Robinhood vs Fidelity 2026: Best Investing App for Beginners and Serious Investors

Fidelity is the better choice for most investors in 2026 — it offers $0 commissions like Robinhood, but adds better research tools, fractional shares on thousands of stocks (vs Robinhood's limited selection), retirement accounts (IRA, Roth IRA, 401k rollover), and doesn't use Payment for Order Flow, meaning your orders get better execution prices. Robinhood is the better choice if you specifically want options trading with a simplified interface, cryptocurrency alongside stocks in a single app, or if you're starting with very small amounts and want the most beginner-friendly mobile UI. For long-term wealth building, Fidelity's research, account variety, and order execution quality make it the more serious platform.