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Best Robo-Advisors for October 2025

A robo-advisor is an automated investment service that applies algorithmic investing strategies to an investor's portfolio. This automated approach takes the emotion out of investing. That prevents investors from committing self-inflicted errors such as overreacting during periods of high volatility in the market, like we are experiencing in 2025. The best robo-advisors make it easy to set up an investment plan, provide robust rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting features, offer a wide range of pre-built portfolios, and more to help investors reach their long-term goals.

After careful analysis, Investopedia’s in-house research and editorial staff determined that Wealthfront is the best overall robo-advisor thanks to key features that include stock investing, low-interest rate borrowing, and dynamic tax-loss harvesting. Investopedia researched 20 digital wealth management platforms and evaluated them on 59 criteria, including cost, account services, and goal-planning tools.

This report highlights the best robo-advisors. It aims to help you decide which one is the right fit for you and your investing approach.

Best Robo-Advisors for October 2025

Best Overall, Best for Goal Planning, Best for Portfolio Construction, Best for Portfolio Management : Wealthfront

Investopedia's Rating
4.9 out of 5 stars

Wealthfront

Wealthfront

  • Account Minimum: $500
  • Fees: 0.25% for most accounts; no trading commission or fees for withdrawals, minimums, or transfers

Tip

For a limited time, when you open and fund a Wealthfront Cash Account as a first-time client, you can boost your 3.75% variable base APY, provided from program banks, to an even higher 4.40% for three months on up to a $150k balance. Get started todayTerms & Conditions apply.

Best Overall

Wealthfront is the best overall robo-advisor. It offers investment and money management products that meet the needs of any type of investor. The platform has low fees and a low required minimum investment of $500. It offers individual stock investing, high-yield cash, digital financial planning, automated tax-loss harvesting, and lending capabilities. 

Best for Portfolio Management

Wealthfront makes it easy for investors to manage their portfolios, enabling them to link multiple investment accounts for an overview and analysis of their finances. The platform also offers a digital financial planner, known as Path, which can answer up to 10,000 questions and offer personalized recommendations for an account owner’s portfolio.

Best for Goal Planning

The platform’s digital financial planner, Path, can help investors plan for the future, answering questions like, “Can I live my current lifestyle in retirement?” and, “How much should I be saving today?” The tool can help investors set financial goals and offer guidance on achieving them, from retirement and homeownership to college planning.

Best for Portfolio Construction

Wealthfront portfolios cover 17 global asset classes—including stocks, bonds, and inflation assets—offering some of the best-constructed portfolios from a robo-advisor. They’re constructed based on investment management research, including modern portfolio theory (MPT), created by Harry Markowitz

Pros
  • Core and ESG portfolios with many customization options

  • Wide range of account types, including 529 plans for college savings

  • Direct indexing with individual stocks for accounts over $100,000

  • Low-fee S&P 500 Direct indexing with a minimum of $5,000

  • Best-in-class Path digital financial planner

Cons
  • No access to a human financial advisor

  • No online chat option

  • Phone access isn’t straightforward

Wealthfront was founded in 2008 by tech entrepreneurs Dan Carroll and Andy Rachleff and has since become one of the most innovative robo-advisor platforms, serving over 700,000 customers. The company has grown to include hundreds of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and an automated bond portfolio, beyond the Core and ESG robo-advisory portfolios. It gives investors access to automated investment portfolios spanning 17 global asset classes tailored to their unique goals, time horizons, and risk tolerance. Investors can view other portfolio options with greater or lesser risk levels, and then rebalance their portfolios with an asset mix that meets their needs. 

New & Notable

On Oct. 7, 2025, Wealthfront announced the launch of the Nasdaq-100 Direct. For a 0.12% advisory fee, this first of its kind product allows its customers to access individual stocks in the Nasdaq 100 Index, while still offering Tax-Loss Harvesting to capture losses from daily price movements in those stocks even when the index is up.

Best for Beginners, Best for Cash Management, Best for Tax-Loss Harvesting : Betterment

Investopedia's Rating
4.7 out of 5 stars

Betterment logo
  • Account Minimum: $0, $10 minimum to start investing, $50 minimum for rebalancing
  • Fees:  0.25% (annual) for investing plan accounts with at least $20,000 or at least $250 per month in recurring account deposits. Otherwise, the fee is $4/month. 0.65% (annual) fee on accounts with at least $100,000 in assets for Betterment Premium account holders with unlimited access to certified financial planners. There are no management fees for Betterment Checking or Cash Reserve. There are additional fee discounts for accounts above $1 million.

Paid non-client of Betterment. Views may not be representative, see more reviews at the App Store and Google Play Store. Learn More about this relationship.

Best for Beginners 

Betterment allows individuals to start investing with just $10, enabling first-time investors to easily create goals and access a range of portfolio choices. 

Best for Cash Management

Betterment stands out from competitors because of its automatic sweep functionality, access to a high-yield cash reserve and checking account through partner banks, and reimbursement for ATM fees. Betterment's cash reserve account has no minimum balance requirement and you can easily automate your saving and investing with the account tools. 

Best for Tax-Loss Harvesting

Betterment seeks optimal after-tax returns by integrating client transactions, asset rebalancing, and tax-loss harvesting. The platform also maintains a list of comparable funds for each asset class to help investors diversify their portfolios and avoid the wash sale rule. 

Pros
  • Easy setup and goal tracking

  • Multiple portfolio choices, including smart beta, three socially responsible investing (SRI) options, target income, crypto, and more.

  • $0 account minimum and $10 to begin investing

  • Low-fee financial advice packages for digital customers

Cons
  • No borrowing on a portfolio line of credit

  • Premium plan requires $100,000

  • No REIT exposure

Founded in 2008 by Eli Broverman and Jon Stein, Betterment now serves more than 900,000 customers, making it one of the largest standalone robo-advisors. The platform has users answer a brief questionnaire to help it determine their investment goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. Using customers’ questionnaire answers, Betterment recommends an investment portfolio to each user designed to meet their financial needs. Betterment users can choose from among 11 portfolios with a range of asset allocation choices—including a portfolio aimed at long-term investing with low costs and portfolios focused on high-growth tech companies and others on undervalued U.S. companies. 

Betterment’s powerful cash management product goes a step beyond the competition by offering a tax strategy that reflects a customer’s circumstances and goals. Essentially, Betterment can place assets in a taxable, tax-deferred, or tax-exempt account according to its taxation risk while using the customer’s overall target asset allocation.

On Feb. 26, 2025, Betterment announced that it has acquired the automated investing business of Ellevest, a woman-focused wealth management firm and robo-advisory.

Cash Reserve is only available to clients of Betterment LLC—which is not a bank and cash transfers to program banks are conducted through the clients’ brokerage accounts at Betterment Securities. For Cash Reserve (“CR”), Betterment LLC only receives compensation from our program banks; Betterment LLC and Betterment Securities do not charge fees on your CR balance.

Checking accounts and the Betterment Visa Debit Card provided and issued by nbkc bank, Member FDIC. Checking made available through Betterment Financial LLC. Neither Betterment Financial LLC, nor any of their affiliates, is a bank. Betterment Financial LLC reimburses ATM fees and the Visa® 1% foreign transaction fee worldwide, everywhere Visa is accepted.

Best for Low Costs : Fidelity Go

Investopedia's Rating
4.3 out of 5 stars

Image shows Fidelity Go's logo against a white background.

Fidelity

  • Account Minimum: $0 to open an account, $10 to be invested
  • Fee: $0 for accounts under $25,000, 0.35% annual fee for balances over $25,000

Fidelity Go is Investopedia’s choice for the best robo-advisor for low costs because the platform doesn’t charge any fees on accounts with balances of less than $25,000. In addition, when the 0.35% annual fee does kick in on accounts with balances above $25,000, customers get access to unlimited one-on-one coaching with an advisor, plus they benefit from Fidelity Flex funds that come with no management fees or expense ratios.

Pros
  • Quick and hassle-free account setup

  • Low management fees, plus access to no-cost Fidelity Flex funds

  • Ability to preview and tweak your portfolio’s risk level before committing funds

  • Smooth integration for existing Fidelity customers managing multiple accounts

Cons
  • Access to human financial advisors only available for accounts with balances over $25,000

  • No tax-loss harvesting feature

  • Investment choices limited to Fidelity’s own mutual funds

Fidelity Go, launched in 2016, makes investing feel pretty effortless—especially if you're a beginner, a hands-off investor, or someone already plugged into Fidelity's massive ecosystem. The platform keeps it simple, with a setup process that avoids the need to make potentially confusing decisions. The platform charges nothing on your first $25,000, and even the Flex funds it uses are free of ongoing management fees. For accounts with balances larger than $25,000, customers pay a competitive 0.35% annual fee. Fidelity Go also offers a financial wellness section that points customers to available tools and allows users with over $25,000 in assets to access unlimited one-on-one coaching with an advisor.

Best for Access to Licensed Financial Advisors : SoFi Automated Investing

Investopedia's Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars

SoFi

 SoFi

  • Account Minimum: $50
  • Fee: 0.25% annual advisory fee

Investopedia chose SoFi Automated Investing as the best robo-advisor for access to licensed financial advisors. In an industry where access to human advice often comes with high barriers to entry, SoFi's Automated Investing platform includes a complimentary 30-minute meeting with a financial planner.

Pros
  • All clients have access to a complimentary one-time 30-minute video meeting with a financial planner

  • $50 minimum to begin investing

  • Access to Additional lending and cash management tools

Cons
  • No tax-loss harvesting service available

  • No portfolio customization options 

  • Fewer account types than other robo-advisors

SoFi® was founded in 2011 by four Stanford University business school students and, in 2012, was the first company to provide student loan refinancing. Since its inception, the company has become known for its many financial offerings, including banking, lending, credit card, insurance, and travel services. The company offers digital investment management with a 0.25% management fee and a complimentary one-time video meeting with a financial planner. Investors can also start investing using Sofi's Automated Investing platform with just $50, making it a powerful option for investors looking for professional advice before getting started.

Best for Sophisticated Investors, Best for Cryptocurrency Portfolio Selection : M1 Finance

Investopedia's Rating
4.2 out of 5 stars

M1 Finance

 M1 Finance

  • Account Minimum: $100 ($500 for retirement accounts)
  • Fees: $3 monthly platform fee for clients, except those with total account balances of $10,000

Best for Sophisticated Investors

M1 Finance is best for sophisticated investors who want to choose their own stocks and ETFs and access customized portfolios focused on themes that align with their goals. M1 Finance also offers high-yield cash accounts and borrowing. 

Best for Cryptocurrency Portfolio Selection

M1 Finance is our pick for best cryptocurrency portfolio selection because it is one of the few digital wealth management platforms that allows you to go beyond ETFs. You have to open a separate crypto account, but then you can build what M1 Finance calls a crypto pie, or a pre-made portfolio designed by experts, and use M1 Finance’s auto-invest features to manage it.

Pros
  • Numerous customized expert pies or portfolios

  • Thousands of ETFs and stocks for self-directed investors

  • Fee-free plan

  • High-yield cash account

  • Low interest rate margin available

Cons
  • No quiz to determine investors’ goals or risk tolerance

  • No tax-loss harvesting

  • No financial advisors 

  • Platform requires some level of investment knowledge

M1 Finance, founded in 2015 by Brian Barnes, gives users more control over their portfolio selection compared to many other digitial wealth management platforms—which is why it’s best suited for sophisticated investors. M1 Finance offers Pies, and allows users to rebalance their self-directed stock and ETF assets according to their preferred asset allocation. The Pies are designed based on themes, including general investing, retirement planning, responsible investing, and income-earning investments. 

The $3 monthly fee—which applies to investors who do not meet the $10,000 account balance requirement—may not be worthwhile for investors with small balances. However, M1 Finance offers self-directed investors access to thousands of stocks and ETFs, cryptocurrency, as well as high-yield cash and lending. 

M1 Finance combines self-directed brokerage features with pre-built portfolios and automated portfolio management capabilities. M1 Finance does not provide advisory services and, therefore, is not considered a traditional robo-advisor.

Best for Those Who Struggle to Save : Acorns

Investopedia's Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars

Acorns logo

Courtesy of Acorns

  • Account Minimum: $0
  • Fees: $3/month for Bronze, $6/month for Silver, $12/month for Gold

Acorns is a good fit for people who find it difficult to save money to put toward investments. The platform has a “round-up” feature that automatically invests spare change. When people use the debit and credit cards linked to Acorns, the platform automatically takes the difference between the purchase amount and the next whole dollar and invests it.

Pros
  • Helps customers to begin saving and investing

  • The Multiplier feature enables faster investment growth

  • Low-fee, diversified investment portfolio options

Cons
  • Fees can be burdensome to small accounts

  • The round-up feature may take a long time to build a meaningful investment amount unless users contribute additional savings

  • Limited account types

Acorns was founded in 2012 and is a valuable tool for those who have trouble saving money to invest. The platform rounds up a person’s spending and diverts the difference into an investment account. To date, $3 billion has been invested through this round-up feature. Acorns recommends a diversified investment portfolio to users based on their answers to several questions about their goals. Investors can also use the platform’s Round-Ups Multiplier, which will double, triple, or multiply by 10 the amount of the round-up. 

Note that if an investor only invests using the round-up tool, it can take a very long time to build a meaningful investment portfolio. In addition, because the rounded-up investment contributions are pulled from the user’s checking account, it’s important to monitor that account closely to avoid overdraft fees

Best for Mobile : E*TRADE Core Portfolios

Investopedia's Rating
4.1 out of 5 stars

E*TRADE logo 2025
  • Account Minimum: $500
  • Fee: 0.30%

E*TRADE Core Portfolios was acquired by Morgan Stanley, and offers a robo-advisor with a user-friendly mobile app, making it easy to access the platform’s tools on the go. 

Pros
  • Multiple investment strategies, including core, ESG, and smart beta

  • Mobile app enables account opening and transfers, resembling the desktop

  • Access to the broad Morgan Stanley lineup of investment and financial management services

Cons
  • More expensive than competitive robo-advisors at lower cost

  • No live chat

  • Relatively limited goal setting in the portfolio creation process

E*TRADE was founded in 1982 and acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2020. It offers a wide range of investment services, beginning with a questionnaire to assess an investor’s goals, liquidity needs, time horizon, and risk tolerance. Based on their responses to the questionnaire, investors get a core investment portfolio that aims to fit their needs. The choices include a core portfolio, socially responsible portfolio, and smart beta portfolio. 

The E*TRADE app is easy to navigate, allowing users to open an account and transfer money into or out of their portfolios while providing checking, bill payment, and cash management services. 

Best for Education : Merrill Guided Investing

Investopedia's Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars

Merrill Edge Guided Investing
  • Account Minimum: $1,000, or $20,000 with an advisor
  • Fees: Annual 0.45% of assets under management, assessed monthly. With advisor — 0.85% (discounts available for Bank of America Preferred Rewards participants)

Merrill Guided Investing—which is integrated with Merrill Lynch and Bank of America resources—provides a vast library of educational content and a range of excellent calculators and tools that can be accessed without even having an account.

Pros
  • 24/7 customer service

  • Superior educational resources, calculators, and tools for a range of investors

  • Integration with Bank of America and Merrill Edge financial products, making it a one-stop shop financial portal

Cons
  • Higher fees than other robo-advisor platforms

  • No tax-loss harvesting

  • $20,000 balance and an 0.85% annual fee required for financial advisor access

Merrill Lynch & Co. was founded in 1914 by Charles E. Merrill and was acquired by Bank of America in 2009, according to Reuters. While the company was once known for catering to the wealthiest Americans, Merrill Guided Investing now aims to offer a wide range of clients investment management expertise and educational tools. 

The robo-advisor’s investment portfolios are designed to reflect each investor’s goals, timeline, and risk tolerance. Unlike standard passively managed robo-advisor offerings, Merrill Guided Investing’s portfolios are built and managed using strategic and tactical asset allocations. Merrill’s pitch here is that having the human element can add value in terms of investment selection and portfolio construction beyond what a solely rules-based system can achieve.

From an educational perspective, the platform offers webinars, investor education videos, and the Morningstar Investing Classroom, which includes free courses on investment topics ranging from stocks and bonds to mutual funds and ETFs.  

Why Trust Us

Investopedia aims to provide unbiased, comprehensive reviews to help readers make the best decisions with their money. To create this list, Investopedia collected 2420 data points from 20 robo-advisor companies, focusing on the factors that are most important to investors. We reviewed each robo-advisor platform for fees, portfolio management services, goal-planning tools, and other key features in order to give each a rating. Investopedia has been helping readers find the best tools and platforms for managing their finances since 1999.

How Do Robo-Advisors Work?

Robo-Advisors provide automated investment planning based on specific algorithms. They simplify the management of an investor's portfolio based on the type of account you have and your investment goals. One of the first things you'll do when establishing an account is provide answers to key questions about your financial goals. Depending on which robo-advisor you choose, options for investing include stocks, bonds, and more.

Most robo-advisors use a passive investing approach, which can involve basing one's portfolio on an index such as the S&P 500 in order to match the performance of the index. More active approaches and more customization sometimes are possible, but those services typically will cost more.

Who Are Robo-Advisors Best For?

Those who don't have the time or the confidence to take a close, hands-on approach with their investment portfolios might be a good match for a robo-advisor. Because such a service is automated, one of the benefits is the amount of time it can save account holders. Robo-advisors also might be a good option for those who are new to investing because they provide a way to get started in investing while still learning the best approach.

Robo-advisors can also be a good fit for those who want the convenience of 24/7 access to their accounts. Working with a traditional financial planner does not provide this kind of access.

Common Robo-Advisor Terms to Understand

If you are considering using a robo-advisor for your investing needs, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with these terms:

  • Modern portfolio theory: Robo-advisors often use an approach based on modern portfolio theory, which is an approach designed to maximize returns within an acceptable level of risk. A key to this is a diversified portfolio.
  • Diversification: Having a diversified portfolio involves spreading out your investment dollars among a broad range of stocks, bonds, and other assets. This is in contrast to having a large percentage of your investments committed to a single security.
  • Asset allocation: One way to describe asset allocation would be that it is how an investor chooses to diversify assets, including equities, cash, and fixed income. The best approach to asset allocation depends on your needs and goals. Someone saving for the short-term would take a different approach than someone saving for the long term.
  • Retirement planning: Determining your approach to retirement planning involves knowing how much income you think you'll need in retirement, then creating and following a plan to get there. Some robo-advisors can help specifically with this common type of investment planning.
  • Index investing: Robo-advisors commonly use index investing as a passive approach. This involves trying to create an investment portfolio that closely follows a specific market index.

Pros & Cons of Robo-Advisors

Pros
  • Ease of use

  • Lower costs

  • Investment models

Cons
  • Impersonal

  • Limited flexibility

Pros Explained

  • Ease of use: One of the main draws of robo-advisors is that they are easy to use. It can be as simple as creating an account and answering questions about your investment goals. This ease of use also includes 24/7 access, which avoids having to fit someone else's schedule.
  • Lower costs: Because robo-advisors take a passive approach, their costs typically are lower than those of working with a personal advisor or trying to actively manage your own investments.
  • Investment models: Robo-advisors offer choices of many investment models to follow. For example, if you want to focus on investing in environmentally conscious companies, there are robo-advisors that can handle that.

Cons Explained

  • Impersonal: An automated process built on algorithms is definitely easy to use, but for times when you might want specific advice or a certain kind of feedback, it's difficult to get exactly that with robo-advisors.
  • Limited flexibility: While there are a lot of investment models to choose from, customization is limited or nonexistent depending on the robo-advisor.

How We Picked the Best Robo-Advisors

Providing readers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of digital wealth management companies, more commonly known as robo-advisors, is a top priority of Investopedia. We combined our industry research and subject matter expertise to guide the research and weightings for our 2025 robo-advisor rankings. To collect the data, our researchers gathered data points through online research of provider websites. To fill in any gaps, our research team reached out to the individual companies. In some instances, our researchers did much deeper online research to get the information they needed to complete the data collection. The data collection process spanned from April 5, 2025 to April 11, 2025.

We then developed a quantitative model that scored each company to rate its performance across nine major categories and 60 weighted criteria to find the best robo-advisors. The score for each company’s overall star rating is a weighted average of the criteria:

  • Goal Planning - 21.00%
  • Portfolio Contents - 17.00%
  • Portfolio Management - 17.00%
  • Fees - 15.00%
  • Account Services - 10.00%
  • Account Setup - 5.00%
  • Customer Service - 5.00%
  • Security & Education - 5.00%
  • User Experience - 5.00%

Through this all-encompassing data collection and review process, Investopedia has provided you with an unbiased and thorough review of the top robo-advisors.

The above material and content should not be considered to be a recommendation. Investing in digital assets is highly speculative and volatile, and only suitable for investors who are able to bear the risk of potential loss and experience sharp drawdowns. Digital assets are not legal tender and are not backed by the U.S. government. Digital assets are not subject to FDIC insurance or SIPC protections.

People Inc. receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Advisers LLC (“Wealthfront Advisers”) for each new client that applies for a Wealthfront Automated Investing Account through our links. This creates an incentive that results in a material conflict of interest. People Inc. is not a Wealthfront Advisers client, and this is a paid endorsement. More information is available via our links to Wealthfront Advisers.

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

Automated investing is offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. 0.25% fee is based on your account value. The wrap program fee may cost more or less than purchasing brokerage, custodial, and recordkeeping services separately. 0.25% fee is based on your account value. The wrap program fee may cost more or less than purchasing brokerage, custodial, and recordkeeping services separately. Brokerage costs are billed separately. Please see SoFi.com/legal/wrapbrochure for more information. Advisory services are offered by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Information about SoFi Wealth’s advisory operations, services, and fees is set forth in SoFi Wealth’s current Form ADV Part 2 (Brochure), a copy of which is available upon request and at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.

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Investopedia / Joules Garcia

Article Sources
Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy.
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