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Most robo-advisors today charge around 0.25% annually, but a handful still offer genuinely free management – at least at certain balances. In 2026, Fidelity Go and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios stand out as the only true “always free” robo-advisors.
Wealthfront still offers the first $5,000 managed free if you sign up through our promo link, and Vanguard Digital Advisor remains one of the cheapest big-name options. We’ve also included M1 Finance (a DIY automation tool with a $3/month flat fee, waived at $10,000+) and Empower’s free money management tools, which are excellent complements even if they’re not classic robos.
Here are the best options this year:
- $0 advisory fee under $25,000
- Invest with as little as $10
- Portfolios use Fidelity Flex® funds (0% fund expenses)
- Unlimited coaching calls once you reach $25k
- Backed by one of the largest investment firms
- No advisory fee (cash allocation applies)
- $5,000 minimum to start
- Tax-loss harvesting available at $50,000+
- Built with diversified Schwab ETFs
- Trusted brand with strong customer service
- $5,000 Managed Free
- Low Annual Fee (0.25%) after that
- Very Easy to Use
- Socially-Responsible Portfolios
- Excellent Financial Planning Tools
- High-APY HYSA
Best Free & Low-Cost Robo Advisors in 2026
Overview:
- Fidelity Go: Free for up to $25,000, then 0.35%
- Schwab Intelligent Portfolios: 100% Free (kind of)
- Wealthfront: Free for the first $5,000, then 0.25%
- Empower: Free Financial & Investing Dashboard
- M1 Finance: $3/month (waived at $10,000+)
- Vanguard Digital Advisor: Free for 3 months, then 0.20%
Fidelity Go
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Cost: Free up to $25,000, then 0.35%
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Minimum: $10
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Investments: Fidelity Flex® mutual funds (0% fund expenses).
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Extras: Unlimited 1:1 coaching calls if you have $25k+.
Quick Highlights:
- Free up to $25,000, then 0.35%
- Fidelity is a household name
- Very low minimum deposit
Fidelity Go is the closest thing to a genuinely free robo-advisor in 2026. You can start investing with as little as $10, and there are no advisory fees at all until your balance hits $25,000 – which is why we picked Fidelity Go as the platform to test with a $20,000 deposit in our hands-on review.
Once you cross that threshold, the fee is a flat 0.35%. Portfolios are built from Fidelity Flex® mutual funds, which carry zero expense ratios, so there’s no hidden cost in the funds themselves.
While you don’t get the bells and whistles of more expensive robos – no tax-loss harvesting or custom ETFs – you do get a straightforward, low-cost way to start investing.
If your account grows to $25k or more, you’ll also get unlimited one-on-one coaching calls with Fidelity advisors, making Fidelity Go one of our favorite hybrid robo-advisors.
For new investors who just want their money managed with no strings attached, Fidelity Go is hard to beat.
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios
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Cost: $0
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Minimum: $5,000
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Investments: Broad ETF portfolios with a required cash allocation.
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Extras: Tax-loss harvesting available at $50k+.
Quick Highlights:
- Best for $0 Fees at Higher Balances
- Automatic tax-loss harvesting available
- Various account types to choose from
Charles Schwab’s robo-advisor, Intelligent Portfolios, is another option with no advisory fee. The minimum to get started is $5,000, which makes it better suited to investors with a larger starting balance.
Schwab builds portfolios from a wide range of low-cost ETFs, automatically rebalances for you, and even offers tax-loss harvesting if you invest at least $50,000 and opt in.
The trade-off is the required cash allocation – Schwab keeps a portion of your portfolio in cash, which can lower your returns compared to other robos. Still, for investors who already have an account at Schwab or want an easy way to invest without ongoing fees, Intelligent Portfolios is a solid choice.
Think of it as “free” management that comes with a small hidden cost, but for many long-term investors, that compromise is worth it.
Wealthfront
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Cost: Free up to $5,000, then 0.25%
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Minimum: $500
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Investments: Broad mix of ETFs, with automated rebalancing.
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Extras: Tax-loss harvesting, direct indexing, financial planning tools, and a 3.30% APY Cash Account.
Quick Highlights:
- Manage up to $5,000 for free
- 3.30% APY Cash Account
- $500 account minimum
Wealthfront is one of the most popular robo-advisors, offering a strong balance of low cost and advanced features.
Normally, it charges a flat 0.25% annual advisory fee, but with our promo link you can get your first $5,000 managed for free. We put Wealthfront through a $10,000 hands-on test if you want the full breakdown.
Portfolios include a broad mix of ETFs, and Wealthfront is known for its sophisticated tax-loss harvesting on taxable accounts, with direct indexing available at higher balances.
The platform also comes with one of the best digital financial planning tools on the market, called Path, which helps you set goals for retirement, saving for a house, or even planning for college costs.
On top of investing, Wealthfront offers a Cash Account currently yielding 3.30% APY.
For investors looking for free management on a starter balance and solid tools beyond that, Wealthfront is an excellent fit.
Empower
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Cost: Free Tools
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Minimum: $0
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Extras: Budgeting, retirement planning, investment analysis.
Quick Highlights:
- Free retirement planner
- Track all of your finances in one app
- Save money on 401(k) fees
Empower (formerly Personal Capital) isn’t technically a robo-advisor, but its free financial dashboard is one of the most useful tools you can use alongside investing.
You can link all of your accounts – checking, savings, retirement, and investment – and Empower gives you a consolidated view of your net worth, spending, and investment performance. Its retirement planner tool is especially strong, helping you model out different scenarios and track whether you’re on pace to meet your goals.
Empower also offers fee analysis on your portfolio to highlight where you might be paying too much in fund expenses or advisor costs. While its paid Wealth Management service starts at $100,000 minimum with a 0.89% fee, the free dashboard remains valuable on its own.
For anyone who wants to get a clearer picture of their money, it’s a must-have companion tool.
M1 Finance
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Cost: $3/month (waived if you keep $10,000+)
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Minimum: $100
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Investments: Custom “pies” of ETFs and stocks.
Quick Highlights:
- Start investing with $100
- Invest and rebalance your portfolio automatically
- Build a custom stock portfolio
M1 Finance isn’t a robo-advisor in the traditional sense, but it earns a place on this list because it combines automation with no advisory fees.
Instead of paying an AUM fee, M1 charges a $3 monthly platform fee, which is waived if you keep at least $10,000 invested. Investors build custom portfolios called “pies,” which can include ETFs, individual stocks, or pre-built expert pies. Once your pie is set, M1 automates deposits, dividend reinvestments, and rebalancing.
What’s missing is classic robo-advisor functionality like goal-based planning or tax-loss harvesting – M1 is better for investors who want control over their portfolio but still appreciate automated execution.
If you’re comfortable picking your own investments and want to avoid AUM fees, M1 can be one of the cheapest ways to invest at scale – see our $10,000 M1 Finance review for how the pies and automation hold up in practice.
Vanguard Digital Advisor
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Cost: 90 Days Free, then 0.20%
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Minimum: $100
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Investments: Vanguard index funds.
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Extras: Personalized retirement planning and portfolio projections.
Quick Highlights:
- 90 Days Free, Then Only 0.20%
- Offers ESG (socially responsible) Portfolios
- Best for Retirement Planning
Vanguard’s Digital Advisor is a low-cost robo option from one of the biggest names in investing. After a 90-day free trial, you’ll pay an annual fee of just 0.20%, which is among the cheapest advisory fees on the market.
You can start with as little as $100, and your money is invested in Vanguard’s low-cost index funds, keeping costs minimal across the board. The platform offers a clear digital experience that focuses on long-term investing and retirement planning, including projections for your goals and straightforward rebalancing.
Unlike some competitors, there’s no tax-loss harvesting feature, but Vanguard Digital Advisor is a clean, budget-friendly way to invest, especially if you’re already a Vanguard customer.
It doesn’t try to do everything, but for long-term investors who value simplicity and rock-bottom fees, it’s a top contender.
Free & Cheap Robo Advisors Compared
| Robo Advisor | Fee | Minimum | Read More |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fidelity Go | Free under $25,000; 0.35% at $25,000+ | $10 | Visit |
| Schwab Intelligent Portfolios | No advisory fee (cash allocation applies) | $5,000 | Visit |
| Wealthfront | First $5,000 free (with promo), then 0.25% | $500 | Visit |
| Empower | Free financial dashboard & tools | $0 | Visit |
| M1 Finance | No advisory fee; $3/mo platform fee (waived with $10,000+) | $100 | Visit |
| Vanguard Digital Advisor | 90 days free, then 0.20% | $100 | Visit |
Are Free Robo Advisors Really Free?
Well, yes and no. Many offer premium paid services in addition to their free service (a “freemium” model,) while others might hold a larger share of your portfolio in funds or cash that earn them interest on your money. You’ll often still pay fund management fees, although those are usually minimal, as most robo advisors keep your investment in low-cost funds. “Free” means you aren’t paying the robo advisor a management fee.
Take Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, the most-cited “free” robo-advisor on this list. There’s no advisory fee, but Schwab’s cash allocations run 6% to 30% of your portfolio depending on risk profile, earning a rate that Morningstar flags as “just under the federal-funds rate” – a real drag on long-term returns even though no line item ever says “fee” (Morningstar Manager Research, 2025 Robo-Advisor Report, published January 30, 2025). Free management doesn’t mean free of cost – it means the cost moved somewhere less visible.
Check a provider’s current SEC filing against its marketing page, too, before assuming “free” or “$0” is still accurate. SoFi Wealth’s currently effective wrap fee brochure (dated March 27, 2026) states its Robo Investing fee is a flat, “non-negotiable” 0.25% annually – and an adversarial search of that brochure and SoFi’s Part 2A disclosure brochure, filed with the SEC, found zero instances of SoFi waiving its own advisory fee for any reason. If SoFi’s live marketing is advertising “$0” or “no advisory fee” robo investing when you read this, that’s a discrepancy between the filing and the pitch, not a fee that has been waived – always check the filed brochure, not just the landing page, before assuming a robo is genuinely free.
Fidelity Go works similarly at the top end: it’s genuinely free under $25,000, but per Fidelity’s own Form ADV brochure, once your balance hits $25,000 the 0.35% fee applies to your entire account balance, not just the amount above the threshold – a cliff, not a marginal rate, and the brochure itself specifically warns against reading it the other way.
None of this makes “free” a bad deal – it’s usually still the cheapest way to start. But fee gaps compound harder than they look: the SEC’s own example shows a $100,000 portfolio earning a flat 4% a year before fees growing to about $208,000 after 20 years at a 0.25% fee versus about $179,000 at a 1.00% fee (SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, “Understanding Fees”) – real money moved by fee rate alone, same market, same two decades. That’s the number to keep in mind whenever “free” quietly becomes “not quite.”
Bottom Line
If you want a true free robo-advisor, stick with Fidelity Go (as long as your balance is below $25,000), or Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. If you’re okay with “almost free,” Wealthfront’s promo offer (up to $5,000 free) and Vanguard Digital Advisor’s 0.20% fee are great picks.
And if you want to pair investing with free money management tools, M1 Finance and Empower’s dashboard add a lot of value.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the Best Free Robo Advisor?
There is no one “best” free robo advisor; everybody has different financial and investing goals, so you need to figure out which service is best for you. Read the above and determine which robo advisor is best for your individual situation.
What is the Cheapest Robo Advisor?
While it could easily be argued that any of the free robo advisors listed above are inherently the cheapest, we’ll answer the question directly. The cheapest robo advisors, except for the free options, are Vanguard Digital Advisor at 0.20% and Wealthfront at 0.25% (with the first $5,000 managed for free). We believe that Wealthfront fits most investors’ needs, as they’re far more full-featured than Vanguard’s cheap option.
What’s the Average Fee for a Robo Advisor?
Robo advisors range from Free (0.00%) to 1.0% annual fee, but most fall within the 0.25% to 0.50% fee range. All of the robo advisors listed in this article are between free (0.00%) and 0.25%.
Are there any Free Robo Advisors?
Yes, a few robo advisors are free, including Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. Others are free up to a certain balance, such as Wealthfront ($5,000), and Fidelity Go ($25,000). Some services offer free features, like Empower’s Personal Finance Tools.
Will Robo Advisors Replace Financial Advisors?
Robo advisors will replace some financial advisors, but there are many reasons that some investors would need a human financial advisor, including complex and individual financial situations and more complicated planning. Hybrid robo advisors are a combination of algorithmic and human financial planning, which include the best of both worlds for a low fee.
