M1 Finance and Robinhood are both redefining what modern-day investing looks like.
Both online brokerages offer free trades and excellent mobile applications to manage portfolios. However, there are some key differences with M1 Finance vs Robinhood. For starters, M1 offers automated investing in the form of “pies” where users can decide where they’d like their funds to be invested. In terms of tradable products, Robinhood offers limited options trading, where as M1 Finance does not. However, M1 offers bond trading, and Robinhood does not offer bond trading.
Both brokers offer a browser-based platform as well as a very popular mobile app. With that said, if we have to choose between M1 and Robinhood, we will pick M1 Finance every time. Neither M1 nor Robinhood offer super advanced trading capabilities (like futures trading), so both brokers are best for passive long stock and bond investing.
However, since this is what both M1 and Robinhood are best used for, M1 offers way more for the traditional passive investor than Robinhood, and M1 does it entirely for free.
The level of service offered at M1 is should not be free, but it is.
See the key differences and similarities below.
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M1 Finance vs Robinhood 2018 |
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M1 Finance |
Robinhood |
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Overall |
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Commissions & Fees |
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Customer Service |
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Trading Platforms |
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Mobile App |
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Overall Ease of Use |
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Promotion Value |
N/A |
N/A |
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M1 Finance |
Robinhood |
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Minimum Deposit |
$100 |
$0 |
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Stock Trade Fee |
FREE |
FREE |
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Options Ticket Charge |
N/A |
FREE |
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Options per Contract Fee |
N/A |
FREE |
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Mutual Fund Fee |
N/A |
FREE |
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Market Data Fee |
FREE |
FREE |
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Wire fee (outgoing) |
$25 |
$25 |
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Inactivity fee |
NONE |
NONE |
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M1 Finance |
Robinhood |
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Stocks |
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Options |
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Futures |
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Forex |
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Bonds |
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OTC Stocks |
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Penny Stocks |
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Options on Futures |
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Forex |
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Mutual Funds |
0 |
0 |
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International Trading |
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Advisor Services |
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M1 Finance |
Robinhood |
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Web-based |
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Mobile App |
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Downloadable (Mac) |
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Downloadable (PC) |
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Real-time Level II data |
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Real-time Charting |
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Historical Option Data |
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Options Analysis |
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iPad App |
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M1 Finance |
Robinhood |
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In-person Branches |
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Customer Service hours |
9-5 CT, M-F |
Email Only |
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Sum of Client Balances |
$100m+ |
$100m+ |
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Member SIPC |
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Savings Account |
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Checking Account |
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Free Online Banking |
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M1 Finance |
Robinhood |
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Under $25K |
N/A |
N/A |
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$25K-$50K |
N/A |
N/A |
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$50K-$100K |
N/A |
N/A |
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$100K-$250K |
N/A |
N/A |
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$250K-$500K |
N/A |
N/A |
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$500K-$1M |
N/A |
N/A |
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Above $1M |
N/A |
N/A |
When using both M1 and Robinhood, one thing became abundantly clear, Robinhood is full of hidden fees and M1 isn’t. To trade options or trade on margin (or to use basic features that virtually all other online brokers offer for free), Robinhood charges monthly fees based on account size. Read more about these fees here. Plus, M1’s take on offering a robo-advisor service mixed with the flexibility of DIY investing is just awesome, and it comes at no charge to the user.
