Robinhood vs eToro: cheap US broker or copy-trading app?

Most head-to-heads on this site pit two brokers doing the same job. This one pits two apps doing different jobs for an overlapping audience. Robinhood and eToro both look like slick, beginner-friendly mobile platforms, and both draw the modern, self-directed investor. But framing this as “which app is better” is the mistake. Robinhood is a low-cost US broker with a retirement wrapper. eToro is a social-trading platform that happens to let you buy stocks. The right pick depends almost entirely on which of those sentences describes what you’re trying to do.

Robinhood scores 4.2 on our scorecard; eToro a 4.3. Ignore the fact that eToro edges it — that gap reflects eToro’s asset breadth and best-in-class copy-trading engine, not that it’s the better home for a typical US investor. On the things most readers of this page actually care about — cost of trading US stocks, options pricing, retirement accounts — Robinhood wins comfortably. On the one thing eToro pioneered, Robinhood can’t compete at all.

Risk warning: eToro’s CFDs (outside the US) are leveraged and carry a high risk of loss, and copying another trader never guarantees results. Crypto on either platform is volatile and uninsured. Trade only what you understand.

What everyone compares vs. what actually matters

The usual framing is “both are free, both are easy, both do crypto — pick the one that looks nicer.” That skips the two questions that actually decide it.

What are you here to do — invest, or copy traders? This is the real fork. If you want to buy stocks, trade options cheaply, and fund a retirement account, you’re describing Robinhood, and eToro’s per-trade commissions and missing IRA make it the wrong tool. If you want to find a trader with a track record you like and mirror their positions automatically, you’re describing eToro, and Robinhood has no answer at all. Almost everything else is secondary to that split.

How much do the frictions cost you? Robinhood’s “free” is paid for by payment for order flow — legal, small per trade, but a genuine conflict that can mean slightly worse fills. eToro’s costs are more visible: a flat commission per US stock trade, a ~1% spread to buy crypto, a $5 withdrawal fee, and FX-conversion fees on non-USD deposits. Neither is a rip-off, but they bite different people. The buy-and-hold investor feels eToro’s line items; the active options trader is more exposed to Robinhood’s routing.

What you’re here to do: the decision in one section

Start here, because for most readers it ends the whole thing. Robinhood is a US brokerage first: stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto, with fractional shares, retirement accounts, and a 3% IRA match through Gold. It’s built to be your account. It scores 3.9 on assets — a tidy menu with two gaps, no mutual funds and no bonds.

eToro is a social-trading platform first, and its menu is genuinely broader — stocks, a wide crypto selection, and, outside the US, CFDs on indices, commodities, and forex. That breadth earns it a 4.5 on assets, the higher raw number. But two caveats gut that advantage for a typical US investor: in the US, eToro is trimmed to stocks and crypto only (no CFDs), and across every region it offers no mutual funds, no bonds, and no retirement accounts. So the app that scores higher on assets is also the one that can’t hold your IRA. Edge: eToro on raw breadth and crypto; Robinhood decisively on being a complete US account with retirement.

Cost: Robinhood for investing, eToro for what it’s uniquely good at

For plain US stock investing, this isn’t a debate. Robinhood is $0 on stocks, ETFs, and options, and uniquely charges no per-contract options fee — which makes it one of the cheapest options venues among major brokers, period. eToro charges a flat $1–$2 commission per US stock trade, plus a $5 withdrawal fee and currency-conversion fees on non-USD deposits. If you just want to buy and hold, Robinhood is cheaper and simpler, and it isn’t close. Robinhood scores 4.6 on fees; eToro 4.0.

But eToro’s pricing looks very different when you use it for what it’s built for. Copy trading is free — no management fee, no performance fee, no subscription; you pay only the same spreads and fees you’d pay trading yourself. That’s a genuinely fair model for a feature rivals charge for, and it’s the reason eToro’s higher fee friction is forgivable if copy trading or multi-asset breadth is why you’re there. Robinhood, meanwhile, layers real value onto its $0 base through Gold: a 3% IRA match (1% without), a ~3.35% cash sweep, and among the lowest margin rates available — economics eToro simply doesn’t offer. Edge: Robinhood on the cost of investing and on retirement/cash economics; eToro on the copy-trading model, where “free” is real.

Platform and tools: two different products

Neither is a professional analysis suite, and both are honest about it. Robinhood is the benchmark for mobile simplicity, now with a web platform and a desktop offering for more active users — clean, fast, and with somewhere to grow if you get serious. It scores 4.2 on platform. eToro’s app is built around something else entirely: the social feed and copy-trading mechanics, where you browse traders’ records, allocate funds to copy them, and manage a diversified “portfolio of people.” That differentiator is real and well-executed, and it scores 4.4 — the higher mark, earned by a feature Robinhood doesn’t attempt. Charting and advanced order types are light on both. Edge: eToro if the social layer is the draw; Robinhood if you want a conventional broker with headroom.

Trust: both safe, different footprints

Both are legitimately regulated, just not identically. Robinhood (founded 2013) is SEC/FINRA-regulated with SIPC protection, now a publicly traded company with a long trading-specific track record — though its early controversies, the 2021 trading restrictions, and the PFOF model are part of its story. It scores 4.1. eToro (founded 2007) is regulated by the FCA, ASIC, and CySEC internationally and by SEC/FINRA in the US, with SIPC on US securities; it’s a large platform with tens of millions of users, and scores 4.4. Note the shared asterisk: crypto on either platform is not SIPC-protected, and SIPC never covers market losses regardless. Edge: eToro slightly, on regulatory breadth and scale; both are safe used as intended.

Support and the day-to-day

Both onboard fast and run lighter on human support than the century-old incumbents. Robinhood’s support was historically its weak spot and has climbed to 24/7 availability with in-app help, scoring 3.9. eToro offers a help center and ticketing with limited phone support and variable response times, scoring 4.1. Neither has a branch network. Edge: eToro, narrowly.

Who should pick which

Choose Robinhood if you want a cheap, complete US account. It’s $0 on stocks and ETFs, one of the cheapest options venues anywhere with no contract fee, and the only one of the two that offers retirement accounts — with a 3% IRA match, a competitive cash yield, and low margin through Gold. If your goal is to invest and build a retirement balance, Robinhood does more for less, provided you’re comfortable that part of the bill is paid by payment for order flow. That’s the 4.2.

Choose eToro if copy trading or multi-asset breadth is the actual reason you’re signing up. Its copy-trading engine is the best in the business and free to use, wrapped around a wider crypto and (outside the US) CFD menu than Robinhood offers. Just go in knowing it’s pricier for plain US stock investing, that it has no IRA or mutual funds, and that the US version is limited to stocks and crypto. Used for its strengths rather than as a low-cost stock account, it earns its 4.3.

Consider that neither is a full-service home. Both skip mutual funds; eToro also skips bonds and retirement accounts entirely; neither is built for deep research or heavy active trading. Many people start on one of these and later add a full-service broker for funds and retirement depth. See the full field on our stocks and ETFs hub, and the weightings behind these scores on how we rate.

Bottom line

The scores nearly tie — eToro’s 4.3 to Robinhood’s 4.2 — but they’re measuring different machines. Robinhood is the better broker for the job most readers of this page have in mind: cheaper US stock trading, the cheapest major-broker options with no contract fee, and the only IRA of the two, with a 3% match. eToro wins on the axis it invented — copy trading, which is free and still the best there is — plus a broader crypto and international CFD menu. Pick Robinhood to invest and save for retirement at the lowest cost; pick eToro to copy traders or spread across assets, and accept the frictions as the price of what it’s uniquely good at. Neither is where a fund-based, long-term portfolio ultimately belongs.