Author Note: Marcus Feld has run a personal-investor lab at Vevya since 2019 — funding real broker portfolios, opening robo-accounts, and benchmarking the platforms we feature, so our recommendations come from actual accounts, not press releases.
Quick Answer: If you have under $1,000 and want to start without a spreadsheet, M1’s $1 minimum beats the other two on flexibility. If you want micro-investing from unspent cash, Acorns is the right tool and does it best. If you already hold a SoFi checking account, SoFi Invest’s zero-fee auto-invest is cheaper than both in year one. They solve three different problems. Choose the one matching your actual starting point.
| M1 Finance | Acorns | SoFi Invest | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Pies / balanced portfolios | Micro-investing cash back | Auto-invest + cash management |
| Min. deposit | $1 | $1 (round-ups) | $1 (SoFi account required) |
| Fee | $6/mo managed | $2.99-3.99/mo | Free (with SoFi premium) |
| Cash earn / M1 Borrow | Borrow line, $6/mo | Cash earn 4.00% | 4.5% APY on checking |
| My rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ | ⭐⭐⭐★ (3/5) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ (4/5) |
What “starting with $100” actually means in 2026
It means your constraint is not intelligence — it’s friction. The app that makes the first deposit painless wins. Acorns wins there. M1 wins on flexibility after you have $1,000. SoFi wins if you want your bank account and your investments in the same app. There is no single best app. There is a best app for your exact situation, and it’s not the one your friend recommended.
Acorns — the Cash-Buying App
Acorns rounds up every card purchase to the next dollar and buys ETF micro-lots with the rest. If you spend ~$600/month on a debit card, that’s roughly $120/month going into an investment account without you noticing. That’s about $1,500/year of forced savings. It’s a real number. The cost: ~3% of your balance in annual fees, which means Acorns only makes sense if you’re already disciplined about spending. If you’re not, the fee eats your returns faster than the round-ups earn them.
M1 — the Pie Portfolio
M1’s pies are pre-baked allocations of ETFs. You pick your risk level (Conservative to Aggressive) and M1 handles rebalancing, dividend reinvestment, and tax-loss harvesting. It costs $6/mo. For a $5k position, that’s 1.4%/year — on the high side of robo pricing. But for a $20k position, it’s about 0.4%/year, which is competitive. M1 is the cheapest of the three once you cross ~$10k in managed assets.
SoFi — the Cash-Earn App
SoFi’s pitch is “4.5% on your bank balance, free to invest.” That’s a real rate on a real product. The catch is that the best features (no-fee trading, premium benefits) require SoFi Premium ($25-45/mo). Without the premium tier, you’re paying a spread on your bank balance. With the premium tier, the math changes — your “cost” is the $25/mo premium and your “revenue” is the 4.5% APY. If you hold over ~$50k, the math starts working in your favor. Under ~$15k it usually doesn’t.
My Verdict by Balance
Under $1,000: use Acorns or M1. Over $5,000: switch to M1 Pies. Over $15,000 with a SoFi checking account: the SoFi premium tier math works. Over $40,000: consider Fidelity or Schwab as a DIY base with a robo overlay. This is not a ranking. It’s a balance sheet.
M1 Finance — open a free account Affiliate link — no cost to you.
Acorns — open a free account Affiliate link — no cost to you.
SoFi Invest — open a free account Affiliate link — no cost to you.
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