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

Prices checked October 2026. A price marked (Oct 2026) was read on the vendor's own pricing page; others are described without a number because we could not verify one.

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 is a robo-advisor (hands-off automated investing), best suited to e*Trade customers wanting a managed portfolio alongside self-directed trading. On connecting an account: no (holds your money at E*Trade). On execution: automated. Cost: 0.30%/yr, $500 minimum (Oct 2026).

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

Broad market access with AI-integration options and community-built MCP connectors. Best for advanced and international investors.

How it works: Interactive Brokers gives you broad global market access through professional platforms (like Trader Workstation) and a deep API. AI integration is possible by wiring tools to that API or using community-built MCP connectors, but there is no polished, official consumer AI assistant, so the AI layer is something you or a developer assemble.

In practice, Interactive Brokers’s AI AI-integration options (community MCP). It is a brokerage API for people building their own AI agent, best suited to advanced and international investors. On connecting an account: IBKR accounts. On execution: read + trade. Cost: brokerage fees.

One real limitation: Powerful but complex; AI connectors are mostly community-built.

Category comes first. E*Trade Core Portfolios focuses on e*Trade customers wanting a managed portfolio alongside self-directed trading (automates a diversified ETF portfolio), and Interactive Brokers on advanced and international investors (AI-integration options (community MCP)). On broker connection they differ too: E*Trade Core Portfolios is “No (holds your money at E*Trade)” versus Interactive Brokers at “IBKR accounts”. 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. Below is the give-and-take on each, so you can weigh the specific strengths against the limitations that come with them, beyond the headline category.

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.
• Interactive Brokers: connects specific supported accounts. Interactive Brokers connects a defined set of accounts (IBKR accounts), so whether it can see your holdings depends on whether your money is at one of them.

This is where they diverge most. One works from your real, connected account while the other does not, so if you want an assistant grounded in the exact positions you already hold, that gap is the thing to weigh first. 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.

Each one wins a different job, so the answer depends on which job you need done.

• 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, and it costs 0.30%/yr, $500 minimum (Oct 2026). It is built for an existing E*Trade customer who wants part of the money handled automatically and part self-directed. Keep in mind: a conventional service whose main advantage is sitting next to an E*Trade brokerage account.
• Choose Interactive Brokers if you want advanced and international investors. Its AI AI-integration options (community MCP), and it costs brokerage fees. It is built for advanced or international investors who want breadth and are comfortable with complex tools. Keep in mind: powerful but complex; AI connectors are mostly community-built.
• Choose Walnut if you want a keep, trim or exit read on the stocks you already own, and placing the trades you approve. It is an AI investing app that connects the broker you already use, and it costs free; Walnut Plus $9.99/mo on the web; no fee on assets.

Because they sit in different categories, this is not strictly either-or: some investors use one for e*Trade customers wanting a managed portfolio alongside self-directed trading and the other for advanced and international investors, and watch for overlapping costs.

Cost is easy to misread when two tools charge in different shapes, so compare the model, not just the number. E*Trade Core Portfolios: 0.30%/yr, $500 minimum (Oct 2026). Interactive Brokers: brokerage fees. 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.

Prices checked October 2026. Pricing and tiers change, so confirm the current numbers on each provider’s own site before you decide.

Walnut is an AI investing app, and it is the pick for a keep, trim or exit read on the stocks you already own, and placing the trades you approve (free; Walnut Plus $9.99/mo on the web; no fee on assets). It connects the brokerage you already use, read-only by default, gives each holding a keep, trim or exit read against the S&P 500, flags any position above a quarter of the portfolio, and places the trades you approve. You use it through its own assistant, or inside Claude or ChatGPT. See Walnut vs E*Trade Core Portfolios and Walnut vs Interactive Brokers.