How Much Does an AI Financial Advisor Cost? (2026)

What are the ways AI money tools charge?

This guide is by Ecomerate, one of the tools compared. Prices below come from each company's own pages, checked October 29, 2026.

A percentage of assets. You pay a share of the balance the service manages, so the dollar fee rises and falls with your portfolio. Investor.gov says this asset-based fee is the most common way investment advisers charge, typically stated as an annual rate such as 0.25%, 1% or 2% and often paid each quarter. Robo-advisors and most human advisers charge this way.

A flat subscription. You pay the same amount each month or year, whatever your balance. AI investing apps such as Astor, Origin, Walnut, Moneda and Ecomerate charge this way, and some robo-advisors use a small monthly fee for low balances: Betterment starts at $5 a month.

No advisory fee. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios charges no advisory fee and says it can do so partly because Schwab Bank earns revenue on the cash allocation in each portfolio, which Schwab describes as an indirect cost. The cost exists; it is collected another way.

What do robo-advisors cost?

For the automated tiers, the most you pay in advisory fees is 0.25% a year, or $25 on $10,000. Tiers that add access to a person cost more and need larger balances.

What do AI investing apps cost?

These prices buy different things. Astor and Origin are registered advisers, so what they tell you can be personalized advice. Walnut and Ecomerate are information and research tools that don't give personalized advice. Moneda builds its AI into a spending and investing account.

What does a human financial adviser cost?

Investor.gov says the fee for an investment adviser's advice is typically based on the value of all the assets in your account, and that you may pay other fees to service the account and for the investments you buy, sell or hold. Advisers can also charge hourly rates, flat fees or commissions, which is why Investor.gov suggests asking each one exactly how it is paid.

Investor.gov also shows why the rate matters over time. In its example, $100,000 growing 4% a year for 20 years is worth about $208,000 with a 0.25% annual fee, about $198,000 with 0.50%, and about $179,000 with 1.00%. The gap between the lowest and highest fee is about $29,000.

For a published price from a firm with human advisers, Empower Personal Strategy charges 0.89% a year on $100,000 to $999,999, with lower rates on larger balances, and pairs you one to one with an adviser, with financial planning included. Its advisory fee doesn't include fund expenses.

How does a percentage fee scale against a flat subscription?

A percentage fee is the rate times your balance: 0.25% is $2.50 a year for every $1,000, and 1% is $10. A flat subscription is the monthly price times 12: Ecomerate Professional at $24.99 a month is $299.88 a year, and Ultimate at $59.99 a month is $719.88.

The two meet at one balance. Divide the flat yearly price by the rate: $299.88 divided by 0.0025 is about $120,000, and $299.88 divided by 0.01 is about $30,000. Below that balance the percentage fee costs fewer dollars; above it the flat fee does, and the gap keeps widening as the portfolio grows.

Small balances work the other way. $11.99 a month is $143.88 a year, which is 2.9% of a $5,000 portfolio. Investor.gov makes the same point about subscription advisory fees: $3 a month on a $500 account is $36 a year, more than 7% of the balance.

This is fee arithmetic only, not a like-for-like comparison: a robo-advisor or adviser manages the money for its fee, and a research app doesn't. It also leaves out fund expenses, trading costs and taxes, and says nothing about returns.

What does each price actually pay for?

• • A robo-advisor's fee pays for a managed portfolio: it picks the funds, trades them under the authority you give it and rebalances. Investor.gov notes that its recommendation is limited by the information its questionnaire collects.
• • A human adviser's fee pays for ongoing advice and monitoring, and often financial planning, from someone required to act in your best interest.
• • A registered AI app such as Astor or Origin charges a flat fee for advice on accounts you keep managing yourself.
• • A research app such as Ecomerate charges for reading and watching: filings, earnings and news on the stocks you choose, with the source named. It doesn't manage money or give personalized advice.

When is another option the better choice?

• • You want the money managed for you and are starting small: a robo-advisor. Vanguard Digital Advisor needs $100, and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios charges no advisory fee from $5,000.
• • You need a plan that covers taxes, retirement income or an estate: a human adviser, or a service with advisers such as Betterment Premium or Empower Personal Strategy.
• • You want personalized recommendations from a registered adviser on accounts you already hold, and to approve trades by text: Astor.
• • You want budgeting, spending and investing in one app: Origin.
• • You want an assistant that reads a linked brokerage account for free: Walnut.

Where does Ecomerate fit?

Ecomerate is an AI research analyst you text in iMessage. Tell it what you own and why, and it reads new 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filings and earnings for those companies, texts you when something touches your reasons, and names the filing behind its answers. Ask for a deep thesis on a stock and a PDF research note arrives a minute or two later. It's free for 10 messages a week; paid plans run from $11.99 to $59.99 a month, start with a 7-day free trial, and the texts it sends you don't count toward your messages.

Its limits: it is research software, not an investment adviser, so it doesn't give personalized advice or tell you to buy or sell, and it doesn't manage a portfolio. It covers US-listed stocks and ETFs and needs an iPhone, iPad or Mac. Trading: not yet; automated trading is coming soon. Brokerage connections are coming soon too, so for now you text it your positions.