Fidelity vs. Robinhood
Key Points:
• Fidelity and Robinhood offer investing in securities and cryptocurrencies.
• Brokerage and investment-advisory accounts can both be opened.
• Financial planning and full-service managed accounts will only be found at Fidelity.
Need a new broker? Before opening your next account, take a look at our comparison of Robinhood and Fidelity Investments.
Pricing
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Robinhood
|
$0
|
na
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$0 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Fidelity
|
$0
|
$49.95
|
$0.65 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
Services
| Broker Review |
Cost |
Investment Products |
Trading Tools |
Customer Service |
Research |
Overall Rating |
|
Robinhood
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidelity
|
|
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Promotions
Robinhood:
3% deposit match and FREE stock worth up to $200 at Robinhood.
Fidelity: Currently, no promotions.
Investment Services
In brokerage accounts, Fidelity clients can trade the following list of asset classes:
- Stocks
- Options
- ETF's
- Closed-end funds
- Mutual funds
- Cryptocurrencies
- Bonds
Robinhood drops the bonds, closed-end funds, and mutual funds. In their place, it adds futures contracts,
which are unavailable at Fidelity.
In the stock category, Robinhood does not have foreign or OTC stocks; Fidelity does. In the crypto category,
Robinhood has 66 currencies; Fidelity only has 3.
Then there are managed accounts. Both firms have robo programs that use digital advisors. Fidelity's is free for balances below $25k and 0.35% for balances above that level. Robinhood charges a flat 0.25%; only Robinhood includes individual stocks in its automated accounts.
For investors who need more than a computer program, Fidelity offers old-school management from human financial planners. These helpers are available online and at hundreds of branch locations throughout the United States. And for its swankiest of customers, Fidelity has wealth management.
With any managed setup, Fidelity offers insurance and annuities. Robinhood does not, and it has no type of financial planning.
Brokerage and managed accounts both must have some type of registration. Fidelity has Health
Savings Accounts (HSAs), custodial accounts, 529 plans, business accounts, Separately Managed
Accounts (SMAs), youth accounts, charitable giving accounts, estate accounts, and more.
Robinhood has taxable and retirement accounts as well as robo-advisory, trust, and custodial accounts.
Winner: Fidelity
Cash Services
In addition to all of its other accounts, Fidelity offers something called the Cash Management
Account. True to its name, it's designed for cash management, although it is technically a securities
brokerage account (without margin). Besides trading securities, it can write checks and use a debit
card. The card comes with unlimited ATM fee refunds worldwide. The downside is the low APY on
uninvested cash (just 1.82% right now).
Robinhood has another hybrid cash-brokerage account for us. Called the spending account, it comes
with a prepaid card with funding transferred from the spending account. On this account, there are no
paper checks or money market funds, although there is a $2.50 ATM fee. The spending account also pays
no interest, although a regular brokerage account does earn 3.35% APY (with a $5 monthly fee for a Gold subscription).
Despite these weaknesses, Robinhood's spending account does have a few perks we don't find at Fidelity.
Round-ups and shopping bonuses are a few examples.
Winner: Robinhood
Computer Software
For trading and account management, Robinhood has a simple website with graphs that can be displayed the full width of the computer screen. There are a few technical studies and two plot styles. Alerts can be set up for assets, and an infinite number of watchlists can be created.
For a slightly better experience, there is Legend. This is the broker's web-browser platform; it has more technical studies and a lot more graphing tools. Windows for all sorts of tasks can be added and deleted within the workspace.
Fidelity has a browser-based platform, and an active trader platform called Fidelity Trader+™ Desktop. This is a very sophisticated desktop platform that boasts a lot of features that Legend doesn't have. For example, we found a multi-account trade ticket, more technical studies, direct-access routing, and time-and-sales data.
Fidelity's website can also be used for trading and account management. We found it to be very useful with lots of great option tools; for instance, there are key stats, a probability calculator, options commentary, and more.
Winner: Fidelity
Mobile Apps
Moving on to mobile trading, both firms come through with software for both Apple and Android devices. Both companies have platforms for Apple Watch; only Fidelity has an app designed specifically for iPad.
On Fidelity's phone app, we find order tickets for options, stocks, cryptos, and mutual funds. Alerts can be established, and it's really easy to add an asset to a watchlist. There's a great deal of market news on the app, and customers with a financial planner will find his contact details on the Planning page (look for the Planning icon at the bottom).
Robinhood's app has good resources, although it doesn't quite measure up to Fidelity's software. There is no mobile check deposit on the Robinhood app, for example.
Winner: Fidelity
Margin Trading
Brokerage customers at both firms can sign up for margin trading, which results in several services. At Fidelity, the list includes option spreads, shorting, and buying securities with loans. Robinhood customers can short securities.
To analyze potential margin trades, Fidelity's website (but not Robinhood's site) has a margin calculator. Potential outputs include margin credit, house surplus, and margin equity.
But Robinhood has lower margin rates; the range is 5% and 3.95%. Fidelity's range is 11.825% to 10.075%.
Winner: Robinhood
Additional Services
Periodic Mutual-Fund Investing: Fidelity customers can set up recurring purchases of stocks, ETF's, and mutual funds. Robinhood customers can do the same for stocks, ETF's, and cryptocurrencies.
IPO Service: Available at both firms.
Extended-Hours Trading: Robinhood and Fidelity clients can trade equities before the opening bell and after the closing bell. Robinhood, but not Fidelity, has overnight trading.
DRIP Service: On tap at both broker-dealers.
Individual Retirement Accounts: An IRA can be opened at either investment firm in this contest. Robinhood has an IRA match, while Fidelity has small-business IRAs.
Fractional-Share Trading: Both brokerage houses offer it.
Fully-Paid Stock Lending: Available at both firms (Fidelity has a $25k minimum).
Winner: Robinhood
Recommendations
Beginners: We suggest a managed account at either firm.
Mutual-Fund Trading: Fidelity's website has lots of great resources for mutual funds.
Small Accounts: For a brokerage account, either firm will do.
Long-Term Investing & Retirement Saving: Fidelity has more resources but only Robinhood has 1%-3% contribution match.
Frequent Stock Trading: We defend Fidelity with Fidelity Trader+™ Desktop.
Promotions
Robinhood:
3% deposit match and FREE stock worth up to $200 at Robinhood.
Fidelity: Currently, no promotions.
Fidelity vs Robinhood Result
Fidelity is clearly the better choice for investment management, but for self-directed trading, it
Robinhood performs better than Fidelity in many cases.
Updated on 2/4/2026.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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