Key takeout
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There are no bad choices here. Both Betterment and Wealthfront are the top rated robo-advisors offering balanced, low-cost automated portfolio management.
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Beyond core services, each robo-advisor has a specialist area that stands out for different types of customers.
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Betterment’s inclusion of unlimited access to human financial planners appeals to those looking for a more high-touch experience.
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WealthFront’s comprehensive investment options (including individual stocks, bond ladders and direct investments) offer sophisticated solutions that can be endlessly customizable.
Robo-Advisor provides investors with automated portfolio management and uses algorithms based on risk tolerance to select investments when they need money.
Betterment and Wealthfront are two of the top robo-advisors in the busy sector, including platforms with the largest names in the broker world.
These robotic experts complete years of experience for clients who want a professionally managed portfolio at affordable costs. Additionally, they have continued to add more services than you would expect from a standalone robo-advisor.
Both Betterment and Wealthfront won the top mark in the latest reviews of Bankrate (earned the highest honors of Best Robo-Advisor in 2025). While these robots have many things in common, that’s the difference we dive into below – it helps you decide which provider to best meet your financial needs.
Our Take
Top Robo Advisors use low-cost exchange sales funds to build portfolios and add a mountain of value-added features such as tax Loss harvesting and cash management accounts. The result is a portfolio that may be superior to human-created portfolios.
Here’s how Betterment and WealthFront compare head to head in five important categories:
Portfolio Management
Edge: This is a close call, but wealthfront wins in this category if you can include a wide range of investment options in your portfolio beyond what a robo-advisor usually offers.
If you’re looking for a more traditional financial management relationship, including access to financial planners, Betterment is clearly raising the legs as WealthFront does not offer human advisor options.
In many ways, the better and wealthfront are similar in terms of managing your portfolio. Both offer sophisticated portfolio management and tax strategies that can reduce the net cost of services (details below). Each can also be exposed to cryptocurrency if you are interested in it.
You may or may not increase your return beyond the extra bells and whistles.
Better portfolio management
Betterment can build a portfolio based on 13 asset classes, and set multiple goals and store them individually. You can access Smart Beta Funds. This gives you access to a variety of factors that will beat market returns and socially responsible investments. You can go to “all cash” or “all bonds” and have the freedom to adjust the weights of your portfolio.
Both Betterment and Wealthfront are designed to work without a human advisor, but the key differentiator is a better option to talk to a qualified human advisor.
You will need to improve over $100,000 to qualify for Premium Tier, including unlimited access to a team of certified financial planners (CFPS).
Wealthfront Portfolio Management
Similarly, WealthFront allows you to create customized portfolios from hundreds of ETFs and invest in multiple goals. If you want to add a specific ETF to your portfolio, WealthFront offers absolute choices, allowing you to tinker with allocations, and offer more freedom.
Income investors appreciate the robo-advisor automated bond ladder. This deals with the heavy lifting of building US Treasury ladders with various maturities and risks to avoid state and local taxes on interest.
For over $500,000, you can access WealthFront’s Smart Beta Fund.
WealthFront also introduced the ability to buy individual stocks in early 2023. You can also add fractional shares without a minimum of $1 investment and trading commission. More recently, companies have added direct indexing as an option. This adds another layer of customizability, allowing Robo to optimize weight loss harvest loss. (This is more info.)
Cash Management Account
Edge: Wealth Front. Used responsibly, the portfolio credit line they offer is a great feature and you have access to low-cost loans at almost every point.
Wealthfront and improvements are close when it comes to the cash management accounts they offer. In fact, unlike many accounts, they are the best in the industry and can pay interest. Both offer accounts that regularly increase your rate (or down) as your typical rate changes, making them a great place to hide your cash when prices are high.
Here’s how their cash management accounts stack up:
| Cash Management Features | Wealthfront | Improvements |
|---|---|---|
| Can I open it without an investment account? | yes | yes |
| Is there a monthly fee? | yes | yes |
| Is there an overdraft fee? | yes | yes |
| Minimum balance? | $1 | $0 |
| Do you pay interest? | yes | yes |
| Debit card? | yes | yes |
| Early direct deposit? | yes | – |
| A paid ATM? | Over 19,000 | Refund ATM fees worldwide |
| Do you want to check your mobile check deposit, bill payments, and writing? | yes | yes |
| Portfolio credit line? | yes | – |
| FDIC Insurance | Up to $8 million for individual accounts | Up to $2 million for individual accounts |
These two robo-advisors are the same for so many features, but let’s do some differences.
- Early direct deposit: WealthFront offers early direct deposits for payroll checks, so Betterment can work faster, but not.
- Paid ATMs: Both offer access, but Betterment’s reach is wider.
- Portfolio Credit Line: WealthFront allows you to rent at a low rate of up to 30% (if above $25,000) for automated investment accounts. You can have money in a few hours. Betterment does not provide this feature.
WealthFront offers a better suite of features with early direct deposits and portfolio credit lines, allowing immediate access to your loans.
On the other hand, no fee ATMs are great add-ons offered by both, but no cash is required every day. However, frequent travelers abroad may find Betterment’s global ATM coverage a valuable perk for their account.
Management and Funding Fees
EDGE: This category is too close to appealing to most investors when comparing the cost ratios of core portfolio management services to investments.
Betterment and Wealthfront are neck and neck when it comes to management fees related to the master plan (going to the robo-advisor) and fund fees (sent to the company that created the fund).
Portfolio Management Fees
Both Betterment and WealthFront charge 0.25% of their assets annually against Core Portfolio Management Services.
Betterment has an additional fee tier based on your account balance.
- Digital Plan: Annual fee of 0.25 applies to customers over $20,000 on all accounts. Those who are less will be charged a monthly fee of $4 instead. Betterment will waive any monthly fees if you set up a fixed deposit of $250 or more per month.
- Premium Plan: This second service tier rises to 0.65% of your assets (at least $100,000 in your account) or $65 per year for every $10,000 invested. This is the level of purchasing access to CFP teams, and CFP teams can advise on investments held outside of their accounts.
- High Portfolio Discounts: Wealthy investors in either plan earn a 0.1% management fee discount on some of their portfolios over $2 million. This will result in a digital plan management fee of 0.15% and a premium plan of 0.55%.
When it comes to ETF fees, the race is just as tight. According to Betterment, the portfolio averages between 0.05-0.24%, depending on what exactly is. This costs between $5 and $24 a year for every $10,000 invested.
Wealthfront is right there, with an average portfolio of around 0.08%. Either way, it’s as cheap as it gets.
In fact, the ETF fees you pay with either Robo-Advisor will depend on exactly which type of portfolio is being built, and what it depends on your individual needs and preferences.
Tax Strategy
Edge: With potential returns and direct indexing, WealthFront goes ahead in this category, but Betterment also offers a solid feature set.
Robo-advisors can also add value through tax strategies. This is an important consideration for investors with money invested outside of tax retirement accounts. Robo-Advisors are ideal for tax reductions, with the ability to do troublesome transactions for human advisors. Tax collection means selling losers to take away tax losses that can offset their profits.
Better tax strategies
Betterment tries to maximize profits using daily tax LOSS harvests. Usually they sell one fund and replace it with another fund with many similar features. You can access this service using any level of assets you bring into your account.
Betterment also has a tax coordination portfolio that seeks to minimize tax by optimizing investments in taxable and tax accounts such as IRAs. Robo says the service will improve by about 0.48% per year, or about twice the Core Advisory Fees.
Wealthfront Tax Strategy
WealthFront also uses daily tax Loss harvest, but is taken to the next level.
For $100,000 or more, WealthFront can start using indexes directly, which increases the chances of savings. Therefore, your account does not own the fund, but it owns component stocks. On any trading day, wealthfronts are increasingly likely to suffer losses from slow harvesting at this stock level. (WealthFront’s S&P 500 direct index strategy focusing solely on index holdings is available for a minimum investment of $20,000.)
WealthFront says the Tax LOSS harvesting program can recover 97% of its clients’ management fees. Robo-Advisor says clients in high-risk portfolios (i.e., stock-heavy) look at the estimated profits of advisory fees of 6-13 times after tax.
Features and tools
Edge: Wealth Front. Its excellent planning tools (actually one and multiple tools) and the useful autonomous driving money feature are often compared to Betterment’s useful (thinner and more focused) tools.
Betterment and Wealthfront provide features and tools that allow you to add value to your account.
In addition to what has already been mentioned, Betterment’s tools include:
- Tax Impact Previewthis will allow you to see how your financial decisions will affect your taxes.
- Charitable donation toolshelps you manage gifts and receipts and save even more taxes
- Resignation Planning Toolprovides suggestions on how to optimize your portfolio to meet your retirement needs
- Goal-based saving toolhelps you set different goals and save for them. You can also rank your goals from a priority perspective.
In addition to what we have already mentioned, WealthFront tools include:
- Path Financial Planning Toola robust tool that helps you plan multiple financial goals by drawing in all your spending and financial data. You can project your net worth over time and see how spending in one area affects progress on other goals with easy-to-use graphics. You can also use this tool to plan your university and use the wealthfront to open 529 university savings plans or link external plans. You can also budget for your vacation and see how it affects your goals.
Plus, you don’t have to choose to manage your money with Robo, but you’ll still get access to WealthFront’s comprehensive planning tool. To get the most accurate results, simply open your WealthFront account to access and link to other financial accounts.
Who will do your best to be the best?
Betterment is perfect for both new investors and investors over $100,000 who want the option to consult with financial planners at any time, thanks to a minimum of $0 in the Digital Tier. Some of the services to watch out for are:
- Unlimited access to human financial planners for a larger portfolio.
- For customers under $20,000 with automated monthly deposits, there are no free account management and no minimum investment requirements.
- Competitive fees for free cash management accounts, including debit cards, ATMs and checks.
- Tax optimization strategies for taxable accounts (for example, daily tax LOSS harvest and tax coordination portfolio).
Who is WealthFront best for?
All of WealthFront’s exhaustive investment options (including individual stocks, bond ladders, and direct investments) are a boon for those looking for money management that goes far beyond what typical robo advice offers. The highlights are:
- A sophisticated portfolio management service that offers advanced customization.
- Undelegated trading of individual stocks and ETFs.
- Access to automated bond ladders, direct indexing services and financial planning tools.
- High profit cash management account with free banking capabilities (including checks, bill payments and free ATM access).
Conclusion
The core portfolio management services and management fees at both Betterment and Wealthfront are very good and very similar, as are the features of cash management accounts that have a lot of perks. But whether or not you go with one or the other depends heavily on the individual’s needs.
For example, if you need a human advisor and meet the minimum investment requirements for unlimited access, improvement might be your answer. If the ability to invest in individual stocks (through brokerage or access to direct indexes) is a priority, Wealthfront may be able to provide better service to meet your needs. Another thing that could shake you up with one robo-advisor or another is access to a specific feature in a cash management account or a portfolio’s credit line.