Robinhood vs Wealthfront Fee Comparison for Robinhood Strategies

Robinhood Strategies and Wealthfront's Automated Investing account both charge 0.25% a year, so up to $100,000 they cost the same. Above $100,000 they split: Robinhood Gold members ($5 a month) pay the Strategies fee on the first $100,000 only, so a $500,000 account costs $310 a year all in at Robinhood and $1,250 at Wealthfront. Wealthfront does more for the fee on taxes, harvesting losses daily against Robinhood's single pass at year end, and it holds index funds where Robinhood's team picks stocks.

Most people who type "Robinhood vs Wealthfront" already have money at one of them and are deciding where a larger sum should sit. The trading apps are not really the comparison; the managed accounts are. Robinhood Strategies launched publicly in early 2025 as Robinhood's answer to robo advisers, and its pricing has one feature Wealthfront does not match. Every figure below comes from the two firms' own pages, read on October 7, 2026. We make index construction and backtesting software; we are not affiliated with either firm and do not give investment advice.

Robinhood vs Wealthfront fee comparison at five balances

Robinhood's fee accrues daily at 0.25% divided by 365 and is debited at the start of each month. The Gold rule reads plainly on its page: Gold members "only pay management fees on $100,000 of assets in their account", so every dollar above $100,000 is managed for free. The Gold column adds the $60 a year membership; if you already pay for Gold for its other features, subtract $60 from every row. Wealthfront's 0.25% has no cap.

Two things the table shows that a percentage comparison hides. First, Gold saves nothing on Strategies below $100,000 and only covers its own $60 above $124,000, so on a small account it is pure cost unless you want Gold for other reasons. Second, Wealthfront's own S&P 500 Direct account at 0.09% is cheaper than either 0.25% product at every balance, and stays cheaper than Robinhood with Gold until about $344,000.

Is Robinhood Strategies cheaper than Wealthfront?

Below $100,000, no: both charge 0.25%, and Gold only adds cost. Above $100,000, yes, if you are a Gold member, and the gap grows with every dollar. On $250,000 the difference is $315 a year; on $1,000,000 it is $2,190. Without Gold the two are identical at every balance, before the expense ratios of the funds each portfolio holds.

What each 0.25% actually buys

This is where the two stop being comparable. Wealthfront's Automated Investing account is a passive, rules based portfolio of index ETFs across asset classes, rebalanced by software to a target mix chosen from your risk score. Robinhood Strategies is active management. Its investment team, led by its chief investment officer, builds portfolios from a mix of ETFs and individual stocks and changes them based on its market views. Robinhood is open about this: it promises to explain each adjustment on your dashboard, and you cannot contact the team directly.

Robinhood publishes a short record. Its all equity portfolio returned 17.2% in the year to March 31, 2026, against 16.3% for the S&P 500, and 6.4% a year since January 31, 2025, against 6.9% for the index. That is a year ahead and a longer stretch behind, which is what active management usually looks like over short periods. If you want to own the market, Wealthfront's approach is the closer fit. If you want a manager making calls, Robinhood is selling that.

Robinhood does offer one form of control Wealthfront's ETF portfolios cannot: you can toggle any stock in the portfolio on or off. Stocks only appear once the account holds $500 or more; below that it is all ETFs.

Which does better tax loss harvesting, Robinhood Strategies or Wealthfront?

Wealthfront, on frequency. Wealthfront monitors taxable Automated Investing accounts daily for losses to harvest, at no extra charge, and its own research describes daily software harvesting as the alternative to the "manual end-of-year approach" of traditional advisers. Robinhood Strategies chose that end of year approach deliberately. Its support article says it will "only harvest once per year, at the end of the year", with the possibility of harvesting in a larger downturn.

Robinhood's rules for that annual pass are specific. The managed account must be taxable, funded for more than 30 days and worth at least $3,000 when the harvest runs. By default it harvests only enough to offset gains inside the managed account, but you can ask it to offset gains in your other Robinhood accounts or to harvest the maximum. Proceeds sit in ETFs for 31 days to avoid a wash sale.

The trade off is real in both directions. Harvesting once with the whole year in view avoids booking losses you did not need. Harvesting daily catches losses that appear and vanish within the year, such as a stock that fell 20% in spring and recovered by autumn. Which matters more depends on your gains and the market's path, so model it with your own figures in the tax loss harvesting calculator rather than trusting either firm's average.

Wealthfront's 0.09% direct indexing changes the comparison

If the reason you are looking at either service is tax efficiency on a stock portfolio, the more useful comparison is Robinhood Strategies against Wealthfront S&P 500 Direct. That account holds the S&P 500 as individual shares from $5,000, harvests losses on single stocks rather than whole ETFs, and charges 0.09%. Robinhood sells nothing like it; our page on Robinhood direct indexing alternatives covers what a Robinhood customer can use instead and how the Gold cap compares with every 0.09% provider.

On cost, S&P 500 Direct wins until about $344,000, where 0.09% reaches Robinhood's $310. On what you own, it is the index itself, with the option to exclude names, against a manager's portfolio. Wealthfront's three direct indexing products are not the same thing, though, and the $100,000 US Direct Indexing tier is a blended account inside the 0.25% fee. The differences are set out in Wealthfront direct indexing fees and minimums.

Minimums, accounts and moving money

Both accept transfers in. Robinhood says it will try to fold transferred holdings into the portfolio in a way that limits taxable gains. On the way out, Robinhood charges $100 for a full or partial ACATS transfer and Wealthfront charges nothing, and at both firms fractional shares cannot move by ACATS, so they are sold for cash. The full fee table, including which firms will repay it, is in ACATS transfer fees by broker.

Funding is the other practical question. Both firms let you set up recurring deposits, and the size you can sustain matters more than which app holds the money. If your income arrives as PDF statements from several banks, it can help to convert the bank statements to a spreadsheet and total a few months of real surplus before you pick a monthly figure.

Robinhood Strategies or Wealthfront, by situation

• Under $100,000, want a hands off index portfolio: Wealthfront. Same 0.25% fee, daily harvesting and a passive portfolio. If the money is all stocks and above $5,000, Wealthfront S&P 500 Direct at 0.09% is cheaper still.
• Over about $350,000, already a Gold member, comfortable with a manager: Robinhood Strategies. A flat $250 in fees on any balance is hard to beat, as long as you accept stock picking and a once a year harvest.
• Want the index itself with your own exclusions: neither 0.25% product. Use a direct indexing account, and decide what that index should hold before you choose who runs it.
• Trading actively in the same account: keep the trading at Robinhood and the long term money elsewhere; managed accounts at both firms are separate from self directed ones.

Model the index before you pay for it

Whichever way you lean, the expensive mistake is paying a fee for a portfolio you have not looked at closely. In Indexes you can build the index you would want held, the S&P 500 minus your employer, a 20 stock version of what Strategies might buy, or a sector tilt, backtest it against the S&P 500 and track it daily. It is analysis software: it does not hold money or place trades, and plans start with no account minimum. Once you know the shape of the portfolio, the choice between a 0.25% manager, a 0.09% direct index and a flat $310 is a much easier one to make.