Investing is risky. It comes with few guarantees. The only investing guarantee I can offer is this: everything held equal, the less you pay in fees, the better your returns. And investing apps are making it easier than ever to invest commission-free. Fees don’t have to stop you from making wise and lucrative investments. Thankfully, we live in the 21st century, and there’s never been a better time to be a small investor. And now, in today's mobile world, investing is becoming easier and cheaper than ever. Plus, with the investing price war that's been going on, it's cheaper than ever to invest! Here are the best investing apps that let you invest for free (yes, free). You might also check out our list on the best brokers to invest.

Note: The investing offers that appear on this site are from companies from which The College Investor receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The College Investor does not include all investing companies or all investing offers available in the marketplace.

1. M1 Finance

Best For: Building A Free Portfolio For The Long Term M1 has become our favorite investing app and platform over the last year. With commission free investing, the ability to invest in fractional shares, automatic deposits, and more, M1 Finance is top notch. If you’re looking for a way to create and maintain a free, diversified portfolio of stocks and ETFs, look no further than M1 Finance. They provide a pretty revolutionary tool/investing app that allows you to setup a portfolio and invest into it (correctly allocated) for free. What do I mean? Well, imagine a portfolio of ETFs - maybe you have 5 ETFs at 20% each. Well, instead of having to do 5 transactions (and commission for each) when you buy, you can now simply invest and M1 Finance takes care of the rest - for free! If you don't know exactly how to set it up, you're more than welcome to use one of their already setup portfolios as well. Plus, M1 Finance has a great investing bonus offer right now! You can get up to $2,500 if you deposit new money! It doesn't get much better than M1 Finance when it comes to investing for free. Try M1 Finance >>

M1 Finance Minimum Investment $100 Commission $0 Monthly Fees $0 Account Type Taxable, IRA Promotions None

Get up to a $2,500 bonus!

2. Fidelity Best For: Full Service Investing At $0 Trade Prices Fidelity is one of our favorite apps that allows you to invest for free. This surprises most people, because most people don't associate Fidelity with "free". However, Fidelity offers a range of commission-free ETFs that would allow the majority of investors to build a balanced portfolio. Plus, they now offer $0 commission stock, option, and ETF trades! The also offer fractional share investing, meaning that you can invest dollar-based, not just share-based. This is a big win for people starting with low dollar amounts. Fidelity IRAs also have no minimum to open, and no account maintenance fees. That means you could deposit just $5, and invest it for free. That makes this a much better deal compared to companies like Stash Invest. Furthermore, Fidelity just announced that it now has two 0.00% expense ratio funds - yes free. So, you can not only invest commission free, but these funds don't charge any management fees. Truly free investing. But to make it a top app, it has to have a great app, and Fidelity does. Their app is the cleanest and easiest to use out of all of the investing apps we've tested. They have a ton of features, but it all works well together.

Plus, you get the benefit of having a full service investing broker should you need more than just free. Check out Fidelity's app and open an account here.

Fidelity Minimum Investment $100 Commission $0 for stocks, ETFs, options Monthly Fees $0 Account Type Taxable, IRA, HSA, 401k, Trust Promotions None

3. TD Ameritrade Best For: Free Options Trading If you're a trader, you may have heard of TD Ameritrade - or maybe one of their platforms, like thinkorswim. With TD Ameritrade's commission free pricing structure (for stocks, options, and ETFs), they are more compelling than ever to use as an investing app. TD Ameritrade offers over commission free ETFs from industry giants iShares, Vanguard and more. Because of the diversity of no load ETF funds, TD Ameritrade is my top broker for people who want to consider tax loss harvesting on their own. Remember, TD Ameritrade also offers $0 commission stock, ETF, and options trades. Furthermore, TD Ameritrade also have no minimum and no maintenance fee IRAs. That makes it a better pick to options such as Acorns, which charge maintenance fees. TD Ameritrade’s mobile app also offers research, information and portfolio analysis that makes the free inv﻿esting that much sweeter. Just remember, TD Ameritrade charges for some ETFs, mutual funds, and equity trades. Filter for no load ETFs before you buy.

It's app also isn't as user friendly as Fidelity's but we put them as a very, very close second.

TD Ameritrade Minimum Investment $100 Commission $0 for stocks, ETFs, options Monthly Fees $0 Account Type Taxable, IRA, HSA, 401k, Trust Promotions None

4. Robinhood Best For: 100% Free Stock Trades & Limited Crypto Robinhood is an app lets you buy and sell stocks for free. Users can buy or sell stocks at market price. The app allows you to make limit orders and stop loss orders too. Unless you’re an active trader, this is plenty of functionality. Plus, the app comes with a clean user interface and basic research tools. Most serious investors should pair Robinhood with one or more free research tools. This will help them develop a more systematic approach to investing. That said, you can’t beat Robinhood’s free trades, but its shortcomings here make it third. They also allow options, fractional shares, and cryptocurrency investing, but these are limited as well. The drawbacks are really limited, but one of the biggest is that the platform has become unreliable in recent months with large outages impacting investors.

If you’re curious how Robinhood makes money, it’s through Robinhood Gold. Robinhood Gold is a margin account that allows you to buy and sell after hours. Buying on margin means you double your expected returns. It also means you double your expected losses. The result (based on the magic of compounding) means that trading on margin tends to eat into your principal. Check out the other options for trading stocks for free. Check out our full Robinhood review. Open a Robinhood account here and get a free share of stock >>

Robinhood Minimum Investment $0 Commission $0 for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto Monthly Fees $0 Account Type Taxable Promotions None

Get a free share of stock!

5. Vanguard Best For: Low Cost Index Fund Investing V﻿﻿﻿﻿anguard is consistently known as the low cost investment service provider. They were one of the original mutual fund and ETF companies to lower fees, and they continually advocate a low-fee index fund approach to investing. At Vanguard, you don't pay any commissions when you buy and sell Vanguard ETFs. You also pay no account service fees if you sign up to receive your account documents electronically, or if you're a Voyager, Voyager Select, Flagship, or Flagship Select Services client. Furthermore, Vanguard recently announced that they won't charge a commission on a huge amount of competitor's funds and ETFs as well! Vanguard also doesn't have an account minimum, and there is no minimum purchase requirement for mutual funds, but stocks and ETFs it's the cost of 1 share.

What holds Vanguard back is that their app is a little more clunky that the other apps. It feels a little "old school", and it seems to be built for the basics only. However, it is free, so maybe only the basics are needed?

Vanguard Personal Advisor Services If you're looking for professional help with your investments and financial planning, Vanguard offers Personal Advisor Services to help you build, execute, and continue to manage your financial plan. These are fiduciary advisors and will help you create a plan based on your goals (it's not a robot). It costs 0.30% AUM, which is one of the lowest you'll find. Sign up for a no-obligation consultation here >>

Vanguard Minimum Investment $0 Commission $0 for stocks, ETFs, options Monthly Fees $0 Account Type Taxable, IRA, 401k, and More Promotions None

Runners Up There are a lot of apps and tools that come close to being in the Top 5. When the competition is so good, it's hard to make the cut.

Webull Webull has been gaining a lot of traction in the last year as a competitor to Robinhood. It's an investment platform that is app-first, and it focuses on trading. Webull offers powerful in-app investment research tools, with great technical charting. This is a step above what you can find on most other investment apps. Read our full Webull review here.

Get a free share of stock!

Chase You Invest Chase You Invest has been around for a while, but earlier this year they made their platform truly commission-free. That's what makes it a runner up on our list of free investing apps. Read our full Chase You Invest review. The information about Chase You Invest has been collected independently by The College Investor. The product details have not been reviewed or approved by the company.

Charles Schwab Charles Schwab also offers commission free stock, options, and ETF trades, similar to Fidelity and TD Ameritrade. In fact, Charles Schwab advertises that they offer more commission-free ETFs that most other companies, and they even offer some commission free mutual funds. However, what keeps Charles Schwab out of the top is that they have a $1,000 account minimum for some account types.

Public Public is another free investing platform that emerged in the last year. It's actually a rebrand of the Matador investing app. Public is one of the few investing apps that allows fractional share investing, and they've been growing a solid following. Read out full Public review here.

E*Trade E*Trade also offers a large selection of commission free ETFs. We are actually big fans of E*Trade for our solo 401k account, but they don't make the top 5 when it comes to investing apps and free investing. They just recently announced $0 stock, ETF, and options trades, but we'll see how they compete with others on this list. While they do offer IRAs with no minimums, and charge no transaction fees, we didn't find their app as user friendly as the rest. Similar to their website, it's just a bit harder to use. However, we still really like E*Trade and they are definitely a runner up.

Other Investing Apps There are other investing apps that we're including on this this, but they aren't free. However, they are popular and may be useful to some investors.

Acorns Acorns is an extremely popular investing app, but it's not free. Acorns charges anywhere from $1 to $3 per month, but it does make automating your investments easy! Acorns allows you to round up your spare change and invest it easily in a portfolio that makes sense for you. However, if you don't have a lot of money invested, that monthly fee can eat up your returns. Read our full Acorns review here.

Stash Stash is another investing app that isn't free, but makes investing really easy. They have turned the investing process into an easy to understand platform, and they don't charge any commissions to invest. However, they do charge a monthly fee that ranges anywhere from $1 to $9 per month. Stash used to be known for $5 investing, but they have since gone to $0 minimums, and they allow fractional share investing. Read our full Stash review here.

Investing App FAQ Here are some common questions about investing apps.

What makes an investing app different than a brokerage? Investing apps are mobile first investing platforms. They are brokerages (just like the names you may be used to), but they allow investors to trade and invest in an app. Are investing apps safe? Yes, they are just as safe as holding your money at any major brokerage. These apps all are insured by the SIPC and have a variety of investor protections. Can I invest in anything on an app? Depends on the app. Some apps significantly limit what you can invest in, while others offer the full ranges of investment options. Are these apps really free? Yes. The top apps we list don't charge a monthly fee to use, and don't charge a commission to invest in stocks, ETFs, and options. Of course, these apps may charge service fees for additional services, such as wire transfers, paper statements, and more.

Have you ever heard of any of these investing apps? Which one is your favorite?