Compare Robinhood vs. M1 Finance
In this comparison, we’ll examine:
• Robinhood and M1 Finance both provide brokerage accounts, but their approaches to trading are very different.
• Robinhood provides managed advisory accounts, while M1 provides non-discretionary investment advice through M1 Advisor to eligible beta users.
• Cryptocurrencies are available for trading at both companies.
Are you searching for your next investment account? Robinhood and M1 Finance are two possibilities worth examining. Here’s how they compare:
Pricing
| 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
|
$0
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$0
|
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M1 Finance
|
$0
|
na
|
na
|
$0
|
$0
|
Services
| Broker Review |
Cost |
Investment Products |
Trading Tools |
Customer Service |
Research |
Overall Rating |
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Robinhood
|
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M1 Finance
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Promotions
Robinhood:
Get a FREE stock worth up to $200 + a 1% transfer match + a 2% IRA match when you sign up using a Robinhood referral link!
M1 Finance:
Currently, no promotions.
Investment Products
M1 Finance customers can invest in stocks, cryptocurrencies, and ETFs. There
are currently no other asset classes available for new purchases. Stocks and ETFs are organized into Pies, with
orders executed by M1 Finance during scheduled trading windows. Crypto is held in a separate M1 Crypto Account, where manual on-demand trading is also available.
Robinhood customers do not trade through Pies; instead, they enter their own orders during the available market sessions. Available products include stocks, ETFs, options, futures, event contracts, cryptocurrencies, closed-end funds, ADRs, and certain OTC equities.
Robinhood provides managed portfolios through its investment-advisory service called Robinhood Strategies. Balances below $500 are invested in ETFs, while accounts with $500 or more may hold both ETFs and individual stocks. M1 Finance does not offer discretionary portfolio management. However, M1 Advisor delivers non-discretionary investment recommendations to eligible participants in its beta program; investors themselves decide whether to follow those recommendations.
Both firms provide individual, joint, custodial, trust, and retirement accounts, although the specific account choices and eligibility requirements are not identical.
Winner: Robinhood
Margin
Both investment companies in this comparison provide margin programs. M1’s standard margin interest rate is
5.9%. Although that is a competitive rate, Robinhood goes even lower with a tiered
schedule running from 5.25% down to 4.2%.
Both M1 and Robinhood display maintenance requirements for individual securities on their platforms. For
Nvidia, that is 30% at M1 and 25% at Robinhood. Robinhood allows eligible margin customers with at least $2,000 in portfolio value to sell stocks short, and customers approved for the appropriate options level can trade option spreads.
Winner: Robinhood
Websites
M1’s website brings the company’s various products, including loans, investing, and cash accounts, together in one location with navigation tabs along the left side. The investing area includes useful sections for researching stocks, funds, and cryptocurrencies. Security profiles, however, remain fairly limited. Charting is basic, and there is no conventional trading ticket comparable to what is found at an active-trading broker. Customers instead add securities to portfolios or enter manual dollar-based orders, and M1 processes stock and ETF trades during its scheduled trading windows.
Robinhood provides both its standard website and a browser-based trading platform, and both have conventional trade tickets. Selected stocks and ETFs are available 24 hours per day, five days per week through Robinhood’s 24 Hour Market. During overnight hours, only whole-share limit orders are supported. Robinhood’s standard stock order choices include market, limit, stop, stop-limit, and trailing-stop orders, whereas M1 provides fewer direct order controls because trades are processed through scheduled windows.
Robinhood’s website also provides capable charts, including a full-screen view and several useful analytical features. Another feature we like is the collection of analyst ratings from multiple research providers. For McDonald’s, we found 38 ratings with the following recommendations:
Winner: Robinhood
Mobile Apps
Next, we come to mobile trading. Robinhood’s app closely resembles its website and includes many of the same features and investing tools. On a stock profile, icons in the upper-right corner provide access to alerts and the watchlist, both of which can be useful. Tapping the Trade button near the bottom of the profile opens the stock or options order ticket.
M1 Finance follows a similar strategy by bringing much of its web experience to its mobile app. Tap the Invest tab in the lower menu and then the account icon in the upper-left corner to access a list of investing areas, including stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. Choosing “Model Portfolios” brings up M1’s prebuilt Pies for browsing.
Winner: Robinhood
Bonus Services
Fully-Paid Stock Lending: This service is available at both brokerage firms in this comparison.
Automatic Investing: Automated recurring investments can be established at either brokerage company.
Fractional-Share Trading: Both broker-dealers support fractional-share investing. At M1 Finance, manual orders are submitted in dollar amounts. Robinhood supports both share-based and dollar-based orders for eligible securities.
Dividend Reinvestment Plan: M1 and Robinhood both provide free dividend-reinvestment programs.
IRA Lineups: Traditional and Roth IRAs are available at both firms. Only M1 provides a SEP IRA. M1 may impose a $3 monthly platform or IRA fee unless the account qualifies for a waiver, and M1 charges a $100 IRA termination fee. Robinhood does not impose an IRA maintenance or termination fee.
Initial Public Offerings: Eligible Robinhood customers can participate in available IPOs.
Extended Hours: Robinhood provides pre-market and after-hours trading along with 24/5 access to selected stocks and ETFs. Cryptocurrency trading is available around the clock, subject to maintenance periods, while most futures contracts trade roughly 23 hours per day, five days per week. M1 Finance instead processes stock and ETF orders during its scheduled morning and afternoon trading windows. Accounts holding less than $25,000 in invested assets can participate in only one of the two windows on the same day.
Winner: Robinhood
Our Recommendations
Stock and ETF Trading: Robinhood wins this category thanks to 24-hour trading in eligible securities and its stronger trading software.
Beginners: For investors who want portfolio management, we favor a managed account through Robinhood Strategies.
Mutual-Fund Trading: Neither broker in this comparison offers mutual funds, although Firstrade does.
Small Accounts: M1 charges a $3 monthly platform or IRA fee unless the charge is waived by meeting the required M1 asset threshold or maintaining an active M1 Personal Loan. Robinhood has no equivalent platform charge. Robinhood Strategies requires a $50 minimum investment. For IRA investors concerned about account fees, Robinhood has the advantage because it does not charge an IRA maintenance or termination fee.
Long-Term Investors & Retirement Savers: Both firms provide IRAs, but neither one is especially focused on comprehensive long-term financial planning. We would choose Charles Schwab instead.
Robinhood vs M1 Finance: Judgment
M1 Finance’s specialized Pie-based investment system will appeal to some investors, but Robinhood
comes out clearly ahead for investors who want more active and sophisticated trading capabilities.
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Updated on 8/21/2026.
Chad Morris has been analyzing investment firms for Brokerage-Review.com since 2015. Backed by FINRA Series 65, 66, and SIE credentials, his work reflects a deep knowledge of the retail brokerage industry and digital trading tools.
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