M1 Finance and Webull are prominent stock trading apps used by many American traders. M1 Finance is known for its pie charts, which clearly break down exactly where all your finances are at any given time. Webull is known to have extremely low cost trading. But which app is the best, in our opinion?
Read on to find out.
The facts:
- Founded in 2016 in the United States
- Founder: Brian Barnes
- Tradable assets: stocks and ETFs
- Available in the U.S.
- Fees: low overall, but to access more tools $125 per year for M1 Plus. Inactivity fee.
- Mobile and web availability
- Founded in 2017
- Founder: Wang Anquan
- Tradable assets: stocks, options, ETFs, and positions of cryptocurrency
- Available in the U.S., China, Japan, India, and a handful of other countries.
- Fees: no trading fees, $75 full/partial transfer fee, no account minimum,
- Mobile and desktop availability
The Robo-Advisor Hybrid
Recently many robo-advisors and hands-off investing apps have been making a huge splash. But M1 Finance differs from robo-advisor platforms like Wealthfront because investors can make more choices with their money. Users can trade individual stocks and ETFs, select pre-made “pies” (like ETFs created by M1), or do a mix of both.
We like the flexibility M1 Finance gives users who want to do more than just one type of investing. Everything on M1 is highly customizable—investors can even build pies within pies. This makes it easy to tailor the experience to whatever best fits your needs.
Image: Webull has a desktop and mobile platform, both of which have good charts and data access. Webull is better for moderate to advanced traders who want to use more complex tools that new investors might not be ready for. Image from webullapp.com
Free Trading on Webull
Webull is very different from M1. First of all, it’s not for the hands-off investor. Rather, it’s for the active, savvy investor who wants the lowest cost app out there.
While you’ll have to pay for M1 finance if you want more advanced features, Webull is a free trading app that might work better for investors who want a bare-bones, extremely low cost solution. Considered one of the biggest competitors to Robinhood, Webull is part of the race to the bottom that many trading apps have undergone in recent years.
Investors don’t have to pay to trade options, which is rare, even in the world of free investing. For this reason, Webull might be a perfect fit for your investing needs.
Follow Expert Pies
One of the great things about M1 Finance is that you can see what the experts are up to. The “expert pies” can be easily applied to your own portfolio. This feature is great for beginning investors who want to make smart investments but might not want to risk doing all the investing themselves. Instead, they can pick pre-made pies and let other investors do the hard work for them.
Image: Pie charts are the bread and butter of M1 Finance. We like that the pies automatically rebalance, so you don’t have to worry about watching the markets or making big moves on your own. The expert pies, which are pre-made pies in different categories, are another major advantage. Image from m1finance.com.
Invest Without Thinking About It
When you set up your investments through M1 Finance, you can make automatic contributions so you don’t have to think about it again. Simply set the percentages of your pie and then your portfolio automatically rebalances. The beauty of using a robo-advisor is that you don’t have to worry about tracking the markets or paying attention to what to buy and what to sell. Just put money into M1, and it handles everything for you!
You can also set rules for rebalancing. For example, you can tell your portfolio to invest the extra cash every time your cash account hits a certain number.
M1 Spend and Borrow
M1 Finance also offers a cash management portion of their app—M1 Spend. This section of the app allows users to keep cash in the app so it’s ready to go for easy transfers. However, there do not seem to be many benefits of using M1 Spend unless you pay for M1 Plus ($125 a year).
The free version of M1 Spend offers easy movement of money between Invest, Spend, and Borrow, as well as a Visa debit card. If you want to earn interest, open custodial accounts, earn cash back, and take out loans at better rates, you’ll have to upgrade. We recommend keeping your money in a traditional bank rather than using M1 Spend.
M1 Finance also offers low interest rates for users to borrow money. They allow you to borrow against your investments, so you can borrow the money you need while still making investments. They offer lower interest rates to M1 Plus members.
Image: Commission-free trading is commonplace amongst investing apps now, but Webull keeps even their option trades completely free. They also offer more advanced trading tools than apps like Robinhood have. Image from webullapp.com.
Education and Charts
Both M1 and Webull have pretty good charts and data, but M1 is the only option for true beginners. M1 has a blog full of articles for investors who want to learn about the world of investing. They also have a newsletter called The Investor’s Mindset that helps investors learn to build tiny habits, take ownership over their investment strategy, and more.
Webull, on the other hand, doesn’t have many educational tools available but still has quality charts that moderate to experienced investors can use to help guide their trades. For investors who are just starting out, they’ll have to find educational tools elsewhere.
Freedom on Webull
One of the major advantages of Webull is that there aren’t many restrictions on what you can do. Users can day trade, trade on margin, and short sell without any penalties. This makes Webull a great low-cost option for traders who want to make riskier investment moves.
However, this lack of restrictions does not make it an ideal environment for beginners. We recommend Webull for moderate to advanced investors who understand the risks of trading on margin.
Webull made our list for best U.S. Day Trading Apps. See why!
Image: M1 Finance focuses on building tools that help investors take control of their finances. They have robo-advisor capabilities as well as do-it-yourself trading. Image from m1finance.com.
Usability
M1 and Webull both have sleek, simple apps that are easy to use on mobile. We like M1 Finance’s desktop better than Webull’s however, because of the clear and easy pie displays and advanced features. But, with similarly simple layouts, you can’t really go wrong with either of the apps’ usability.
Our View
Overall, we believe M1 Finance is the better investment app. You can still execute single stock trades for free like you would on Webull, but investors have the added benefit of using the robo-advisor features on M1. We like how easy to understand and visually appealing the pies are, and think the automatic rebalancing feature is a huge benefit. Overall, M1 Finance is the better option of the two.
Image: M1 Finance is still new on the scene. On their website, you can find a timeline of all their major accomplishments and milestones since their founding. In March of 2021, they had a successful round of Series D funding, coming in at $75 million. Image from m1finance.com.
Q&A
Is Webull legit?
Yes, you can be sure your funds are safe on Webull. They are regulated by the SEC and FINRA.
Is M1 Finance legit?
Yes, you can be sure your funds are safe on M1 Finance. They are regulated by the SEC and FINRA.
Is Webull in the U.S.?
Yes, U.S. traders can trade with Webull.
Is M1 Finance in the U.S.?
Yes, U.S. traders can invest with M1 Finance.
Is M1 Finance a robo-advisor?
Yes, M1 Finance has many robo-advisor elements, like their pre-made pies and portfolios that automatically rebalance. You can also trade individual stocks and ETFs, so you have the freedom to make more choices yourself.
How much is M1 Plus?
M1 Plus costs $125 a year.
Is M1 Finance good for beginners?
Yes, we believe that M1 Finance is a great choice for investors of all skill levels, including beginners. The pie charts and expert portfolios make it easy to understand where your money is going and what professionals are doing with theirs. They have many educational tools and resources as well as automatic portfolio rebalancing. Overall, M1 Finance is a great investing app.
Is Webull good for beginners?
We don’t think Webull is the best choice for beginners. However, Webull is an incredibly low-cost option. If new investors are willing to do their research elsewhere and be cautious with volatile investments, Webull could be a good fit.
Is Webull better than Robinhood?
Webull is a very similar app to Robinhood, so we don’t have a hard and fast recommendation for one over another. But for day traders or investors who want to make riskier trades without penalties, Webull is a better option. And check out our review on Webull vs. Robinhood.
Is M1 Finance better than Robinhood?
We recommend M1 Finance over Robinhood. We like the pie system M1 uses for displaying portfolios, as well as the availability of expert portfolios an
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