Betterment vs Acorns

Betterment is a great robo-advisor for beginners with low fees, good tools, and tax strategies. How does it compare to Acorns? Read our comparison chart below.

Betterment offers automatic investing starting at an annual fee of 0.25% of your account balance. There is no fee to open an account and no minimum deposit required. All balances get automatic rebalancing, tax loss harvesting, and access to financial experts.

While Acorns is geared towards young investors who have trouble saving. This investment app automatically rounds up and invests your spare change whenever you make a purchase. The service fee is waived for college students. Otherwise, the fee starts at $1/month for accounts under $5,000. There is no minimum to open.

Compare Betterment with Acorns, side-by-side. Read on for an in-depth look, including ratings, reviews, pros and cons.

	Betterment	Acorns
	SPECIAL OFFER Get up to 1 Year Managed Free - Learn More Read Betterment Review	SPECIAL OFFER $5 Sign-Up Bonus - Learn More Read Acorns Review
	Benefits and Features
Stock Trading		Part of service fee. Free for college students for 4 years. No add-on trading fees.
Savings		No
Annual Fee	0.25% for accounts under $100,000; 0.40% for accounts $100,000+	Free for college students; $1/mo for Acorns; $2/mo for Acorns + Acorns Later; $3/mo for Acorns + Acorns Later + Acorns Spend
Minimum Deposit	$0	$0
Phone Support	Yes	Yes
Live Chat Support	No	No
Email Support	Yes	Yes
Human Advisors	Yes	No
Robo Advisor
Assets Under Management	$14 Billion	$528 Million
Tax Loss Harvesting	Yes	No
Goal Tracker	Yes	Yes
Automatic Deposits	Yes	Yes
Online Platform	Yes	Yes
iPhone App	Yes	Yes
Android App	Yes	Yes
Banking		Acorns Spend checking account comes with a debit card and has no minimum balance requirement, no overdraft fees, and unlimited free or fee-reimbursed ATMs nationwide. $3/mo for Acorns + Acorns Later + Acorns Spend.
Mobile App		Yes
Single Stock Diversification	No	No
Fractional Shares	Yes	Yes
Taxable Accounts	Yes	Yes
401k Plans	Yes	No
IRA Accounts	Yes	Yes
Roth IRA Accounts	Yes	Yes
SEP IRA Accounts	Yes	Yes
Trust Accounts	Yes	No
529 Plans	No	No
	CreditDonkey® Reviews
Annual Fee
Minimum Deposit
Human Advisors
Customer Service
Pros & Cons	Pros: No minimum investment Many customized portfolios Automatically invest extra funds Cons: Limited investment options High fees for large investors	Pros: No minimum investment Invest with spare change Free for college students Cons: Fees are high for small balances No tax benefits Limited investment options
Bottom Line	Great robo-advisor for beginners with low fees, good tools, and tax strategies... Read full review	Investment app that automatically invests your spare change. Good for young investors to get into the habit... Read full review
	Get up to 1 Year Managed Free Get 1 Month Managed Free Get 6 Months Managed Free	$5 Sign-Up Bonus Try Acorns Today!
What Others View		Stash Robinhood
Blank fields may indicate the information is not available, not applicable, or not known to CreditDonkey. Please visit the product website for details. Betterment: Pricing information from published website as of 04/04/2018 Acorns: Pricing information from published website as of 04/05/2019.

Which is Better: Betterment or Acorns?

Still need help deciding which investing is better? Read the in-depth reviews below. You may also be interested in comparing Betterment or Ally Invest.

In short: Betterment's annual fee and customer service are noteworthy.

Articles on Betterment

Betterment Investing
Betterment offers low fees and good returns. But there are risks you should NOT ignore. Read this review to see if Betterment is better?
• Betterment vs Wealthfront
• Betterment vs Vanguard Personal Advisor
• Betterment vs Robinhood

Articles on Acorns

Acorns Review
Acorns automatically invests your spare change, so you can invest without thinking. It's great for novice investors, but there are downsides. Read on.
• Acorns vs Stash

Comments

• Olivia Tabor
  on April 9, 2019 7:02 AM said about Acorns:

  I have both Acorns and Robinhood and even though they each serve a different purpose I don't have the freedom of stock purchase that I really like. I believe Acorns diversifies for my needs more effectively.

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