Acorns Hikes Micro-Investing Fees as Brokers Stay Free

Acorns now charges new customers $4 a month for Bronze and $8 for Silver, up from $3 and $6 for people who signed up on or before August 16, 2026. The bump applies to signups on or after August 17, 2026. Gold stays $12 a month.

Round-Ups still sweep leftover cents from card purchases into a mix of ETFs, and you can still open with $0 and start with $5. The monthly bill is heavier on the same small balances the category was built to serve, while full-size brokers already sell $1 slices with no subscription.

The August Price Hike on Spare Change

Acorns split its prices by signup date in its August 3, 2026 customer relationship summary. Bronze is $3 a month if you signed up on or before August 16 and $4 a month if you signed up on or after August 17. Silver is $6 on the old side of that cutoff and $8 on the new side. Gold remains $12.

Of that monthly bill, $0.10 is the advisory fee for Acorns Advisers and Acorns Securities. The rest is the Grow program fee for the app, banking extras, and education. The firm says it will not add a separate trading commission when it places the trades.

The same filing tells customers the fee schedule may not fit people who make few or infrequent small-dollar investments, because the charge can be a large share of the amount invested. That warning sat in the document before the new-customer increase took effect, and it still describes the product after it.

The Fee Schedule may not be appropriate for individuals who make few or infrequent small-dollar investments, where the fee may be a large percentage of the total amount invested.

Acorns Advisers, LLC and Acorns Securities, LLC, Form CRS, August 3, 2026

A later program agreement, effective September 2, 2026, repeats the split and adds a practical trap. Stay on the plan you already had, and the old $3 or $6 price can hold. Sign up after the cutoff, or change tiers after that date, and the new $4 or $8 price is the one that sticks. That is how a one-tap upgrade can permanently reprice an older account.

THE PRICE AND PRODUCT CALENDAR

1. February 13, 2026: Acorns says it has more than 14 million all-time customers and more than $30 billion invested since inception.
2. July 20, 2026: Chime launches Chime Invest inside its banking app, with a $1 start and no account minimum.
3. August 17, 2026: New Acorns customers pay $4 for Bronze and $8 for Silver. Gold stays $12.
4. September 2, 2026: Acorns’ program agreement restates the signup cutoff and applies the new Silver and Bronze prices to later plan changes.

The company still presents itself as a spare-change coach, not a discount broker. Portfolios are model mixes of third-party ETFs, five Core sleeves from conservative to aggressive and four ESG sleeves with no conservative option. The software rebalances when holdings drift 5% or more from target. Frequent deposits are the design, which is why a flat bill that does not shrink with a tiny balance is such a poor match for a roundup-only user.

$4 a Month Costs 9.6% on $500

A $4 Bronze plan is $48 a year. On a $500 balance that is a 9.6% annual haircut before the funds’ own expense ratios. On $1,000 it is 4.8%. On $5,000 it is 0.96%. The old $3 plan is $36 a year, or 7.2% of $500, which is the exact case the SEC already walked through.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance published a bulletin on subscription advisory fees that spells out how a $3 monthly fee hits $500. A $3 bill is $36 a year, which the bulletin calls more than 7% of that account; the exact share is 7.2%. The new $4 price on the same $500 is 9.6%. The bulletin also warns that a flat fee can chew through a small balance, or keep the account from growing even when the holdings rise, because each month’s charge is taken off the top.

A second SEC bulletin on fees uses a larger hypothetical: $100,000 growing at 4% a year for 20 years. A 0.25% annual fee leaves about $208,000. A 0.50% fee leaves about $198,000. A 1.00% fee leaves about $179,000. Spare-change balances live far below that $100,000 example, which is why a $48 or $144 yearly bill dominates the first years.

ANNUAL COST ON SMALL BALANCES

Stash’s $144 yearly bill is 2.88% of $5,000, still a large slice of a starter account. Betterment’s $60 is 1.2% of $5,000, and it drops to a 0.25% asset fee once the household hits $24,000 or sets $200 a month in recurring deposits. Acorns does not make that switch. The $48 (or $144 on Gold) stays flat until you leave.

Chime Prime in that table is a membership tier, not a claim that Prime itself is free. The 0% and 0.25% lines are only the investing advisory rates Atomic Invest charges on managed portfolios.

Do You Still Need a Micro-Investing App?

You do not need a spare-change brand to buy a slice of a stock. Fidelity advertises fractional shares starting at $1 on U.S. stocks and most ETFs, with $0 commissions on those online trades and $0 to open a retail brokerage account. Schwab publishes $1 slices on most U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs and $0 to open. Vanguard lets you open at $0 and buy its own ETFs from $1, with a narrower fractional menu than Fidelity or Schwab.

Fidelity Go, the firm’s robo option, charges $0 under $25,000 and 0.35% a year once the balance reaches $25,000. There is no minimum to open. Investing starts at $10. That is a managed mix, not a roundup from coffee, but it is also a $0 advisory bill on the same small balances that pay Acorns $48 a year.

The old reason to download a micro-investing app was a high share price and a $500 or $1,000 account minimum. Those walls are gone at the large brokers. What remains is the habit: linking a debit card, rounding up, and not thinking about it. That is still a product. It is no longer the only way to start with $5.

Look Inside the Checking App With a $1 Start

Chime, a fintech that offers checking through The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., announced Chime Invest on July 20, 2026. The pitch is commission-free investing with no account minimums inside the same app members already open for paychecks and spending. Members can start with $1. Chime said the average member opens the app five times a day and transacts more than 50 times a month, which is the distribution advantage a standalone roundup app does not have.

The hardest part of investing is often getting started and sticking with it. Millions of people already trust Chime with their money every day. By bringing investing into the app they already know and love, we’re making it easier to turn saving into investing and investing into long-term wealth.

Chris Britt, CEO and co-founder of Chime, July 20, 2026 launch release

Chime cited a Gallup Economy and Personal Finance survey from April 2026 in which 58% of U.S. adults own stock, whether in individual names, funds, or retirement accounts. The other 42% are the audience every $1-start product is chasing.

HOW CHIME INVEST IS BUILT

• Managed portfolios: Atomic Invest, an SEC-registered adviser, runs expert-built mixes. Prime members pay 0% advisory, Plus members pay 0.10% a year, and other members pay 0.25% a year.
• Self-directed trades: U.S. stocks and ETFs, commission-free, with no advisory fee on that sleeve.
• Protection and conflicts: Securities are SIPC-protected up to $500,000, including $250,000 for cash. SIPC does not cover market losses. Chime is a paid promoter of Atomic and is paid on referred assets, which the launch release flags as a conflict.

Chime is not a bank and not an investment adviser. Investing through Atomic is not FDIC-insured and can lose value. For someone who already gets paid on Chime, the product removes a second app. For someone who does not, it is another fintech login with a managed-account fee that, at 0.25%, is still a small fraction of Acorns’ 9.6% on $500.

Round-Ups Solve a Human Problem

The spare-change mechanic is not a scam. It is a default. Link a card, and each swipe sends the leftover cents into a portfolio you did not have to size, time, or rebalance. Acorns also lets you set recurring deposits and can multiply roundups. For a person who will not open Fidelity and type $25, that automation is the whole product.

Acorns’ own Form CRS says the service is designed for people who invest often. Used that way, with recurring deposits on top of roundups, the $48 yearly fee shrinks as a share of assets. Used the other way, as a jar of leftover coffee money that sits near $500, the fee is the dominant return driver. Long-run stock results will not reliably outrun 9.6% a year.

The firm’s scale shows the habit still sells. As of February 13, 2026, Acorns reported more than 14 million all-time customers and more than $30 billion invested since inception. Those figures do not tell you the typical balance, and a flat-fee business earns the same $48 from a $400 account as from a $4,000 one on Bronze. The incentive is to add checking, an IRA, kids’ accounts, and a higher tier, not to graduate you to a $0 brokerage.

Stash Asks $12 a Month for the Same Start

Stash’s public pricing page now sells one plan, The Stash Plan, at $12 a month, or $144 a year. That is the same yearly cash as Acorns Gold, charged for a personal brokerage account, an IRA, a Smart Portfolio, a Stock-Back debit card, custodial accounts, and $10,000 of life insurance through Avibra. Stash says more than 5 million people use the app. On Smart Portfolios of $1,000 or more, and on managed retirement accounts, it also charges a 0.25% advisory fee on top of the subscription, so a $1,000 managed sleeve pays the $144 plus $2.50 a year.

Betterment is the hybrid in the middle. Its help page lists $5 a month until $24,000, which is $60 a year, then 0.25% if the household balance reaches $24,000 or recurring deposits hit $200 a month. Premium is 0.65% with a $100,000 minimum and access to CFP professionals. On $500, $60 is 12%, worse than new Acorns Bronze in dollar terms. On $10,000, $60 is 0.60%. Set the $200 monthly deposit and the fee becomes 0.25% even while the balance is still small, which is the cleanest way Betterment stops punishing a starter account.

SoFi Automated Investing charges no management fee, with a $5 minimum to buy a fractional share and a $25 yearly inactivity fee if you do not log in at least once every six months. Robinhood charges $0 commissions on stocks and ETFs, starts fractional shares at $1, and sells Gold at $5 a month for extras. Public lists $0 to open a brokerage account and a $1,000 minimum on its Bond Account. Wealthfront still asks for $500 to start a managed investing account and charges 0.25% a year, which is a poor fit for a true spare-change balance even though roundup lists keep including it.

IRA matches are how several apps try to make the monthly bill feel smaller. Acorns Silver advertises a 1% match on new IRA contributions in the first year, and Gold advertises 3%. Stash advertises a 3% match, up to $225 a year. Those credits only help if you actually fund an IRA. Spare change from groceries will not get you there.

The Fine Print on Switching Plans

The August cutoff created two Acorns price lists for the same named plans. An older Silver customer at $6 who never touches the plan picker can stay at $6. The same person who upgrades and then drops back lands on $8, because the new schedule applies to a customer-initiated change. Read the plan screen before you tap it.

Exit costs matter too. Some advisers only hold products that do not transfer cleanly, so canceling can mean selling and realizing gains or losses. Ask whether ETFs can move through an in-kind transfer, what the outgoing fee is, and whether an IRA match has a clawback if you leave early. Stash’s match, like most of these credits, is a retention tool as much as a gift.

CHECKS BEFORE YOU TAP SUBSCRIBE

• The dollar fee versus the balance: Divide the yearly bill by what you actually keep in the app. If the share is several percent, a $0 brokerage or a 0.25% robo will leak less.
• New price versus old price: On Acorns, signup date and later plan changes decide whether Bronze is $3 or $4 and whether Silver is $6 or $8.
• Extra asset fees: Stash’s 0.25% on larger Smart Portfolios sits on top of $144 a year. Chime’s 0.25% on basic managed portfolios is the whole advisory bill.
• The habit you will actually use: Round-Ups help if you will not otherwise invest. They do not help if the monthly fee is larger than the cents you sweep.

Acorns still tells customers, in a regulator-filed summary, that the fee schedule may not fit small, infrequent deposits. That sentence is the cleanest product review the category has, and it is more useful than a ranked list of apps that all promise a tiny start.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of publicly posted fees, filings, and product pages for information only. It is not investment advice, tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell, hold, or subscribe to any security, app, or advisory program, and it is not a comparison that can substitute for your own review of account agreements. Consult a licensed financial adviser, tax professional, or the firms’ Form CRS and Form ADV documents before you open, fund, or close an account. Fees, yields, match offers, and eligibility rules change, and the figures here reflect the cited pages and filings as dated in the article.