Head-to-Head · Retirement Hub · June 2026
Fidelity Go vs Schwab Intelligent Portfolios — Broker Robo Head-to-Head
The two largest US brokers both run robo-advisor services and both price aggressively to win retirement-account assets. Fidelity Go is free under $25,000 and 0.35% above. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is 'free' at every balance — but maintains a 6–30% mandatory cash allocation that the SEC concluded materially raised the true cost. This page walks the headline fees, the cash-drag math, and the right answer for a retirement account.
By Retirement Hub — AI Impact on Retirement · Updated 2026-06-21 · Educational only — not financial, tax, or investment advice.
Fidelity Go and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios are aimed at the same customer: someone who has an existing brokerage account at Fidelity or Schwab and wants automated management of part of it. Both are appropriate for IRAs and taxable accounts; both use the broker's house funds (Fidelity Flex zero-expense-ratio mutual funds at Fidelity Go; Schwab ETFs + cash at Schwab Intelligent). Neither offers tax-loss harvesting at low balances; both require larger balances to unlock TLH.
The headline fee difference is the most cited and most misleading number. Fidelity Go is $0 under $25k and 0.35% above. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is $0 at every balance. On a $50k retirement account, that sounds like Schwab is $175 cheaper per year. The reality is more complex because of how Schwab earns money on the mandatory cash allocation — a model that resulted in a $187 million SEC settlement in June 2022.
For a retirement account, the question that matters is: which one delivers a higher after-cost return on the equity-tilted allocations most pre-retirees actually want? On that metric, the published 5-year Backend Benchmarking data and the SEC settlement both point to the same answer.
Fidelity Go vs Schwab Intelligent Portfolios — published facts
| Feature | Fidelity Go | Schwab Intelligent Portfolios |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory fee (under $25k) | $0 | $0 |
| Advisory fee (over $25k) | 0.35% per year | $0 |
| Account minimum to open | $10 to invest | $5,000 |
| Underlying fund expense | 0.00% (Fidelity Flex funds) | 0.03–0.20% (Schwab ETFs) |
| Mandatory cash allocation | No (fully invested) | 6% to 30% of portfolio (allocation-dependent) |
| Tax-loss harvesting | No | Yes — only above $50k |
| Human advisor access | Phone team above $25k | No (Premium tier: $30/mo + $300 setup, $25k min) |
| Retirement-account support (IRA / Roth IRA / Rollover) | Yes | Yes |
| Number of model portfolios | 7 | ~ 80 (ETF-based) |
| Goal-based planning UX | Yes | Limited |
| Implicit cost (cash drag, Backend Benchmarking est.) | 0% (no required cash) | 10–15 bps/yr on equity-tilted; higher on conservative |
| All-in cost (estimated, $50k equity-tilted) | ~0.35% | ~0.10–0.15% (after cash drag) |
Sources: provider websites + ADV Part 2 brochures as of June 2026; SEC June 2022 settlement order against Schwab subsidiaries; Backend Benchmarking Robo Report Q1 2026 for cash-drag estimates. The mandatory cash allocation in Schwab Intelligent Portfolios ranges from 6% (aggressive equity) to ~30% (conservative income) and is one of the lever points the SEC focused on.
The cash-drag issue, in numbers
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios requires every account to hold a minimum cash allocation that the company sets based on the chosen risk profile. For an aggressive equity-tilted portfolio (90/10 stocks/bonds equivalent), Schwab still requires roughly 6–8% cash. For a moderate allocation, it's typically 10–15%. For conservative, it can reach 25–30%.
Schwab Bank earns a spread on that cash — typically paying Schwab Intelligent Portfolios clients a sweep rate well below what the bank earns lending it out. The SEC's 2022 order specifically faulted Schwab for failing to adequately disclose that this cash allocation often produced lower returns than alternative low-cash strategies — making the 'free' service materially more expensive than disclosed.
The math: an equity-tilted retirement saver with 6% mandatory cash earning 0.5% spread to Schwab vs investing that 6% in the market at ~9% historical returns gives up roughly (0.06 × 0.085) = 51 bps per year of return. Backend Benchmarking's empirical measure across the full 5-year period is in the 10–15 bps range for equity-tilted allocations and meaningfully higher for conservative ones.
Where Fidelity Go is the better choice
Retirement accounts under $25,000. Fidelity Go is genuinely free under $25k and uses zero-expense-ratio Fidelity Flex funds. The total cost is effectively $0. There is no comparable equivalent at any other major broker.
Conservative allocations. Because Schwab's cash drag scales with conservative tilt, Fidelity Go is increasingly cost-advantaged for retirees in their 60s and 70s with bond-heavy allocations.
Existing Fidelity 401(k) or IRA customers. The asset location, transfer, and tax-document workflow is cleaner if everything is at one broker.
Investors who don't want any cash allocation 'tax.' Fidelity Go invests 100% of contributions in the model portfolio.
Where Schwab Intelligent Portfolios is the better choice
Accounts above $50k that want tax-loss harvesting at 'free' headline. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios unlocks tax-loss harvesting at $50k. If your allocation is aggressive enough that the cash drag is small (6–8%) and your taxable-account losses are large enough to benefit materially from TLH, the math can favor Schwab.
Investors who already have a Schwab brokerage relationship and want to consolidate. As with Fidelity, the workflow and reporting benefits of single-broker consolidation are real.
Investors who view the cash buffer as a feature. Some retirees genuinely value having 10–15% in cash for short-term needs and view Schwab's mandatory allocation as forced discipline rather than cost. This is a minority view, but a legitimate one.
Investors with no balance above $25k who want zero per-year fee with TLH. Schwab's $0 fee at any balance is unique. Fidelity Go's $0 stops at $25k.
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Frequently asked questions
Which one is better for a Roth IRA specifically?+
Under $25k: Fidelity Go — $0 fee, no cash drag. Over $25k with an equity-tilted allocation: roughly a tie (Fidelity 0.35% vs Schwab ~0.10–0.15% implicit). Over $50k with a desire for tax-loss harvesting: tax-loss harvesting is largely irrelevant inside a Roth IRA, so Fidelity Go's cleaner cost wins. The TLH advantage applies almost entirely to taxable accounts.
What about the SEC settlement — should I avoid Schwab over that?+
The settlement was about disclosure, not about Schwab stealing money. Schwab Intelligent Portfolios still operates the same way it did in 2022; the cash-drag model is the business model. The question is whether you accept the implicit cost knowing what it is. For investors who are now informed (which you are after reading this), the SEC issue is settled history; the operational question of cost remains.
Why isn't Vanguard in this comparison?+
Vanguard Personal Advisor Services charges 0.30% — much closer to Fidelity Go and Schwab Intelligent than to a traditional 1% advisor. See the Vanguard PAS vs Betterment vs Wealthfront head-to-head for that comparison. Vanguard PAS is the strongest competitor to both Fidelity Go and Schwab Intelligent for retirement savers above $50k who want CFP access.
Is there a Schwab equivalent to Fidelity Flex zero-ER funds?+
Not exactly. Schwab does offer some 0.00% ETFs (SWPPX type) but the typical Schwab Intelligent Portfolios model allocation uses Schwab ETFs with 0.03–0.20% expense ratios. The net all-in cost calculation in the table above factors this in.
Sources
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