Fidelity vs. Acorns and Schwab Introduction
Are you thinking about opening a new brokerage account? If so, be sure to explore Fidelity,
Acorns, and Charles Schwab. All three provide investing services and much more.
Cost
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Charles Schwab
|
$0
|
$49.95 ($0 to sell)
|
$0.65 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Fidelity
|
$0
|
$49.95
|
$0.65 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Acorns
|
na
|
na
|
na
|
$3, $6, or $12 per month
|
$3, $6, or $12 per month
|
Promotions
Charles Schwab: $0 commissions + satisfaction guarantee at Charles Schwab.
Acorns:
Get $20 when you open an Acorns account with this referral link.
Fidelity: Currently, no promotions.
First Category: Investing
Acorns has a robo service that performs automated investing in a small selection of ETFs. It does not provide self-directed accounts, so you’re limited to those ETFs. Acorns charges a flat monthly rate of $3 (with $5 and $9 plans also available).
Fidelity and Schwab both have automated accounts (Fidelity uses Fidelity mutual funds instead of ETFs). Schwab charges $0, while Fidelity’s rate is 0.00% for the first $25k. Both Schwab and Fidelity also offer traditional advisory accounts with human advisors.
Then there are self-directed accounts. Fidelity and Schwab both offer these, with bigger selections of products like stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, and closed-end funds. Fidelity adds cryptocurrencies, and Schwab has futures contracts. Both firms have OTC and foreign stocks,
and neither charges a monthly fee for self-directed accounts.
Winner: Tie between Fidelity and Schwab
Second Category: Banking
Each of these three firms has cash-management options for a complete financial experience. Acorns’ basic plan includes a Visa debit card with round-up features and no ATM fees at a limited number of machines. Higher monthly plans include a no-fee emergency-fund account, which doesn’t pay interest, and the $9 option has a kids’ debit card with parental controls.
Fidelity has Bloom, which isn’t for children, but it’s aimed at younger adults with features like cash back and round-ups. Cash is held in a money market mutual fund currently paying 4.97%.
Fidelity also offers a regular Cash Management Account with unlimited ATM fee reimbursements nationwide at any machine accepting Visa. It includes an FDIC-sweep program.
Schwab lacks the FDIC sweep, but it gives worldwide ATM refunds, which Fidelity’s cash accounts don’t have. Schwab also has a savings account, though its rate is only 0.48% right now. Crucially, neither Schwab nor Fidelity charges anything for their cash-management services.
Winner: Dead heat between Fidelity and Schwab
Third Category: PC Software
All three firms have easy-to-use websites for trading, research, and account management. In Acorns’ case, it’s mostly for account management.
For more complex trading, Fidelity and Schwab each provide websites and desktop platforms. Schwab also has a browser-based platform. Both brokers deliver strong experiences on these systems. Schwab actually offers two desktop programs. One of them, thinkorswim, is extremely advanced, featuring backtesting tools with historical data going back to 2009. The other, also called thinkorswim, has integrated profit-loss diagrams and pre-installed option spreads.
Both of Schwab’s desktop systems include simulated trading, which Fidelity’s desktop platform doesn’t have.
Winner: Schwab
Fourth Category: Mobile Apps
Now let’s look at mobile. The situation is similar. Acorns focuses on simplicity without many extra features, although we did see a large education section (also on its website).
The Fidelity app offers much more, including a big library of educational material and a live Bloomberg TV feed. It has news articles, market data from various sources, and full trading for options, stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. Charts can be rotated for more details, and there are helpful tools.
Schwab has two apps, and together they match the advanced features in Fidelity’s app. Highlights include multi-leg option orders, live news from CNBC, mutual-fund trading, and horizontal charts with handy tools. Both Fidelity and Schwab have chatbot features for quick assistance.
Winner: Schwab
Fifth Category: Margin
Acorns does not support margin trading, but Fidelity and Schwab do. Fidelity charges interest on a tiered schedule starting at 12.575% and going down to 8.275%. Schwab’s tiered structure starts at the same rate and goes down to 10.875% (Schwab also offers custom rates for very large balances).
Schwab’s software—unlike Fidelity’s—shows the maintenance margin requirement for entered tickers, which is useful because some assets have special margin rules.
Winner: Schwab
Sixth Category: Bonus Services
Systematic Mutual Fund Purchases: Fidelity and Schwab both let clients set up recurring buys of mutual funds.
DRIP: Schwab and Fidelity self-directed traders can turn on automatic dividend reinvestments.
Fully-paid Securities Lending Program: All three firms provide one.
Extended Hours: Fidelity and Schwab have pre-market and after-hours sessions in certain products. Fidelity’s sessions are a bit longer. Fidelity handles almost 24/7 crypto trading, and Schwab handles 24/6 futures.
Initial Public Offerings: Again, Fidelity and Schwab make them available.
Fractional-share Trading: Fidelity offers fractional shares in stocks, ETFs, and crypto. Schwab limits fractional trading to the 500 companies in the S&P Index.
IRA Service: Any of these firms can open an IRA, but Schwab and Fidelity have more IRA types than Acorns.
Winner: Slight edge to Fidelity
Promotions
Charles Schwab: $0 commissions + satisfaction guarantee at Charles Schwab.
Acorns:
Get $20 when you open an Acorns account with this referral link.
Fidelity: Currently, no promotions.
Recommendations
Active ETF and Stock Trading: Either Schwab or Fidelity would work well. We lean toward
Charles Schwab due to its thinkorswim platform.
Beginners: Because Acorns does not have human advisors, we suggest an advisory
account at Fidelity or Schwab.
Retirement Planning & Long-Term Investing: Fidelity and Schwab both provide annuities, solo 401k plans, target-date mutual funds, branch locations, and more.
Small Accounts: We can’t recommend Acorns for small investors because of its monthly fee. Schwab
needs $5,000 to open a robo account.
Mutual Funds: Fidelity has 9,453, while Schwab has 5,933. But Schwab’s fund screener is superior. It’s a toss-up.
Charles Schwab vs. Acorns vs. Fidelity: Verdict
Acorns’ monthly subscription makes it less competitive, while Schwab’s advanced software gives it the overall edge here.
Open Account
Open Account
Updated on 5/21/2025.
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.
|