Investing is a bit like renovating your home. The cheapest way is to do it yourself, with a Canadian online broker. Of course, the result will depend on your know-how and skills, and it will consume a lot of your time. Conversely, you can outsource the job to a master contractor and not lift a finger, but it’ll probably cost you a bundle. And still there’s no guarantee you’ll be satisfied with the outcome. But robo-advisors, like the ones we rank here for our best-of class in Canada for 2025, are like a contractor buddy, who will help you for a couple of beers and a pizza.
Of course, for cost savings, you can’t beat doing it yourself. You can open a brokerage account, and assemble your own portfolio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stocks, bonds and/or guaranteed investment certificates (GICs). Conversely, you can pay a wealth manager or investment advisor to do it for you. Taking the latter approach, there are direct and embedded management fees that will almost certainly exceed 1% (and possibly 2%) of the value of your investments every year. For some Canadian investors, that’s kinda pricey.
But with robo-advisors, you can get some of the benefits of DIY and the ability to tailor to your risk and goals. While still on the affordable end of the spectrum—think costs of 0.5% to 1% of assets under management per year, all-in—robo-advisors build a diversified portfolio, usually composed of ETFs. It will be tailored to your needs and they can respond to issues as they arise, albeit with less hands-on support than a full service advisor.
The good news: You don’t need to know much about investing when using a robo. Your returns may never beat the benchmark, but they’ll probably be competitive with the alternatives due to lower fees. And even if you do know a thing or two about investing, a robo can save you a lot of time tinkering with your investments. Just set it and forget it.
This is the value proposition Canada’s robo-advisors have established in their decade or so of existence: automation-assisted portfolio management for a reasonable price. But as you’ll find in this best robo-advisors guide, they’re not all the same. Some have dozens of portfolio options, others just a handful. Some assign you a real-life advisor while others offer phone or chat support. They all have different fees and ways of charging.
Most importantly, they’ve shown a pretty wide dispersion in the performance of their investment portfolios.
With this, the 2025 edition of MoneySense’s best robo-advisors in Canada, we’ve sifted through all the options available to Canadian investors in the hope of helping you find the best provider for your situation.
Methodology for the best robo-advisors in Canada ranking
All stated returns are for a balanced portfolio made up of approximately 60% equities and 40% fixed income, net of fees, as of Dec. 31, 2024.. All performance figures are denominated in Canadian dollars and assume the reinvestment of distributions. Three- and five-year returns are annualized.
Why trust us
MoneySense is an award-winning magazine, helping Canadians navigate money matters since 1999. Our editorial team of trained journalists works closely with leading personal finance experts in Canada. To help you find the best financial products, we compare the offerings of major institutions, including banks, credit unions and card issuers. Learn more about our advertising and trusted partners.
Best robo-advisors in Canada for 2025 Table of Contents (tap to open)
Find the best robo-advisor that suits your needs:
- For lowest fees
- For range of assets
- For ESG investors
- For beginner investors
- For experienced investors
- For advisors
- For active investors
The best robo-advisors in Canada are…
Drum roll please.
Gold — Best overall robo-advisor: Justwealth
Rival robos have improved their offerings and relative performance over the past year, but not quite enough to unseat Justwealth in the top spot for 2025. It boasts the widest selection of portfolios, a flesh-and-blood advisor to help sort out the options, reasonable fees and consistent top-tier returns. If it lags in any area, it is friendliness to new investors starting out; it has the highest minimum account size at $5,000 (no minimum on RESPs and FHSAs) and a potentially bewildering number of choices.
Read more below on Justwealth’s range of investment offerings.
Silver — Best overall robo-advisor: Questwealth Portfolios
Questwealth Portfolios, the robo-investing arm of online brokerage Questrade, combines the lowest fees among Canadian robo-advisors for most kinds and sizes of accounts (see details below) with a very competitive service offering and investment returns. It’s also expected to unveil a new, streamlined user experience this spring that it promises will make setting up, monitoring and making changes to your account a breeze.
Read more below on Questwealth’s fees—and how they’re so low.
Bronze — Best overall robo-advisor: Wealthsimple
Wealthsimple takes the ribbon for most improved player over the past year. For a long time the performance of the company’s portfolios noticeably lagged its peers, but in 2024 it upped its game. It also introduced access to private assets, such as private equity and private credit investing, for clients with at least $50,000 in liquid assets who want to diversify beyond stocks and bonds. Clients with more than $100,000 invested have access to free financial planning and tax advice in addition to help setting up and rebalancing their portfolio. Plus it has a rewards program for larger account holders with services like Uber, Strava and Headspace.
Read more below on Wealthsimple’s range of assets.
Compare the best robo-advisors in Canada
Below you is our best robo-advisors comparison chart, pulling data from the balanced portfolios for each robo. All data is As of Dec. 31, 2024 and is annualized. 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.
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Robo-advisor | Provider | Portfolio managment fees | Account minimum | ETFs | 1-year returns | 3-year returns | 5-year returns | ESG options |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | BMO Smartfolio | BMO | 0.4% to 0.7% a year | $1,000 | BMO | 12.72% | 3.09% | 4.84% | No |
| 2 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | CI Direct | CI Direct | 0.35% to 0.6% a year | $100 | CI GAM, iShares, BMO, Vanguard, CIBC | 13.70% | n/a | n/a | Yes |
| 3 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Justwealth | Just Wealth | 0.4% to 0.50% a year; $4.99 a month for accounts <$12,000 | $5,000 | iShares, Vanguard | 17.57% | 6.22% | 8.65% | Yes |
| 4 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Modern Advisor | Modern Advisor | 0.35% to 0.5% a year | $1,000 | Vanguard, iShares, BMO | 12.00% | 3.20% | 4.90% | Yes |
| 5 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Nest Wealth | Nest Wealth | $10 to $150 a month | $0 | iShares, Vanguard, BMO, Forstrong | 12.41% | 2.79% | 6.15% | No |
| 6 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Qtrade Guided Portfolios | Qtrade | 0.35% to 0.6% a year | $0 | iShares, Vanguard, Flexshares | 15.50% | 4.80% | 6.90% | Yes |
| 7 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Questwealth | Questrade | 0.2% to 0.25% a year | $0 | iShares, BMO, Global X, State Street | 15.66% | 5.84% | 7.06% | Yes |
| 8 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | RBC InvestEase | RBC | 0.5% a year | $0 | iShares | 13.27% | 4.01% | 6.18% | Yes |
| 9 | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Lisa Hannam | 13/02/2025 04:51 PM | Wealthsimple | Wealthsimple | 0.2% to 0.5% a year | $0 | iShares, Vanguard, BMO, others | 15.20% | 4% | 5.30% | Yes |
| Robo-advisor | Provider | Portfolio managment fees | Account minimum | ETFs | 1-year returns | 3-year returns | 5-year returns | ESG options |
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 in Canada for lowest fees — Questwealth
Questwealth distinguishes itself by having the lowest fees among Canadian robo-advisors, while still offering competitive service and returns. Annual portfolio management fees are just a quarter of one per cent for accounts between $250 and $100,000. (While there’s no minimum account size, funds are only invested once you hit that $250 mark.) For amounts over $100,000, the fee is just 0.2%. And since Questwealth uses major index ETFs from iShares, BMO and Global X, you can expect all-in fees to add up to less than 0.5% of the value of your portfolio per year. Last fall the firm doubled down on its status as the thrifty investor’s choice by offering a special promotion: no fees at all on amounts added between September 1 and December 31, 2024 through the end of 2025. So, you can see Questwealth is pretty invested in offering very low fees.
Best robo-advisors for range of assets — CI Direct & Wealthsimple
Two firms claim this title. Last year Wealthsimple joined CI Direct in offering private-asset portfolios in addition to those holding ETFs invested in stocks and bonds. Wealthsimple requires a minimum investment of $10,000 and $50,000 in financial assets—not necessarily with the firm. (You’re required to hold financial assets of at least $50,000 in various accounts and $10,000 invested with Wealthsimple.)
There’s a whole movement toward allocating at least some of your nest egg to the alternative asset class to increase diversification and reduce risk, but it’s worth keeping in mind these portfolios come with substantially higher fees and thus stray from robo-investing’s original mission of providing low-fee services.
Note: if you decide to go the more conventional ETF route with CI Direct, accounts worth less than $50,000 now get invested in a single CI Global Asset Management asset allocation ETF. Only above that threshold are you allocated a portfolio of ETFs as with other providers.
Best robo-advisor for ESG investors — Qtrade Guided Portfolios
Most robos charge a higher fee on responsible investing accounts than mainstream ETF accounts. Qtrade doesn’t. It puts responsible investing (RI) clients into mutual funds managed by its sister firm NEI Investments, which happens to be one of the most experienced environmental, social and governance (ESG) specialists in Canada. Its returns, especially over longer periods, tend to be very close to those of broad-market portfolios. MERs for its funds are higher than typical ETFs, though—between 0.72% and 0.96%.
Note on Qtrade’s stated returns in the comparison table: we used the Growth & Income Portfolio, which allocates 65% to equities and 35% to fixed income, because it was the most comparable to competitors’ products. Qtrade’s Balanced ETF portfolio aims for a 50/50 allocation.
Best robo-advisors for beginner investors — BMO Smartfolio & RBC InvestEase
Two of Canada’s Big Six banks, RBC and BMO, have their own robo-advisor services. Both hew very closely to the original vision for automated portfolio management. They offer a simple selection of portfolio types, all sticking to index stock and bond ETFs. RBC has a responsible investing option; BMO does not. BMO uses its own ETFs almost exclusively, and RBC uses iShares (with which it has a formal partnership). Fortunately, these represent two of the largest and lowest-cost ETF providers in Canada. Another advantage of bank-owned robos is you ge
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Author : Michael McCullough