You don't need a lot of money to start investing. In fact, even small amounts can grow over time when you give compound interest a chance to work its magic. That's the idea behind micro-investing: investing small amounts, such as your spare change, on a regular basis. Some apps make this easy with low or no minimums, while others automate the process by directing your spare cash into investments.

To help you find the right micro-investing apps, CNBC Select rounded up our top picks based on cost, accessibility, investment options, automation tools and ease of use. See our methodology below for more information.

Best micro-investing apps

  • Best for spare-change investing- :Acorns
  • Best for learning as- you invest- :Stash
  • Best for commission-free active trading- :Robinhood
  • Best for AI-powered investing research- :Public
  • Best robo-advisor for hands-off investing- :Betterment
  • Best for automated investing and cash management- :Wealthfront
  • Best for banking and investing in one place- :SoFi Invest

  • Best for investing through a banking app- :Chime Invest

  • Minimum deposit and balance- Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. No minimum required to open an account; $5 minimum to start investing

  • Fees- Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Monthly plans include: Bronze ($3 per month), Silver ($6 per month), and Gold ($12 per month). No hidden costs or transaction fees.

  • Bonus- Silver members receive a 1% IRA match on new contributions during their first year; Gold members receive a 3% IRA match on new contributions during their first year.

  • Investment vehicles

  • Investment options- Diversified ETFs which include more than 7,000 stocks & bonds

  • Educational resources

Terms apply.

Who's this for? If you struggle to invest consistently and want something that runs quietly in the background, Acorns is built for you. Its signature Round-Ups feature links to your debit or credit cards and automatically invests your spare change from everyday purchases into a diversified portfolio of ETFs, so you're investing without even noticing.

Standout benefits: You can open an account with no minimum balance, though you'll need $5 to get started. Plans range from $3 to $12 per month, with higher tiers unlocking a retirement account with an IRA match up to 3%, custodial accounts for kids and even checking and emergency savings. Just know that the flat monthly fee can eat into returns if your balance stays small, so Acorns pays off most once you're contributing regularly.

  • Minimum deposit and balance- Stash Smart Portfolio: $5; Brokerage and retirement accounts: $0.01. No minimum for Stash bank account

  • Fees- $12/month (or $108 billed annually)

  • Investment vehicles offered- Robo-advisor, traditional and Roth IRAs, brokerage accounts, custodial accounts, bank account

  • Investment options- Stocks and ETFs

Who's this for? If you want to learn the ropes of investing while you do it, Stash is the more hands-on alternative to Acorns. Instead of just rounding up spare change, Stash lets you choose your own stocks and ETFs, guided by educational content and thematic recommendations that break down why you're investing in something.

Standout benefits: Stash's Stock Round-Ups feature rounds up purchases made with your Stock-Back Card to the nearest dollar and automatically invests the spare change into a stock matching where you spent the money or into a custom stock you choose ahead of time. Plans start at $12 per month and include fractional shares, automatic recurring investments and Stock-Back rewards that pay you in stock when you shop with your Stash debit card.

  • Minimum deposit and balance- Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. No minimum required to open an account or to start investing

  • Fees- Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Commission-free trading; regulatory transaction fees and trading activity fees may apply

  • Bonus- Get a free stock added to your brokerage account when you link your bank account and fulfill the promotion conditions (keep it or sell after 2 trading days)

  • Investment vehicles

  • Investment options

  • Educational resources

Who's this for? If you want to actively pick your own stocks without paying commissions, Robinhood is one of the most straightforward ways to do it. It's less "set it and forget it" than Acorns or Stash, and more suited to investors who want direct control over what they buy.

Standout benefits: There's no account minimum and fractional shares start at just $1, so you can own a slice of pricier stocks. Robinhood also offers commission-free options and crypto trading, a 1% match on IRA contributions, and, for Gold subscribers ($5/month), access to a robo-advisor option (Robinhood Strategies) and a research hub powered by Morningstar.

  • Minimum deposit and balance- Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. No minimum is required to open a brokerage account; the Bond Account requires a $1,000 minimum.

  • Fees- Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Commission-free trading on stocks, ETFs and options (with per-contract rebates instead of fees); crypto trades carry a spread; regulatory transaction fees may apply.

  • Bonus- Get a 1% uncapped cash match on transferred funds when you move an existing brokerage account, IRA or 401(k) rollover to Public (keep funds in your account for the required holding period).

  • Investment vehicles- Brokerage account: Public.com commission-free investing

  • Investment options- Stocks, ETFs, bonds, options, Treasuries, crypto, IRAs and Crypto IRAs, plus a Bond Account, High-Yield Cash Account, Treasury Account and direct indexing

  • Educational resources- Alpha, Public's AI research assistant, plus Generated Assets, a tool for building custom indexes, replaced the platform's earlier social feed as of mid-2025

Terms apply

Who's this for? If you want access to a wide range of asset types, stocks, bonds, options and crypto, all-in-one, commission-free app Public is a solid pick, especially now that it's leaned into AI-powered research tools over its earlier social features.

Standout benefits: Public offers commission-free fractional shares, bonds, options (with rebates instead of fees) and crypto, plus a high-yield cash account and a Treasury account for uninvested cash. There's no account minimum for trading, though the Bond Account requires $1,000 to start.

  • Minimum deposit and balance- Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. For example, Betterment doesn't require clients to maintain a minimum investment account balance, but there is an ACH deposit minimum of $10. Premium Investing requires a $100,000 minimum balance.

  • Fees- Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected, account balances, etc. Base price is $5/month for investing accounts; automatically switches to 0.25% annually once you reach $24,000 in total balance or set up $200/month in recurring deposits. Premium plan is 0.65% annually.

  • Investment vehicles

  • Investment options- Stocks, bonds, ETFs and cash

  • Educational resources- Betterment's resources hub offers expert-written guides on investing basics, retirement planning, and personal finance, designed to help investors at every level make more informed decisions.

Terms apply. Does not apply to crypto asset portfolios.

Who's this for? If you want your small, regular contributions to get the same professional treatment as a much bigger account, Betterment offers a true hands-off, robo-advisor experience where you deposit what you can, answer a few questions and let an algorithm handle the rest.

Standout benefits: There's no account minimum, so even small or inconsistent deposits start building a diversified portfolio right away. The Digital plan charges 0.25% annually, which includes automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting on taxable accounts, a feature that can help offset or even exceed what you pay in fees. Betterment also offers a high-yield cash account, and its Premium tier (0.40%, $100,000 minimum) adds unlimited access to certified financial planners once you've outgrown "micro."

  • Minimum deposit and balance- Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. $500 minimum deposit for investment accounts.

  • Fees- Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Zero account, transfer, trading or commission fees (fund ratios may apply). Wealthfront annual management advisory fee is 0.25% of your account balance

  • Bonus- None

  • Investment vehicles

  • Investment options- Stocks, bonds, ETFs and cash. Additional asset classes to your portfolio include real estate, natural resources and dividend stocks

  • Educational resources- Offers free financial advice for college planning, retirement and homebuying

Terms apply.

Who's this for? Wealthfront is a good fit if you want your investments managed for you and want to keep more of what you earn at tax time. It's fully automated but with more tax-saving tools built in than most robo-advisors.

Standout benefits: For a flat 0.25% annual fee, Wealthfront automatically looks for ways to lower your tax bill on every taxable account, running tax-loss harvesting daily instead of just once a quarter like some competitors. Once your balance reaches $100,000, you also get access to a more advanced version of this feature called direct indexing. Wealthfront's high-yield cash account only needs $1 to open and has no monthly fees, making it an easy place to keep spare cash while you decide what to invest. The one tradeoff is a $500 minimum to start investing, higher than most other apps on this list.

  • Minimum deposit and balance- Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. No account minimum for active or automated investing, or to participate in IPOs. $5 minimum to own a fractional share of a company.

  • Fees- Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Active investing has zero commission fees for trading stocks and ETFs (exchange and fund management fees may apply). Automated investing has zero management fees

  • Bonus- Get up to 1,000 in stock when you open & fund a new Active Invest account.

  • Investment vehicles

  • Investment options- Stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, alternative funds, fractional share and IPO participation

  • Educational resources- SoFi offers a detailed help center with hundreds of searchable articles, market insights and access to certified financial planners at no additional cost to all members.

Terms apply.

Who's this for? If you want your small investments to live alongside your everyday banking, SoFi Invest lets you start with just a few dollars, whether you'd rather pick your own stocks or have a robo-advisor handle it.

Standout benefits: SoFi Active Investing1 has no commissions and fractional shares starting at $5, so a modest amount of cash can still buy into expensive stocks. SoFi Automated Investing2 charges no advisory fee at all, a rare find for hands-off micro-investors. Either way, small contributions come with the same access to certified financial planners as larger accounts.

  • Minimum deposit and balance- No account minimum for either self-directed investing or Managed Portfolios.

  • Fees- Fees vary depending on which option you choose. Self-directed investing has zero commission fees for trading stocks and ETFs. Managed Portfolios charges no management fee for Chime Prime members, 0.10% annually for Chime Plus members and 0.25% annually for all other Chime - ®members.

  • Bonus- No welcome bonus currently offered

  • Investment vehicles- Managed Portfolios:expert-built, diversified portfolio managed by Atomic Invest, an SEC-registered investment adviser- Brokerage and trading: Chime self-directed investing

  • Investment options- U.S. stocks and ETFs

  • Educational resources- Chime - ®offers a Financial Progress Resource Hub in the app, plus bite-sized, gamified lessons through a partnership with Zogo, where members can earn rewards for completing them.

Terms apply.

Who's this for? Chime Invest, which launched in July 2026, is a good fit whether you're already banking with Chime3 and want to add investing without leaving the app, or you're looking for one place to handle both your everyday spending and your first investments.

Standout benefits: Chime Invest has no account minimums4 and lets you start investing with as little as $1, about as low a barrier to entry as micro-investing gets. If you'd rather not choose your own investments, Chime also offers managed portfolios with no monthly fee for Chime Prime members.

To determine the best micro-investing apps, CNBC Select compared platforms that let users invest with little to no money upfront, whether through round-ups, fractional shares or low account minimums.

We narrowed our picks to apps with no or low account minimums, commission-free trading and accessible entry points for beginners.

We compared each app across a range of features, including fees, investment options, automation tools and ease of use. We also considered how well each app fits into a new investor's daily habits, from spare-change round-ups to recurring deposits, and whether it offers a path to grow beyond micro-investing as balances increase.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every investing list is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of investment products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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1 Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.

2 Automated investing is offered through SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser.

3 Chime® is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC.

4 Investment advisory services provided by Atomic Invest LLC ("Atomic"), an SEC registered investment adviser. Chime is a paid promoter of Atomic and receives compensation based on the assets of referred clients, which creates an incentive for Chime to refer clients to Atomic. See the Atomic Invest Promoter Disclosure Statement for more information. Members can buy stocks and ETFs commission-free; other fees and expenses may apply. Investments in securities: Not FDIC Insured, Not Bank Guaranteed, May Lose Value. Investing involves risks, including the possible loss of principal. Brokerage services for Atomic are provided by Atomic Brokerage LLC ("Atomic Brokerage"), a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC and an affiliate of Atomic, which creates a conflict of interest. For more details about Atomic, please see the Form CRS, Form ADV Part 2A and Privacy Policy. For more details about Atomic Brokerage LLC, please see the Form CRS, General Disclosures and fee schedule. You can check the background of Atomic Brokerage on FINRA's BrokerCheck. Neither Atomic Invest LLC nor Atomic Brokerage LLC, nor any of their affiliates is a bank. Before investing, consider your investment objectives and fees and expenses charged. Advisory services through Atomic are not to be construed as tax advice or financial planning and do not take into consideration investments that clients may hold outside of Atomic.

Editorial Note:Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.