Choosing the right online stock broker in 2026 is about $0+ trades – that’s the baseline. Today’s best platforms vary widely in research tools, long-term investing support, trading expertise, and even behavioral nudges that can impact your returns over decades.
Based on our Investor Survey 2026practical testing, and graphic analysis, we have classified Best online stock brokers For different types of investors: from first-time traders to advanced professionals. Below, we explain which broker is the best overall, which platforms are suitable for beginners, and which tools are most important if you are investing for the long term.
Best Online Stock Brokers 2026 (Survey Results)
- Sincerity -Best overall
- Charles Schwab – Best full service broker
- Robinhood – Best for mobile traders first
- Vanguard – Best for low-cost index investors
- Sophie Invest – Best for beginners and all-rounders
- E-commerce – The best trading platform
- And he pees – Best for data-driven traders
- tradestation – Best for advanced technical traders
- Interactive Brokers – Best for professionals and global reach
- general – Best for community investment
Note: Investment proposals appearing on this site are from companies from which The College Investor receives compensation. This list was compiled based on our annual survey conducted using the methodology described below.
1. Sincerity
Fidelity ranked first again this year among all brokerage and stock trading apps. They have a great deal of money with no commissions, low expenses, and a full range of account types to choose from. Even if you don’t invest with a commission-free fund, it’s $0 commissions for stocks, ETFs, and options trades.
Furthermore, many people know Fidelity because they are (along with Vanguard) one of the largest 401k plan managers. That’s why we named Fidelity the best online brokerage for retirement.
Additionally, unlike Vanguard, Fidelity has offices across the country. While almost everything can be done online, being able to easily go into the office can come in handy every now and then.
Loyalty Bonus Offers: Fidelity offers several add-on offerings to its products, including the Fidelity Youth Account.
Open an account with Fidelity >>
2. Charles Schwab
Schwab has been moving up the rankings over the past few years – reaching second place this year on our list of the best online stock brokers. Last year it was third.
What people love about Schwab is their great trading platform (no commission required) as well as a solid banking product, which most others here don’t offer other than Fidelity. Plus, they’ve finally added an HSA account to their lineup!
With its acquisition of TD Ameritrade, Schwab now also has a great trading platform with thinkorswim.
Furthermore, they have no minimum purchase for their mutual funds, so you can build a very low-cost portfolio at Schwab using popular funds like the Schwab Total Stock Market Index (SWTSX). They also moved to a $0 account minimum for most products.
Open an account at Schwab >>
3. Robinhood
Robinhood has always been a controversial online broker: it has bounced in and out of our top brokerage list several times. This is likely driven by the significant increase in the number of traders investing on the platform in the past year. Plus, they offer great features like a retirement contribution match!
Robinhood offers truly commission-free trading. Like $0. Nada. nothing. They were the first to offer this, but now everyone is doing it.
It comes with some drawbacks outside of the media. You are limited in your trading, and using the mobile app can be annoying if you prefer desktop access.
However, it’s free!
Robinhood Bonus Offers: Get a random share of stock when you refer a friend. They also have transfer and retirement match offers.
Open an account with Robinhood >>
4. Vanguard
Vanguard has seen a decline in ratings recently — and it makes sense for a number of reasons, from the ease of use of the app to lackluster customer service. However, this year they moved up one spot to reach fourth place.
Vanguard has always been a leader in low-priced index funds — and when you invest directly with Vanguard, you’ll likely avoid commissions and fees on your mutual fund purchases. However, Vanguard has encountered several hiccups with its online platform and app (although the redesigned app is modern and easy to use). They also recently announced that they will reduce expense ratios in several mutual funds.
Vanguard offers a full range of account types, from IRAs to Solo 401k, to 529 plans and HSAs.
The big drawback to Vanguard is that it’s not great for use on products outside of their product range. Additionally, their website and customer service were struggling to keep up last year. Also, if you dig into the details of some of their products (like the Solo 401k), they’re not always the most powerful available.
Vanguard Bonus Offers: Vanguard doesn’t offer any bonus offers…maybe they’re so good that they don’t need to tempt you?
Open an account at Vanguard >>
5. Sophie
SoFi moved into fifth place this year, and has been gaining a lot of interest online with investors. Although we’re not fans of SoFi, clearly a lot of people are.
SoFi allows you to invest as little as $1, has fractional shares, and even offers some cryptocurrency trading.
The downside to SoFi is that they don’t do anything better compared to the big brokers, while at the same time they also continue to struggle FINRA and SEC audits. Their banking products also have good rates, but not great.
Honorable mentions
These honorable mentions didn’t make our top five, but they’re really worth a look if you want someone else to do the work for you when it comes to investing and setting up your portfolio.
These are companies that received votes and interest from our audience but not enough to top the list.
E-commerce from Morgan Stanley
E*TRADE fell another place this year in the rankings. E*TRADE has been working hard to compete with the other companies on this list, as they have dropped to commission-free pricing and improved their interface.
However, we can say that it still lags overall in terms of ease of use compared to the companies mentioned above, and its customer service is lacking (they even eliminated online chat last year for several features).
Open an account at E*TRADE >>
And he pees
Webull is still a popular online trading app. If you’re not familiar, Webull is an investing app much like Robinhood, where you can trade stocks, options, ETFs, and limited cryptocurrencies.
Unlike Robinhood, it offers a more robust set of research features, advanced trading tools, and more.
They also offer retirement accounts in addition to regular taxable investing.
Webull Bonus Offer: One free share worth between $3 to $300 if you open a Webull brokerage account and another worth between $8 to $2,000 if you make a direct deposit of at least $5.
Open an account at Webull >>
tradestation
TradeStation is an honorable mention this year, and it’s good to see that their platform improvements have resonated with customers.
TradeStation is known for its active trading features. Their trading tools and ability to integrate with charts and automated software make them the best choice for active traders.
The drawback is that it can seem “advanced”, and the price may be difficult to understand for a large number of users.
TradeStation Bonus Offer: Earn up to $3,500 when you transfer funds to your TradeStation account.
Open an account at TradeStation >>
Interactive Brokers (IBKR)
Interactive Brokers is another platform that is constantly on our list, although not as popular as the others. They have received a lot of positive feedback on their trading tools, paper trading platform, and margin account – with some of the consistently lowest prices on the market.
In fact, if you go to any of the FatFIRE forums, you’ll see that IBKR is consistently listed as one of the best places to hold a large amount of securities if you want to borrow against them.
They also launched IBKR Lite with Commission-free trading of US stocks and ETFs, with commissions on other products. Make sure you check out the full Commission table Because it can be a little complicated.
Open an account at IBKR >>
Public.com
Public dropped to last place on our list of the best brokerages this year. Public is an investment app that focuses on commission-free investing with a social aspect.
In the past two years, Public has launched options trading, an aggressive savings product with the highest interest rate, and fractional share trading.
They take pride in the fact that they do not accept payment for order flow (which is one of the main ways Robinhood makes money).
Open an account with the public >>
Final thoughts
This year, SoFi has continued its rise, breaking into the top five this year. Positions 1 through 4 remained steady, with Fidelity continuing to hold the lead.
The audience continued to decline, and he finished at the bottom of the list.
I think many people realize that since almost all of the prices are the same, full service features, the ability to open different types of accounts, and reliability are more common factors to consider than an app-only investment company.
Remember that this is based on an annual survey. We keep this list updated throughout the year with features and prices, and we revisit the rankings annually with a new survey.
methodology
College Investor commissioned Pollfish to conduct an online survey of 600 Americans who self-selected that they were familiar with investing and investing tools. The survey was sent on January 2, 2026.
