Top 3 Free Stock Investment Platforms

You may be surprised to find that the last few years has yielded quite a few developments in the stock investing world. Namely, free investment platforms have popped up to buy stocks with. Gone are the days of paying 1% per year just to request to buy stocks on a platform, or paying monthly fees, or paying fees for every stock you trade.

If you currently use a platform with fees, you should really look at the costs. If you have a sizable investment account, you could be paying at least thousands in fees. Turns out using modern computing, there is no reason for you to pay out thousands. They can make all the money they need from other means, like investing the spare cash on their platform, benefiting from leverage, and offering other services beyond investing.

Of course, being a new idea in a slow-to-change financial industry, there are only a few platforms truly leading the pack. Other sites will give you a list of “free stock investment sites” but the only free option a few of them offer is to buy their own ETFs, which have their own built in fees upwards of 1%, so really there is nothing free about them. So we’ve narrowed it down to 3 actual free platforms. Choose your favorite!

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Our Ranking Criteria for Best Free Investing Platforms:

1. Number of free investing features

We’re of course running a list of free stock investing platforms, so the number one priority is that the platform is free and provides plenty of stock investing options. Unfortunately, some platforms that are free only allow you to invest in their preset funds, which may mean that those funds have built-in investment fees that then the platform gets royalties from. However, our top ranked investment platforms do not have this bias. In fact, they have more unique and useful features than a standard broker.

2. Ease of use

While all investing platforms require some level of research, it is important that you don’t have to be an expert to be a successful investor on these brokerages. In fact, all three of these platforms are decent for first-time investors. Especially if you use auto-portfolio features and invest in a nice diverse portfolio, you should be in good hands with at least the #1 option.

3. Customer support

When it comes to money, it is a given that you’ll need customer support. Our #1 option on the list got back to me to address my unique questions within an hour. They did a great job, spoke English fluently, and made sure to ask how I felt about the service. It was really a productive conversation and resolved my question about the platform.

4. Connection to Other Resources

I use Personal Capital to track all of my finances, so it is of utmost importance that the platforms I use integrate with my financial tracking software, of course while maintaining security. The #1 free investing platform on the list definitely addresses this concern and allows me to aggregate all of my financial accounts.

5. Account options

In addition to the investment options offered on the platform, a good free brokerage needs to offer a range of account options. From taxable accounts, to retirement accounts, to college savings accounts, a good platform offers all of these options.

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