough that users can grow into its offerings without outgrowing the app. Just be sure to progress cautiously, as Robinhood can make advanced strategies such as margin trading look a little too easy.
8. SoFi Invest
Best for: Access to IPOs
SoFi offers a decent range of investments for beginners, including no-commission stocks, fractional shares and ETFs, as well as access to initial public offerings and IRAs. If you’re not ready to select your own securities, SoFi will build a portfolio for you based on your risk tolerance and investing goals.
Options tradition is also available and has no commission or contract fees. In addition, SoFi investors can invest in alternative assets and strategies, including commodities, private credit, pre-IPOs and venture capital.
SoFi’s app provides complete access to all your SoFi accounts through a user-friendly interface. The dashboard lists the balance and status of each account. The app is rated 4.8 stars on the App Store and 3.8 stars on Google Play.
Why it’s good for beginners: SoFi offers a low-cost way to start investing.
Bonuses and promotions: Get up to $1,000 in stock when you fund a new account.
What to watch for: No tax-avoidance services
Conclusion: SoFi has grown into a solid all-in-one platform that can meet most, if not all, of your financial needs — including investing.
9. Schwab (Formerly TD Ameritrade)
Best for: Choice between simple and advanced apps
TD Ameritrade and its Thinkorswim app are now owned by Schwab. That means you can take advantage of Schwab’s straightforward trading, support and education platform powered by Ameritrade, or opt for Thinkorswim, with advanced tools and the ability to trade futures and forex. If you’re not ready to pick your own stocks, you can automate your investing with Schwab’s robo-advisor.
Schwab has a full-featured mobile app that has all the features beginners and experienced investors need to manage their accounts, research opportunities and place orders The Schwab app is rated 4.8 stars on the Apple Store and 2.3 stars on Google Play.
The Thinkorswim trading platform is three platforms in one — a flagship platform with advanced trading capabilities, a desktop-replacement platform optimized for mobile and a streamlined platform available via browser. Apple users rate the app 4.7 stars, and Android users rate it 2.5 stars.
Why it’s good for beginners: Schwab’s investing options and selection of mobile apps let investors start with the basics and work their way up, without having to switch brokerages.
What to watch out for: Minimum $5,000 investment for automated investing, but Schwab doesn’t charge an advisory fee.
Bonuses and promotions: None
Conclusion: Thinkorswim is an advanced trading platform that could be the last one you’ll ever need. However, people new to investing are better off starting with the Schwab website and app first, and then graduating to Thinkorswim after they’ve learned the ropes.
10. Webull
Best for: Paper trading practice account
Investing with Webull gives you access to stocks, options and ETF trading, including fractional shares and over-the-counter trades. Webull Smart Advisor, Webull’s robo-advisor, automates trading and provides you with a custom portfolio. Webull charges no commission, but it does charge up to $5 for certain OTC trades. The management fee for Smart Advisor is 0.20%.
Webull is another sophisticated app with a learning curve for new investors. It offers advanced charting, Level 2 quotes, in-depth research and extended trading hours for investors who really want to dive in.
You can access your account and Webull’s dashboard via the web, a native desktop app or a mobile app that’s compatible with the Apple Watch. The app has a 4.7-star rating on the Apple Store and a 4.4 rating on Google Play.
Why it’s good for beginners: Webull has what may be the best educational resources of any app in this roundup. Work through your choice of over 500 courses, then test what you’ve learned with Webull Paper Trading — a practice trading platform that gives you unlimited virtual cash to invest risk-free.
What to watch for: $100 minimum opening deposit for Smart Advisor
Bonuses and promotions: Earn up to 20 free fractional shares for depositing $500 to $24,999.99 into a new account and maintaining the funds for 30 days.
Conclusion: Webull may well be the best “cradle to grave” app available. You can start with practice trades to test strategies before risking real money. But once you’re ready to trade for real, you’ll find all the tools and resources you’ll need for advanced trades.
Which Investing App Is Best for You?
The ideal app is one that lets you start quickly, with a minimal investment, and has the features to satisfy your future goals. Acorns, for example, is best for investors who want to keep it simple and hands-off, while Robinhood is a better choice for someone who wants to actively trade. Just keep an eye on fees — they can wipe out your investment returns if you’re starting out investing just a few dollars a month.
FAQ
New investors have an overwhelming number of platforms and apps to choose from. These frequently asked questions can help you narrow the choices to the ones most suitable for your needs.- What app should I use to invest as a beginner?
- Any app in this roundup is suitable for a beginner. If you're completely new to investing, you might consider getting a Personal Acorns account. You'll pay $3 a month for it, but considering that one of its target markets is families, it's also one of the most user friendly.
- Can I start investing with $1?
- Yes. Robinhood lets investors purchase fractional shares with only $1 to start.
- Is Robinhood good for beginners?
- Yes. Robinhood is known for having "gamified" investing to make it more accessible to young, neophyte investors.
- What is the best way to invest as a beginner?
- The best way for a beginner to invest might be with a robo portfolio. The portfolios are designed by professional fund managers and selected for you based on your answers to a series of questions about your finances and risk tolerance.
- Is $100 dollars a good investment?
- Any amount you can invest is a good investment. By starting with $100, you give yourself plenty of choices, including ETFs and mutual funds, which are safer than investing in individual stocks.
Methodology: GOBankingRates researched investing app features, prices and suitability for beginners to find the best apps for new investors.
Information is accurate as of Sept. 11, 2024.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.
