This is the 2026 edition. Seven tools, three falsifiable questions: does it see all your accounts, can it execute after you approve, and who keeps custody. Wealthnow wrote this comparison and appears in it, so every answer below is meant to be checkable in each vendor's own documentation, and we say plainly where other tools fit a job better.
How we compared them (and who is writing this)
Disclosure first: this guide is published by Wealthnow, which appears in it. To keep it useful anyway, the comparison is mechanical. Three questions, verifiable in each vendor's own docs: (1) Multi-broker read: does it see all your existing accounts? (2) Execution: can it act after you approve, or does it stop at advice? (3) Custody: do your assets stay at your own broker? We also note the job each tool is built for. This is a feature comparison, not a ranking.
The 2026 field at a glance
| Tool | Multi-broker | Executes | Non-custodial | Built for | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wealthnow | Yes (12,000+) | Yes, your approval, at supported brokers; others read-only | Yes | Research across your accounts → approval → execution at supported brokers | Free to start |
| PortfolioPilot | Yes (read-only) | No (by design) | Yes (read-only) | Advice and net-worth analytics | Free; $20/mo billed annually |
| Magnifi | Yes (tracking) | No | Yes (read-only) | Plain-English discovery and comparison | Subscription |
| Composer | No | Yes, in its own brokerage | No (custodial) | No-code strategy building and backtesting | ~$24/mo |
| Wealthfront / Betterment | No | Yes, in their custody | No (custodial) | Hands-off, set-and-forget ETF management | ~0.25%/yr |
| Robinhood Agentic Trading | No (Robinhood only) | Yes, in-app approval | Yes (it is the broker) | Free AI-agent access for an existing Robinhood account | Free |
| Origin | Yes | Limited | Mixed | Broad personal-finance planning with an AI layer | Promo pricing |
Wealthnow
Wealthnow is the AI for investing. It connects 12,000+ brokerages, banks and financial institutions, including Robinhood, Schwab, Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Coinbase, and Kraken. At supported brokers it routes the trades you approve through your own account; the others connect read-only. Never custodial. It reads every connected account, its research cites filings and live data, and approved orders at supported brokers route through your own broker behind a covered-sell check, an operator halt switch, and duplicate-order protection. Honest caveats: it is a young company; advice-only purists will prefer a tool that cannot act; and deep DIY strategy-builders will find Composer's editor richer.
Advice-only analysis: PortfolioPilot
If you want analysis only, PortfolioPilot is an advice-only product: read-only aggregation, hedge-fund-inspired analytics, a $20/month entry (billed annually), and a no-execution stance it treats as a feature rather than a gap. The trade-off is the obvious one: every recommendation becomes your manual homework across every brokerage app you own.
Hand-built strategies: Composer
Composer's no-code builder and backtester let you craft rule-based strategies without programming, for a flat ~$24/month (billed annually) with zero commissions. The structural limits: strategies execute only inside Composer's own custodial brokerage, on money you move there, and it does not see the rest of your portfolio.
Hands-off management: Wealthfront and Betterment
The mature robo-advisors are still the right answer for investors who want zero involvement: automated ETF portfolios, tax-loss harvesting inside the account, around 0.25% per year. They are custodial by design, conversation-free, and limited to the money you transfer in. They are not AI portfolio managers in the 2026 sense: no conversation about your holdings, no action on the accounts you already have elsewhere. But they do their narrower job reliably.
Free single-broker agents: Robinhood Agentic Trading
If your investing lives entirely in Robinhood, its Agentic Trading (launched May 2026) gives MCP-capable agents like Claude and ChatGPT trade access with previews and in-app approval, free. The limit is in the name: it is Robinhood-only, so portfolio-level moves across your other accounts are out of scope. Pair it with an independent layer if your money lives in more than one place.
How to choose, in one paragraph
Ask the three questions of your own situation. One account and want zero involvement? A robo-advisor. One account at Robinhood and want agents? Robinhood's native feature. Want analysis only, never action? PortfolioPilot. Want to build strategies by hand on dedicated capital? Composer. Money in several places and want one AI that researches with citations and, at supported brokers, executes what you approve through your own broker, never taking custody? That is the job Wealthnow was built for.
Frequently asked
Are robo-advisors AI portfolio managers?
Not in the 2026 sense. Robo-advisors automate fixed ETF models inside their own custody. An AI portfolio manager reasons conversationally about your actual positions across your existing brokers and can execute the trades you approve there.
Is this comparison biased, since Wealthnow wrote it?
Wealthnow publishes it, which is why the methodology is mechanical and verifiable: three yes/no questions you can check in each vendor's documentation, plus the job each tool is built for, including the jobs where other tools fit better than Wealthnow.
What does an AI portfolio manager cost in 2026?
Entry tiers cluster at $20 to $24 per month billed annually (PortfolioPilot Gold, Composer), full platforms at $99 to $221 per month, robo-advisors at roughly 0.25% of assets per year, and Robinhood's single-broker agents are free. Wealthnow is free to start.
Is my money safe with an AI portfolio manager?
With a non-custodial tool, your assets never leave your own brokerage account. Wealthnow reads your connected accounts and, at supported brokers, routes only the trades you approve through your broker; it never holds your money, and you can disconnect a brokerage whenever you choose, once any open orders there are cancelled. Custodial tools like Composer and Wealthfront hold your money themselves, a different model that suits hands-off investors.
