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Top 10 Robo-Advisors in the US 2025

Updated September 23, 2025

Is a robo-advisor for you? Here’s what you should know and where to find the best robo-advisors.

For expert advice that’s human and highly personalized just for you, Unbiased can connect you to a financial advisor.

What are the best robo advisors?

Thinking about putting your money with a robo-advisor, but not sure which one to pick? It’s a difficult choice, especially if you’re not sure what to look for. 

The best robo-advisors offer low fees, sound portfolio strategy, and robust online tools to maximize investor outcomes. 

Methodology

The best robo-advisors provide the best outcome for customers. Primary factors include fees, quality of portfolio, quality of the provider, financial planning tools, range of services, and national availability. Morningstar’s analysis of portfolios and providers is a contributing factor. 

  • Fees: Advisory fees for robo-advisors should be very low. The median advisory fee for robo-advisors is 0.25%. Several providers don’t charge a fee or charge very low fees. For example, Fidelity Go is free for users with deposits up to $25,000, then charges 0.35% annually. If you want access to a CFP for real advice, you’ll typically need higher account balances, pay a higher fee, or subscribe to a monthly service. 
  • Quality of portfolio: Robo-advisors gather data on client goals, risk tolerance, timeline, and preferences to construct a portfolio. The portfolio construction will be different for each provider. Some will recommend more cash investments, while others have options for crypto investing. The best portfolios demonstrated appropriate asset allocation and clear, well-researched investment strategies.  
  • Quality of provider: A quality provider is thoughtful and focused on long-term outcomes for customers. They have quality leadership and few regulatory missteps. The platform is high-quality. 
  • Financial planning tools: Robo-advisors provide a range of tools to assist with automatic portfolio rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, retirement drawdown, required minimum distributions, tax planning in retirement, and more. The best have the tools you need to reach your financial goals. If you’re nearing retirement, for example, you’ll be looking for a robo-advisor that offers advice when it comes to taxes in retirement, tax-loss harvesting, and more. 
  • Access to a CFP or other professional: The best robo-advisors offer some level of access to a CFP or other financial professional. Some conditions must be met, such as a specific deposit amount, a higher fee, or a monthly subscription. Few offer it without cost.

10 Best Robo Advisors

Vanguard Digital Advisor

Vanguard Digital Advisor
A low-cost, goal-based robo-advisor offering robust tools and high-quality portfolios using Vanguard ETFs.

Fees: Start at 0.20%

Minimum investment: $100

Quality of portfolio: High

Quality of provider: High

Drawdown/Retirement income tools: Yes

Financial planning tools: Tax-loss harvesting, debt payoff calculator, estimated retirement medical calculator, emergency fund tool, and more.

Learn more about Vanguard Digital Advisor

Vanguard Digital Advisor is a straightforward robo-advisor offering attractive fees, high-quality portfolio construction, and a low $100 minimum requirement to get started. 

As per Morningstar, they’re the top robo-advisor. 

Vanguard Digital Advisor builds portfolios using Vanguard ETFs and automatically rebalances based on user goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon. The breadth of services is robust and includes tax-loss harvesting, fractional share trading, and more. To access advice from a CFP, you need at least $50,000 deposited.  

Fidelity Go

Fidelity Go
A beginner-friendly robo-advisor with no minimum to open and no fees for smaller balances.

Fees: $0 for balances under $25,000; 0.35% over that amount

Minimum investment: $10

Quality of portfolio: Above average

Quality of provider: Above average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: No

Learn more about Fidelity Go

Fidelity Go makes it easy to get into investing. 

The robo-advisor has no minimum requirement to open an account and doesn’t charge fees if you have less than $25,000 in the account. You do need at least $10 to start investing. 

Participants in the plan invest in Fidelity Flex mutual funds, which don’t charge a management fee or fund expenses. The streamlined experience and low fees help investors build their wealth. However, Fidelity doesn’t offer tax-loss harvesting or drawdown tools. 

Betterment

Betterment
A well-established robo-advisor with strong portfolios, automated tax-loss harvesting, and tiered pricing.

Fees: 0.25% to 0.65%

Minimum investment: $0

Quality of portfolio: Above average

Quality of provider: Average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: Yes

Learn more about Betterment

Betterment is one of the top robo-advisors for its value, quality portfolio offerings, and streamlined technology. 

Portfolios include low-cost ETFs in several different asset classes, such as US and international stocks, investment-grade bonds, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), and others. 

Betterment uses a glide path to gradually reduce risk as the client nears retirement. The company doesn’t provide access to CFPs, except for customers with more than $100,000 invested. However, Betterment does offer tax-loss harvesting opportunities. 

If you have an automatic deposit of $250 each month, you’ll pay 0.25% each year. However, if you have less than $20,000 invested, you’ll pay $4 per month. 

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios
A zero-fee robo-advisor with broad diversification, but high cash allocation may reduce returns.

Fees: $0 to $30

Minimum investment: $5,000

Quality of portfolio: Below average

Quality of provider: Above average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: Yes

Learn more about Schwab Intelligent Portfolios
Learn more about Charles Schwab financial advisor

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is a top robo-advisor, recognized for its low fees and high-quality portfolio offerings. It doesn’t charge an advisory fee or commissions for the digital-only version, but if you want access to a CFP, you’ll pay $30 per month. You need at least $5,000 to start investing. 

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios uses more than 50 funds from 20 categories in its portfolio construction. These range from gold, commodities, real estate, emerging-markets debt, and traditional index funds. Investors answer questions to match one of 12 risk profiles, after which their portfolios are created. 

Schwab offers tax-loss harvesting, but is known for holding more cash investments than other robo-advisors, which could result in lower returns for investors. 

Wealthfront

Wealthfront
A tech-forward robo-advisor with rich planning tools and aggressive portfolio options.

Fees: 0.25%

Minimum investment: $500

Quality of portfolio: Average 

Quality of provider: Average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: Yes

Learn more about Wealthfront

Wealthfront is one of the top robo-advisors for transparent investment strategy, low fees, and wide-ranging services. 

Portfolios are built from 20 risk levels for taxable, retirement, and socially responsible accounts. The underlying funds used have high ratings with low expense ratios. The minimum investment needed is $500, which is a bit higher than other robo-advisors.    

Wealthfront’s financial planning tools cover topics related to saving, spending, taxes, retirement, Social Security, college planning, and more. 

Morningstar analysis notes that many of Wealthfront’s portfolios are on the aggressive side. Some examples include high allocations to emerging markets ETFs and allowing investors to invest up to 10% of their portfolio in cryptocurrency ETFs.  

SigFig

SigFig
A simple, low-fee robo-advisor with limited transparency and few extra features.

Fees: 0.25%

Minimum investment: $2,000

Quality of portfolio: Below average

Quality of provider: Average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: No

There are no fees for SigFig customers with investments under $10,000. The fee goes to 0.25% for accounts over this amount. 

Portfolios are built using low-cost ETFs and include automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting. However, SigFig isn’t very transparent about what funds it uses in portfolios, which makes it hard to judge. It also doesn’t offer many additional services or educational content to assist customers. 

E-Trade Core Portfolios

E-Trade Core Portfolios
Offers decent ETF portfolios with tax-loss harvesting, though higher fees and weaker risk assessment hurt its appeal.

Fees: 0.30%

Minimum investment: $500

Quality of portfolio: Average

Quality of provider: Below average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: No

E-Trade Core Portfolios has a surprisingly good portfolio construction made up of low-cost ETFs in standard asset classes. However, their risk assessment is lacking and the cost is higher than other robo-advisors.

It does offer tax loss harvesting, but most other services are minimal.

There is a $500 minimum investment to get started.

Fees: 0.30%

Minimum investment: $500

Quality of portfolio: Average

Quality of provider: Below average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: No

Acorns

Acorns
A micro-investing app with easy automation but high effective fees on low balances.

Fees: $3 per month

Minimum investment: $0

Quality of portfolio: Average

Quality of provider: Average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: No

Acorns is a micro-investing platform that allows you to round up your transactions and invest every day. Its robo-advisor has no minimum investment requirement, making it more accessible to many potential customers. Portfolio construction is solid, and there are options to invest in Bitcoin or individual stocks. 

Their fee is $3 per month, which may sound great until you compare it against the average balance of an Acorns user at $1,425. That would make the percentage more comparable to 2.53%, which is approximately 10 times higher than that of most other robo-advisors. 

Merrill Guided Investing

Merrill Guided Investing
A solid option for existing Merrill clients, but fees are on the higher side unless you want advisor access.

Fees: 0.45% to 0.85%

Minimum investment: $1,000

Quality of portfolio: Average

Quality of provider: Average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: Yes

Learn more about Merrill Guided Investing
Learn more about Merrill Edge Self-Directed

Merrill Guided Investing has solid portfolio construction and tax optimization strategies. It has five risk profiles with standard portfolio construction of low-cost ETFs. 

Merrill Guided Investing has standard offerings, but its fees are higher than the rest. You’ll need to pay the higher 0.85% for Merrill Guided Investing with an Advisor to have access to a CFP. At that rate, you might as well hire your own CFP to put together a fully custom financial plan for you. 

SoFi

SoFi Automated Investing
A value pick for SoFi users, offering free CFP access but weaker core ETF quality.

Fees: 0.25%

Minimum investment: $50

Quality of portfolio: Below average

Quality of provider: Below average

Drawdown/retirement income tools: No

Learn more about SoFi Automated Investing

SoFi knows exactly who its target market is when it comes to robo-advising offerings. 

For student loan borrowers who have consolidated their loans with SoFi, there are a number of SoFi’s services on offer as they work toward their next financial goals. 

For investors, there’s a large selection of investments and funds, such as a portfolio focused on wholly sustainable investments. However, some of the newer and more niche ETFs are double or triple the cost of the other core ETFs. 

SoFi’s 0.25% fee includes access to SoFi’s roster of CFPs, which is the primary feature that sets it apart from the rest. Supplementing a robo-advising strategy with real advice from a CFP makes it a great value. 

Best robo advisors for retirement savings

When it comes to retirement savings, you’ll need some robust retirement tools. 

Most robo-advisors are geared toward younger investors, but as they get nearer retirement, it’ll become more important to figure out how to draw down assets. A robo-advisor that can do this differentiates itself for retirement savings. 

The top robo-advisors for retirement savings have this capability. They are as follows:

  1. Vanguard Digital Advisor
  2. Betterment
  3. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios
  4. Wealthfront
  5. Merrill Guided Investing 

How can I find the best robo-advisor?

Robo-advisors need to help you reach your financial goals. 

Realistically, you should take a look at the list of robo-advisors in this article, research a few of your favorites, and make a decision. Getting started sooner rather than later can help you reach your financial goals faster. 

You can also hire a financial advisor to help you decide which robo-advisor to use. They’re familiar with using the providers and these tools. They can give you straightforward advice on how they work and what benefits you could get from a robo-advisor.

Get expert financial advice

Robo-advisors aren’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for the middle ground between self-directed investing and investing with the help of a financial advisor, a robo-advisor could be the right path. 

Unbiased can connect you to a financial advisor who can offer personalized advice for you. Whether you’re nearing retirement, changing jobs, or planning your estate, there’s a wealth of information you can access when you connect with a financial advisor. 

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Content Writer
Alene Laney
Alene Laney is an award-winning journalist for Unbiased, where she breaks down financial topics related to retirement, investing, and banking. She specializes in helping readers make the best decisions for their money with long-form content for brands and consumer publications.