Public is a social investing platform offering fee-free stocks (including fractional shares), ETFs, and options. With Public, investors can create custom multi-asset baskets for easier diversification and lower trade fees.
Business Insider's personal finance team compared Public to the best online brokerages and found that Public is an industry leader for comprehensive mobile trading.
Pros and Cons
Public Investing Pros
- Fee-free stock, ETF, and options trading
- Community and social trading features
- Multi-asset investing baskets for simple diversification
- Free, AI-powered analysis tool for asset summaries and enhanced research
- Pre-built Investment Plans
Public Investing Cons
- Crypto investing is through a third-party platform
- No mutual funds or custodial accounts
Open an Account
0% stocks and ETFs; Crypto: 1% or 2% markup; Public Premium: $10/month
4.10% APY with Cash Management Account
$1,000
Pros
Cons
Public is best for active traders who want to invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies while utilizing the expertise and insights of other Public members. Access to high-yield bond and treasury products is also a perk for those looking to diversify their portfolio.
- App store rating: 4.7 iOS/4.3 Android
- Consider it if: You value portfolio diversification and want a social component to your investing experience.
Compare Public Investing
Overview
Public Investing is a community-centered platform offering active and automated investing opportunities suitable for novice and intermediate investors. A Premium membership unlocks additional trading features like no-fee extended trading hours and additional portfolio management tools.
Public's social feed allows you to follow members' activities and share your investment knowledge with other users. You can also create chat groups, participate in events, and listen to live conversations.
Alpha by Public allows investors to generate AI-powered summaries and asset recaps instantly. Altghough it is a free service, you must have an existing Public account to access it. Alpha also provides data-driven responses to trading questions, similar to ChatGPT. But AI-generated responses aren't as reliable as human advisors, and Alpha does not provide financial advice.
Regarding customer support, Public offers in-app chat support and an email, but no phone call support. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Public's AI chat bot can answer basic questions 24/7.
Public is a good fit for beginners and mobile-focused investors who value ease-of-use and fast trading on the go. But if you want to open a custodial account or invest in mutual funds. One of the best investment apps for beginners may be a better fit. Also, Public Invest no longer offers alternative asset classes like NFTs or art.
The Public mobile app has a rating of 4.7/5 on the Apple Store and 4.1/5 on Google Play.
Ways to Invest
Beginners can benefit from Public's educational articles, videos, and podcasts. Topics covered include the latest news, investing basics, retirement, crypto, and options trading.
Public Stocks and ETFs
Investors can access thousands of stocks, ETFs, and fractional shares on Public. There are more than 300 over-the-counter (OTC) stocks available with a focus on large-cap international companies.
Public breaks down your monthly earnings for every asset in the Income Hub. You can also track stock price movements, queue mutiltple trades simultiatlly, and get a detailed AI-summary of an asset's performance chart.
Public's "Investing Themes" feature allows you to toggle your portfolio according to your interests. The "Top Movers" tool lets you view which stocks are experiencing the highest or lowest movement each day, and the "Stock Trends" feature compares the most popular investments to the least popular ones.
Other perks of a Public brokerage account include extended trading hours (for stocks), automatically reinvested dividends, and a comparison stock analysis tool called Compare.
Although Public is a good brokerage option for beginners, its hands-on strategies and advanced charting tools can be used by more experienced investors who want to explore sophisticated trading solutions.
Options Trading on Public
Low-cost options trading on Public is one of the investment app's strongest features. Rather than paying a per-trade fee on options contracts, Public pays you a rebate of $0.06 to $0.18 on stock and ETF options contracts (rebate based on monthly trading volume). Moreover, options trades don't charge fees on commissions or contracts.
Here how much rebate you can earn based on your monthly trading volume:
- 0-999 contracts: $0.06
- 1,000-4,999 contracts: $0.10
- 5,000-9,999 contracts: $0.14
- 10,000+ contracts: $0.18
Investors get access to a suite of technical analysis tools and multi-leg options strategies with a comprehensive strategy builder. The Options Hub tracks earnings dates and trading opportunities.
Available options strategies on Public include long calls, long puts, and covered calls. Public has plans to offer more options strategies in the future.
Public Investment Plans
Public's Investment Plans are different collections of automated, pre-defined portfolios that use dollar-cost averaging as a means to mitigate risk in your portfolio. Portfolios differ based on asset allocations, risk tolerances, and investment styles.
Examples of Public Investment Plans include:
- Core Plans: Issuer-model portfolios that align with your risk tolerance (conservative, moderate, aggressive).
- Bonds Plans: Focused on exposure to the bond market and protecting investors against inflation. This plan is balanced based on your income.
- Theme Plans: Portfolios that trade assets based on certain market themes and trends, such as AI or the cannabis industry.
- Geographic Region Plans: Assets diversified across geographic regions, including exposure from global markets.
- Personalized Plan: Investors can set up their own portfolio asset allocations with up to 20 stocks, ETFs, and/or crypto-assets (must be a Public Premium user).
All pre-built Investment Plans can be adjusted in 1% increments once you sign up with a Plan. Users can also evenly split their funds across all assets in their portfolios.
Public Investing Crypto-Account
Public Investing partnered with Bakkt Crypto, a virtual currency company and licensed money transmitter licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
Although you can access and manage your crypto account through Public, remember that you're technically opening an account with Bakkt Crypto, so your crypto account will be separate from your Public brokerage account.
Cryptocurrency accounts can hold and trade bitcoin, ether, dogecoin, and more. You can set up automatic routine trades for either individual tokens or personalized crypto combinations. Recurring investments can be scheduled on a daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis.
As part of its educational resources, Public provides a wide range of investing and crypto-related content, including stats, news, and live crypto analysis.
Public IRAs
Public offers traditional and Roth IRAs. You can choose a pre-existing investment plan or create your own with up to 20 assets. In a Public IRA, you can invest in stocks, ETFs, bonds, and options.
For a limited time, you can earn up to $10,000 when you transfer your 401(k) or IRA from an old brokerage to Public, but you need to have an account balance of more than $5 million to receive the full promotion amount. If your account is over $5,000, Public covers up to $100 in transfer fees from your previous broker.
Here's how much you can earn by transferring your account to a Public IRA:
- $5,000 to $24,999: $150
- $25,000 to $99,999: $250
- $100,000 to $249,999: $650
- $250,000 to $499,999: $1,000
- $500,000 to $999,999: $2,000
- $1,000,000 to $4,999,999: $4,000
- $5,000,000+: $10,000
Public Bonds and Treasury Bills
Public aims to make investing in bonds just as simple as investing in stocks and ETFs. The app offers thousands of investment-grade and high-yield corporate and Treasury bonds, with municipal bonds coming soon.
The intuitive bond search filters offer a more accessible way for investors to sort through bonds based on popularity, yield, and term length. Corporate bonds also contain information on individual businesses' free cash flow, debt-to-equity ratio, overall business health, and other key financial metrics.
You can invest in Public's diversified Bond Account with a minimum of $1,000. The yield is locked in until the first of 10 bonds reaches maturity. Investors should expect 20 regular payments throughout the year.
You can also invest in treasury bills (T bills), which have maturities ranging from three months to 30 years. The Treasury Account has yields up to 4.83% and no account minimum. Plus, with a high-yield savings treasury account, investors don't have to pay state or local taxes on the income generated from the treasury bills.
0% stocks and ETFs; Crypto: 1% or 2% markup; Public Premium: $10/month
6.9% yield
$1,000
Pros
Cons
Public is best for active traders who want to invest in stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies while utilizing the expertise and insights of other Public.com members.
- App store rating: 4.7 iOS/4.3 Android
- Consider it if: You value portfolio diversification and want a social component to your investing experience.
Public High-Yield Cash Account
In addition to its investment accounts, Public offers a competitive high-yield cash account with a 4.10% savings rate on uninvested cash and FDIC insurance up to $5 million. Public's high-yield cash account has no fees, minimum balance requirements, withdrawal restrictions, or balance limits.
You can easily move funds between your primary Public brokerage account and your secondary high-yield cash account. However, a high-yield cash account lacks additional banking features like a debit card.
no monthly service fee
4.10%
$0
Pros
Cons
- A standard bank offers up to $250,000 of FDIC insurance coverage. We partner with 20 of them so you can get a combined coverage of up to $5M.
- Withdrawing from your high-yield cash account is as easy as making a deposit. There are no fees or limits to how often you can access your cash.
Public Premium
For $8 per month you can open a Public Premium account and get all the same benefits and trading features of a regular Public brokerage account but with additional enhanced trading features like custom Investment Plans, beta access to new features, and VIP account management for trades and transfers.
You also get a complete breakdown of your asset allocation in addition to Morningstar benchmarks, real-time customer price alerts, weekly market breakdowns, an upgraded stock and ETF dashboard, and exclusive audio content.
Premium members are exempted from OTC trade fees, but there aren't lower margin rates.
There is a 7-day free Premium trial. Those with at least $50,000 in there account get a Premium subscription for free.
Fees
You can start investing for only $1 to open a standard Public account and get access to multi-asset investing, high yields, and the AI-powered analysis feature. A Public Premium account is $8 monthly or you unlock complimentary access with a $50,000 minimum.
Public Premium members are exempt from paying nominal fees based on the assets in their investment plans. Premium members also get free extended trading hours and OTC trades ($2.99 per trade for non-Premium members). Premium members pay $0.35 per options contract ($0.50 per contract for non-members).
Bakkt Crypto charges a fee of 1.25% of the total crypto order amount when you add cryptocurrencies to your Investment Plan. Also, alternative assets charge commission fees of 2.5% per transaction. Treasury accounts charge 0.05% per month based on your Treasury account balance.
Accounts with no activity in the last 6 months or balances of under $70 are subject to a $3.99 monthly inactivity fee.
Trustworthiness
Public Investing ensures the security of investments and personal information with data encryption software, protected accounts, and various identity verification processes. Accounts are also covered by SIPC insurance up to $500,000.
The Better Business Bureau gives Public an A+ rating. These ratings generally reflect the bureau's opinion of how well a company interacts with its customers.
Public is a BBB-accredited business, which means it upholds all of the BBB's Standards of Trust. These standards include trustworthiness, integrity, transparency, and security.
Public isn't involved in any major controversies or lawsuits.
Alternatives
Here are some alternative platforms to Public.
M1 Finance
$100 ($500 for IRAs)
0% (cryptocurrencies are commission-free, but Apex Crypto takes 1% fee on transactions); $10/month M1 Plus
Pros
Cons
M1 Finance is one of the best investment apps and could be a good choice if you're interested in trading stocks, ETFs, fractional shares, and cryptocurrencies. It offers both DIY trading and automated account features that make it suitable for both active and passive investors.
M1 Finance- Promotion: New M1 Finance users who open a brokerage account can earn up to $500 if they invest at least $75 in their account within 14 days of opening (offer ends December 31, 2024)
Public and M1 Finance both offer thematic portfolios, crypto portfolios backed by Bakkt, and high yields. However, the two brokerages differ regarding fees, investment options, and resources.
Public stands out for its wide range of ESG portfolio options, rebates for trading options, and bond portfolios. Public is the better choice for options trading as M1 Finance doesn't offer that.
Neither M1 Finance nor Public offers mutual funds.
M1 Finance has a higher minimum requirement ($100 for a standard brokerage account and $500 for retirement). Still, its straightforward investment options and rebalancing features make it a good choice for beginners and long-term investment strategies.
Streetbeat
$0
$8 to $89 per month subscription fee
$10 to $5000 when you enter promo code "BUSINESSINSIDER" and make a deposit
Pros
Cons
Streetbeat is an online AI-powered trading platform suitable for hands-off investors and beginners. Although it doesn't offer much in terms of educational content, its accessible mobile trading platform provides easy trading and portfolio management features.
StreetbeatLike Public, Streetbeat caters to beginner investors and uses AI-powered tools and solutions for enhanced trading access and market analysis.
With Streetbeat, users can invest in unconventional pre-made portfolios inspired by celebrities like Taylor Swift or factions of the US government. Streetbeat also offers generation AI investing strategies and tools and back-testing. However, you must have at least a Prime membership ($14.99 monthly) to access the AI-powered financial advisor and unlimited portfolio options.
Public Investing is the better option for investors looking for low-cost stock, ETFs, and options trading. A Public Premium membership is only $8 a month.
Why You Should Trust Us
We examined Public using Business Insider's rating methodology for investing platforms to compare pricing, account flexibility, ethics, security, and overall customer experience when reviewing investing platforms. Platforms are given a rating between 1 and 5.
Business Insider's Overall Public Investing Rating
| Feature | Rating (out of 5) |
| Fees | 4.00 |
| Investment selection | 4.00 |
| Access | 4.50 |
| Ethics | 5.00 |
| Customer service | 4.00 |
| Overall score | 4.30 |
FAQs
What is Public Investing, and how does it differ from other investment platforms?
Public Investing is an online investing platform for beginners and intermediate investors to participate in active and passive investing strategies. It differs from other investment platforms in its social networking features, AI-powered advisor, and unique alternative asset classes.
Does Public Investing charge any fees for traders or account maintenance?
Public Investing charges fees for certain alternative asset trades, such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, but it doesn't charge account maintenance fees. Public Premium costs $8 each month.
Can users invest in anything besides stocks and ETFs on Public Investing?
Yes, users can invest in asset classes other than stocks and ETFs on Public Investing. Public Investing also offers fractional shares, cryptocurrencies, bonds, and Treasury bonds.
What educational resources does Public Investing offer to its users?
Public Investing offers users educational resources like daily market briefings, live events with industry experts, social feeds, and its AI advisor for asset class summaries and market reports.
Sofi Active Invest: Investments are not FDIC-insured - Are not bank-guaranteed - May lose value - Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, member FINRA(www.finra.org)/SIPC(www.sipc.org).
Must be a SoFi Plus member at the time a recurring deposit is received into your SoFi Active or Automated investing account to qualify. Bonus calculated on net monthly recurring deposits made via ACH and paid out as Rewards Points. See Rewards Terms of Service. SoFi reserves the right to change or terminate this promotion at any time without notice. See terms and limitations. https://www.sofi.com/sofiplus/invest/#disclaimers.
SoFi Plus members can schedule an unlimited number of appointments with a financial planner during periods in which the SoFi Plus member meets the eligibility criteria set forth in section 10(a) of the SoFi Plus Terms and Conditions. SoFi members who are not members of SoFi Plus can schedule one (1) appointment with a financial planner. The ability to schedule appointments is subject to financial planner availability. SoFi reserves the right to change or terminate this benefit at any time with or without notice. Advisory services are offered by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Information about SoFi Wealth's advisory operations, services, and fees is set forth in SoFi Wealth's current Form ADV Part 2 (Brochure), a copy of which is available upon request and at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
