Benzinga and The Motley Fool are stock market news and analysis services that investors can access for free. Benzinga focuses on breaking stock news and actionable investing tools, while The Motley Fool focuses on stock analysis and offering how-to guides for beginner investors.
Both Benzinga and The Motley Fool also offer premium services, including the flagship Benzinga Pro and The Motley Fool Stock Advisor services. Benzinga Pro is a news trading service, while Stock Advisor is a stock picking service.
In this guide, we’ll compare Benzinga vs. The Motley Fool head to head so you can decide which platform is best for you.
About Benzinga and The Motley Fool
Benzinga was founded in 2010 by Jason Raznick, an entrepreneur who wanted to make market news available to individual investors. The platform covers news, analyst updates, earnings, and more for the stock market, and it recently expanded to cover crypto, cannabis, and other hot topics among investors. Benzinga has more than 25 million monthly readers, and
The Motley Fool was founded in 1993 by Tom and David Gardner. It started as a traditional print investment newsletter, but it became one of the earliest online stock picking services. Today, an estimated 700,000 investors subscribe to The Motley Fool’s premium stock picking newsletters.
Benzinga vs. The Motley Fool: Stock Market Coverage
Both Benzinga and The Motley Fool provide detailed news coverage and analysis for stocks, both in the US and abroad.
Benzinga offers brief news articles throughout the day covering top movers, companies with new earnings releases or announcements, and stocks that are being upgraded or downgraded by analysts. Articles are very short, often 500 words or less, and you can get most of the information you need just from reading the headline.
The Motley Fool’s coverage is more sporadic and in-depth. There are typically several new articles each day, which are written by The Motley Fool’s in-house analysts and outside contributors. These articles often provide analysis of a single stock, with information about why the price might be moving lately and the pros and cons of investing in that stock. Some articles take a broader view, focusing on entire industries or listing several stocks that The Motley Fool analysts think are worth your attention.
Benzinga vs. The Motley Fool: Investor Education
For new investors, The Motley Fool has a wealth of educational resources. You’ll find guides that explain how to invest in stocks, what brokers to use, how stock market indices work, and much more. There aren’t as many resources as you can find on a site like Investopedia, but these articles are a great place to start if you’re new to investing.
Benzinga has a “Trading School,” but the name of this service is somewhat deceptive. This is a premium trading course that includes access to a daily chat room, trade ideas, and the Benzinga Pro news streaming service. Benzinga’s Trading School costs $1,297 per year.
Benzinga vs. The Motley Fool: Additional Markets & Personal Finance
Benzinga covers more than just stocks. The platform has expanded to offer news and analysis of the crypto market and the cannabis industry. It also offers news about the futures, bond, and forex markets.
Both Benzinga and The Motley Fool also offer articles on personal finance. The Motley Fool covers credit cards, checking and savings accounts, and mortgages, including guides to the best banks and offers available today. Benzinga focuses more on mortgages and insurance options, including auto, life, and home insurance.
Benzinga vs. The Motley Fool: Investing Tools
One area in which Benzinga stands out is its actionable investing tools. The platform offers an earnings calendar, a table of ongoing mergers and acquisitions, and lists of top stocks and ETFs to invest in today. There are also lists of analyst upgrades and downgrades, and you can set up a watchlist on Benzinga to get personalized alerts for breaking news.
The Motley Fool offers a list of top stocks to buy this year, but there are no tools for tracking individual stocks or monitoring analyst ratings changes.
Benzinga vs. The Motley Fool: Premium Services
Both Benzinga and The Motley Fool offer premium services in addition to the free articles and tools available on each platform.
🏆 Top Rated Services 🏆
Our team has reviewed over 300 services. These are our favorites:|
📈 Best Day Trading Service Investors Underground 🎯 Best Stock Scanner Trade Ideas 📉 Best Stock Charts TradingView |
💰 Best Stock Picking Service Motley Fool 📱 Best Mobile Broker Webull 📊 Best for Stock Research Seeking Alpha |
Benzinga’s flagship premium service is called Benzinga Pro. This is a news alert service designed for active traders. It includes advanced features like audio squawk, live chat with the newsdesk team, and a real-time news scanner. A restricted version of Benzinga Pro is available for free, but full access to the platform costs $177 per month.
The Motley Fool offers a number of different stock picking services, the most well-known of which is Stock Advisor. This stock picking newsletter includes 2 new stock picks per month and focuses on companies with above-average growth potential. As of March 14, 2022, Stock Advisor has a return of 468% since it launched in 2002, compared to 131% for the S&P 500. Stock Advisor costs $199 per year. Currently, though, new members can get a special discount on The Motley Fool Stock Advisor at this link.
New Member Special
Get Stock Advisor for Only $99 for Your First Year
(regularly $199)
Which Service is Better?
Benzinga and The Motley Fool are both excellent news and analysis platforms, and many investors can benefit from using them in tandem. Benzinga offers real-time headlines to help you keep up with the news that’s driving the market, while The Motley Fool offers more in-depth analysis of individual stocks and sectors.
Benzinga is slightly more geared toward traders, while The Motley Fool is intended for long-term investors. That said, this distinction isn’t significant unless you are comparing Benzinga Pro – which is intended for day and swing traders – with a stock picking newsletter like Stock Advisor – which is intended for investors.
If you are a self-directed, news-driven investor, Benzinga Pro is likely a more suitable service.
If you are looking for stock picks with a history of beating the market, Motley Fool Stock Advisor is a great option.
Once again, the services are not necessarily “alternatives” to each other and many investors will benefit from using both services.
You can learn more about each of the services by reading our in-depth Motley Fool review and our in-depth Benzinga Pro review.
Conclusion: Benzinga Pro vs. The Motley Fool
Benzinga and The Motley Fool are free platforms for market news and analysis. Benzinga focuses on delivering breaking headlines, while The Motley Fool offers more detailed analysis of individual stocks. The two platforms can be used together to get an overview of what’s going on in the market and find the best stocks to invest in. If you’re still looking to learn more about each platform, check out our full review of Benzinga Pro here and our full review of The Motley Fool here.
