Nearly every major broker now charges $0 commissions and has no account minimum. That used to be the whole basis for comparing them, and it has quietly stopped being a difference at all.
So the useful question is not which broker is cheapest. It is which one fits how you actually invest, whether you need a retirement account, and what it costs you every month once you are in. Those three answers are below.
Quick comparison
| Broker | Best for | Cost | IRA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top pickRobinhood | First-time investors | $0 | Yes | Get started |
| Webull | Active traders 12 free shares | $0 | Yes | Get started |
| moomoo | Data-driven traders | $0 | No | Get started |
| Public | Bonds and stocks | $0 | Yes | Get started |
| eToro | Following investors | $100 min | No | Get started |
| Acorns | Hands-off investing | $4–$12/mo | Yes | Get started |
| SoFi Invest | All-in-one finances | $0 | Yes | Get started |
| TradeUP | Options traders $0 contracts | $0 | Yes | Get started |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Is this money for retirement, or for the next few years? If it is retirement, open an IRA rather than a taxable account. The tax treatment is worth more than any feature on this page, and it rules out moomoo and eToro immediately, because neither offers one. SoFi, Robinhood and Public all offer an IRA with a contribution match.
Are you starting with under $500? Then watch the monthly fees rather than the features. $4 a month on a $500 balance is roughly 10% a year, which is about the entire long-run return of the market. Starting small is the case for a $0 platform like Robinhood over a subscription one.
Answer those two and the list below narrows to one or two obvious choices.
The Best Online Brokers, Ranked
1. Robinhood
The easiest first account there is. Buy your first fractional share in about ten minutes without wading through options you do not understand yet.
- Fastest, cleanest signup of any broker here
- Fractional shares from $1, the lowest entry point on this list
- IRA available with a contribution match
- Stocks, ETFs, options and crypto in one app
- Research tools are thinner than a dedicated trading platform
- ETFs only, no traditional mutual funds
If this is your first brokerage account, open this one. The biggest risk for a new investor is never actually starting, and Robinhood removes more friction between you and your first trade than anything else here. You can move to a more serious platform later for about $100.
Open your Robinhood account →
2. Webull
Where people go when they outgrow Robinhood. Real charting, technical indicators and a paper trading mode that costs nothing to try. Right now a $100 deposit also unlocks 12 free fractional shares worth $36 to $3,600 plus a month of Premium.
- Serious charting and technical tools at no cost
- Paper trading with no deposit required
- Extended hours trading
- IRA available
- 12 free fractional shares on a $100 deposit, plus a month of Premium
- More interface than a first-time investor needs
- Fractional shares start at $5 rather than $1
The right answer if you actually plan to watch your positions rather than buy and forget. Paper trading alone makes it worth opening, because you can test a strategy for a month before risking a dollar. Overkill for anyone buying an index fund monthly.
Claim 12 free shares →
3. moomoo
Market data that normally sits behind a subscription, including Level 2 quotes and full order book depth, free while you keep a $100 average balance.
- Professional-grade market data included rather than paid
- Strong screeners and analytics
- Runs new-account promotions more often than most
- No IRAs at all, so taxable accounts only
- Level 2 data needs a $100 average balance to stay free
- Overwhelming if you are new to investing
Best data on this list by a distance, and genuinely free if you keep a small balance. The catch matters though: no retirement accounts at all. If this money is for retirement, moomoo is out no matter how good the tools are.
Open your moomoo account →
4. Public
Treasuries, corporate bonds and stocks in one account, which most app-first brokers do not offer at all.
- Treasuries and corporate bonds alongside stocks
- No payment for order flow on stocks and ETFs
- On options it takes order flow payment but rebates half back to you
- IRA with a contribution match
- $3.99/mo inactivity fee if your balance sits under $70
- $2.99 per after-hours or OTC trade without Premium
- Fewer advanced charting tools than Webull
The one to pick if you want part of your portfolio earning a fixed yield without opening a second account somewhere else. Watch the inactivity fee though, because under $70 it quietly eats a small balance.
Open your Public account →
5. eToro
CopyTrader mirrors the positions of investors you choose, automatically. Useful if you do not trust your own picking yet but want more control than a robo-advisor.
- CopyTrader mirrors experienced investors automatically
- Stocks and crypto in a single account
- Active community explaining their reasoning
- $100 to open, and $200 minimum per investor you copy
- CopyTrader is still rolling out in the US and is not in every state
- No retirement accounts
Worth it for the copy trading and nothing else. If that feature is not why you are here, every other broker on this list opens cheaper. Check it operates in your state before you deposit.
Start copy trading on eToro →Copying another investor is not a guarantee of similar results. Cryptocurrency is offered by eToro USA LLC (“the MSB”) NMLS 1769299 and is not FDIC or SIPC insured. Investing involves risk.
6. Acorns
Rounds up your everyday purchases and invests the change into a diversified portfolio without you doing anything at all.
- Genuinely automatic once it is set up
- Diversified portfolio chosen for you
- Retirement account included in the subscription
- $4/mo on a $500 balance is roughly 10% a year, which is the whole market return
- Picking individual stocks needs the $12 Gold tier
- No control over individual holdings
The honest answer for people who know they should invest and know they will never log in to do it. But run the percentage before you sign up: the flat fee is brutal on a small balance and only starts making sense once you are a few thousand in.
Start investing spare change →
7. SoFi Invest
Checking, savings, loans, an IRA and investing behind one login, and the only platform here that offers traditional mutual funds as well as ETFs.
- Banking, borrowing, IRA and investing under one login
- The only broker here with traditional mutual funds
- Both self-directed and automated portfolios
- Instant transfers between accounts
- Trading tools are basic next to Webull or moomoo
- Fractional shares start at $5
The strongest default for most people, and underrated because it is not the flashiest. If you want one place for your money rather than the best trading terminal, this is it.
Open your SoFi account →
8. TradeUP
The only broker here that charges nothing on options contracts as well as stocks and ETFs. Most of the others still charge per contract, and if you trade options at all that difference adds up fast.
- $0 on options contracts, not just stocks and ETFs
- No account minimum
- SEC registered, FINRA and SIPC member
- Runs transfer bonuses if you are moving an existing account
- The free stock promotion has requirements beyond signing up, so read the terms
- Smaller and less established than the others here
- Thinner tooling than Webull or moomoo
Worth opening for one specific reason. If you trade options, $0 per contract is genuinely rare and it compounds quickly against brokers charging $0.65 a contract. For everything else the bigger platforms do it better, and be sceptical of the free stock offer because the requirements go beyond opening an account.
Open your TradeUP account →Research Tools Worth Pairing With Your Broker
Opened your account already? Your broker executes trades, it does not tell you what to buy. These three solve different problems.
Morningstar
The standard for mutual fund and ETF research. If most of your portfolio is funds rather than individual stocks, this is the one that matters and the others are not substitutes.
Zacks
Ranks stocks on earnings estimate revisions rather than opinion, which makes it useful for surfacing candidates you would never have thought to look at.
Seeking Alpha
Publishes the bull and the bear case on the same stock side by side rather than one house view. That disagreement is the value.
Common Questions
If the money is for retirement, open an IRA rather than a taxable account, because the tax treatment is worth more than any feature on this page. Robinhood, Webull, Public, SoFi and Acorns all offer IRAs and most add a contribution match. moomoo and eToro are taxable only, so if retirement is the goal those two are out regardless of how good their tools are.
No. Every broker here opens at $0 except eToro, which needs $100. Acorns opens free but wants $5 before it starts investing and charges its subscription either way. Fractional shares mean you can buy into an expensive stock with as little as $1 at Robinhood or Public, $5 at Webull or SoFi, and $10 at eToro.
Mostly payment for order flow, meaning market makers pay to execute your trades, plus interest on uninvested cash and premium subscriptions. Public is the exception on stock and ETF trades, where it takes no order flow payment at all, though it does on options and rebates half of that back to you.
Yes, and plenty of people do. What is worth knowing is that leaving costs money even though joining does not. Transferring your account out runs about $75 to $100 at most of these, and several will reimburse that fee when you transfer in, including Webull. Cheap to arrive, not free to leave.
Index ETFs, yes, on all of them. Traditional mutual funds are a different matter and SoFi is the only platform here that offers them. For most people an index ETF does the same job, but if a specific mutual fund is what you are after, check before you open the account.
Brokerage accounts at SIPC member firms are protected up to $500,000, including $250,000 in cash. That covers the broker failing, not your investments falling in value. Crypto held at these apps is not covered by SIPC at all.
The moment you start buying individual stocks instead of index funds. That is when a single bad pick costs you more than the subscription does, and when the screeners in Zacks or Seeking Alpha start paying for themselves.
The account you never get around to opening is the only genuinely wrong choice here. Transferring later costs about $75 to $100 and takes a week, and several of these reimburse it, so this is far less permanent than it feels.
If you want one answer: open an IRA rather than a taxable account if this is retirement money, then pick the platform that matches how involved you plan to be.
All of these are free to open and none of them run a hard credit check to look.
