NerdWallet, Inc. is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. Its articles, interactive tools and other content are provided to you for free, as self-help tools and for informational purposes only. They are not intended to provide investment advice. NerdWallet does not and cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information in regard to your individual circumstances. Examples are hypothetical, and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific investment issues. Our estimates are based on past market performance, and past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.
We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence. And while our site doesn’t feature every company or financial product available on the market, we’re proud that the guidance we offer, the information we provide and the tools we create are objective, independent, straightforward — and free.
So how do we make money? Our partners compensate us. This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. Here is a list of our partners.
Charles Schwab vs. Robinhood: 2026 Comparison
Schwab and Robinhood are both big names among online brokers. But which one will be the best fit for your investing preferences? I compared each broker’s mobile app experience, investment selection and more to help you decide.
Bella Avila is an editor and content strategist on the investing and taxes team at NerdWallet. Previously, she was a copy editing intern at NerdWallet through the Dow Jones News Fund internship program. Bella graduated from The University of Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree in journalism. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Arielle O’Shea leads the investing, advisory and taxes content teams at NerdWallet. She has covered personal finance and investing for 20 years, and was a senior writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet before becoming an editor. Previously, she was a researcher and reporter for leading personal finance journalist and author Jean Chatzky, a role that included developing financial education programs, interviewing subject matter experts and helping to produce television and radio segments. Arielle has appeared on the "Today" show, NBC News and ABC's "World News Tonight," and has been quoted in national publications including The New York Times, MarketWatch and Bloomberg News. She is based in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Published in
Updated
How is this page expert verified?
NerdWallet's content is fact-checked for accuracy, timeliness and relevance. It undergoes a thorough review process involving writers and editors to ensure the information is as clear and complete as possible.
After testing both Schwab and Robinhood hands-on, I honestly didn’t find all that much to complain about for either broker. I could have guessed this, since they each score high in our broker analysis — Schwab earns a 4.9, and Robinhood earns a 4.5. But I will say, I think they appeal to very different kinds of investors. Here are my takeaways.
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities.
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities.
Schwab and Robinhood cater to their audiences, and that’s very apparent when using their mobile apps. It’s no surprise that Schwab’s mobile app is simple — that’s fairly typical for a legacy broker. But as someone who actively seeks out simplicity when I’m shopping for brokers, Schwab was a little bare-bones even for my taste.
Sure, you can get everything you need done in the app: see your account balance and any gains or losses, transfer money, place a trade, and check in on the performance of popular indexes. But if you’re looking for an all-in-one place where you can learn about investing alongside actually placing a trade, Schwab’s educational content won’t be as front-and-center as you may want. The app feels like it’s meant for someone who already knows their basics.
On the other hand, I found Robinhood’s app to have lots of bells and whistles, but they weren’t necessarily for beginners. That doesn’t mean it’s not highly intuitive to use (it is). You can be a casual investor and have Robinhood be your go-to, but to be honest, I feel like that’s just not the user base Robinhood is geared toward.
Like Schwab, all the basic functions are easily accessible: your portfolio details, transferring money, etc. But below the portfolio overview on the homepage, I stumbled upon a section dedicated to prediction markets, information on options trading and a “cryptos to watch” list. All things that may be enticing for a more adventurous trader, but were a little outside my comfort zone as a passive investor.
The bottom line: Schwab may be a good fit for a long-term investor who doesn’t need a lot of hand-holding and just wants a simple platform. Robinhood is for the mobile-first investor who may be interested in more than just setting up auto-buy on a few funds.
Nerdy Perspective
Alana Benson
Editor & Content Strategist
Schwab's app felt a little clunky, like it comes from an old-school institution rather than a flashy new company. From sign-up to finish, it took me a day plus 23 minutes to buy stock. There weren’t any tooltips or help along the way or guidance on what stock to buy. (There is an insights and education section; it’s just not along your path as you go to buy a stock.) If you’re a total beginner looking for some guidance, you may want to look outside the Schwab app.
Schwab's app felt a little clunky, like it comes from an old-school institution rather than a flashy new company. From sign-up to finish, it took me a day plus 23 minutes to buy stock. There weren’t any tooltips or help along the way or guidance on what stock to buy. (There is an insights and education section; it’s just not along your path as you go to buy a stock.) If you’re a total beginner looking for some guidance, you may want to look outside the Schwab app.
Alana Benson
Editor & Content Strategist
Sam Taube
Lead Writer
Robinhood pioneered the streamlined, "swipe to execute" trading interface that many mobile-oriented brokers have since copied, and it still offers that experience — I was able to buy some fractional shares of the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF (BND) in less than 10 seconds after opening the app. For the sake of variety, I also decided to try out their prediction markets this year; I bought a "yes" position on 50 event contracts predicting that the Fed will make exactly three interest rate cuts this year. The app routed me through several disclosures and questionnaires before approving me for event contract trading and allowing me to buy, but even this felt like a quick and comfortable experience.
Robinhood pioneered the streamlined, "swipe to execute" trading interface that many mobile-oriented brokers have since copied, and it still offers that experience — I was able to buy some fractional shares of the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF (BND) in less than 10 seconds after opening the app. For the sake of variety, I also decided to try out their prediction markets this year; I bought a "yes" position on 50 event contracts predicting that the Fed will make exactly three interest rate cuts this year. The app routed me through several disclosures and questionnaires before approving me for event contract trading and allowing me to buy, but even this felt like a quick and comfortable experience.
Sam Taube
Lead Writer
Alana Benson
Editor & Content Strategist
Schwab's app felt a little clunky, like it comes from an old-school institution rather than a flashy new company. From sign-up to finish, it took me a day plus 23 minutes to buy stock. There weren’t any tooltips or help along the way or guidance on what stock to buy. (There is an insights and education section; it’s just not along your path as you go to buy a stock.) If you’re a total beginner looking for some guidance, you may want to look outside the Schwab app.
Schwab's app felt a little clunky, like it comes from an old-school institution rather than a flashy new company. From sign-up to finish, it took me a day plus 23 minutes to buy stock. There weren’t any tooltips or help along the way or guidance on what stock to buy. (There is an insights and education section; it’s just not along your path as you go to buy a stock.) If you’re a total beginner looking for some guidance, you may want to look outside the Schwab app.
Alana Benson
Editor & Content Strategist
Sam Taube
Lead Writer
Robinhood pioneered the streamlined, "swipe to execute" trading interface that many mobile-oriented brokers have since copied, and it still offers that experience — I was able to buy some fractional shares of the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF (BND) in less than 10 seconds after opening the app. For the sake of variety, I also decided to try out their prediction markets this year; I bought a "yes" position on 50 event contracts predicting that the Fed will make exactly three interest rate cuts this year. The app routed me through several disclosures and questionnaires before approving me for event contract trading and allowing me to buy, but even this felt like a quick and comfortable experience.
Robinhood pioneered the streamlined, "swipe to execute" trading interface that many mobile-oriented brokers have since copied, and it still offers that experience — I was able to buy some fractional shares of the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF (BND) in less than 10 seconds after opening the app. For the sake of variety, I also decided to try out their prediction markets this year; I bought a "yes" position on 50 event contracts predicting that the Fed will make exactly three interest rate cuts this year. The app routed me through several disclosures and questionnaires before approving me for event contract trading and allowing me to buy, but even this felt like a quick and comfortable experience.
Sam Taube
Lead Writer
Alana Benson
Editor & Content Strategist
Schwab's app felt a little clunky, like it comes from an old-school institution rather than a flashy new company. From sign-up to finish, it took me a day plus 23 minutes to buy stock. There weren’t any tooltips or help along the way or guidance on what stock to buy. (There is an insights and education section; it’s just not along your path as you go to buy a stock.) If you’re a total beginner looking for some guidance, you may want to look outside the Schwab app.
Schwab's app felt a little clunky, like it comes from an old-school institution rather than a flashy new company. From sign-up to finish, it took me a day plus 23 minutes to buy stock. There weren’t any tooltips or help along the way or guidance on what stock to buy. (There is an insights and education section; it’s just not along your path as you go to buy a stock.) If you’re a total beginner looking for some guidance, you may want to look outside the Schwab app.
Alana Benson
Editor & Content Strategist
Sam Taube
Lead Writer
Robinhood pioneered the streamlined, "swipe to execute" trading interface that many mobile-oriented brokers have since copied, and it still offers that experience — I was able to buy some fractional shares of the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF (BND) in less than 10 seconds after opening the app. For the sake of variety, I also decided to try out their prediction markets this year; I bought a "yes" position on 50 event contracts predicting that the Fed will make exactly three interest rate cuts this year. The app routed me through several disclosures and questionnaires before approving me for event contract trading and allowing me to buy, but even this felt like a quick and comfortable experience.
Robinhood pioneered the streamlined, "swipe to execute" trading interface that many mobile-oriented brokers have since copied, and it still offers that experience — I was able to buy some fractional shares of the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF (BND) in less than 10 seconds after opening the app. For the sake of variety, I also decided to try out their prediction markets this year; I bought a "yes" position on 50 event contracts predicting that the Fed will make exactly three interest rate cuts this year. The app routed me through several disclosures and questionnaires before approving me for event contract trading and allowing me to buy, but even this felt like a quick and comfortable experience.
Sam Taube
Lead Writer
Investment selection
Both Schwab and Robinhood offer a broad investment selection, giving users access to a range of stocks, ETFs, options and futures. But this is another category in which I’d give Schwab the win for long-term investors and Robinhood the win for investors looking for a thrill.
Schwab gives investors access to mutual funds and individual bonds, two securities that make up the backbone of many long-term investment portfolios and also happen to be absent from Robinhood’s lineup. (Robinhood offers investors access to bonds through ETFs.)
If you’re interested in speculative investments, that’s where Robinhood has the leg up — at least for now. You can buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum directly in a Robinhood account. And, as I mentioned earlier, if you want to wager on your favorite sports team or an upcoming election, you can do so by trading event contracts on Robinhood.
Schwab seems to be catching up to investing trends, with a Schwab Crypto account on the horizon (at the time of writing, you can only buy crypto-related funds through Schwab’s regular brokerage account — not actual coins). The Wall Street Journal also reported that Schwab will soon break into the prediction markets and offer options contracts that would allow investors to wager on the performance of the S&P 500. Even when these ventures are live, they’ll be thinner than Robinhood’s similar offerings.
Investment selection at a glance
Schwab
Robinhood
Stocks
✔️
✔️
Mutual funds
✔️
✖️
ETFs
✔️
✔️
Individual bonds
✔️
✖️*
Options
✔️
✔️
Futures
✔️
✔️
Event contracts
✖️
✔️
Forex
✔️
✖️
ADRs
✖️
✔️
Crypto
✖️**
✔️
* Robinhood offers access to bond ETFs only. **Investors can only access crypto-related funds right now. Investing in Bitcoin and Ethereum directly will be available when Schwab’s crypto account launches.
Other differences to know about
Interest rate on uninvested cash: While Schwab and Robinhood both offer subpar interest rates on uninvested cash — 0.05% and 0.01%, respectively — a Robinhood Gold account bumps that rate up significantly. The $5 per month subscription unlocks a 3.35% interest rate (at the time of writing), among other perks.
IRA match: If you’re looking to invest for retirement through an IRA, you may be looking toward Schwab at this point for their mutual fund and bond selection and simple mobile app. But don’t totally write off Robinhood. With a Gold subscription, you get a 3% match on IRA contributions — an offer that’s still fairly rare among online brokers. Even without a Gold subscription, you get a 1% match.
Paper trading: Paper trading lets you practice trading with virtual money to get the hang of investing without any risk involved. Schwab offers this feature through their advanced trading platform, thinkorswim (we’ll talk more about this platform later). Robinhood doesn’t offer anything like this.
Data providers: Schwab and Robinhood differ greatly in the number of third-party data providers they partner with. Schwab has the clear edge over Robinhood, with over a dozen data providers compared with Robinhood’s two.
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities.
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities.
Now, I realize learning about the similarities between Schwab and Robinhood may not be quite as helpful in your decision-making process, but there are a few important details I think you should know before opening an account with either broker.
Fees and other costs: Schwab and Robinhood are aligned on the main costs associated with investment accounts. There’s no minimum to open an account at either broker, and they don’t charge annual or inactivity fees. But they differ in some minor ways. Robinhood charges a $100 closing fee, and Schwab doesn’t. However, Robinhood offers cheaper options contracts: $0 for equity options and $0.50 for index options ($0.35 for Gold members) compared with Schwab’s $0.65 fee.
Fractional shares: As the name suggests, fractional shares allow you to buy a portion of a stock or ETF share — often for as little as $1 — rather than a full share, which can sometimes cost hundreds of dollars. While fractional share trading has been available through Robinhood since 2019 (and through many other online brokers for years), Schwab just made fractional shares widely available in June. Previously, Schwab limited fractional shares to S&P 500 companies only.
Active trading platforms: Both Schwab and Robinhood have platforms dedicated to active trading: Robinhood Legend and thinkorswim. If you’ve made it this far in the article, you’ve probably gathered that I’m not big on active trading myself. For a more in-depth look at how these platforms stack up, I’ll direct you to investing writer Sam Taube’s best brokers for day trading roundup, in which Schwab and Robinhood both make an appearance.
Customer support: Both brokers score highly for customer support. How do we measure this? We look at factors like when customer service is available, the level of educational support the brokers offer, and how user-friendly their websites are. Schwab scored 4.7 stars in the customer support department, and Robinhood scored 4.0 stars. We found that Schwab’s customer service is more accessible, and they offer higher-quality educational resources (though they’re a bit hidden in the mobile app, as I mentioned earlier).
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities.
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities.
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities.
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities.
All NerdWallet reviews and lists of the best investing products are created by our editorial team of full-time writers and editors, independent of any business relationships. In this case, our investing team's comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. brokers by assets under management, along with emerging industry players. Our aim is to provide an independent, balanced assessment of brokerages to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgments on which ones will best meet your needs. Our highest priority is maintaining editorial integrity.
We collect data directly from brokerages through detailed questionnaires and conduct first-hand testing and observation through demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the brokerages and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each broker's performance across more than 20 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).
For more details about the categories considered when rating brokers and our process, read our full methodology.
