Stash vs Acorns Overview
Young investors who want a bit more direction with their money might want to look at Acorns
and Stash Invest. Both firms focus on hands-off investing with round-ups and other automated
money tools. But which broker makes more sense? This comparison can help.
Pricing
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Stash
|
$0
|
na
|
na
|
$3 or $9 per month
|
$3 or $9 per month
|
|
Acorns
|
na
|
na
|
na
|
$3, $6, or $12 per month
|
$3, $6, or $12 per month
|
Acorns and Stash Promotions
Acorns Promo Code:
Get $20 when you open an Acorns account with this referral link.
Stash Promo Code:
Currently, no promotions.
1st Category: Available Securities
Before picking any broker, it helps to know what investments you can actually buy there. Acorns
sticks with ETFs only. Even more surprising, the platform offers access to just 12 ETFs. That’s
right—12. And believe it or not, this is more than the 6 funds it started with.
Stash offers both stocks and ETFs. It also has a bigger ETF menu than Acorns. During our review, we found more than 80 ETFs available. There are far more stocks than that, too, although the full U.S. stock market isn’t completely offered.
Winner: Stash
2nd Category: Style of Investing
Investing can look very different depending on the brokerage firm, and that really shows up when comparing Acorns and Stash.
Acorns focuses on robo investing. In practice, this means portfolios are created, watched, and rebalanced by software using Modern Portfolio Theory. With MPT, the system aims to spread risk by maintaining diversification across asset classes (here, mostly stock and bond funds).
Acorns charges a monthly fee of $1, $3, or $5 for its brokerage accounts. Checking and retirement accounts are offered as add-ons, although the $1 brokerage plan doesn’t include these extra account types.
One standout feature at Acorns is round-ups: debit and credit card purchases can be rounded up, with the spare change deposited into an investing account. There is no separate charge for this, and even the lowest-cost plan ($1 per month) can use it.
Stash takes a different route. It doesn’t provide robo advice (and it doesn’t offer traditional portfolio management, either). Every Stash account is self-directed. Like Acorns, Stash charges a monthly fee, which is either $3 or $9.
Stash also offers round-ups that turn spare change into automatic deposits, although it requires a $5 minimum transfer amount.
A feature Stash includes that Acorns does not is Stock-Back®. This program lets you earn fractional shares of a company when you shop there using a Stash debit card.
Winner: Too close to call
3rd Category: Technology
Both Acorns and Stash provide websites and mobile apps for managing accounts.
Even though Stash accounts are self-directed, we did not find a lot of advanced trading tools. There is no desktop platform and no browser-based trading system, but there is a website with a basic order ticket. Recurring purchases can be set up, too.
The Stash mobile app closely mirrors the website. We found simple tiles and a layout that was easy to use.
Acorns users don’t get any trading tools because the platform doesn’t support self-directed accounts. Instead, the focus is account management. For example, Acorns lets users connect cards and external bank accounts for round-ups and transfers.
The Acorns app can also connect with Siri and provide spoken account updates and answers.
Winner: Even
4th Category: Education & Research
Acorns offers a lot of educational content on both its website and app. Look under the Grow menu for learning materials. Here are a few examples:
- This mom earned $126,000 in a year teaching people to make caramel apples
- How I turned my side hustle into a business that’s brought in $20 million
- Former NFL player explains how he learned about compound interest
Since Stash supports self-directed trading, its learning content leans more toward investing topics, while Acorns focuses more on broader personal finance. Here are a few Stash examples:
- Pros and Cons of High-Dividend Stocks
- What is Securities Lending?
- How Often Are Dividends Paid to Shareholders?
Because Stash’s articles address real trading and investing questions, we think its education section is more helpful for beginners.
Both companies also maintain large FAQ libraries, organized into categories, which are helpful starting points for new customers.
Winner: Stash
5th Category: Banking Tools
Next up is cash management, and both brokers offer useful banking features, though neither service is truly free.
Acorns lets customers link external debit and credit cards to earn round-ups. It also offers its own debit card (through Lincoln Savings Bank) with round-ups and unlimited ATM fee reimbursements. This service costs $3 per month.
Stash includes a debit card for $1 per month through Green Dot Bank. The card provides free ATM withdrawals at Allpoint locations (around 19,000 machines nationwide). Stash Plus customers ($9 per month) receive a metal card that earns double Stock-Back shares per purchase.
Winner: Draw
6th Category: Other Services
Dividend Reinvestment Program: Both brokers offer DRIP services that automatically reinvest cash dividends into more shares.
IRAs: Acorns offers Roth, Traditional, and SEP IRAs. Stash provides Roth and Traditional IRAs, but not SEP.
Fractional-Share Trading: Both platforms let investors buy with whole dollars (as low as $5 at Acorns). This creates fractional shares, such as 0.0003 shares instead of a full share.
Winner: Acorns
Now, Our Recommendations
Beginners: Both firms were built with new investors in mind. Customer support isn’t spectacular at either one, but learning content is solid on both. Toss up.
Retirement Savers and Long-Term Investors: Acorns has more IRA types, while Stash offers more stocks and ETFs. Toss up.
ETF and Stock Trading: Stash, without question.
Small Accounts: Stash has a slight edge because Acorns requires a $5 minimum investment amount.
Stash vs Acorns: Outcome
Stash wins this matchup by a small margin. Still, investors who prefer not to make trading decisions on their own may be better off using Acorns’ robo service.
|
|
Updated on 2/6/2026.
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.
|