Public App Review: Stock Trading Made Social

The Public investing app might be for you if: You want a diversified portfolio with easy fractional investing in stocks and bonds, and a wide range of asset categories. Public is a low-cost investing platform that offers multi-asset portfolios of stocks, bonds, ETFs, options, and alternative assets like crypto and royalties. In this Public app review, we'll dive into the details to help you see if Public is the right brokerage for you.

Author's note: I've been investing for about twenty years, and I'm not a Public app customer; I don't buy alternative assets like crypto, and I prefer passive investing in low-cost index funds. But one thing I like about the Public investing platform is its exceptionally low fees. And unlike some other zero-commission online brokerages, Public does not earn money based on payment for order flow (PFOF). This helps the Public app keep its fees low and improves transparency for investors.

The Public app makes it easy to invest in a wide range of assets -- from fractional shares of stocks and bonds, to ETFs, options, and more. Public also offers investments in crypto, music royalties, and alternative assets like artwork and rare vintage sneakers. Public also has automated Investment Plans for diversified portfolios of up to 20 stocks, ETFs, or crypto assets.

Public does not offer mutual funds, and its account types are limited to taxable brokerage accounts -- no IRAs or 529 savings plans.

Investments

• Alternative assets
• Bonds
• Crypto
• ETFs
• Investment Plans
• Options
• OTC stocks
• Royalties
• Stocks
• Treasuries

Brokerage accounts

• Brokerage account (cash)
• Brokerage account (margin)
• High-Yield Cash Account

The Public app is one of the lowest-cost brokerages we've found. Instead of trading fees, commissions, or payment for order flow (PFOF), Public offers optional tipping -- if you want, you can add a tip to your trading order to "tip your brokerage." Public Premium, a paid subscription tier, costs $10 per month or $96 per year. Public also charges a few other miscellaneous account service fees and regulatory fees; for example, it costs $75 to close your Public account and transfer money out.

Margin rates

Public offers margin accounts, where you can borrow against the value of your investment portfolio and invest with borrowed money. But as of May 25, 2024, no margin rates were listed on the Public website. Contact Public for more details on margin rates.

Keep in mind that margin investing can be risky; you can lose more than the value of your initial investment, and you can be required to sell investments on short notice, or make additional cash deposits, to cover your market losses.

Public intends to be a good investing platform for beginner investors, and it offers a wide range of educational content to help people learn more about investing and how markets work. A few recent topics include:

• What are options and how do they work?
• A complete guide to fixed income for 2024
• Roth IRA vs. traditional IRA
• Stocks or bonds: which is right for you?

Want a higher level of professional-grade investor research? No problem -- Public offers advanced research features if you sign up for Public Premium. A membership with Public Premium gives you access to Morningstar research, enhanced data analysis and insights to help you make better-informed investment decisions.

The Public investing platform has some unique features that make it more user-friendly and educational, especially for beginning investors.

Public Pulse

The Public app serves millions of investors, and the Public Pulse program is a "social media"-style community -- people can share their latest investment ideas, pose questions to the community, and more. Public Pulse also hosts announcements from publicly traded companies, Town Hall Q&A sessions with CEOs, expert commentary, and more.

Safety labels for stocks

Buying stocks can be risky, and Public makes a proactive effort to help investors understand the risks. The Public app offers "Safety Labels" as a special tool to show you which stocks might pose higher risk. You can still buy whatever stocks you choose, but Safety Labels help you see the additional context.

Alpha: AI investing tools

Public recently launched a new experimental feature called "Alpha," a generative AI investing "co-pilot" that can help people do research, analyze data, and get insights on how to invest. Alpha is free for all Public members. It can help you quickly uncover real-time and historical data and analysis about thousands of stocks, bonds, ETFs, and crypto assets.

App

The Public app is available for iOS and Android, and it gets generally favorable reviews on the App Store (4.7 stars) and Google Play (4.1 stars). The Public app gives you full access to the capabilities of the Public investing interface, including:

• Investing in stocks, bonds, crypto, ETFs, and more
• Opening and managing a High-Yield Cash Account
• Using Alpha (AI investing co-pilot for research and analysis)
• Investment analysis (including access to analyst ratings, earnings calls, reports, and more)
• Portfolio management (including access to pre-market and after-hours trading sessions)

Whether you want to make changes to your automated Investment Plan, buy stocks, do research, or withdraw money from your High-Yield Cash Account, you can do it all from the Public app on your mobile device.

Public gets an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. The Public app has a long track record on BBB.org of promptly reaching out and solving problems for customers who complain.

You can read Public's responses to complaints on BBB.org, seeing exactly how Public's representatives take action to apologize for mistakes, explain why delays or errors might have happened, and otherwise provide gentle-spirited, discreet, useful customer service. Most of the complaints are quickly resolved. This is an impressive sign of just how serious Public is about providing excellent customer service. Many companies say that they care about customer service; the Public app seems to actually make it a priority.

Here are a few ways that people can contact customer service at the Public app:

• Email: [email protected]
• Online chat within the Public app or website

Phone support is currently not available.

The Public app offers several advanced security protocols and features to help keep your account safe, including:

• AES 256-bit encryption
• TLS 1.2 (or newer)
• Two-factor authentication via SMS
• SIPC protection up to $500,000 of securities ($250,000 for claims for cash)
• Active review of outgoing withdrawals to comply with anti-money laundering regulations

Public was launched in 2019 with a mission to make investing work better for all people -- putting the "public" in "public markets." This investing platform offers unique new ways to build a diversified multi-asset portfolio, with a wide range of assets, from stocks and bonds, to crypto and royalties from movie soundtracks.

Public made a principled stand in 2021 to stop making money from payment for order flow (PFOF). Some other no-commission brokers have been criticized for using PFOF as a kind of hidden "commission" that gives everyday investors an incentive to trade too frequently for their own good. Instead of PFOF, Public offers optional "tipping" to help keep fees low -- while giving investors a (hopefully) fairer, more transparent experience.

Learn more about Public app

Keep reading about the Public investing platform on these pages:

At The Motley Fool Ascent, brokerages are rated on a scale of one to five stars. We primarily focus on fees, available assets, and account types; however, we also take into account features like research, education, tax-loss harvesting, and highly rated mobile apps. Our highest-rated brokerages generally include low fees, a diverse range of assets and account types, and useful platform features.

See our full methodology here: Ratings Methodology