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SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood: Which Broker Is Right for You?

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Cole Tretheway
Author: Cole Tretheway
Cole Tretheway
Cole Tretheway

Cole Tretheway is a full-time personal finance writer whose articles have been featured on Motley Fool Money and The Motley Fool. He has a degree in English with a Certificate in Professional and Technical Communication from California Polytechnic University, SLO.

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SoFi Invest® and Robinhood might be for you if you're looking for an affordable and straightforward way to buy and sell stocks and make investments. Read our SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood review to discover the major differences between the two and see which broker might be the better choice for you.

SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood: At a glance

Offer


Rating

Rating

Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Rating

Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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= Excellent
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Commissions

Commissions

$0 for stocks, ETFs, and options; up to $5 monthly for Robinhood Gold

Commissions

$0 for stocks,¹ $0 for options contracts⁴
Account Minimum

Account Minimum

$0

Account Minimum

$0
Learn More
Read Review
Learn More for SoFi Active Investing

On SoFi Active Investing's Secure Website.

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SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood: Commissions & fees

These two brokerage platforms are pretty close when you compare fees. Both have commission-free stock and ETF trading, just like most of the brokerage industry.

Only SoFi Invest® offers mutual funds and alternative funds trading. SoFi Invest® doesn't charge any transaction fees for mutual funds, and no transaction fees for new alternative funds for the first 60 days. It charges investors a 0.50% purchase fee for alternative funds after the promotional period.

There are no account maintenance fees with either broker. Both platforms charge $100 to transfer an account elsewhere. Both offer no-fee options trading.

Robinhood offers crypto trading with no commissions whatsoever. SoFi Invest® does not offer crypto trading, but does have a Crypto Partner Hub where users can access its external crypto partners.

SoFi Invest® Robinhood
Stock & ETF commissions $0 $0
Options commissions $0 $0
Crypto commissions N/A $0
Mutual fund commissions $0, but other fees may apply N/A
Account transfer fee $100 $100
Account maintenance fee $25 6-month inactivity fee (easily avoidable by logging in periodically) $0, or $5 monthly for Robinhood Gold
Data sources: SoFi Invest and Robinhood.

SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood: Investments available

Just like in the previous section, there are quite a few similarities between SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood for available investment options.

Both are largely designed as places where investors can buy and sell stocks rather easily, but neither is (at least not at this time) intended to be full-featured investment platforms. For example, you won't find CDs or bonds on either one, nor does either platform offer foreign exchange (forex) or futures trading.

It's worth noting that both platforms are evolving rapidly, so it's likely that additional investments and capabilities will be added over time.

SoFi Invest® recently released alternative investments and mutual funds. Investors can buy and sell mutual funds, private equity funds, real estate funds, and other investment types. SoFi Invest® offers 6,000 mutual funds to choose from.

Both platforms offer commission-free options trading, a rarity in the industry.⁴

Robinhood currently allows investors to trade 15 different cryptocurrencies with no commissions whatsoever. While it offered cryptocurrency trading in the past, SoFi Invest® no longer does.

SoFi Invest® Robinhood
Stocks and ETFs Yes Yes
Fractional shares Yes³ Yes
Options Yes⁴ Yes
Mutual funds Yes, 6,000 No
CDs No No
Bonds No No
Futures No No
Crypto No Yes
Currencies No No
Data sources: SoFi and Robinhood.

Alternatives to Consider

We recommend comparing brokerage options to ensure the account you're selecting is the best fit for you. To make your search easier, here's a short list of our best trading platforms of 2024.

Broker Best For Commissions Learn More
Logo for Public
Rating image, 4.0 out of 5 stars.
4.0/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
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Easy fractional investing in stocks and bonds. $0 commissions, 1%-2% crypto markups
Learn More for Public

On Public's Secure Website.

Logo for J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing
Rating image, 4.0 out of 5 stars.
4.0/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Low mutual fund fees. $0 per trade
Learn More for J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing

On J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing's Secure Website.

Logo for E*TRADE
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars.
4.5/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Long-Term Investors, Stocks and Options Traders Commission-free; other fees apply
Learn More for E*TRADE

On E*TRADE's Secure Website.

SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood: Account types available

Here's one area of SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood where SoFi may have an edge for investors looking for more of an all-in-one banking experience.

For banking features, SoFi Invest® wins.

SoFi Invest® allows investors to open a joint account, and offers three different retirement accounts -- traditional, Roth, and SEP IRAs. It also offers the SoFi Robo Investing robo-advisory platform, which allows SoFi users to put their portfolios on auto-pilot and get advice from real-live financial advisors, and for a bare minimum of investment expense.

SoFi recently introduced its own credit card, which is designed to offer rewards that can be deposited into other SoFi accounts. There are certain types of accounts SoFi doesn't offer, such as custodial and college savings accounts. Nonetheless, SoFi offers more account type variety than Robinhood.

As far as brokerage accounts go, Robinhood offers individual and joint brokerage accounts, as well as traditional and Roth IRAs. It doesn't offer any specialized investment accounts.

While SoFi and Robinhood both offer interest-bearing bank account products, SoFi's is more of a checking/savings account replacement. In addition to paying interest and providing a debit card to access money, SoFi's account offers features like free overdraft coverage, payday advances, and rewards when you activate its debit card or make purchases with its credit card.

Robinhood holds its own when it comes to traditional brokerage account options. It has a cash sweep feature in its brokerage account that allows investors to earn interest on uninvested cash, and also offers a spending account. In a nutshell, Robinhood has quite a bit of banking functionality, but it is not likely to be feature-rich enough to completely replace your existing checking and savings accounts.

For margin accounts, Robinhood wins.

Robinhood and SoFi Invest® both offer margin trading. As of September 2024, Robinhood offers much lower rates than SoFi Invest®. Robinhood is the better place to open a margin account.

SoFi Invest® Robinhood
Taxable brokerage Yes Yes
Joint tenant Yes Yes
Margin Yes Yes
Robo-advisor Yes -- SoFi Automated Investing No
Traditional IRA Yes Yes
Roth IRA Yes Yes
Other IRA Yes No
Custodial No No
Checking Yes No, but offers a spending account
Savings Yes No, but has an interest-bearing cash sweep feature
Credit card Yes Yes
Data sources: SoFi and Robinhood.

SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood: Mobile app and trading platforms

If you're looking for a user-friendly app to buy and sell stocks, both platforms excel in this department. Both are designed to be simple to use, as opposed to many full-service brokers.

SoFi offers a well-rounded financial app. In fact, its brokerage platform was an add-on to its already successful financial services app that had been around for years.

Robinhood was purpose-built for stock and options trading, aiming to make trading as easy and inexpensive as possible.

Both companies have highly rated apps that make investing easy. SoFi holds ratings of 4.8 and 3.8 out of 5 stars on the iOS App Store and Google Play store, respectively, and Robinhood's ratings are 4.2 and 4.1.

Final take

Wrapping up our SoFi Invest® vs. Robinhood matchup, you can see that both platforms excel in certain ways. Each one can be quite appealing to investors who want a low-cost and user-friendly way to buy and sell stocks and certain other investments.

On the other hand, they are clearly designed for different types of customers.

SoFi Invest® is designed with long-term investors in mind, and Robinhood is still a big favorite among the short-term trader crowd. To its credit, Robinhood has done a great job of expanding long-term solutions, such as retirement accounts, in recent years.

SoFi is more of a one-stop financial shop, essentially designed to replace users' banks and brokers if they choose to do so. Robinhood is designed to be an investment platform. The best choice for you depends on your goals and the features that matter the most.

Our brokerage rating methodology

At Motley Fool Money, 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

FAQs

  • Both SoFi Invest® and Robinhood are designed to make investing accessible for average Americans. There are a few major differences, such as the wider variety of financial products available through SoFi's app, as well as the availability of more investment account types through SoFi Invest®. In a nutshell, Robinhood is mainly designed for traders, while SoFi Invest®'s focus is on long-term investing.

  • You can easily transfer stocks from SoFi Invest® to Robinhood, but SoFi will charge a $100 external account transfer fee. This is quite normal in the brokerage industry. Robinhood may even reimburse you the transfer fee, up to $75 for transfers of $7,500 or more.