Expert Guide Editorially reviewed

The Best Real Estate Investing Platforms in 2026

One starts at $10. One starts at $100. One REIT is $5,000 and paused to new money. Two want accredited investors and a five-figure check.

Independently researched. No pay-for-placement. 5 tools compared
TL;DR

Fundrise: $10 taxable, $1,000 IRA; 0.15% advisory plus 0.85% on the real estate funds (about 1% a year). Arrived: $100; AUM 0.15% of purchase price per quarter on single-family homes, plus 8% of gross rent to the property manager. RealtyMogul: Income REIT 1.00% asset management, Apartment Growth REIT 1.25%; $5,000 REIT minimum when open. The Income REIT page said new subscriptions were paused and the share repurchase program was suspended as of 21 April 2026. CrowdStreet: accredited only; FAQ says minimums start at $25,000, May 2026 Form CRS says some offerings start at $5,000; sponsor and placement fees vary by deal. AcreTrader: accredited only; live offerings showed $15,000 per farm and $150,000 on the Proterra fund; 0.75% annual administration fee on farm value. This is not financial advice. Confirm every number on the live offering page. Checked 1 September 2026.

These platforms sell private or non-traded real estate over a website. They are not a brokerage ticker you can sell before lunch, and they are not a house you own in your name. Fundrise and Arrived will take a non-accredited US investor at $10 or $100.

RealtyMogul's retail REITs start at $5,000 when they are actually open. CrowdStreet and AcreTrader are accredited products with a much larger check.

This page is a fee and access comparison, not a return forecast. None of these firms can promise a yield. Read the offering circular. This is not financial advice.

Top Picks

Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.

Best Real Estate Investing Platforms in 2026: 5 tools compared, updated Sep 2026
ToolPricingBest for
FundriseFrom Fundrise Help Center and Fundrise Advisors Form CRS (March 2026): 0.15% annual advisory fee ($1.50 per $1,000)…Non-accredited investors who want a pooled private-real-estate plan at a $10 start and will accept gated liquidity
RealtyMogulPlatform membership is free. Income REIT: 1.00% annual asset management on total equity value, organisational and…People who specifically want RealtyMogul's commercial REIT or accredited marketplace and will read whether that product is open this week
ArrivedHelp Center (24 July 2026): $100 minimum on all Arrived offerings. Help Center fees (26 May 2026): AUM 0.10% to 0.30%…Non-accredited investors who want a named rental or vacation home at $100 and will hold through property-level fees
CrowdStreetAccredited investors only (US persons). CrowdStreet FAQ: minimums start at $25,000 and may be higher. Crowd Street…Accredited investors who will underwrite one commercial (or other private) deal at a time and can lock capital for the full hold
AcreTraderAccredited US residents only (AcreTrader Financial Form CRS). No fee to open or maintain an account. Affiliate…Accredited investors who want US farmland in an LLC or the Proterra fund and can wait through a multi-year hold

Pricing read from each vendor's own published pricing page, checked Sep 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.

Best for: Non-accredited investors who want a pooled private-real-estate plan at a $10 start and will accept gated liquidity

PricingFrom Fundrise Help Center and Fundrise Advisors Form CRS (March 2026): 0.15% annual advisory fee ($1.50 per $1,000), not charged on the Innovation Fund under the CRS. Real estate funds in Supplemental Income, Balanced Investing, or Long-Term Growth: 0.85% annual flat management fee ($8.50 per $1,000). Innovation Fund: 1.85% flat management fee ($18.50 per $1,000). Funds may also pay acquisition, development, and servicing fees described at fundrise.com/oc. Taxable minimum $10. IRA minimum $1,000. Open to non-accredited investors. NerdWallet's 7 August 2026 review said the Innovation Fund was closed to new investors. Confirm live. Checked 1 September 2026.

+Published $10 taxable and $1,000 IRA minimums on the official help center
+Fee schedule is two percentages you can add, not a sponsor PDF per deal
+No accredited letter required for the core plans
About 1% a year on the real estate plans before extra fund-level fees in the circulars
Shares are not exchange-traded. Redemptions can be limited, delayed, or penalised on older eREIT/eFund shares
Visit Fundrise →

Best for: People who specifically want RealtyMogul's commercial REIT or accredited marketplace and will read whether that product is open this week

PricingPlatform membership is free. Income REIT: 1.00% annual asset management on total equity value, organisational and offering costs capped at 3%, 0% selling commissions, 0.5% servicing on debt and preferred equity (Investopedia fee table citing RealtyMogul fact sheets; 1.00% also in the Income REIT SEC Form 1-SA). Apartment Growth REIT: 1.25% annual asset management, same 3% org/offering cap, 0.5% servicing on preferred equity. REIT minimum $5,000 initial, $1,000 subsequent (Income REIT offering circular). Individual deals: fees set per sponsor; Investopedia cites $25,000 minimums for accredited individual properties. Official Income REIT page: offering paused for new investors while the circular is refreshed; share repurchase program suspended 21 April 2026. Checked 1 September 2026.

+REIT fee tables are in SEC filings and fact sheets, not only a marketing tile
+Accredited investors can look at individual commercial deals, not only a pooled fund
+The company is still operating; the homepage and REIT pages load
Income REIT new subscriptions were paused on the official product page pending a circular refresh
Share repurchase was suspended 21 April 2026, so the REIT liquidity story is currently a hold
Visit RealtyMogul →

Best for: Non-accredited investors who want a named rental or vacation home at $100 and will hold through property-level fees

PricingHelp Center (24 July 2026): $100 minimum on all Arrived offerings. Help Center fees (26 May 2026): AUM 0.10% to 0.30% per quarter ($1 to $3 per $1,000 per quarter). Single-family homes: 0.15% of purchase price per quarter. SFR fund: 0.25% of net assets per quarter. Real Estate Income fund: 0.30% of net assets per quarter. Vacation rentals: variable AUM that has averaged 0.10% of initial investment per quarter. Property managers (9 July 2026): 8% of gross rent on single-family; 15% to 20% on vacation rentals, plus possible lease-up and rehab charges. A one-time sourcing fee is baked into the offering price (see each circular). Arrived Homes series SEC filing: 3.5% sourcing and 0.60% annual asset management on the series property purchase price. Secondary market: executing broker may take up to 2.5% buy and 2.5% sell. Open to non-accredited investors under Regulation A limits. Checked 1 September 2026.

+$100 is a real published floor, including the SFR fund
+AUM schedule is broken out by product on the official help center
+You can see a specific house, unlike a Fundrise plan allocation
The 0.15% quarterly AUM line is not the all-in cost. Sourcing and 8% of rent sit next to it
Holds are multi-year. The secondary window is not a stock exchange and can charge 2.5% each side
Visit Arrived →

Best for: Accredited investors who will underwrite one commercial (or other private) deal at a time and can lock capital for the full hold

PricingAccredited investors only (US persons). CrowdStreet FAQ: minimums start at $25,000 and may be higher. Crowd Street Capital Form CRS (18 May 2026): no minimum to open an account; offerings typically start at $5,000 and vary. No account-opening fee to the investor. The broker and affiliates charge issuers due diligence, placement, services, and technology fees; issuers may pass those through, which can reduce the amount invested. Registered third-party funds may pay the broker a fund-level fee. Each offering page has a Fees and Expenses section. Confirm the live minimum and fee table on that deal. Checked 1 September 2026.

+No published investor wrap like Fundrise's 0.15% plus 0.85%
+You choose a specific offering instead of a model portfolio
+Form CRS (May 2026) is current and states the issuer-pays compensation model
Accredited only. Non-accredited investors are out
Minimums disagree between the FAQ ($25,000) and the CRS (from $5,000). The live offering wins
Visit CrowdStreet →

Best for: Accredited investors who want US farmland in an LLC or the Proterra fund and can wait through a multi-year hold

PricingAccredited US residents only (AcreTrader Financial Form CRS). No fee to open or maintain an account. Affiliate Acretrader Management charges a flat 0.75% annual administration fee of overall farm value, typically taken from farm income before distributions (acretrader.com/resources/how-it-works). Investors may indirectly bear issuer placement fees. Each offering sets its own minimum. On 1 September 2026 the public offerings page showed $15,000 on individual farm cards and $150,000 on Proterra AcreTrader Farmland Fund LP. Closing, legal, and disposition costs are in the PPM for that farm, not in a single site-wide table. Checked 1 September 2026.

+0.75% administration fee is published on the official how-it-works page
+No account maintenance fee on the Form CRS
+You can see whether the open product is a single farm or the $150,000 fund
Accredited only, US residents at offering time
0.75% is on farm value, which can be a larger base than the equity you wired
Visit AcreTrader →

What it is

A real estate investing platform here is a site that sells shares in a private REIT, an interval fund, a single-property LLC, or a farmland entity. You put in cash. A manager buys or operates property. You may get distributions if the vehicle has cash.

You generally cannot sell on an exchange.

The five names still operating in the US as of 1 September 2026 split into two rooms. Fundrise, Arrived, and RealtyMogul's Regulation A REITs (when open) are built for retail.

CrowdStreet and AcreTrader are Regulation D marketplaces for accredited investors. Publicly traded REITs at a normal broker are a different product.

Why it matters

The invoice is not one number. Fundrise's help center adds 0.15% advisory to 0.85% fund management. Arrived's help center quotes a quarterly AUM slice, then an 8% property-management cut of rent, then a one-time sourcing fee inside the share price.

CrowdStreet's Form CRS says the broker is paid by the issuer. AcreTrader's how-it-works page charges 0.75% of farm value, not of your smaller equity cheque if the farm is leveraged.

Liquidity is the other bill. RealtyMogul's own Income REIT page said the board suspended the share repurchase program on 21 April 2026.

Fundrise can delay redemptions. Arrived's secondary market, when it runs, can take up to 2.5% on each side. Treat any of these as money you may not get back on a schedule you pick.

Key features to look for

Who can invest
Non-accredited retail (Fundrise, Arrived, RealtyMogul REITs when open) versus accredited-only (CrowdStreet, AcreTrader). SEC accredited usually means $200k income ($300k joint) or $1m net worth excluding a primary residence.
Minimum cheque
$10, $100, $5,000, $15,000, $25,000, $150,000. The lowest published number is often a different product from the one you wanted.
How the fee is taken
Advisory plus fund management, quarterly AUM plus property management plus sourcing, or sponsor/placement fees the issuer may pass through. Compare the stack, not the headline.
Liquidity
Quarterly or gated redemptions, a limited secondary window, or a 5 to 10 year hold until the sponsor sells. A repurchase program can be suspended. RealtyMogul's was.
What you own
A slice of a pooled fund, a fractional rental, a single commercial deal, or a farmland LLC. Same word 'real estate.' Different documents.
Mistakes to avoid
×Treating Fundrise or Arrived like VNQ. Private and non-traded vehicles do not have a bid you can hit this afternoon.
×Comparing CrowdStreet's 'no investor wrap' to Fundrise's 1% without reading the sponsor fee page. Issuer-paid fees still come out of the deal.
×Buying Arrived on the 0.15% quarterly AUM sentence and skipping sourcing plus 8% of gross rent. That is the actual stack.
×Wiring $5,000 to RealtyMogul because an old review said the Income REIT was open. The official page said new subscriptions were paused and buybacks were suspended as of 21 April 2026.
Expert tips
Decide accreditation and lock-up first. If you are not accredited and cannot leave money for years, CrowdStreet and AcreTrader are the wrong shortlist.
Add the fees that sit under the wrap: Fundrise circular extras, Arrived property management, CrowdStreet placement, AcreTrader costs in the PPM.
If you need daily liquidity, use a brokerage and a publicly traded REIT or REIT ETF. That is a different product than this list.
Re-read the live offering before you send money. RealtyMogul's REIT pause is the example. Screenshots go stale.

The bottom line

For a small, non-accredited cheque, Fundrise at $10 and about 1% a year on the real estate plans is the simplest published stack. Arrived at $100 is the one that lets you point at a house, at a higher all-in cost once sourcing and the 8% rent cut are included.

RealtyMogul still exists.

Its Income REIT was not taking new investors on this check, and the repurchase program was off. Do not treat the $5,000 REIT as a live buy until the site says it is. CrowdStreet and AcreTrader are accredited, five-figure (or larger) products.

CrowdStreet's cost is the deal's fee page. AcreTrader's published ongoing number is 0.75% of farm value. This is not a recommendation to invest.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest real estate investing platform to start?
Fundrise publishes a $10 taxable minimum. Arrived publishes $100. RealtyMogul REITs publish $5,000 when open. CrowdStreet's FAQ starts at $25,000 (CRS says some offerings from $5,000). AcreTrader showed $15,000 on individual farms. Cheap to start is not cheap to hold. Checked 1 September 2026.
Do I need to be an accredited investor?
Not for Fundrise's core plans or Arrived's Regulation A offerings. RealtyMogul REITs are also built for non-accredited investors when the offering is live; individual deals are accredited. CrowdStreet and AcreTrader are accredited only.
How much does Fundrise charge?
Official help center: 0.15% advisory, 0.85% management on the real estate funds used in the standard plans (about 1% combined), 1.85% management on the Innovation Fund. Extra fund-level fees can appear in the offering circulars at fundrise.com/oc. Form CRS dated March 2026. Checked 1 September 2026.
Are these the same as buying a REIT in a brokerage account?
No. Public REITs trade on an exchange. These platforms sell private or non-traded interests with limited or gated exits. RealtyMogul's REIT repurchase program was suspended on 21 April 2026. That is the liquidity difference in one sentence.
What returns should I expect?
This page does not publish yields. Platforms show historical or target figures that are not promises. USDA farmland index charts are not your AcreTrader result. Read the circular and assume you can lose the principal.
Related guides

Get the Finpresso brief

Free daily newsletter, read in 5 minutes.

Subscribe free