Merrill Guided Investing vs Mezzi: 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.

Merrill's automated investing service, built on Bank of America research, with an optional tier that adds an advisor.

How it works: A questionnaire sets a goal and risk level, and Merrill invests in model portfolios built by its investment office, rebalancing automatically. A higher-priced tier adds access to a financial advisor. Preferred Rewards status at Bank of America can reduce the fee, which is the main reason existing customers choose it.

In practice, Merrill Guided Investing’s AI automates a research-driven model portfolio. It falls under hands-off automated investing (robo-advisors), which makes it best suited to bank of america customers who want managed portfolios in the same app. On connecting an account it is “No (holds your money at Merrill)”, and on execution it is “Automated”. It is priced as percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current).

One honest limitation: Priced above the cheapest automated services, and the portfolios lean on Merrill's own research and funds.

Aggregates your accounts and layers AI insights with a tax-aware lens. Best for a consolidated view across holdings.

How it works: Mezzi aggregates your investment accounts into one view and layers AI insights over them with a tax-aware lens, flagging things like potential wash sales, fee drag, and unrealized-gain considerations across accounts. It is read-only: it tells you what it sees and what to consider, and you act at your broker.

In practice, Mezzi’s AI aggregates accounts + tax-aware insights. It falls under chat-driven management of your own brokerage, which makes it best suited to aggregated wealth tracking with ai. On connecting an account it is “Yes”, and on execution it is “Read”. It is priced as subscription.

One honest limitation: Tracking-and-insight focused rather than thesis-driven basket building.

The core difference is category. Merrill Guided Investing focuses on bank of america customers who want managed portfolios in the same app (automates a research-driven model portfolio), and Mezzi on aggregated wealth tracking with ai (aggregates accounts + tax-aware insights). On broker connection they differ too: Merrill Guided Investing is “No (holds your money at Merrill)” versus Mezzi at “Yes”. 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.

• Merrill Guided Investing: manages a separate account it holds. Merrill Guided Investing 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 Merrill Guided Investing.
• Mezzi: reads your real connected holdings. Mezzi connects your real brokerage (Yes) and works from your actual positions, so its answers reflect what you genuinely own rather than a generic model.

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.

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 Merrill Guided Investing if you want bank of america customers who want managed portfolios in the same app. Its AI automates a research-driven model portfolio, it is priced as percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current), and it fits hands-off automated investing (robo-advisors). It is built for an existing Bank of America customer whose rewards tier makes the pricing competitive and who values everything in one app. Keep in mind that priced above the cheapest automated services, and the portfolios lean on merrill's own research and funds.
• Choose Mezzi if you want aggregated wealth tracking with ai. Its AI aggregates accounts + tax-aware insights, it is priced as subscription, and it fits chat-driven management of your own brokerage. It is built for multi-account investors who want tax-aware tracking and insights consolidated in one place. Keep in mind that tracking-and-insight focused rather than thesis-driven basket building.

Because they sit in different categories, this is not strictly either-or: some investors use one for bank of america customers who want managed portfolios in the same app and the other for aggregated wealth tracking with ai, and just watch for overlapping costs.

Cost is easy to misread when two tools charge in different shapes, so compare the model, not just the number. Merrill Guided Investing is priced as percentage of assets, higher with an advisor (verify current), while Mezzi is priced as subscription. 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 Merrill Guided Investing and Walnut vs Mezzi. Walnut is not an investment adviser.