Compare Robinhood vs SoFi: IRA, commissions, fees, trading tools, pros and cons. Which online broker is better?

Robinhood vs. SoFi Invest Introduction

Robinhood is one of the most popular brokerage firms in the world. But is it the best? Maybe SoFi Invest is a better choice for Robinhood users. Let’s take a look.

Cost

Services

Open Account

Robinhood: Up to $200 free stock + 3% IRA match + transfer fee refund at Robinhood.

Sofi Invest: Open a Sofi account and get $0 stock trades.

First, Let’s Look at Available Assets and Accounts

Robinhood offers self-managed individual and joint accounts only. In these accounts, the broker offers:

- Stocks
- Options
- Exchange-traded Funds
- Futures
- Cryptocurrencies

SoFi Invest does not offer cryptocurrencies or futures, but adds closed-end funds. SoFi Invest also has more account types.

SoFi also has an automated investing service. There’s no extra fee, and you can open a robo account as an individual taxable account or as one of the other available account types. Robinhood offers a 1% free match for IRAs.

Winner: Tie

Second, We Need to Inspect Their Websites

Both brokerages have easy-to-use websites for trading. On Robinhood’s site, you’ll find charts with four technical studies and two chart types. You can make the chart full screen for a better view.

Robinhood’s trade ticket is built into each asset’s profile, so you don’t need to open a new window. There are six order types and two choices for order duration.





Robinhood’s website has a watchlist feature, and you can create more than one list. However, there are no alerts. The site has three color themes: light, dark, and market hours.

SoFi Invest’s website does not have any color themes. It has one watchlist and you can’t add more. Alerts for assets are not available.





Trading on SoFi’s site uses a basic order form with only three trade types and no time-in-force choices.

Charting is very limited. There is only one chart style, no full-screen option, and no graphing tools.

Winner: Robinhood

Third, It’s Mobile Trading

SoFi’s mobile app is not much better. It uses the same order form, and the chart cannot be turned sideways. There is a social feature so users can follow each other and see trades. This is not available on the website.





SoFi Invest clients use the main SoFi app, so they get access to many personal finance tools, like mortgages, credit cards, and personal loans.

Robinhood’s app also has some finance tools, but fewer than SoFi. There is a page for its debit card, with info about its benefits. There is no forum or community feature.





Robinhood’s app uses the same trade ticket as its website. Options can be traded with a special ticket (up to four legs). The ticket shows profit and loss diagrams, with green for gains and red for losses. Maximum profit and loss numbers are shown above the chart.

Robinhood’s app has two chart styles (line and candlestick), which is an advantage over SoFi Invest’s app.

Winner: Robinhood

Fourth, Let’s Have a Look at Margin Services

Both firms offer cash and margin accounts, but in different ways.

Robinhood’s margin rate is 5.25% for debit balances under $50K.

SoFi Invest uses one flat rate (currently 10.5%) for all loan sizes.

Only SoFi Invest shows margin details (like maintenance and initial requirements) for a chosen ticker symbol.

Winner: Robinhood

Fifth Is Crypto Trading

SoFi Invest has stopped offering crypto trading.

Robinhood does not charge commissions for trading cryptocurrencies. There are no markups or markdowns. Most coins can be traded in amounts less than $1. You do not need to open a separate account for crypto.





The only negative is that Robinhood only offers 13 coins for trading.

Winner: Robinhood

Sixth, We Need to Examine Research Tools

Neither firm has strong crypto research tools. Their crypto profiles show basic charts and news articles. SoFi shows one-day volume for coins. Robinhood does not.

For stocks and ETFs, neither company has a true screener. Both have groups or collections of stocks and ETFs to browse, like Daily Movers and 20 Most Popular ETFs. Robinhood’s lists can be sorted by more things, such as analyst ratings and market cap. Still, a full screener would be better, but neither company has one.

Robinhood’s asset profiles (on the website and app) have useful info, like analyst ratings, news with images, important stats, and earnings histories. At the bottom of a stock profile, you can see what other Robinhood users who own that stock are also buying.

SoFi Invest’s asset profiles (on the website and app) only have short summaries. You can see numbers like daily high, 52-week low, and average volume. News articles are included with images.

Winner: Robinhood

The Last Category Is Extra Services

Cash Management Features: Both firms offer debit cards tied to accounts that earn interest and have many special deals.

Individual Retirement Accounts: Robinhood has a 1% free match for IRAs.

Extended Hours: Both firms offer pre-market and after-hours trading. Robinhood has two more hours than SoFi and also offers 24-hour trading.

Initial Public Offerings: Both offer IPO access.

Fractional Shares: Both have it.

DRIP Service: Both have it.

Winner: Robinhood

Recommendations

ETF & Stock Trading: Robinhood has better tools, so it is the best choice.

Long-Term Investors and Retirement Savers: Robinhood has a 1% IRA match, SoFi does not.

Beginners: A SoFi Invest automated account is a good place to start.

Small Accounts: Either firm will work.

Open Account

Robinhood: Up to $200 free stock + 3% IRA match + transfer fee refund at Robinhood.

Sofi Invest: Open a Sofi account and get $0 stock trades.

Sofi Invest vs Robinhood: Judgment

Robinhood won most categories. SoFi needs to improve in most areas.

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