Best Investment Apps for Beginners for June 2024

The best investment apps for beginners combine easy investing with low fees. The point is to make it easy to invest on the go, whenever you want. In 2024, you can do most of your investing from your phone. Read on for an expert list of our go-to investment apps.

2 Featured Picks From Our Best Investment Apps for Beginners

There are a lot of options to compare, even on this page. It can be overwhelming! If you're looking for a place to start, here are some brokerage apps our experts recommend and why they like them:

• Robinhood: Standout mobile brokerage app
• SoFi Active Investing: Great broker for beginners

How do I choose a brokerage app for beginners?

Here's how to choose the perfect investment app:

Robinhood

Best investing app for beginners who: Want a user-friendly platform with minimal expenses.

Robinhood pioneered the concept of a low-cost, beginner-friendly trading app, and it is still one of the best in the business. Robinhood makes it extremely easy for beginners to start buying and selling stocks, and with fractional share trading, newer investors can build a diverse portfolio with little capital. It also offers one of the best cryptocurrency trading platforms that is also integrated with a stock trading app.

Why beginning investors might love Robinhood

• No commissions: Robinhood is one of the few beginner investing apps that doesn't charge anything for options or cryptocurrency trading. (Robinhood, like most investing apps, don't charge commissions on stock trading.)
• Fractional share trading: Fractional shares allow beginning investors to construct a diversified portfolio with little capital.
• Cryptocurrencies: Robinhood has more than a dozen cryptocurrencies available on its platform -- perfect for beginner investors interested in getting started with crypto.

Why some beginning investors might not choose Robinhood

• Membership: Some features require a require a Robinhood Gold membership, which beginners may not be ready to commit to.
• Investment options: If you'd like to get started investing with mutual funds or bond investments, this isn't the beginner app for you: Mutual funds and bond investments are not available on Robinhood.
• Light on features: Though this is otherwise a beginner-friendly app, there are few educational resources to help new investors learn.

Read our full review of Robinhood.

SoFi Invest

Best investing app for beginners who: Want a one-stop-shop for managing their money.

SoFi is best-known for its loan products and online bank accounts -- but it also offers an excellent investment platform that could be a great fit for beginners. In simple terms, SoFi offers a rare combination of an easy-to-use platform and lots of functionality. The SoFi Invest platform allows users to buy stocks (even new IPOs) and options, with no commissions, making it an extremely accessible option. Plus, the SoFi Invest platform is a top choice for new investors who want to put their investing strategies on autopilot.

Why beginning investors might love SoFi

• Low-cost: No trading commissions (including options) or account minimums -- great for beginning investors who want to start small.
• Fractional share trading: Fractional shares allow beginning investors to put together a diversified portfolio with little capital.
• Great for learning: SoFi offers lots of educational resources compared to other apps, which can help investors become more skillful over time.
• Robo-advisor: SoFi Automated Investing is an excellent automated investing platform for new investors who would like a hands-off option.

Why some beginning investors might not choose SoFi

• Investment choices: SoFi Invest doesn't offer cryptocurrency trading, which might be appealing investments to some beginners.
• Account types: Some account types aren't available. SoFi offers basic individual investment accounts, as well as traditional, Roth, and SEP IRAs.

Read our full review of SoFi Active Investing.

Acorns

Best investing app for beginners who: Want an easy-to-use way to automate their investing.

Acorns is a robo-advisor app that makes investing even easier than most. In addition to being able to directly contribute money, Acorns allows customers to link their credit and debit cards and round up purchases to the nearest dollar to invest the change -- so beginners can start investing without much of a hit to their budget. It offers several different account types, a paired checking account product, and the Acorns Earn platform that allows customers to earn free investment dollars when making purchases through Acorns' partners.

Why beginning investors might love Acorns

• Easy to automate investing: Acorns allows beginning investors to make one-time contributions, recurring investments, and to round up purchases and invest their spare change.
• Top-rated app: Acorns' app is easy to navigate and set up and has high ratings on the App Store and Google Play store.
• Easy investing options: Acorns has five investment options to choose from, with easy-to-understand names like "aggressive" and "moderately conservative."

Why some beginning investors might not choose Acorns

• Pricing: While we're generally a fan of Acorns' straightforward pricing ($3, $5, or $9 per month, depending on the membership level), it can also make this an expensive platform for new investors just getting started.
• No human advisors: Some robo-advisor apps offer access to real-live financial advisors, but Acorns isn't one of them. If you're a beginning investor who wants human guidance, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Read our full review of Acorns.

Betterment

Best investing app for beginners who: Want to automate their investments with a feature-packed platform.

Betterment was one of the pioneers of the automated investing industry and is still one of the best today. It has no minimum investment requirement, which is key for beginners looking to just dip their toes into investing. It also features a relatively low 0.25% management fee, so you won't have fees cutting into your gains. Betterment offers features that could be appealing to beginners, including an integrated high-yield savings account and the ability to invest in cryptocurrency portfolios.

Why beginning investors might love Betterment

• Low-cost: Betterment has no minimum investment requirements, and a reasonable 0.25% management fee. This amount could be considered average, but we think it's a deal considering the amount of features Betterment offers to beginning investors.
• Cash management: Betterment has an integrated high-yield savings account that rivals most online banks.
• Cryptocurrencies: Although they aren't right for all investors, cryptocurrency portfolios are available as an investment choice. If you're looking at getting started with crypto, Betterment is an app to consider.

Why some beginning investors might not choose Betterment

• Lack of human help: Human financial advisor access requires a $100,000 balance, as well as a premium membership, which comes with a significantly higher management fee. This might not be accessible to some beginning investors.
• Only a robo-advisor: Betterment doesn't offer self-directed investing (you can't buy stocks). While some beginning investors might prefer a robo-advisor, others will like the option to pick their own stocks.

Read our full review of Betterment.

Cash App Investing

Best investing app for beginners who: Want an easy-to-use platform to buy and sell stocks.

Cash App Investing offers its users the ability to buy and sell stocks, as well as Bitcoin, within the popular Cash App personal finance app. It offers fractional share investing, which allows beginners to create a diverse stock portfolio without a ton of capital, and there are no commissions whatsoever. The biggest downside to investing with Cash App Investing is that it doesn't offer mutual funds, bonds, or any other investment type beyond stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin.

Why beginning investors might love Cash App Investing

• Easy to use: Cash App Investing makes it extremely easy for new investors to buy and sell stocks. All it takes to get started is just a couple taps on your screen and you can start a portfolio of your own.
• Functionality: The ability to buy and sell stocks and Bitcoin integrates easily with the popular Cash App platform.
• Fractional share trading: Fractional shares allow beginning investors to construct a diversified portfolio with little capital.

Why some beginning investors might not choose Cash App Investing

• Few investment choices: Cash App Investing only accommodates stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin. You can't buy mutual funds, fixed income investments, or several other types of securities that may appeal to beginners.
• Light on features: Cash App Investing offers some basic beginner educational tools, but not nearly as many as some of its rivals. It also is lacking in features like stock research reports.
• Doesn't support IRA investing: Cash App Investing offers one type of investment account, a standard taxable brokerage account. Beginners who want to start an IRA for retirement will have to look elsewhere.

Read our full review of Cash App Investing.

Stash

Best investing app for beginners who: Want to get started buying stocks and could use some guidance.

Stash combines a robo-advisor and self-directed brokerage in one app. You can use Stash to automate your investing, to build a portfolio of stocks without much initial capital, or both. Stash offers regular (taxable) brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, and custodial accounts on its platform.

Why beginning investors might love Stash

• Active and passive in one: Stash is a combination of a highly rated robo-advisor and a do-it-yourself broker all in one. It can be a great choice if you want to put some of your investing strategy on autopilot, while simultaneously building a portfolio of stocks and ETFs.
• Fractional shares: Stash offers the ability to buy fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, which can allow you to start investing with relatively little upfront capital, and to create a diversified portfolio without having to be able to buy at least one share of each stock.
• Great debit card: Stash offers the excellent Stock-Back® Card, which is a debit card that allows you to use the uninvested cash in your account to pay for purchases. Instead of earning cash back rewards, debit card purchases are rewarded with stock, either in the company where you make the purchase or in a default investment of your choice.

Why some beginning investors might not choose Stash

• Monthly fees: Unlike most robo-advisors, Stash charges a monthly fee instead of a percentage of assets. These fees range from $3 to $9 per month. If you're just getting started and don't have a giant account balance, this can be a relatively high percentage of your portfolio that is being used to pay fees.
• Doesn't pay interest on cash: Some competitors pay interest on uninvested cash, but Stash does not. To be fair, the Stock-Back® Card can be better than an interest-bearing cash management account, especially for those who don't maintain high cash balances.

Read our full review of Stash.

You can get started with an investment app by opening a brokerage account online:

1. Download the app on your mobile device. Search the app in your app store.
2. Sign-up for an account. Have your personal information on hand.
3. Deposit money into your account if necessary. Some robo advisors only let you open an account if you deposit money right away.

Some apps let you create accounts on your computer. It may be easier to open an account on a bigger screen than your phone. Some apps offer limited-time brokerage bonuses. Check these out to earn cash for opening a new account.

Once you've created a brokerage account, you can dive right in to get started.

Put money in the market

When you're new, the first thing is to explore investments. The U.S. stock market offers thousands of investment options to choose from. If it's overwhelming, that's OK. You can start with small deposits. Many investment apps let you buy fractional shares for as little as $1.

Check out educational content

Many investment apps for beginners offer bite-sized educational content. Think three-minute articles or short YouTube videos. You can sometimes find these in your app. Or, you can check your app's online website or YouTube account.

Tweak your strategy

Practice investing to see what it's like. Notice when the market moves and how your investments fluctuate. Are your picks volatile? Do you feel OK watching your picks go up and down? If not, you may want to choose a more conservative investment strategy.

Conservative investment strategies vary. You might put most of your money in an ETF. Or, you might build a portfolio of 25 or more diversified stocks. The point is to keep your balance stable. That way, you stress less when the market makes big moves.

It's totally normal to tweak your strategy. You don't know what it's like to invest until you try. Even a small stake can vastly change your perspective of what it means to own shares or crypto.

Keep an eye out for fees

Watch out for fees you may have missed. If your investment app charges you a fee a month after opening an account, you may have been charged a monthly maintenance fee. If so, you may want to switch brokers. Many don't charge maintenance fees at all.

But some of the best robo-advisors charge low management fees. It's normal to see these hit your account. You may be charged monthly or yearly. Check your broker's fee schedule when in doubt. All the brokerage fees should be listed on its website.

Check in for the latest promos

Investment apps frequently offer promos. You may be able to get free stock for referring friends. Or, you may be able to earn a bonus for transferring money over from another brokerage. It's worth keeping an eye on. You may earn a little extra income -- hundreds of dollars worth.

Investment apps give you a variety of investing options.

You can buy stocks and ETFs

Investment apps typically let you buy stocks and ETFs. Some let you trade options and futures, though these are not beginner-friendly. Some let you trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Rarely, an investment app will let you trade mutual funds. If you want to trade more than stocks and ETFs, then filter out brokers that don't offer your preferred investment types. You probably want to do all your investing in one place. It's simpler.

You can open taxable brokerage accounts

Investment apps typically let you open taxable brokerage accounts, the standard account type for investing. But only some let you open traditional and Roth IRAs, good for retirement. Fewer still let you open other account types, including custodial accounts for kids and SEP IRAs for small business owners.

Online brokers offer more features

To buy other investments or open other account types, you may need to open an account with a brokerage that offers online or in-person access. Investment apps for beginners tend to be on the simpler side. There are many online stock brokers that let you trade other investments.

The best investment apps let you start investing for as little as $1. Investment apps that offer fractional shares are the best for starting small. You can invest $1 to $5 in big-name stocks. It's an easy way to avoid breaking the bank.

You can typically open an account with $0, no minimum deposit required. There are some exceptions, though. You may need to deposit thousands of dollars to open a robo-advisory account with access to financial advisors.

Investment apps are safe for beginners and investors of all skill levels when they and partner banks are SIPC and FDIC insured. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) keep your deposits safe up to $250,000. So, if your investment app goes bankrupt, you'll get your money back up to that amount.

To be extra safe, you can spread investments out. You can do this by opening another brokerage account when your balance nears $250,000. Or, you can move some of your money into a bank account, a different account type. The FDIC and SIPC separate limits on accounts at different banks and brokerages. You can increase your $250,000 limit by splitting your investments across financial institutions. You mostly want to be sure your investment app is protected by the SIPC for securities and FDIC for uninvested cash. It's the safest way to guarantee you'll get your money back if something happens to the app.

An investment app for beginners is an app you can download and use on your cellphone or other devices that makes it easy to invest for cheap. The best of these are simple to use and charge low fees for buying and selling stocks and ETFs.

At The Motley Fool Ascent, brokerages are rated on a scale of one to five stars. We primarily focus on fees, available assets, and user experience; however, we also take into account features like research, education, tax-loss harvesting, and customer service. Our highest-rated brokerages generally include low fees, a diverse range of assets and account types, and useful platform features.

See our full methodology here: Ratings Methodology

Brokerages we evaluated for consideration on this page: Acorns, Ally Invest, Axos Self-Directed Trading, Betterment, Cash App Investing, Charles Schwab, Delphia, Domain Money, Ellevest, Empower, eToro Brokerage, E*TRADE Core Portfolios, E*TRADE, Fidelity, Fidelity Cash Management, Fidelity Go®, Firstrade, FOREX.com, Interactive Brokers, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing, M1 Finance, Magnifi, Marcus Invest, Merrill Edge® Self-Directed, Moomoo, NinjaTrader, Personal Capital, Plynk, Prosperi Academy, Public, Robinhood, Rocket Dollar, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, SoFi Active Investing, SoFi Automated Investing, Stash, Stockpile, Tastytrade, Titan, Tornado App, TradeStation, Tradier, Vanguard, Vanguard Digital Advisor®, Wealthfront, Webull, Zacks Trade.