Best Brokers for Beginners
Fidelity for almost every beginner: zero-fee index funds, no minimum, and it can hold your IRA too. Wealthfront if you would rather not choose funds at all. Robinhood only if a simple interface is what gets you started.
Best Brokers for Beginners
Nothing we can price
None of these carry the figures needed to rank them for your situation yet.
Compared side by side
3 compared on the 3 things that decide it. A blank cell means we could not confirm the answer, not that the answer is no.
| Provider | Commission | Account minimum | Offers IRA |
|---|---|---|---|
 Fidelity Best overall | — | — | — |
| Wealthfront Best hands-off | — | — | — |
 Robinhood Simplest to start | — | — | — |
Every offer, priced the same way
Ranked by what it costs you over a year. The arithmetic behind each figure is shown so you can check it. Offers we could not price are listed at the bottom with the reason.
1. Fidelity — Fidelity
Best overall
Zero-expense-ratio index funds, no minimum, and retirement accounts in the same place.
Priced from national figures.
2. Wealthfront — Wealthfront
Best hands-off
Picks and rebalances a portfolio for you, for a small annual fee.
Priced from national figures.
3. Robinhood — Robinhood
Simplest to start
The lowest-friction path to a first trade, with fewer account types on offer.
Priced from national figures.
How we ranked these
We compare commissions, account minimums, the cost of the cheapest broad index fund, whether fractional shares are supported, and which retirement accounts are offered.