In this Ally Invest vs TD Ameritrade comparison, we will review the two companies by putting head-to-head all the important facts and stats needed to make an informed decision about your future online broker.
Ally Invest vs TD Ameritrade: Popularity
| Query | Ally Invest | TD Ameritrade |
| Number of users (approximate) | 388K | 12m+ |
| Website traffic (estimated) | 16m | 25.2m |
| # results on web | 50m | 7.3m |
| Search volume Google | 70K | 673K |
| Twitter followers | 43K | 141K |
| FB followers | 342K | 375K |
| How popular on mainstream media? | Medium | High |
| Negative media? | Low | Medium |
| Notable awards | None, but Ally Bank has consistently received awards | Best Broker for Stock Trading Platform and Research |
Right from the start we can see the big difference between the two companies as Ameritrade has almost 30 times more customers than Ally Invest. Sure, the two have different pasts and TD Ameritrade has an advance of almost 30 years in the market.
Ally Invest vs TD Ameritrade: User Rating
| Query | Ally Invest | TD Ameritrade |
| # users rated on user platforms | 60 on TrustPilot, 1 on SiteJabber | 69 on TrustPilot, 17 on SiteJabber |
| Percentage of positive reviews out of user reviews | 7% | 20% |
| Common compliments | Helpful and secure. | Easy to use platform, great interface, good tools. |
| Common complaints | Unreliable customer service. | Bad customer service, long wait to speak to support |
| Positive feedback on Twitter? | Great research and tools. | Great features and powerful tools |
| Negative feedback on Twitter? | The app is buggy | Complaints about the thinkorswim platform |
| App rating (summary) | Almost 100 reviews with an average rating of 2.35 / 5 | Over 45K ratings and 4.5/5 score on Apple store |
The feedback online is very similar and both companies are praised for their great features and tools, and, on the other hand, blamed for their not so great customer support.
Ally Invest vs TD Ameritrade: Background Information
| Query | Ally Invest | TD Ameritrade |
| Company public/private | Public | Public |
| Revenue Data | – | $1.48 billion on Q2 of 2020 |
| CEO and bio | Jeffrey J. Brown – Prior to being named CEO, Brown was president and CEO of Ally’s Dealer Financial Services business where he oversaw the company’s auto finance, insurance and auto servicing operations. | Steve Boyle, He is a professional member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants that worked previously for Banknorth and Barnett Banks |
| Number of employees | 8700 | 9,183 |
| Notable investors (private companies) | None | None |
Even though both are public companies, we couldn’t find any info about the revenue data for Ally Invest. But, we are sure that they don’t come close to the revenue TD Ameritrade generated this year. $1.48 billion on Q2 of 2020 alone is an impressive number.
Ally Invest vs TD Ameritrade: Security
| Query | Ally Invest | TD Ameritrade |
| HTTPS Certificate | Yes | Yes |
| 2FA ? | Yes | Yes |
| Device monitoring? | Yes | Yes |
| New device extra security? | Yes | Yes |
The standard security measures are implemented by both companies, as it is for the majority of brokers in this day and age.
Ally Invest vs TD Ameritrade: Fees & Offering
| Query | Ally Invest | TD Ameritrade |
| Account minimum | None | None |
| Account fixed fees | None | None |
| Fractional shares? | Yes | No |
| Margin costs | Varies | Varies |
| ETF buying fees | None | None |
| Stock buying fees | None | None |
| Option buying fees | $0.50 per contract traded | $0.65 per contract |
| Short selling fees | None | None |
| Futures buying fees | None | $2.25 fee per contract |
| Future options buying fees | – | $2.25 fee per contract |
| Cryptocurrency fees | Not available | Not available |
| Fixed income fees | None | $1 per bond or CD on secondary transactions |
| Mutual funds fees | None | $49.99 per trade for no-load mutual funds and $0 for load mutual funds. |
Very similar on the fees structure, but Ally Invest offers also fractional shares which is a big positive for small time investors and those with small budgets. We’ve seen many other companies allowing fractional shares and this starts to be a trend. If TD Ametritrade don’t start allowing this also, they might end up loosing a lot of potential new customers.
Ally Invest vs TD Ameritrade: Trading App
| Query | Ally Invest | TD Ameritrade |
| Android app # installs | 5K+ | 1m+ |
| Android app # reviews | 18 | 7K |
| iPhone app # reviews | 78 | 47.6K |
| Android app rating | 2.3 / 5 | 3.4 / 5 |
| iPhone app rating | 2.4 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Common compliments on app | App is responsive and fast. | Easy to understand and operate, lots of useful functions |
| Common complaints on app | App crashes a lot. | Laggy, buggy platform |
| Weighted average app rating | 2.35 / 5 | 4 / 5 |
From the table above we can clearly see that Ally Invest is not really putting effort in their app and the numbers show exactly that. On the other hand, TD Ameritrade has a more popular mobile app with a positive rating on both app stores.
Final conclusions:
From this Ally Invest vs TD Ameritrade comparison we can clearly see that Ally Invest is the smaller broker but can be a good choice for those with small budgets because they allow the buying of fractional shares. On the other hand, if you want a bigger broker to handle your investments, you are going to choose TD Ameritrade.