A Fidelity Roth IRA is a good choice for people who plan on building and actively managing their Roth IRA investment portfolio. Investors are able to choose from a wide selection of stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), low-cost mutual funds, and options. Fidelity, which launched in 1946, also offers multiple trading platforms and several options for customer support, including a robo-advisor, human financial advisors, a comprehensive educational library, planning tools, and in-person help at 200 customer centers. The company also enables investors to earn high interest on spare cash, automatically putting any unused balances into a money market fund.

Like all of the top platforms we reviewed, Fidelity’s offering is not perfect. The broker doesn’t offer futures trading and provides limited crypto and commodities trading, and its virtual assistant and some of its financial planning tools could be improved. But the company has a lot to offer to most Roth IRA investors. 

Read the full Fidelity Investments review.

Charles Schwab, founded in 1971, offers investors one of the most extensive libraries of educational content and research, making it ideal for those who are learning how to invest and manage a Roth IRA. The company’s 24/7 phone support and in-person support from financial advisors at its branches make it easy to get help when you need it. Investors will also find that the trading platform is user-friendly with a good range of analysis tools, including first-class ETF screeners.

On the downside, Charles Schwab doesn’t allow fractional trading of ETFs, which means you can only add these assets to your Roth IRA at their full value. The broker also prevents you from buying directly into cryptocurrencies, though it does offer spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. Lastly, investors should be aware that the platform pays a very low interest rate on uninvested cash.

Read the full Charles Schwab review.

Wealthfront, which launched in 2011, will automatically build and manage your Roth IRA investment portfolio based on your risk tolerance and goals. It gives investors the ability to customize their portfolio with hundreds of possible funds, and it will rebalance your portfolio to fit your goals, eliminating the need to constantly track and update your investments on your own. 

Despite its many stellar features, there are some drawbacks to consider with Wealthfront. As a pure robo-advisor, Wealthfront doesn’t provide support from human financial advisors or offer a live chat feature. It also charges a 0.25% annual fee and doesn’t allow investors to trade individual stocks, ETFs, and other assets. Finally, investors can only choose from the robo-advisor portfolios. 

Read the full Wealthfront review.  

Betterment, founded in 2008, is a robo-advisor that uses technology to build and automatically update investors’ Roth IRA portfolios, while still giving them access to human financial advisors if they’ve invested at least $100,000. 

There is no minimum Roth IRA balance required to use Betterment’s robo-advisor, but there’s a minimum of $100,000 required to be able to work with a human advisor. There is also a higher fee to work with a human advisor, compared to the robo-advisor. Like other robo-advisors, Betterment doesn’t allow investors to build their own portfolio from scratch. Instead, they have to pick from a selection of pre-made portfolio options. 

Read the full Betterment review.

M1 Finance finds a happy medium between automated investing platforms that manage a Roth IRA for you and brokers that require you to build and manage a Roth IRA yourself. M1 Finance, which launched in 2015, offers pre-built portfolios called “Pies,” which cater to different investment strategies and goals. You can invest your Roth IRA into one of the Pies and also use the platform’s tools to rebalance your portfolio easily when needed.

Along with access to the platform’s solid automated tools, M1 Finance still gives you control to customize your portfolio, allowing you to buy individual stocks and ETFs. M1 is not the best option for beginners, however, because you’ll need to plan and set up your portfolio yourself without human advisors or many planning tools. 

M1 Finance charges a $3 monthly platform fee for clients without an M1 Personal Loan or those with minimum balances of less than $10,000 in total.  

Read the full M1 Finance review.

Vanguard’s low-cost mutual funds make it a good choice for long-term Roth IRA investors, enabling them to avoid hefty fees while saving for retirement. Vanguard, founded by the late John Bogle in 1975, encourages passive, buy-and-hold investing. 

Vanguard’s offering doesn’t come with many of the same capabilities and tools for active trading as some of its competitors, resulting in a simpler website and platform that could use an update. For that reason, it’s not ideal for those who require more sophisticated tools to actively trade in their Roth IRA. But for those who want to prioritize low costs and access a great library of educational materials, human advisors, and a robo-advisor, Vanguard is a good fit.  

Read the full Vanguard review.

While it’s a good all-around broker for Roth IRAs, E*TRADE is the best option for powerful, yet user-friendly mobile apps. The E*TRADE Mobile app makes it easy to manage investments on the go, while the Power E*TRADE app offers more advanced tools, including charting, portfolio analysis, and screening capabilities. Once you’re retired and looking to make withdrawals from your Roth IRA, E*TRADE offers industry-best convenience, allowing you to use checks, a debit card, and direct bill pay to do so. 

Where E*TRADE lags the competition is in the area of uninvested cash earnings. Investors can find other brokerage platforms that offer better interest rates on uninvested cash. In addition, E*TRADE doesn’t offer direct crypto investing, though it does offer spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. And notably, some of its ETFs require a $2,500 minimum contribution.

Read the full E*TRADE review.

Interactive Brokers, which launched in 1977, is an excellent option for serious Roth IRA investors. In addition to offering access to a range of investments, from options and forex to futures and American depositary receipts (ADRs), the platform also has a global focus with access to 150 markets across 34 countries. On top of that, Interactive Brokers gives investors advanced trading capabilities, ongoing research, and some of the best trading technology in the business, resulting in faster trade execution than many of its competitors.

While the company has made great strides toward improving its platform offerings to cater to newer traders, the broker’s Trader Workstation platform is notorious for being too complex for beginners. It’s also worth noting that if you want to use Interactive Brokers Pro for faster trade execution, you’ll owe commissions on every trade. 

Read the full Interactive Brokers review.