Autopilot alternatives: the honest list, what each one actually is, and the one question that sorts them

I'm Chris, one of the co-founders of Autopilot. If you're looking for alternatives to us, I'd rather hand you a fair list than watch you get one from a coupon site. Here's every category of alternative I know of, what each one actually is by its own disclosures, and the single question that tells you which category you belong in.

One thing first, because we're an SEC-registered investment adviser and I have to say it. Autopilot is the app. The actual investment advice comes from Autopilot Advisers, LLC. If you want the full legal version of anything in here, it's on our disclaimer page.

The one question

Where do you want your money to live, and who do you want deciding what it buys? Every alternative is a different answer. We are: your money stays at the brokerage you already have, and a named Pilot's published Portfolio decides what it buys, with Autopilot Advisers, LLC sending the orders. Everything below changes one or both halves.

Other following apps

Dub, by its own disclosures, runs its own brokerage: you open an account there and follow real investors' portfolios inside it. Alinea, by its disclosures, is an SEC-registered adviser whose clients' accounts sit at its custodian. Same idea as ours, following people, but your money moves into their stack. Structure-by-structure detail is in Autopilot, Alinea, and Dub: three ways to follow other investors, and how each one is built and Looking at dub? What to compare before you pick a copy trading app, and where Autopilot is built differently.

Managed strategies and rules engines

Titan runs its own actively managed strategies for you; Composer lets you build or pick rules-based strategies that a machine executes. Both are hands-off, neither follows a named outside investor's decisions, and both are compared structurally in Autopilot and Titan: active management, and who each is for and Autopilot and Composer: what each one automates, and who each is for.

Robo-advisors and self-directed brokerages

Wealthfront and Betterment automate a diversified default: expert-built portfolios matched to your risk profile, in accounts they hold, for a percentage of assets. M1 is a self-directed brokerage that automates investing into portfolios you build yourself. None of them puts a named investor's decisions in your account, and all of them require an account with them. I did each one structurally: Autopilot and Wealthfront, Autopilot and Betterment, and Autopilot and M1 Finance.

Doing it yourself

Every hedge fund filing we follow is public on EDGAR, and you can read a 13F and place the trades yourself, in your own proportions, every quarter. EDGAR is free to read, it's legal, and it's real work that most people stop doing after two quarters; the walk-through is in How to read a 13F filing, line by line: what's in it, what's missing, and how it differs from 13D and 13G. And the default nobody sells: a broad index fund, which answers "who decides" with "nobody" and "where does it live" with "wherever you already are."

How to compare any of them

Five checks, the same for all of us. Does it hold your money or work in an account someone else holds? Is the adviser registered, and can you find its CRD number? Is there a dated public record for what you'd follow? What does it cost at your balance, in dollars a year? Can you shut it off from the brokerage's side? Run them and the list sorts itself; the routine is in How to check whether an investing app is registered, in five minutes: IAPD, BrokerCheck, and what the relationship summary tells you.

Frequently asked questions

Autopilot app alternatives

By category: other following apps that run their own brokerage or custodian, such as dub and Alinea by their disclosures; managed strategies and rules engines such as Titan and Composer; robo-advisors such as Wealthfront and Betterment and self-directed brokerages such as M1, all of which require an account with them; and doing it yourself from public 13F filings or holding a broad index fund. Autopilot's difference is that your money stays at your existing brokerage while a named Pilot's Portfolio decides what it buys.

What are the alternatives to Autopilot?

Following apps with their own brokerage (dub, Alinea), managed or rules-based strategy apps (Titan, Composer), robo-advisors (Wealthfront, Betterment), self-directed brokerages with automation (M1), reading 13F filings on EDGAR and trading yourself, or a broad index fund. Sort them by two questions: where your money lives, and who decides what it buys.

How is Autopilot different from a robo-advisor?

A robo-advisor puts you in a diversified mix of funds matched to a questionnaire, usually in an account it holds, for a percentage of assets; nobody named is deciding. Autopilot follows a specific investor's or fund's published Portfolio inside the brokerage account you already have, for a flat subscription, with Autopilot Advisers, LLC sending the orders. Both are hands-off in execution; they hand off different decisions.

Can I do what Autopilot does myself?

For the hedge fund trackers, yes: the 13F filings are public on EDGAR, and you can read each one and place the trades in your own proportions every quarter, at no cost beyond your brokerage's. What you can't replicate by hand is the ongoing following as Portfolios change, the Pilot-run and AI-model Portfolios, and the live follower records on the fact sheets. Whether the subscription is worth the labor saved depends on your balance and your patience.

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Since Autopilot Advisers is an SEC-registered investment adviser, we have to put disclaimers on stuff like this. They're below, and the full version is on our disclaimer page.

Disclosures

© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly-owned, and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal invested, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.

This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.

Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.

Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.

Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.

This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.

Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.

Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.

Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.

Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.

For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.

Descriptions of other companies are structural, drawn from their own public disclosures as read on or before the publish date, and may change; none is affiliated with Autopilot and nothing here ranks any product or asserts superiority. Nothing here is a performance claim or a recommendation.