Best robo-advisors in Canada for 2024

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This being 2024, robo-advisors have now been part of Canada’s investment landscape for a decade. They’re not some newfangled fad. They’ve been tested by market cycles as well as competition from even simpler, lower-cost options like all-in-one exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Robos are still increasing their share of retail investors’ assets under management. For a lot of Canadians, having a robo-advisor could be the best way to build their wealth.

Below you is our best robo-advisors comparison chart. To view all the data in the table, including the yearly returns of the balanced portfolios, slide the columns right or left using your fingers or mouse. You can filter or rearrange the rankings by using the search tool or clicking on column headings. You can also download the data to your device in Excel, CSV and PDF formats.

Best robo-advisors in Canada 2024 comparison chart

Canada’s top robo-advisors

Who took gold, silver and bronze for this year’s ranking of robo-advisors in Canada?

Gold — Best overall robo-advisor: Justwealth

Justwealth is a stand-alone robo—meaning it’s not owned by a larger company—and it’s one of the few left on the Canadian landscape. Automated portfolio management is all Justwealth does, so it strives to be the best at this. It offers a wider selection of portfolios—more than 80 at last count—and account types than any other robo-advisor. The company uses over 50 ETFs from nine providers, the idea being it’s looking for best-in-class funds. This shows in Justwealth’s past performance, which typically tops all comers in comparable portfolio categories.

This year, building on its line of target-date registered education savings plan (RESP) portfolios, Justwealth plans to come out with a suite of target-date registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) that will gradually become more conservative as investors’ retirement approaches. The company has an edge in managing taxable investments, too—it designs portfolios for tax efficiency and offers tax-loss harvesting at year-end.

Justwealth wins best robo-advisor in Canada because, unlike most of its competitors, it assigns clients a dedicated personal portfolio manager who’s responsible for overseeing their investments. You can contact that person directly if you have questions. But with its minimum account size of $5,000 and its bewildering number of choices, we concede that Justwealth is not the most welcoming provider for novice investors. We have another recommendation for you.

Silver — Best overall robo-advisor: Questwealth Portfolios

Questwealth Portfolios is the robo-advisor platform offered by Questrade, Canada’s largest independent discount brokerage. Questwealth boasts some of the lowest fees amongst robos in Canada, especially for smaller accounts. Robo-advisors have different ways of calculating portfolio management fees, but most come out to $250 to $300 a year for a client with $50,000 invested. For the same-sized account, Questwealth charges just $120. Its socially responsible investing (SRI) portfolios aren’t appreciably more expensive, either, as they typically are with other providers. Furthermore, so far this affordability has not come at the expense of good performance. Questwealth reported some of the highest returns among Canadian robos for the portfolio types we checked.

In terms of user experience, Questwealth has upgraded its phone app over the past year, so you can do just about anything with your account wirelessly. And it has boosted the number of ETFs in its SRI portfolios, even for small accounts, from eight to 11, thus improving diversification.

Bronze — Best overall robo-advisor: Nest Wealth Direct

Just as we were putting the finishing touches on this guide in late January, Nest Wealth announced it had come under new management. It is now part of the Objectway financial technology group out of Italy. Nest’s direct-to-consumer platform is now called Nest Wealth Direct. Assuming it stays the course, we continue to like Nest Wealth for its low and transparent fee structure (you pay an annual flat fee based on the size of your account, and it tops out at $150), its competitive past performance for most portfolio types, and its willingness to work with third-party investment advisors, offering a kind of interim solution for investors not yet ready to ditch their advisor.

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The best robo-advisors for Canadians

While our top robo-advisors list includes three solid winners, we have more options for you. We recognize that Canadian investors have different needs, goals, experience levels, portfolio values and so on. So, which robo makes the most sense for you and your money?

Best robo-advisor for new investors: RBC InvestEase

RBC InvestEase is one of the simplest options for investors focused on the essential advantages of low-cost, passive investing. It offers two types of portfolios: standard and responsible investing (RI). Based on your responses to a questionnaire, RBC will match you with one of its five options that fit with various risk tolerance levels. The portfolios are populated with a selection of 13 iShares ETFs—RBC has had a partnership with iShares since 2019—with an average portfolio management expense ratio of 0.14% (0.23% for RI portfolios). InvestEase charges an across-the-board annual fee of 0.5% for managing your portfolio, so you know exactly what you’re paying. And not only does InvestEase have no minimum account size, but it will also start investing your money when it reaches just $100; most others will wait until your savings hit $1,000.

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Best robo-advisor for seasoned investors: Justwealth

As detailed above, Justwealth just has more options, which will be useful for more experienced investors who might have multiple accounts for different purposes, for example an RRSP, a TFSA and a taxable account.

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Best robo-advisor for user experience: Wealthsimple

Ten years ago, Wealthsimple was the first to bring automated portfolio management to Canada, and it’s still the big dog in the space in terms of market share. The company is now mostly owned by Power Corp., the giant insurance and investment management conglomerate (and its corporate partnerships, for example with fund managers, reflect that). Still, Wealthsimple retains a sense of coming at finance from a new angle, focused on simple language and user experience, that obviously resonates with new investors. It’s less transparent than other robos around what you’re actually investing in, however, which could be a turn-off for some investors.

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Best robo-advisor for investor resources: BMO Smartfolio

There are upsides to investing with a robo-advisor service owned by one of Canada’s big banks. In addition to the sense of permanence, their heft in the financial industry results in a wealth of investor education resources being churned out for clients’ benefit. BMO is also one of the largest ETF players in Canada—Smartfolio sticks to BMO funds—so you know it is committed to the space.

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What are ETFs?

Best robo-advisors for low fees: Questwealth, Nest Wealth

Most ways we configured it, Questwealth came out with the lowest portfolio management fees. The only exception was for very large accounts, where Nest Wealth’s maximum annual fee of $150 came out on top. Small and mid-size investors will do well with either provider.

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Best robo-advisor for large-sum investors: CI Direct Investing

Last year, we bestowed CI Direct with the title of best overall robo-advisor for the simple reason that it was the only company able to achieve a positive return for its clients, and this only with its Private portfolios, which were insulated from the carnage in stock and bond markets in 2022.

CI Direct has low-cost ETF and socially responsible Impact portfolios, too. But it is unique in the marketplace for offering access to private assets such as private real estate, private mortgages, private equity and private debt overseen by third-party manager Nicola Wealth. This kind of diversification beyond equities and fixed income may not appeal to all account holders. The management expense ratio on the Balanced Private Portfolio was a whopping 2.92% as of Oct. 31, 2023. But clients focused on wealth preservation may see that as reasonably priced protection against a stock-market crash.

Since last year, CI Direct has given holders of ETF and Private portfolios the option of adding 5% exposure to clean technology investments (something the Impact portfolios already have)—a way for them to dabble in the energy transition without betting the farm.

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Best robo-advisor for small-sum investors: RBC InvestEase

Several providers have no minimum account size, but only RBC promises to start investing your savings with as little as $100 in the account.

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Best robo-advisor for socially responsible investors: Qtrade Guided Portfolios

Qtrade Guided Portfolios is the robo-advisor arm of discount brokerage Qtrade Direct Investing. It offers a standard selection of low-cost index ETF portfolios and charges the same modest portfolio management fee for its responsible investing (RI) options, which are invested in mutual funds actively managed by NEI Investments. While critics have questioned the environmental, social and governance (ESG) benefits of large, listed ETFs used by most robo-advisors in their RI portfolios, with NEI funds, at least you know you’re working with a Canadian pioneer of the space with three decades of experience picking sustainable investments.

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Best robo-advisor for investment theorists: Modern Advisor

Modern Advisor is one of the providers branching out into mutual fund–based and actively managed portfolios. Even its Core ETF portfolios include exposure to uncommon assets such as emerging-market bonds. The company, owned by Guardian Capital, justifies this straying from the simple roots of robo management in the name of an asset allocation methodology called mean-variance optimization. This approach was developed by Nobel-winning economist Harry Markowitz, and you can read more about it on Modern Advisor’s website. So, we can see it appealing to investing nerds. Then again, it hasn’t helped Modern Advisor’s performance (as shown in the above chart). And if you like investing that much, maybe the next step is to consider running your own ETF portfolio instead of using a robo account.

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How to choose a robo-advisor that best suits your investing needs

Over the past 10 years, the list of Canadian robo-advisors has solidified into the handful you’ll find on our list above. Most have, since their launch, been acquired by larger financial institutions, while a couple remain independent firms. If your bank has its own robo-advisor, it may make sense to keep your money there. For example, transferring funds will be frictionless. If you’d prefer your provider to pick from the widest possible range of ETFs, you might be better off with an independent. However, there are other factors worth considering in your choice of robo-advisor.

Fees

While most providers are in the same ballpark when it comes to the costs of their services, each will have its own fee schedule that may favour customers with a certain size of account. Keep in mind your account may grow over time, depending on your age, stage and time horizon. Also check whether the management expense ratios (MERs) of the funds the provider uses are competitive. For ETF-based portfolios, the combined portfolio management fee and average MER should come in well under 1% of assets under management per year.

Ease of use

Different providers promise different levels of personalized service, from chatbots up to designated representatives. If you’re happy interacting primarily with the web portal or smartphone app, make sure the user interface is to your liking.

Account types

Make sure the robo-advisor you’re considering has the kinds of accounts you intend to set up. Not all providers offer the full range of registered accounts, including the first home savings account (FHSA) introduced in 2023, or socially responsible investing (SRI) options. Some have a wide selection of account types. Wealthsimple even offers Halal investing portfolios that comply with Islamic principles.

Performance

Returns can vary quite a bit across providers and portfolio types. As always, past performance is no guarantee of future performance, but still compare the past returns for the firm you’re considering working with and its competitors (using like-for-like portfolio types). Some providers publish their various portfolio returns online. If the one you’re considering doesn’t, request performance data. We have provided a comparison of similar balanced portfolios in the table above.

As the robo-advisor industry has matured, some providers have stuck with the original template of low-cost, diversified portfolio offerings, usually populated with index ETFs, while others have ventured into actively managed ETFs, non-ETF investments (mutual funds, private investment pools) and exotic asset classes (cryptocurrency, commodities) in the hope of differentiating themselves. (Critics would say in the hope of earning higher fees for themselves and the corporate partners they work with.) We trust the information provided here will help you identify the best robo-advisor for your needs.

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Watch: Should I use a robo-advisor?

Got questions about using a robo-advisor? We have answers

Using a robo-advisor in Canada is easy enough, but you may have questions. If we haven’t answered your question, post it in the comments below.

Who should use a robo-advisor?

First, you have to be reasonably comfortable with technology. While some robo providers offer designated human portfolio managers you can contact to ask questions, it’s never going to be as high-touch an experience as dealing with a live investment advisor.

Second, you have to care about the fees you pay. Automation enables robo-advisors to manage investments for a fraction of the cost of commissioned or full-service investment advisors like mutual fund companies and wealth managers. So, robo users tend to be thrifty middle-income people who don’t have a vast fortune that might justify higher fees.

At the same time, robo clients may be people without the time, investment knowledge or inclination to manage their portfolio themselves. Do-it-yourself investing, which was made a lot easier with the advent of ETFs, will always be a little bit cheaper. But unlike DIYers, robo users really can “set it and forget it,” and sleep well knowing someone else (or some algorithm) is looking after their nest egg day in, day out.

How do robo-advisors work?

First, you need an account. With pretty much every robo-advisor, the process of setting one up begins with an online questionnaire. This helps the robo to get to know your risk tolerance and what you will use the account for. You might have an interview or a text chat with a live representative. After that, the algorithms get to work, selecting a portfolio for you to invest in. If you like what you see, you transfer money into the account, and away you go. All the providers now offer an app, so you can access your account on your smartphone.

Generally, robo clients don’t have to worry about trading fees—any rebalancing or changes in the portfolio are covered by the portfolio management fee. This fee is in addition to the management expense ratio (MER) charged by the ETFs themselves. Between the robo’s fee and the ETFs’ fees, you shouldn’t end up paying more than 1% a year for the management of your investments—which compares favourably to the average 2% for mutual funds—unless you opt for a robo and account offering investments other than ETFs, which typically come with higher fees.

Now that all the nationwide robo-advisors have a five-year track record, we’ve added back-dated performance data in the table above, for comparison. As robos are meant to match the portfolio to the investor, it should be understood the comparisons do not reflect how all their customers’ investments performed, and as such, this is only a starting point in any discussion around relative performance.

If you’re considering setting up an account with a robo-advisor, look on its website for performance data for the kind of portfolio you expect to set up. If it’s not posted, you can request it. You want to feel comfortable knowing that the robo has a history of capturing the kinds of returns it promises and the kinds of returns you need to achieve your goals.

Should you use a robo-advisor?

It depends on how much you’re looking to invest, suggest some experts. Dale Roberts, a MoneySense contributor and the investing blogger behind cutthecrapinvesting.com, believes robo-advisors still provide some of the best investing solutions for a vast swath of Canadians who lack both the investment knowledge to manage their own portfolio and a nest egg large enough to make a fee-based advisor worthwhile. “You need real money (minimum of $500,000) to get real advice, and most Canadians don’t have real money,” he says flatly.

Asset-allocation ETFs, which offer a diversified portfolio in a single security, aren’t really competition, in his mind. Choosing which fund to buy amounts to self-directed investing, something few investors are in a position to do. Roberts says that most “need someone to hold their hand,” by choosing the asset mix and answering questions. Robos do that cost-effectively.

If you’re thinking about shifting your assets to a robo-advisor, note that doing so may trigger taxes or incur fees for divesting from your mutual funds and/or other assets.

If all you have are registered accounts, like an RRSP and a TFSA, go for the robo-advisor with the lowest fees for your account size, suggests Roberts. But if your situation is more complicated, and you have taxable non-registered investments, choose a provider that will handle the transfer in the most tax-efficient way possible. Justwealth, Wealthsimple and CI Direct Investing all offer financial planning services, he notes.

What is a robo-advisor?

When the word robo-advisor first entered the investing lexicon, it referred to a company that offered a robo-advisor tool and the platform itself. With many traditional financial institutions providing robo options today, the term refers to the technology involved. Now, essentially, a robo-advisor is a cloud-based technology platform that, in many cases, invests on behalf of a user.

There are other ways to invest online, of course. For example, with discount brokerages, you put money into an account and then you have to divvy up those funds among securities on your own. Robo-advisors automatically split up the assets in your robo account (again, it could be an RRSP, an RESP, a TFSA or other account type) among various ETFs based on your risk tolerance and goals. (An ETF is a basket of securities that’s similar to a mutual fund but usually isn’t actively managed; often, it’s set up to track, or mimic, a specific market index, such as the S&P 500. ETFs are also different from mutual funds in that they can be traded on the market, like an individual stock or bond.)

It’s the ease of use that’s made robo-advisors so popular. Most work in a similar way: You fill out a questionnaire to determine your risk tolerance levels, then you connect your bank account to the software and enter the amount you want to invest. The robo-advisor will then put your money into its funds and continually rebalance your dollars to keep your asset mix where it should be.

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Who uses robo-advisors?

There used to be a perception that robo-advisors were for newbie investors or those without a lot of money, but that couldn’t be further from the truth now. An increasing number of high-net-worth investors—those who don’t want to pick securities on their own—are seeing the value in using this kind of digital investing platform. In fact, many robos are now catering to this investor set, with some offering more sophisticated tax-loss harvesting, as well as accounts for incorporated professionals.

Whatever end of the income spectrum you’re on, it’s a lot more efficient to use a program that divvies up your money for you into the right buckets for your risk tolerance, and automatically rebalances when market values either climb too high or drop too low.

Robo-advisors are also ideal for fee-conscious investors, which is just about everyone these days. While fees do vary, and it’s possible to invest more cheaply by buying an all-in-one ETF than by using a robo (though you’d have to do all the investing work yourself), costs are still well below the average mutual fund fee of about 2%. As ETF fees continue to fall, and with most robos using ETFs to build portfolios, robo-advisor costs could decline over time, as well.

There are some situations in which a robo-advisor may not be a fit. One is if you’re saving for short-term needs, where your money could be better served by sitting in a savings account or a guaranteed investment certificate (GIC). Some robos do offer non-market-based products, so in some cases it’s possible to keep all of your money with one firm, but most don’t offer anything other than investing.

Also, a robo won’t be right for you if you have a complicated estate and might make use of insurance products, or if you want to invest in real estate or other specialized products and securities. And while some robos now offer security-trading capabilities, more sophisticated investors may still want to use brokerage firms that have analyst reports and better trading tools.

Ultimately, though, robo-advisors now cater to pretty much everyone, and there’s no good reason as to why you shouldn’t at least explore using one.

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Should you use a robo-advisor or a real-life advisor?

In some ways, the term robo-advisor is misleading. It is, for the most part, the financial companies that have found a way to simplify the investing process. A robo-advisor doesn’t provide in-depth financial advice, and it doesn’t take into account your big life events that might affect how and how much you should invest (e.g., buying a home, having children, retiring). Human advisors, on the other hand, can both invest funds on your behalf and help you figure out a personalized financial plan.

However, more companies are offering some hybrid of robo and human advice, where the software does the investing and the human provides the financial advice. We’ll likely see more of that in the future, as it appears to be what people want: A Capital One survey found that 69% of investors would like to use a digital-human hybrid to manage their money, while 74% say they want a financial advisor to help them get through turbulent markets.

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What are the pros and cons for using a robo-advisor?

Before you sign up for an account (or maybe you already have), know the benefits and the drawbacks.

Pros:

1. Charge low flat fees
2. Use easily liquid and easily tradable ETFs
3. Create a diversified portfolio based on one’s risk tolerance and time horizon
4. Rebalance automatically
5. Allocate money to various ETFs automatically
6. Are tax-efficient

Cons:

1. Might not allow investors to change the asset mix on their own
2. Typically use only ETFs; investors may want to add other securities to their portfolio
3. Use specific ETFs; investors may prefer different brands the robo doesn’t offer
4. May take longer to redeem assets than at a discount brokerage

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For robo-advisor Q&A, some files from Bryan Borzykowski.

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• Best ETFs in Canada
• The MoneySense ETF Screener Tool