Best-Of Awards 2026 Methodologies

Best Online Broker for Beginning Investors

How we picked the companies to evaluate:

NerdWallet reviewed 21 online brokerages that offer self-directed accounts between July and September 2025. These brokerages constitute the majority of that market 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 beginning investors:

• Customer service, including hours of availability to speak to a human representative by phone, ease of finding key information on the provider’s website, and educational support offerings (30%).
• Investment selection (20%).
• Access to a paper trading account (15%).
• Default sweep interest rate as of August 2025 (10%).
• Mobile app ratings in the Apple and Google app stores (10%).
• Trading platform: ease of use, availability and included tools (7.5%).
• Research and data, including number of third-party providers and quality of research tools (5%).
• Stock-trading commissions (2.5%).

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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