Best-Of Awards 2026 Methodologies

Best App for Investing

How we picked the companies to evaluate:

NerdWallet reviewed the mobile apps of 21 online brokerages between July and September 2025. Together these providers constitute the majority of the market for mobile trading based on their assets under management. Some of the providers are NerdWallet partners, but this did not influence our selection of the winner.

How we chose the winner:

NerdWallet evaluated each provider across the weighted criteria below to determine the winner for app for investing:

• Mobile app ratings in the Apple and Google app stores (40%).
• Mobile experience when opening account, navigating and trading (30%).
• Customer support options, including hours of availability by phone, and ease of finding key information on the provider’s app (25%).
• Customizable stock baskets or portfolios (5%).

In the event of a tie, we directly compare the broker’s execution quality. The one with the higher execution quality wins.

How we verified our data:

NerdWallet writers sent detailed questions to all reviewed companies. NerdWallet writers and editors also confirmed fees, rates, policies and other key features on each company's website.


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