Micro Investing Apps: What to Know and Best Apps for 2025

The coming of the Internet two decades ago brought with it countless online opportunities.

For instance, our 24/7 modern digital lifestyle and always-on mobile interconnectivity form the ideal backdrop for making investments on-the-go.

Taking the first step toward a secure retirement implies taking action right now.

Downloading a micro investing app, creating an account, and setting up recurring payments are all good first steps.

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What Is Micro Investing?

Micro investment platforms aim to assist everyday consumers with making a habit of saving money in a ‘painless’ way, also to attempt getting the best returns on investment in the open market.

Typically, the platforms provide a combination of online budgeting tools and trackers, investment opportunities in financial and real estate markets with no or low minimum amount requirements, also investment education, support, and advice.

The rationale is that over time the smallest regular amounts can accumulate and build up to become larger sums. Also, as investors’ market experience, skills, and confidence grow, it’s possible for them to eventually evolve into becoming successful mainstream participants.

Micro investment platforms typically also aim to keep the costs to customers low so that their savings amounts can grow as quickly as possible.

Micro investment platforms are required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as both a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and broker-dealer.

Can You Actually Make Money with Micro Investing Apps?

Yes, you can, and everyday users often do.

Because micro-investing platforms invest pooled funds on your behalf into the same open markets –e.g. stocks, bonds, and property- as conventional investors, your odds for profiting are the same as the mainstream players.

Further upside for micro investors –as discussed earlier- is the fact their costs are substantially lower, and typically a flat rate, when compared to the fees and brokerage payable on traditional trading accounts.

Given an identical investment type, micro investors are therefore likely to be ‘in the money’ before their mainstream counterparts.

A real-life micro-investment experiment by Business Insider – diversified across stocks and bonds- yielded 2.81% profit in 30 days, or 34.18% annualized.

While two other real-life experimental 3-month portfolios that we have observed, performed as follows:

Portfolio1 – profitable return on investment of 2.83% for the period (34.43% annualized)
Portfolio2 – loss of 0.73% over the measured period (-2.92% annualized)

The potential net upside from micro-investment participation is clear from the examples quoted in the preceding paragraphs. However, portfolio profitability, or the lack thereof, is, of course, subject to prevailing market conditions during the investment period.

By and large, global markets have been bullish over recent years, and participation therein was often handsomely rewarded.

What are the Best Micro Investing Apps?

In line with the skyrocketing trend of tech disruption over the past decade or two, we have also witnessed a proliferation of micro-investing apps.

However, amongst the wide choice available, four apps, in particular, have caught our eye: Acorns, Qapital, and Webull.

1. Acorns: Best for Worryfree Savings

Acorns was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in California. Today it has more than 3.5 million customers worldwide.

At its most basic, the platform’s Acorns Core module ‘siphons’ off the minuscule rounding amounts from payments made with your money cards and reinvests those savings on your behalf.

You can register your own, existing payment cards on the program, or even opt for the Acorns Spend debit card. And, also make your own rounding settings, e.g. rounding up to the nearest $1 is a popular choice.

Acorns pools your ‘spare change’ with other customers and automatically places the monies in low-cost, diversified portfolios of exchange-traded funds offered by reputable asset managers.

Customers can further also select their own risk profile on the platform, ranging through five levels from ‘conservative’ to ‘aggressive’.

Key Features

The Acorns app easily allows you to invest your spare change automatically. The app is free for college students or if you are under 24 years old. Join almost 4,000,000 people saving and investing every day in a portfolio based on personalized income and goals.

Pricing

Price: $1-3 per month

For its services, Acorns follows a simple, low, flat-rate structure. For $1 you get Acorns Core, $2 adds Acorns Later (access to a tax-deductible IRA plan), and $3 adds the Acorns Spend debit card which features cash-back benefits on your everyday purchases.

Best For

The Acorns platform is focused on helping average consumers generate savings and obtain good returns. Not only is the whole approach therefore beginner-friendly, but Acorns further also invests substantially in the financial literacy of its user base.

Its popular online publication ‘Grow’ focuses on finance-related articles and how-to investment guides.

The idea is that customers’ own market savvy grow in line with their savings amounts, and that, eventually, they can participate skilfully and hands-on in the management of their portfolios.

Acorns customers can start with as little as $5. And, in addition to the Acorns Core roundups that get credited to their savings pool on a continuous basis, they can also choose to register further, periodic payments that boost the growth of their funds.

Available

The Acorns app is compatible with both iOS and Android operating systems and is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play platform.

Apple App Store Rating: 4.7/5
Google Play Store Rating: 4.3/5

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Acorns

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2. Fundrise: Best for Real Estate Investing

While the markets for participation in traditional financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, ETFs and so forth have been reasonably accommodating to both large and small investors, the same cannot be said for real estate and fixed property.

Thanks to the sheer magnitude of capital required for property investments, the market was traditionally mostly accessible by corporate investors only. Fundrise is a micro-investing real estate platform that enables everyday consumers to also claim their part of the action.

Fundrise was launched in 2012 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. With its Starter Portfolio option, investors can get involved with as little as $10. The platform’s average annualized returns over the past 5 years have been between 9 and 12 percent.

Fundrise follows the crowdfunding model to invest in approved real estate projects. Investors can easily diversify their portfolios by participating in a spread of portfolios aimed at creating supplemental income, balanced investing, and long-term growth opportunities.