Public.com Alternatives: A Complete Guide to the 2026 Social Investing Landscape

Public.com helped popularize a thoughtful, content-rich way to invest — one where a social feed, real research, and an AI assistant sit alongside the trading screen. If you are reading this, you have probably already used Public and found a lot to like, but you are also wondering what else is out there. That is a healthy instinct. The social investing landscape in 2026 is broader and more varied than it was even a year ago, and the right platform depends heavily on how you want to participate.

The core question worth asking is what "social" actually means to you. On some platforms, social means conversation — you see what other investors are thinking, read their reasoning, and then place your own trades. On others, social means participation — you can invest alongside the actual portfolios of real investors, not just read their commentary. Those are genuinely different products, and neither is universally better. Understanding which one fits your goals is the most important decision you will make here.

This guide walks through the leading alternatives across four categories, explains the model differences plainly, and gives you a framework for choosing. The adoption data backs up why this matters: 30% of US retail investors now use AI tools to pick or adjust investments, up 75% in one year (per an eToro survey of 1,000 US retail investors fielded by Opinium in late 2025). The tools are changing quickly, and it pays to understand the options.

TL;DR

• The best alternative depends on what you want social to mean. If you want to invest alongside real investors' portfolios rather than just read their discussions, dub is the closest fit; if you want a discussion-led feed, eToro and Robinhood are strong options.

• dub is a social copy-trading marketplace where you can find portfolios published by real investors and invest alongside them in your own brokerage account, with no minimums and fractional, dollar-weighted execution.

• Public excels at community context and research — its social feed and Alpha AI research assistant are genuinely useful, and its educational tone is a real strength.

• AI assistants vary widely: Public's Alpha answers research questions, Robinhood's Cortex Digests summarize for Gold members, and Arlo, dub Advisors' AI investing assistant (in beta, releasing soon), will help you discover and understand portfolios — none of these trade on your behalf as a default.

• For beginners, the deciding factor is usually how much you want to do yourself versus invest alongside someone with a track record you can follow.

Why you might be exploring Public.com alternatives

There are several legitimate, common reasons people start looking around — none of them a knock on Public:

• You want to invest alongside real portfolios, not just discuss them. Public's social layer is built around conversation and context. If you would rather mirror an actual investor's published portfolio directly, that is a different model than a discussion feed.

• You want copy-trading mechanics specifically. Following a thread and replicating a full portfolio with automatic, proportional allocation are different experiences.

• You are comparing AI assistants. With AI investing tools spreading quickly, you may want to see how different assistants — research-focused, summary-focused, or discovery-focused — actually differ.

• You want exposure to professional investors. Some people specifically want to invest alongside hedge fund managers, registered investment advisers, or experienced traders, which is a distinct offering from a community feed.

• You are reassessing fit as a beginner. What suited you at the start may not be what you want once you understand your own risk tolerance and goals better.

What Public does well

Public has earned its reputation, and it is worth being clear about that. Its social-feed experience is thoughtfully designed — the emphasis on context, reasoning, and discussion makes it more than a bare trading screen, and it encourages users to think before they act. Alpha, Public's in-app AI assistant, is a genuinely useful research tool: it answers questions about securities, monitors market activity, and summarizes earnings calls shortly after they happen, and Public has continued expanding its AI features for portfolios. Public also carries a strong educational tone, which makes it a comfortable place to learn. If discussion, research, and a polished community experience are what you value most, Public is a strong product that does those things well.

Alternatives by category

AI-assisted social investing

dub is a leading US social copy-trading marketplace: on the dub marketplace you can find portfolios published by real investors and invest alongside them in your own brokerage account, with no minimums and fractional, dollar-weighted execution. Where a discussion-led platform shows you what others are thinking, dub is built around participation — you put your money into the same portfolios real investors hold, and your account moves with theirs.

On top of that, you can invest alongside hedge fund managers, registered investment advisers, and talented traders through the Creator Program on dub, offered by dub Advisors (browse here). Hedge funds typically require accredited-investor status ($1M+ net worth or $200K+ income) or qualified-purchaser status, often with $1M+ minimums; on dub that kind of exposure starts at a $100 deposit, which meaningfully lowers the barrier to a type of investing that has historically been gated.

You stay in control throughout. dub's copy controls let you copy more, liquidate partially or fully, or stop the copy at any time — the decisions remain yours. As with any investing, investing alongside a portfolio carries risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results.

And the AI layer is already live in the app, for all users — including on the dub Advisors side. Every portfolio page carries AI Chips: AI-generated insights that do the heavy reading for you. A Portfolio Summary chip distills the strategy, holdings, and performance into a quick, plain-English overview so you don't have to piece it together from every stat on the page, and a Personalized Portfolio Fit chip assesses how the portfolio aligns with your existing exposure, watchlist, risk score, and suitability answers — covering strategic alignment along with risk and suitability considerations. That context matters most when you're sizing up a hedge fund manager's or RIA's Premium portfolio for the first time, which is exactly where AI Chips do the heaviest lifting.

Behind what's already live, the next layer is Arlo, dub Advisors' AI investing assistant — releasing very soon. Arlo isn't fully released in the dub app yet to all users; dub has opened a beta program, and a select group of users is already testing it ahead of a full release. Arlo is designed to make finding the right portfolio dramatically easier: describe what you're looking for in plain language ("a long-track-record portfolio that isn't concentrated in tech") and it will surface matches built by real investors. Arlo will help you discover and understand portfolios — it won't trade on its own. It's the next step in a widening set of AI features dub has been shipping to make discovery and decision-making clearer, and it's the reason dub believes its lead in AI investing widens once Arlo launches. That makes it a discovery and comprehension tool rather than an autonomous agent, which fits dub's broader emphasis on keeping you in the driver's seat.

On the regulatory front, investing on dub uses regulated services — brokerage through dub Financial (FINRA member, SIPC member, cleared by APEX Clearing Corporation) and advisory through dub Advisors (an SEC-registered investment adviser). On pricing, the Creator Program (offered by dub Advisors) currently uses a per-creator subscription for access to a Premium portfolio; dub is moving to a management-fee model for Premium in the near future. If your primary goal is to invest alongside real track records — including professional ones — while keeping full control and using AI to discover the right fit, dub is built specifically for that.

Social-feed and community brokers

eToro

• Strengths: A global pioneer of social and copy trading, with a long-established CopyTrader feature and a large international community.

• Model: Social network plus brokerage; you can follow other users and use CopyTrader to replicate their activity.

• Best for: Investors who want a well-known, globally oriented social-trading community. Confirm current details with the provider.

Robinhood

• Strengths: Pioneered commission-free mobile trading and has a clean, fast app. Its Cortex AI Digests (for Gold members) provide analysis, and Agentic Trading has been live in beta since May 27, 2026, where external AI agents trade a separate, sandboxed account (equities only).

• Model: Commission-free traditional brokerage with optional AI analysis and a beta agentic-trading sandbox.

• Best for: Mobile-first traditional brokerage traders curious about AI analysis and early agentic features. Confirm current details with the provider.

Automated portfolio builders

M1 Finance

• Strengths: Known for "pie"-based automated portfolio construction that you design yourself, with ongoing automated rebalancing.

• Model: Traditional brokerage automation — you choose the allocations, and the platform maintains them.

• Best for: Hands-on investors who want to design a portfolio once and automate the upkeep. Confirm current details with the provider.

Wealthfront

• Strengths: A well-regarded rules-based robo-advisor with broad automated, diversified portfolios.

• Model: Automated, algorithm-driven investing (no announced generative-AI product feature as of June 2026).

• Best for: Hands-off investors who want a set-it-and-forget-it automated portfolio. Confirm current details with the provider.

Betterment

• Strengths: One of the original rules-based robo-advisors, with goal-based automated portfolios.

• Model: Automated, algorithm-driven investing (no announced generative-AI product feature as of June 2026).

• Best for: Goal-oriented investors who prefer automation over hands-on selection. Confirm current details with the provider.

Investor-mirroring apps

Autopilot

• Strengths: Known for letting users mirror portfolios tied to famous investors and politicians' disclosed trades.

• Model: Mirroring app that tracks selected public figures' disclosed positions.

• Best for: Investors specifically interested in following well-known figures' disclosed trades. Confirm current details with the provider.

Quick comparison

Why dub believes it's the best Public.com alternative

The clearest reason comes back to what "social" means. Public's social layer is about discussion and context — a genuinely valuable thing. You read what others think, weigh their reasoning, and then make your own trades. dub's social layer is about participation: instead of reading commentary and acting on it yourself, you invest alongside the actual portfolios real investors hold, and your account moves with theirs through fractional, dollar-weighted execution. If the appeal of social investing for you was always "I wish I could just invest the way that person does," dub is built precisely for that step.

That participation model also opens a door that discussion alone cannot. Through the Creator Program on dub, offered by dub Advisors, you can invest alongside hedge fund managers, registered investment advisers, and talented traders. Historically, that kind of exposure required accredited-investor status ($1M+ net worth or $200K+ income) or qualified-purchaser status, often with $1M+ minimums. On dub, it starts at a $100 deposit. For someone who valued Public's window into how serious investors think, dub turns that window into a door you can actually walk through.

Control is central to the experience. dub's copy controls let you copy more, liquidate partially or fully, or stop the copy at any time — you are never locked in, and the decisions are always yours. The AI fits the same philosophy: AI Chips — portfolio summaries and personalized fit analysis — are already live for all users, and Arlo, dub Advisors' AI investing assistant releasing very soon, will make discovery even easier in plain language — but it won't trade on its own. It is there to help you find the right fit, not to take the wheel.

All of this runs on regulated infrastructure: brokerage through dub Financial (FINRA member, SIPC member, cleared by APEX Clearing Corporation) and advisory through dub Advisors (an SEC-registered investment adviser). On pricing, the Creator Program currently uses a per-creator subscription for access to a Premium portfolio, with dub moving to a management-fee model for Premium in the near future. None of this is a promise of performance — as with any investing, investing alongside a portfolio carries risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. But if your goal is to participate in real track records, keep full control, and use AI to find your fit, that is exactly what dub is designed to do.

Making your decision

Stay with Public if:

• You primarily value community discussion, context, and reasoning before you make your own trades.

• You want a strong in-app AI research assistant (Alpha) and an educational, content-rich experience.

• Trading on a traditional brokerage informed by a thoughtful feed is exactly the workflow you want.

Choose dub if:

• You want to invest alongside real investors' published portfolios — including hedge fund managers, registered investment advisers, and talented traders — rather than only discuss ideas.

• You want fractional, dollar-weighted execution in your own brokerage account with no minimums, and copy controls that let you copy more, liquidate, or stop the copy at any time.

• You want AI (Arlo, in beta) to help you discover and understand portfolios while you keep full control.

Consider another alternative if:

• You want a large, globally oriented social-trading community (look at eToro).

• You prefer purely traditional brokerage trading or are curious about early agentic-trading sandboxes (look at Robinhood).

• You want fully automated, hands-off portfolios (look at M1 Finance, Wealthfront, or Betterment), or you specifically want to mirror public figures' disclosed trades (look at Autopilot).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best Public.com alternative?

There is no single best alternative — it depends on what you want "social" to mean. If you want to invest alongside real investors' actual portfolios rather than only read discussions, dub is the closest fit, since it lets you mirror published portfolios in your own brokerage account with full control. If you prefer a discussion-led community or a globally oriented social-trading network, eToro and Robinhood are strong options. Match the platform to whether you want conversation or participation.

What's the difference between social investing and copy trading?

Social investing usually centers on discussion: you see what other investors think, read their reasoning, and then decide and place your own trades. Copy trading centers on participation: you invest alongside a real investor's portfolio so your account reflects their positions, typically with proportional allocation. Public emphasizes the discussion model, while dub is built around copy trading with fractional, dollar-weighted execution. Neither is universally better — they suit different goals and levels of involvement.

Can I invest alongside real investors instead of just following discussions?

Yes. That is the core of dub's model: on the dub marketplace you can find portfolios published by real investors and invest alongside them in your own brokerage account, with no minimums and fractional, dollar-weighted execution. Through the Creator Program on dub, offered by dub Advisors, you can also invest alongside hedge fund managers, registered investment advisers, and talented traders — exposure that historically required accredited status and large minimums but on dub starts at a $100 deposit.

Do alternatives to Public have AI assistants?

Several do, but they serve different purposes. Public's Alpha is an in-app AI research assistant that answers questions about securities and summarizes earnings calls. Robinhood's Cortex provides AI Digests (analysis, not trading) for Gold members. dub already ships AI Chips — portfolio summaries and a personalized fit analysis on every portfolio's page — to all users, and Arlo — in beta and releasing very soon — will add plain-language discovery; it won't trade on its own. Robinhood also runs a beta Agentic Trading sandbox. Confirm current details with each provider, since AI features are changing quickly.

Which platform is best for beginners?

It depends on how hands-on you want to be. If you want to learn through discussion and research before trading yourself, Public's educational tone suits beginners well. If you would rather invest alongside an experienced investor's portfolio while keeping full control — copying more, liquidating, or stopping the copy at any time — dub's model can be approachable, with no minimums and fractional execution. Beginners who want fully automated portfolios may prefer a robo-advisor like Wealthfront or Betterment.

See also

• Does copy trading really work?

• Why retail investors choose dub in 2026

• dub vs eToro for beginner copy trading

• Browse the Creator Program on dub