MarketWatch vs Morningstar 2024: Full Comparison

MarketWatch vs Morningstar Videos

Factor 1: Free Features

So, you want to analyze the potential of a mutual fund, individual stocks, or another type of asset. Can you do it for free?

Sort of. While both of these platforms do offer some free features, the most useful investment management and research tools are hidden behind the paywall of subscription services.

Still, you should be able to get some basic information without paying (such as the past performance of investment funds or individual stock prices).

MarketWatch

Although using MarketWatch for free won’t give you the best experience possible, you’ll still be able to use this stock news platform to find a few investment opportunities without paying.

Beyond access to a limited number of articles per month (which mainly cover investment companies, investment analysis, and market movement), free users can use a few investment tracking tools.

The free version of MarketWatch includes a basic stock picker/ stock screener and a few tools for tracking your investment portfolio.

However, if you want to have access to key data points about assets in your investment portfolio, you’ll need a premium subscription.

Morningstar

As Morningstar is primarily a premium service, its free services are fairly limited. While the investment opportunities you’ll find using the free tools could be helpful, they’re comparable to MarketWatch in terms of their investment analysis potential (i.e., needs improvement).

The service does offer some basic news about investment companies, assets, and market changes. However, access to these articles is limited on a free account. The simple charts can be used for basic investment tracking, You can also use a free basic stock screener.

However, when trying to find the best investment option to reach your financial goal, it’s helpful to have all of the relevant information in one place. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to save and track the assets in your investment accounts without a premium membership.

Factor 2: Paid Features

Using the free version of a premium service subjects you to limited access and only offers limited resources. However, once you’re willing to pay for a premium service, the options start to open up!

Each platform offers various portfolio tools, covers a wide variety of assets, and other benefits. There are both annual membership and monthly subscription options available.

Next, let’s compare the premium offerings of MarketWatch to those from Morningstar Inc.!

MarketWatch

A premium membership to MarketWatch unlocks all of the platforms “Research & Tools.” It also gives unlimited access to articles, newsletters, and watchlists.

While having the ability to read the opinions of financial analysts—in addition to the latest news—is helpful, it doesn’t offer stock-market investors everything they’ll need along their investing journey.

Hands-on investors and advanced investors may find MarketWatch helpful as a supplementary service, whereas less active investors may just find the additional insights interesting. How useful this platform is really depends on what type of investor you are, and what your current services are lacking.

Although there is promotional pricing available, regular pricing comes out to $5/week.

Morningstar

Morningstar Premium is considerably more expensive than MarketWatch, but it also offers benefits that multiple types of investors can benefit from. Advanced investors, investment professionals, and even investment research firms rely on this investment research company to provide accurate information.

Whether you’re trying to track the performance of an individual mutual fund or your entire portfolio of stocks, Morningstar Premium is more than capable of meeting your needs.

There are too many features to mention here, but a few notable mentions are investment tracking, investment screening, Portfolio X-Ray, and “Top Picks.” You can learn about the full capabilities of this platform by checking out our comprehensive review here.

Factor 3: Subscription Costs

Now that you know what each platform has to offer with a premium membership, let’s compare the prices between the two.

MarketWatch

Charging a mere $5 per week, MarketWatch is certainly an affordable option for retail investors. Generally, this will be $20 per month. However, since MarketWatch charges on a four-week basis (rather than a monthly basis), some months may end up costing $25 instead.

Morningstar

Morningstar Premium—now known as Morningstar Investor—doesn’t offer a 30-day free trial, but it does offer a seven-day one. You can choose from either annual or monthly subscription options. The annual plan costs $249 per year, whereas the latter costs $34.95 per month ($419.40 per year). We’d recommend the annual plan of Morningstar Premium!
Learn More

Factor 4: External Customer Reviews & Ratings

External MarketBeat Reviews & Ratings

External Morningstar Reviews & Ratings

MarketWatch vs Morningstar: Final Thoughts

MarketWatch offers a small variety of tools that investors may find useful, but it’s best used as a secondary service, not a primary one.

Morningstar Premium, on the other hand, has enough resources, tools, and data to satisfy financial analysts and retail traders alike. Although there are monthly subscription options offered, we highly recommend opting for an annual membership instead.

If you’d like to mull over data and analyst opinions of the future performance of a wide variety of assets, Morningstar is the way to go. MarketWatch has its place as well, but it’s certainly not at the top of our recommendations list.

Click here to join Morningstar and save $50 on your annual membership!