Investment App Comparison [Webull vs Robinhood vs M1 Finance] (2024)

Webull vs Robinhood and why I’m switching to Webull for stock market trading

It’s not which free investment app is best but which is best for you. Which is going to have the features you need to reach your goals.

In fact, now that most investing websites and apps have switched to no-fee investing, it’s even more important to find the features that work for you. And there’s no one-size-fits all. Traders might prefer one app that offers advanced charting while long-term investors might prefer better customer service and advice on another app.

I’ll compare Webull vs Robinhood and M1 Finance but then I’m going to give you two reasons why you might consider using all three. Be sure to watch the video because I include a screen share walk-through of the Webull app that's not in the blog post.

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What to Consider When Choosing an Investment App to Use

Society has come a long way from when groups of brokers in an office clamored to buy or sell their clients’ assets when the market became favorable. At this age the boom of technology made it possible for people to take full control of managing their investment portfolios and other assets and it's truly a game changer.

Investment apps are all over the World Wide Web. You can choose from an extensive range of platforms based on your needs, preferences, skill, and geographical location. For instance, Canadian residents should learn about thebest stock trading apps in Canadabefore they begin trading, to ensure they select an efficient and user-friendly platform for an optimal buying experience.When you are deciding on which investment platform to use, there are important things you need to ponder on.

Want free shares of stock on Robinhood? Click here and get your free share of stock right now!

Why Investing App Reviews are Wrong

Investment app reviews are popular on YouTube and you get the feeling that it’s a ‘Which is Best’ question…but it’s not. In fact, I use three free investment apps and have investment accounts on seven different platforms.

I’ll reveal a few reasons why you might need more than one investment account for free stock trading then review the newest platform that is breaking out with some features you won’t find on M1 Finance or Robinhood.

Then I’ll compare that new free trading appagainst the other investing apps to show you exactly who should be using thenew platform.

Reasons to Use More than One Investment Account

So two reasons I use so many different investment apps and platforms and the first is something I hinted at already. There is no single best investment app out there that does everything for every investor.

That goes for the free investment apps like Webull, Robinhood, and M1 Finance. It goes for the old school investing sites like ETrade and it goes for the brokers like TD Ameritrade or Schwab.

I’ve loved using the free investing apps overthe past year but they also lack some features I need. There’s no short-sellingon M1 Finance and you have to pay a premium to get it on Robinhood. You can’t tradeafter hours on either and the charting is pretty much non-existent.

It’s why I’ve been trying out the Webull app over the past month and gotta say, I’m really impressed how much they packed into a free app. This one is specifically for stock market trading and includes a lot of features that I’ll get to next.

So ultimately whether you go with Webull vs Robinhood or any other app comes down to understanding your needs as an investor and what features suit you best.

The second reason I use so many investmentwebsites and apps…and you’re going to love this one even if you don’t need allthe features that come on different apps, is free promotions! The free stock,discounts and cash back you get for opening a new investment account.

With some sites, you’ll get cash back. Others will give you a free share of stock or free trades. On the Webull app, you get a free share of stock but unlike Robinhood that caps its free shares at $200, you can get shares on Webull for up to $1,000 including shares of Apple and Tesla!

In fact, I did a video on the free shares people got from Robinhood vs Webull last week and was surprised at the results. Robinhood users got an average of $7.59 in free stock while Webull users were awarded an average from $12 to $25 in their two free shares.

Learn more about Webull and get your free share of stock up to $1,000 NOW!

Webull Investment App Review

Now I want to do a quick Webull review and highlight the differences here with other free investing apps. Like most of the apps I’ve used, you pay no commissions to buy or sell stocks, you get full access to stocks, exchange traded funds and foreign stocks and options investing is coming soon.

But where I think a lot of investors, especially ones looking for stock market trading, are going to like it is in some of the extra features.

One of the first things that attracted me toWebull was the free stock offer. What can I say, I like free stuff! The programworks a little different than the one on Robinhood. On Webull, you open anaccount and deposit your first $100 to get your free share but instead of beingcapped at $200, you can get a free stock worth up to a thousand dollars.

You can use the investment simulator, see yourwatch list and alerts on both the desktop site and the mobile app but I feellike the mobile app has a little smoother function so I’ll go into mysmartphone to show you around.

The clunkiness of the desktop site probablyisn’t that big a deal. Maybe more of a pain for us old timers but the app is reallyeasy to use. There are no minimums to open an account though you will need todeposit $100 into your account to get that free share of stock.

Opening the app and the first thing you noticeis the advanced research and charting available. You get a complete newstream,quotes are available for stocks in 90 countries and 100 global exchanges withreal-time data for the US market. This is truly an app for stock traders andserious investors.

Something I rarely see even on the establishedinvesting platforms is this IPO Center that shows you all the upcoming andfiled IPOs including the range for offering price and number of shares listed.

Another great resource for traders, theEarnings Center shows you the companies scheduled to report their numbers, theearnings estimate, release date and these are all months in advance. I scrolledthrough and found companies reporting more than eight weeks out in November.

There’s a lot of market data here fromAdvancers/Decliners to industries with big inflows and ETFs getting investorattention. All to the purpose of giving you as much information as you need totrade stocks.

Now those of you in the community know, I’m not much of a stock trader. I like the buy-and-hold approach but even I was drawn to one feature on the app, this Paper Trading function. The app gives you a million dollars to trade virtually, testing out your strategies and ideas to see how they do before committing real money. I’m testing out a few penny stocks I like, following the trends before I decide if I want to invest.

Within each stock, you get all the technical charting and real-time news you need. You can see analyst recommendations, key fundamental analysis and insider trading on the shares.

Webull offers short-selling and up tofour-times margin trading on day trades on accounts over $2,000. Both of thesefeatures are still 100% commission-free. There’s no monthly subscription fee totrade on margin like there is with Robinhood.

Another big feature for stock traders isextended hours trading, so investing in stocks before and after the rest of themarket gets the chance in public trading. Webull gives you access to trade fromfour to 9:30 am and four to eight pm eastern standard time, before and afterthe market closes.

What I Didn't Like about Webull

Against all these features, there were some things I didn’t like about the Webull app besides that lack of desktop function. There are no retirement account options yet but are on the way.

This was important to me when I set up our 2019 Stock Market Challenge portfolio to save money on taxes in dividend stocks. The app also takes a while to find yourself around. There’s just so much loaded on it that you really do need the tutorial emails sent out by Webull after you open an account.

Webull vs Robinhood

Now I want to compare the free investing appshead-to-head, starting with Webull versus Robinhood.

Versus Robinhood, Webull seems more equippedfor traders with the advanced charting and extended hours trading. There’s noadditional fee for short-selling or margin accounts though you’ll still pay thenormal margin interest on leverage and occasionally a stock borrowing fee butthis is going to be on any platform you use shorting or margin. Now one thing thatsets Webull apart and I love this feature, that ability to test new strategiesin the stock simulator.

Robinhood seems more like a buy-and-holdplatform and I do like that it has a desktop option available. I’m an old-timerand doing everything on my phone still feels a little odd. Robinhood doesn’tinclude nearly the features or research as Webull but it is a little easier touse, like there’s so much on Webull that it takes a bit to get used to. Infact, Webull sends out an email series explaining all the features over a weekor two after you open an account.

Webull vs M1 Finance

Now let’s compare Webull vs M1 Finance, thefirst free investment app I started using.

I’m not trading in my M1 Finance account. Ilove the portfolio perspective and automatic reinvesting across all the stocksin my portfolio. I use the retirement account for our 2019 Dividend Challengeportfolio so we save money on taxes.

Webull and Robinhood are more similar but I feel like Webull and M1 Finance are for completely different types of investors. The once-daily trading window makes it impossible to trade stocks on M1 Finance and that’s really the core of Webull. You get more order types and that extended hours trading which is unheard of on most platforms.

Don't forget to get your free share of stock when you open a Webull account! Get up to $1,000 in stock NOW!

If I had to choose just one investing app, I’d probably have to go with Webull for the features and the two free shares. The stock simulator is great for testing out different strategies and Webull easily beats Robinhood in the free stock department!

Comparing the free investment apps, there’s some overlap but you immediately see the differences and where each comes out ahead. Traders and investors interested in trying out new strategies will appreciate features like extended hours trading and the simulator on Webull. Long-term investors will like the simplicity of M1 Finance and the recommended portfolios pre-built in the platform.

Read the Entire Investment Apps Series

• Best Investment Apps: Personal Capital Review
• 5 Best Investing Websites [Stock Market Apps I Use]
• Best Free Investing Apps for Beginners [Robinhood vs Acorns vs M1]