E*Trade Core Portfolios vs Facet: Which Is Better in 2026?

Figures and features are point-in-time and change; treat the table as a starting map, not a live quote.

E*Trade's automated investing service, offering managed ETF portfolios alongside its self-directed brokerage, now under Morgan Stanley.

How it works: A questionnaire sets a risk level and E*Trade invests in a diversified ETF portfolio with automatic rebalancing, including socially responsible and smart-beta variants. It sits alongside E*Trade's self-directed brokerage, so a managed portfolio and an account you trade yourself live under one login.

In practice, E*Trade Core Portfolios’s AI automates a diversified etf portfolio. It falls under hands-off automated investing (robo-advisors), which makes it best suited to e*trade customers wanting a managed portfolio alongside self-directed trading. On connecting an account it is “No (holds your money at E*Trade)”, and on execution it is “Automated”. It is priced as percentage of assets (verify current).

One honest limitation: A conventional service whose main advantage is sitting next to an E*Trade brokerage account.

Flat-fee financial planning with a dedicated CFP professional, priced by complexity rather than as a percentage of assets.

How it works: You pay an annual membership and are assigned a CFP professional who covers planning across tax, insurance, estate coordination and retirement, with investment management available inside it. Because the fee is flat and set by complexity rather than balance, it does not rise as your portfolio grows, which is the entire pitch against the percentage model.

In practice, Facet’s AI none; this is human planning. It falls under hands-off automated investing (robo-advisors), which makes it best suited to flat-fee financial planning with a dedicated cfp. On connecting an account it is “No (manages assets it custodies, planning covers the rest)”, and on execution it is “Advisor-managed”. It is priced as flat annual membership by complexity (verify current).

One honest limitation: The flat fee is large in absolute terms at small balances, so it only beats a percentage once you have enough assets or enough complexity.

The core difference is category. E*Trade Core Portfolios focuses on e*trade customers wanting a managed portfolio alongside self-directed trading (automates a diversified etf portfolio), and Facet on flat-fee financial planning with a dedicated cfp (none; this is human planning). On broker connection they differ too: E*Trade Core Portfolios is “No (holds your money at E*Trade)” versus Facet at “No (manages assets it custodies, planning covers the rest)”. That shapes everything downstream: how personal the answers are, where trades settle, and how much control you keep over individual positions.

Every tool gives something up for what it does well. Here is the honest give-and-take on each, so you can weigh the specific strengths against the limitations that come with them rather than judging on the headline category alone.

For AI investing tools, the distinction that matters most is whether the tool works from your actual, connected positions or reasons from something else: a separate account it manages for you, or the tickers and numbers you feed it. It decides how personal the answers can be, and where your money physically lives.

• E*Trade Core Portfolios: manages a separate account it holds. E*Trade Core Portfolios does not read the brokerage you already use. It opens and holds a new account, then invests the money you move into it, so its view is limited to what sits inside E*Trade Core Portfolios.
• Facet: manages a separate account it holds. Facet does not read the brokerage you already use. It opens and holds a new account, then invests the money you move into it, so its view is limited to what sits inside Facet.

On this specific question the two land on the same side, so the deciding factors between them are elsewhere: category, cost, and who each is built for. This holdings-aware angle is the one Walnut is built around: it connects the brokerage you already use and reasons from your live positions, read-only by default, with any trades left for you to approve.

There is no universal winner here; the right pick depends on the job you are hiring the tool for. Match the category to your intent rather than chasing a single “best.”

• Choose E*Trade Core Portfolios if you want e*trade customers wanting a managed portfolio alongside self-directed trading. Its AI automates a diversified etf portfolio, it is priced as percentage of assets (verify current), and it fits hands-off automated investing (robo-advisors). It is built for an existing E*Trade customer who wants part of the money handled automatically and part self-directed. Keep in mind that a conventional service whose main advantage is sitting next to an e*trade brokerage account.
• Choose Facet if you want flat-fee financial planning with a dedicated cfp. Its AI none; this is human planning, it is priced as flat annual membership by complexity (verify current), and it fits hands-off automated investing (robo-advisors). It is built for someone with a few hundred thousand or more, or real complexity, who wants planning rather than portfolio management and objects to paying a percentage. Keep in mind that the flat fee is large in absolute terms at small balances, so it only beats a percentage once you have enough assets or enough complexity.

Because both sit in the same category, the choice comes down to the finer details above rather than a fundamental difference in approach.

Cost is easy to misread when two tools charge in different shapes, so compare the model, not just the number. E*Trade Core Portfolios is priced as percentage of assets (verify current), while Facet is priced as flat annual membership by complexity (verify current). A percentage-of-assets fee scales with your balance, a flat subscription does not, and a “free” tier usually earns elsewhere (on cash, order flow, or premium upgrades), so the cheapest headline is not always the cheapest outcome for your situation.

Pricing and tiers change often. Confirm the current numbers on each provider’s own site before you decide; the framing above is point-in-time.

If neither quite fits, Walnut sits in a third category: chat-driven management of your own brokerage. It connects the brokerage you already use through SnapTrade, lets you analyze and manage it by talking through Claude or ChatGPT, build thematic portfolios around a thesis, and place trades you approve. Read-only by default. See Walnut vs E*Trade Core Portfolios and Walnut vs Facet. Walnut is not an investment adviser.