Robinhood vs Public

Robinhood and Public both offer $0 commission U.S. stock and ETF trading, $0 equity-option contract fees and a paid membership tier. They diverge on derivatives, on fixed income and on how each firm structures managed money.

Every fact below is drawn from the two canonical ROIStreet review records. Where a fact is absent from a record, it is stated as not established rather than borrowed from the other platform.

Options pricing is close, until index options and membership enter

Robinhood charges $0 base and $0 per contract on stock and ETF options, with index options at $0.50 per contract standard and $0.35 with Gold.

Public charges $0 commission and $0 contract fee on ordinary stock and ETF options, and prices index options at $0.50 per contract for standard accounts and $0.35 for Premium. Public also discloses per-contract rebates of $0.06 to $0.18 under its order-flow arrangement, and passes through an OCC clearing fee of $0.02 per contract capped at $55, a $0.02 per contract options regulatory fee, a $0.0009 per contract CAT fee and $0.00279 per contract TAF on sells.

So the headline equity-option economics are similar and the index-option discount sits behind a paid tier on both platforms.

Derivatives are the clearest asymmetry

Robinhood offers futures through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC at $0.75 per contract non-Gold and $0.50 with Gold, plus a $0.02 NFA fee and product-dependent exchange fees of $0.20 to $7.50, including micro and crypto futures. It also offers prediction-market event contracts, priced by formula with a maximum $0.01 per contract Robinhood commission and up to $0.01 per contract in exchange fees.

Public's canonical record establishes no futures and no prediction markets. A reader who wants either product will not find it at Public.

Crypto: same custody model idea, different fee shape

Robinhood offers direct crypto through Robinhood Crypto, LLC with a $0 explicitly stated transaction fee, market-maker compensation of 0.95% of notional embedded in the spread, exchange routing tiers of 0.00% to 0.95%, and staking where eligible at 25% of the staking APY earned.

Public offers direct crypto through Zero Hash LLC — Public itself does not execute or custody crypto — with fixed tiers of $0.49 up to $6.29 by order size and 1.25% of the order amount above $500, plus a 1.25% fee on crypto investment plans. Public supports crypto IRAs with a 0.05% custody fee accrued daily and charged monthly, and does not support staking. Crypto transfers are not available in New York. Neither platform's crypto is SIPC protected or FDIC insured.

Fixed income is Public's structural advantage

Public carries corporate bonds, municipal bonds, Treasuries, fractional bonds, a Bond Account and a Treasury Account. Fixed-income pricing includes $0.10 per $100 par on Treasuries maturing in a year or less and $0.25 per $100 par beyond a year, $0.35 and $0.50 per $100 par for corporates on the same split, and marginal Treasury Account tiers from 0.29% down to 0.09%. The Bond Account costs $3.99 per month for non-Premium members and $0 with Premium.

Robinhood's record states no mutual funds, no individual bonds, no Treasuries and no brokered CDs.

Managed money is built differently on each side

Robinhood offers Robinhood Strategies, a managed-investing service through Robinhood Asset Management, LLC, at 0.25% annually with a $50 minimum, with no management fee above $100,000 in a single managed account for Gold subscribers.

Public offers advisory products through Public Advisors — Generated Assets at 0.49% annually, Direct Indexing at 0.19% annually, and the Treasury Account — which should not be described as a conventional robo-advisor. The structures are not equivalent, so a like-for-like fee ranking would be misleading.

Membership tiers and cash

Robinhood Gold costs $5 per month or $50 per year and bundles a 3.35% APY High-Yield Cash Program rate as of 2026-02-11, the first $1,000 of margin borrowing interest-free, reduced index-option and futures pricing, larger IRA matches and Strategies fee-cap benefits.

Public Premium costs $10 per month or $96 per year and is waived at a $50,000 account balance. Premium removes the $2.99 non-Premium OTC and extended-hours trade fees, removes the $3.99 Bond Account monthly fee and lowers index options to $0.35. Public's High-Yield Cash Account is stated at 3.30% APY as of 2026-08, variable, with a headline $5 million FDIC pass-through subject to program rules. Public also charges a $3.99 monthly inactivity fee only on accounts under $70 in total value with no activity for six months, and a $100 outgoing ACATS fee.

How to read the difference

Robinhood is the broader trading platform: futures, event contracts, staking-eligible crypto and overnight equity sessions. Public is the broader income and portfolio-construction platform: bonds, Treasuries, direct indexing and a cash account, with crypto executed and custodied by a third party. The right answer follows what the account is for.