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Webull and Robinhood are two of the top online brokers offering commission-free trading. Each of these brokers allows investors to trade stocks in addition to a wide selection of investment products, an easy-to-use trading platform, and a well-built trading app. And while this is a good thing, it can be a bit tricky to choose between the two.
To help you decide, this Webull vs Robinhood review will show you the key differences between the brokers. We’ll compare the various features, including available investment options, applicable fees, platform usability, and more.
The Short Version
- Robinhood is most suitable for active traders as well as the new investor, while Webull is a mobile-first trading platform suitable for the intermediate investor.
- Webull and Robinhood offer commission free stock trading, ETFs, options, and crypto trading, but Webull has more cryptocurrency pairs than Robinhood.
- Both online investing platforms offer a variety of investment products, but Robinhood is a better choice for cash management, while Webull takes the lead when it comes to retirement accounts.
Webull vs Robinhood: Overview
What is Webull?
Our Score: 8.5
Minimum investment: $0
Stock/ETF Trades: $0
Options: $0
Current promotions: Get 5 free stocks when you open a new account
Webull entered the online investment scene in 2017, making it a relatively new online investment broker. The investment platform is one of the major Robinhood competitors, attracting millennials because of its mobile-friendly approach. Still, it offers several features available on many traditional brokerage platforms.
Webull Financial LLC is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and has a highly secure trading environment. It has a mobile trading app that has become very popular among young traders.
The platform is an ideal choice for active trading and short-term investing. Also, fractional share trading is available to investors with small budgets. Webull has both a desktop platform and mobile app.
What is Robinhood?
Our Score: 8.5
Minimum investment: $0
Stock/ETF Trades: $0
Options: $0
Current promotions: None
Robinhood started operations in 2013. The U.S.-based broker has a user-friendly platform where investors can trade stocks, ETFs, and options. While it might seem a bit barebones compared to Webull, it offers easy commission-free trading in crypto, stocks, and more.
Any trader on Robinhood Crypto can tap into the cryptocurrency market. However, only seven cryptocurrencies are currently listed on the Robinhood investment platform.
Further reading: How to Invest in Cryptocurrency
Webull vs Robinhood: Key Features
Webull Unique Features
Webull’s unique features include:
- Margin account: Investors can borrow money to execute trade by opening a Webull margin account, provided that they maintain a $2,000 minimum balance. Webull’s margin rates are currently 3.99% to 6.99%.
- Retirement account: Webull investors can open both Traditional and Roth IRAs. You can also transfer an IRA from another company to the Webull platform.
- Extended hours trading: With the extended hours trading feature, Webull investors can execute trades even when the market is closed. Extended hours trading time starts from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm and 4:00 am to 9:00 am.
In a nutshell, Webull features make it a better choice for investors looking to diversify their investment portfolio.
Check out: Our full Webull review
Robinhood Unique Features
Robinhood also has a lot going for them, including:
- Low-cost trading: Robinhood offers commission-free trading on stock, ETFs, and options. And in a rarity for the brokerage industry, Robinhood doesn’t charge any per contract fees on options either.
- Robinhood Gold account: Investors can upgrade to a Robinhood Gold account to trade on margin and access robust market data and professional research. And Robinhood’s 2.5% margin rate is one of the lowest you’ll find. However, you must have at least $2,000 to qualify and there’s a $5 monthly membership fee.
- Virtual library: One of the reasons Robinhood might appeal to beginners is their access to a virtual library. The library is a rich resource containing a wide range of topics on options trading and investing in general.
Robinhood’s features makes it a good choice for low-cost options trading and margin trading.
Read on: Is Robinhood Safe?
Webull vs Robinhood: Available Investment Products
Webull and Robinhood each support stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto. Both brokers also allow margin trading – a feature that’s not available with all brokers. Webull and Robinhood both have the same $2,000 account minimum for margin accounts.
But things are a little different in terms of fractional shares. While both brokers allow fractional share trading, you can buy fractional shares as small as 1/1000000 on Robinhood. In contrast, there’s a $5 minimum investment to buy fractional shares on Webull.
Webull currently supports far more cryptocurrencies than Robinhood. Robinhood users can only trade 7 coins as of writing, while Webull now has just over 35 currencies on its digital asset list.
Unfortunately, investors looking for more asset classes to build a more diversified portfolio may have to look for another broker. This is because Webull and Robinhood do not provide several other types of investment products, such as CDs, currencies, futures, mutual funds, and bonds.
Read more: Best Online Stock Brokers
Here’s a list of the available investments on both platforms.
| Investment | Webull | Robinhood |
|---|---|---|
| Stocks | Yes | Yes |
| Margin | Yes | Yes |
| ETF and Option | Yes | Yes |
| Mutual Funds | No | No |
| Fractional shares | Yes | Yes |
| Futures | No | No |
| Currencies | No | No |
| Cryptocurrencies | Yes | Yes |
| Bonds | No | No |
| CDs | No | No |
Read: How to Choose Between a Full-Service Broker and a Discount Broker
Webull vs Robinhood: Trading Platform and Usability
Both investing platforms are user-friendly but work differently. Robinhood is probably the best choice for beginners. Webull, on the other hand, better suits the intermediate investor with its stock screening tools, watchlists and customizable alerts.
When it comes to trading on the go, both Webull and Robinhood both make it easy to trade stocks, margin, and other options via their respective mobile apps.
Webull vs Robinhood: Account Types
In addition to taxable brokerage accounts, Webull allows investors to open Traditional and Roth IRAs. Retirement accounts aren’t currently available on Robinhood.
However, Robinhood has Webull beat when it comes to offering a linked debit card. The recently-announced Robinhood Cash Card offers weekly bonuses of 10% – 100% on round-ups ($10 cap), early and split paychecks, instant savings opportunities, and no monthly fees.
Neither brokerage currently supports custodial accounts or 529 plans.
Here’s a list of the various account types available on both platforms.
| Account type | Webull | Robinhood |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable Brokerage | Yes | Yes |
| Savings | No | No |
| Credit Card | No | No |
| Checking | No | Cash management |
| Joint Tenant | No | No |
| Margin | Yes | Yes |
| Individual Retirement Account | Yes | No |
| Roth IRA | Yes | No |
| Other IRA | Yes | No |
| Custodial | No | No |
| Robo-Advisor | No | No |
Webull vs. Robinhood: Fees
You won’t pay any commission when buying options, crypto, ETF, and stock on either Webull or Robinhood. In this regard, both brokers live up to their promise of being fee-free and commission free trading platforms. In addition, both brokerage firms do not charge any account maintenance fees.
That said, a $5 monthly fee is necessary if you want to trade margin on Robinhood using the Robinhood Gold account. Also, a $75 fee applies on both platforms if you want to transfer your assets out of either account.
Finally, all crypto trade will involve a spread. That spread is 1% (100 basis points) with Webull. Robinhood, however, doesn’t disclose the spread that it charges on crypto trades.
Here is a summary of the fees and commissions available on both platforms.
| Commission / Fee | Webull | Robinhood |
|---|---|---|
| Stock | $0 | $0 |
| ETF | $0 | $0 |
| Option | $0 | $0 |
| Cryptocurrency | $0 | $0 |
| Account maintenance fee | $0 | $0 ($5 monthly for Robinhood Gold account) |
| Account transfer fee | $75 to transfer out of your account, $0 to transfer into your account | $75 |
| Mutual funds | Webull does not provide mutual funds | Robinhood does not provide mutual funds |
Webull vs Robinhood: Customer Service
Where both Webull and Robinhood may be lacking is with their customer service. Webull only provides email and phone support. It does not offer 24/7 support, and there is no live chat for both current and prospective customers. Investors have also reported experiencing difficulties getting through to customer support.
Robinhood’s customer service provides a faster response time compared to Webull. And it recently launched 24/7 phone support. However, it’s still unlikely to be on par with many full-service online brokers and trading platforms.
Pros and Cons of Webull
pros
- Commission-free stock trading: Webull charges zero commissions on stocks, ETFs, option, and cryptocurrencies.
- No account minimums: Customers don’t need to maintain a minimum account balance.
- Intuitive platform: The broker offers easy-to-use desktop and mobile app with intuitive and clean designs. Traders will find the interface pretty easy to use with plenty of helpful trading tools.
- Quick and easy account setup: The process of opening a brokerage account and getting it approved is fast, and adding your bank account is pretty straightforward too.
- Extended hours trading: Access to pre-market and extended trading hours is a plus for any active trader on the Webull trading platform.
cons
- No mutual funds: If you’re a big fan of the dollar-cost-average approach to investing, you’re probably better choosing a broker that has a large menu of no-transaction-fee mutual funds like E*TRADE, Fidelity, or Vanguard.
- Relatively weak educational content: Webull’s educational support is limited, making it a bit difficult for the completely new investor to truly understand the basics of trading.
- No cash or spending products: Webull customers don’t get any interest on the cash sitting in their brokerage account unless it is invested. And the broker doesn’t offer a rewards card either.
Pros and Cons of Robinhood
pros
- Allows for a diversified portfolio: Traders can trade Robinhood crypto or invest in stocks, options, and ETFs.
- No commissions and zero account minimums: Robinhood traders don’t have to maintain a minimum balance on their trading accounts and Robinhood Gold accounts. Trading is commission free for crypto, stocks, options, and ETFs.
- Margin trading available: Traders can perform margin trading and have access to fractional share investing. Plus, there is no per-contract options fee on the Robinhood platform.
- Easy-to-use platform: Both Robinhood’s website trading platform and app are easy to understand, navigate, and use. This makes it a great choice for any beginner investor.
cons
- No retirement accounts, bonds, and mutual funds: A truly diversified investment portfolio should include bonds, mutual funds, and IRAs. But that’s not the case with Robinhood. Webull is a better choice if you want retirement accounts (even though Webull also lacks mutual funds, bonds, and CDs).
- Limited crypto options: Traders interested in cryptocurrency trading are limited to only seven cryptocurrencies listed on the platform.
- Users can’t withdraw crypto funds: Robinhood clients can’t withdraw their crypto assets to an external wallet. Instead, they can only sell their crypto funds and transfer fiat money (like dollars) to their bank accounts.
Read more: Best Crypto Wallets
Bottom Line: Which Is the Best for You?
Webull could be a better choice for investors who want easy access to more detailed technical data. Webull will also be the preferable choice if you’re looking to invest for retirement or you want access to a larger list of cryptocurrencies.
On the other hand, beginner traders or investors may find the Robinhood app easier to understand and use. It could also be the better choice if you want access to a rewards debit card or rock-bottom margin rates.
Whichever you end up with, both investing platforms are excellent choices for the mobile-first investor looking for quick and easy stock trading opportunities.
Advertiser Disclosure – This advertisement contains information and materials provided by Robinhood Financial LLC and its affiliates (“Robinhood”) and InvestorJunkie, a third party not affiliated with Robinhood. All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC and Robinhood Securities LLC, which are members of FINRA and SIPC. MoneyUnder30 is not a member of FINRA or SIPC.”
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