Empower vs. Robinhood Overview
Points to know:
• Empower and Robinhood both offer investments in securities through brokerage and managed accounts.
• Financial planning is available at Empower but not at Robinhood.
• Only Robinhood offers crypto and futures trading.
Although Robinhood is much more famous, Empower has some really good investing services, some of which aren't available at Robinhood. Let's check out these two investing firms.
Services
| Broker Review |
Cost |
Investment Products |
Trading Tools |
Customer Service |
Research |
Overall Rating |
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Robinhood
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Empower
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Cost Comparison
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
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Robinhood
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$0
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na
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$0 per contract
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$0
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$0
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Empower
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$0
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$0.65 per contract
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$25
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$35
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$35
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Promotions
Robinhood:
3% deposit match and FREE stock worth up to $200 at Robinhood.
Empower: Currently, no promotions.
Investment Services
At Empower and Robinhood, traders can buy and sell the following list of securities:
- Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
- Options
- Equities
Empower, but not Robinhood, also offers trading in closed-end funds, mutual funds, bonds, preferred stocks, over-the-counter (OTC) stocks, and private equity. Robinhood, but not Empower, has futures and cryptocurrencies. For retirement planning, Empower customers can buy annuities.
Either a brokerage or investment-advisory account can be opened at either firm in this comparison.
Robinhood's advisory service is more limited. Empower, on the other hand, has automated and traditional advice with human financial planners.
Winner: Empower
Margin Programs
Robinhood customers can elect cash or margin trading in their brokerage accounts. An IRA can be set up with limited margin, which allows the account to trade with unsettled funds.
A brokerage account can buy securities with leverage and trade some option spreads. There is no
shorting, though. When a brokerage account uses margin, it is subject to the following interest-rate
schedule:
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Debit Balance
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Robinhood Margin Rate
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$0 - $50,000
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5%
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$50,001 - $100,000
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4.8%
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$100,001 - $1,000,000
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4.5%
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$1,000,001 - $10,000,000
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4.25%
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$10,000,001 - $50,000,000
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4.2%
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$50,000,000+
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3.95%
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Gold members get the first $1,000 of borrowed money free of charge (although there is a charge for Gold).
At Empower, all accounts are cash accounts. There is no margin service of any kind.
Winner: Robinhood
Websites
Websites kick off the software battle. Empower has a site with a lot of resources. The main menu at the top of the site helps with navigation. During our probing, we found these features:
- Rateboard with all sorts of prices on interest rates, commodities, currencies, etc. (not all of them will be tradable)
- Multiple watchlists
- Lots of market news
- Economic calendar
Charting on the Empower site isn't quite full screen, although there are some graphing tools. We found 4 plot styles (mountain, candlestick, OHLC, and % change) and 11 technical studies.
Option chains for stocks that have them can be accessed on a stock's profile. There are details on calls and puts only; there are no spreads.
On the Robinhood site, there are some spreads that are available through a strategy-builder tool. Long straddles and short put calendar spreads are a couple of examples. Robinhood's site also has profit-loss diagrams on the options trade ticket.
In the realm of stock trading, there are stock profiles with analyst ratings, earnings histories, and recent trades by industry insiders. Legend is a browser platform that brings trading to a higher level. Charts here have 10 plot styles and more than 50 technical studies.
Winner: Robinhood
Mobile Apps
Empower customers can use two mobile apps: the regular Empower app and the NetXInvestor app. Both apps have very similar interfaces with the same trading tools. During our test drive of both apps, we found the NetXInvestor app to be a little better laid out.
Digital tools that Empower traders can use include:
- Order ticket with five order types (market, limit, stop, stop limit, and trailing)
- Discrete tickets for mutual funds and options
- Mobile check deposit
- Watchlist
- Funds transfer
- Stock profiles
Although charts show up on the Empower app, there is only one plot style (line), and charting tools are completely absent.
Over on the Robinhood app, we found charts with technical studies and two plot styles (line and candlesticks). Although there is no mobile check deposit, we found the app easier to use than Empower's software. The order ticket has the same order types that the Empower ticket has plus an option for recurring investing (for stocks and ETFs).
Winner: Robinhood
Supplementary Features
Dividend Reinvestment Plan: Both firms offer one.
Fractional-share Trading: Available only at Robinhood.
Fully-Paid Stock Lending: Ditto.
IRA Lineups: Both brokerage firms have Individual Retirement Accounts. Empower charges an annual IRA fee of $35 for accounts with less than $100k in assets.
Automatic Mutual Fund Purchases: Empower customers can set up systematic purchases of mutual-fund shares.
IPOs: Robinhood customers, but not Empower clients, can trade Initial Public Offerings before they hit the secondary market.
Extended Hours: Only at Robinhood.
Winner: Robinhood
Promotions
Robinhood:
3% deposit match and FREE stock worth up to $200 at Robinhood.
Empower: Currently, no promotions.
Recommendations
Retirement Planning & Long-Term Investing: We defend Empower.
Mutual Funds: Empower is the only broker in this survey with mutual funds. Its website has a screener under the Research tab, and fund profiles have Lipper ratings.
Small Investors: With fractional-share trading and no account fees, Robinhood gets the endorsement.
Frequent Equity Trading: Although it doesn't offer access to the over-the-counter marketplace, we would go with Robinhood, which has a better commission schedule.
Beginners: We suggest a managed account at Robinhood.
Final Judgment
Although Empower does have the more comprehensive investment program, the better self-directed trading experience will definitely be found at Robinhood.
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Updated on 3/21/2026.
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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