Best Investment Apps for Beginners

Saving money and investing in assets can help you build wealth and reach your financial goals sooner. Investment apps offer various tools to analyze stocks, maximize returns, and learn more to bolster your investment strategy. Some apps are better than others, and it’s important to know the subtleties before investing your money.

This guide helps beginners find the best investment apps. We've distilled down apps that are easy to use, offer a wide range of tools, and are simple. In most cases, they're available on both iOS and Android. Read on to find new tools to invest this year!

Quick Look at 8 Best Investing Apps for Beginners:

• Best for Free Stocks: Webull
• Best for Customizable Auto Investing: M1 Finance
• Best for Trading Platform: TD Ameritrade
• Best for All-in-One Finance: SoFi Invest
• Best for Casual Investors: Stash
• Best for Investors Who Maintain Significant Margin Balances: TradeUP
• Best for Mobile Trading: E*TRADE
• Best for Researching Tools: Fidelity Investments
• Best for Fantasy Finance: Invstr Ltd.

1. Best for Free Stocks: Webull

Webull provides new investors with up to 20 free fractional shares valued at up to $3,000 when they deposit between $500 and $24,999. You must open an account, deposit funds, and maintain the balance for 30 days to qualify for this reward. In addition, Webull has cash-management tools, good investing options, and lets you trade crypto. Check out the Webull Review.

Why We Love It: We love Webull because it allows investors to start with as little as $5, offering access to a wide range of equities without buying whole shares. Webull charges $0 in commissions for fractional share trades, making it a cost-effective option for new and seasoned investors. This app is available on iOS, Android, and the web.

2. Best for Customizable Auto Investing: M1 Finance

Many apps enable automatic investing, but few match the features and ease of M1 Finance. The online broker investing app lets you create a custom portfolio, a “pie.” Then, you can choose which assets go into this pie and the concentrations. While this is similar to other portfolio-building tools, the visualization is especially helpful for new investors. 

The investing approach is similar to mutual funds, but with an M1 Finance pie, you get to pick the individual stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and concentrations within the fund. Get the M1 Finance Review here.

Why We Love It: We love M1 Finance as one of the best investment apps because it has no account-management fees, lower interest rates on margin, 5% APY on cash, and superior customization. It's simple to use and available on iOS, Android, and the web.

3. Best for Trading Platform: TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade, Inc. was acquired by Charles Schwab, and all accounts have been moved. At Schwab, you can access thinkorswim trading platforms and robust trading education. The resource has a suite of trading tools and gives traders a streamlined experience. You can view technical indicators and compare various charts to help predict stock prices, futures, bonds, and more. It’s a great resource for technical analysts. 

With many mutual funds to choose from, no stock trade fees, and a wide range of wealth management and investing solutions, it's a well-known and simplified trading platform. See Benzinga's full TD Ameritrade Review.

Why We Love It: We love TD Ameritrade—now Schwab—because of its investor education, commitment to low costs, and great customer service. It can be a one-stop investing option with minima

4. Best for All-in-One Finance: SoFi Invest

SoFi is a modern fintech company that offers bank accounts, personal loans, and a range of financial products. It has become a major name in the investing space, offering reliable customer service and features. 

Its investing feature lets investors trade stocks and ETFs without fees. But what makes SoFi really stand out is the free personalized advice. SoFi investors can access a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) through the app at no cost. Check out the full Sofi Invest Review here. 

Why We Love It: We love Sofi Invest as one of the best investment apps because you can trade fractional shares and access impressive portfolio-balancing tools. However, the real selling point is that you can get free financial counseling services. This app is available on iOS, Android, and the web.

5. Best for Casual Investors: Stash

Stash is a personal finance hub app that helps you pull together all the investing and banking services that you currently use. You can learn more about financial literacy, budget, investing, banking and more all in one place. 

The app works well for casual investors, long-term investors and professionals alike, depending on your needs and financial position, you can customize the dashboard to give you the support you deserve. There are no minimums, fractional investing is available and the flat-fee structure helps you calculate your overhead costs. 

Why We Love It: Stash is designed for all types of investors, allowing you to learn, save and invest all in one place while getting an idea of the big picture of your finances

***Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser. Investing involves risk and investments may lose value. Holdings and performance are hypothetical.

Nothing in this material should be construed as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation to buy or sell any security. All investments are subject to risk and may lose value.

6. Best for Investors Who Maintain Significant Margin Balances: TradeUP

TradeUP App, provided by TradeUP Securities, Inc., is a cutting-edge mobile platform that empowers investors to trade U.S. stocks, ETFs, and options without incurring commission or contract fees. While many impressive tools are more useful for experienced traders, even browsing the charts can help new investors get a sense of the markets. 

TradeUP boasts a competitive flat margin interest rate of 1.99%, which remains advantageous, especially in the current high borrowing cost environment. It vastly outpaces competitors who might charge up to 10%.

Other pros include no minimum deposit requirement, fast registration, and an active investor community where you can learn from other investors’ trades. Check out the full TradeUP Review.

Why We Love It: We love TradeUP as one of the best investment apps because it offers a variety of exceptional features. The platform is a member of several exchanges to assure investors of quality and safety. You can earn rewards through your trading account. This app is available on iOS, Android, desktop, and the web.

TradeUP Securities, Inc. is a proud member of organizations like FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation), OCC (Option Clearing Corporation), NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange), and DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation), reflecting the platform’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards and adherence to industry regulations. 

7. Best for Mobile Trading: E*TRADE

E*TRADE is a mobile trading app that has zero-commission trading. Its trading tools let investors view risk vs. reward probabilities, analyze earnings movements, and spot real-time opportunities with Live Action scans. E*TRADE streamlines the entire process with straightforward tools and gives traders excellent tools to make long-term investments and start day trading. Find the full E*Trade Review here. 

Why We Love It: We love E*Trade as one of the best investment apps because of its straightforward interface. The mobile app has many easy-to-use tools, and there's no minimum deposit. The app is available for iOS, Android, and the Web.

8. Best for Researching Tools: Fidelity

Fidelity is a big name in personal finance and one of the best places to start as a new investor. It has several money-management features and mutual funds for its investors. The company also has great research tools, including a stock screener that lets you filter stocks based on several parameters. 

Its research tools are among the best and can help you construct a portfolio based on your criteria. For simplified investing, Fidelity offers some of the best low-cost index funds to automate long-term savings. 

Find Benzinga's full Fidelity Investments Review here. 

Why We Love It: We love Fidelity Investments as one of the best investment apps because of its great selection of mutual funds, including very low-cost index funds. It also offers no-fee stock trading and advanced research tools that can grow with you as an investor. The app is available for iOS, Android, and the Web.

9. Best for Fantasy Finance: Invstr

If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, consider Invstr. You can get a bank account, insurance policy, and investment portfolio in a single app. For those who love simplicity, Invstr delivers with all this and more in the same dashboard. 

Invstr is an all-in-one solution that covers a lot of ground. You can also trade cryptocurrencies on the investing app instead of only trading stocks and options. Invstr has a free version with great features and a Pro account with advanced features.

Why We Love It: We love Invstr Ltd. as one of the best investment apps because it offers diverse financial management solutions in one place. The app is available for iOS, Android, and the Web.

How to Choose

When choosing the best investment app, consider total fees, ongoing costs, and investment goals. One of the biggest factors is total fees and any trading fees, as this will cut into your investment growth. 

For that reason, it's important to align the app's features with your personal financial objectives. But as a beginner, that can seem overwhelming. So here are a few basic guidelines:

• Fees: Consider your budget by evaluating any associated fees and minimum investment requirements the app may have. Then, choose an app with a low minimum investment and fees. 
• Reviews: Learn from those who went before you by checking user reviews and ratings to gain insights from their experiences. 
• Start small: Start with a small investment to familiarize yourself with the app and build confidence in your investment decisions. Learn about risk mitigation.

Frequently Asked Questions