Love Empower? It doesn’t work internationally. Alternatives for 2026

Personal Capital, the popular US financial advisory and portfolio tracking platform, was acquired by Empower Retirement in 2020 (announced in June and completed in August) for $825 million upfront plus up to $175 million in earnout payments, and rebranded as Empower in early 2023. The personal wealth division is now known as Empower Personal Wealth, part of an Empower group with more than $2.1 trillion in assets under administration and over 20 million participants and investors. The free dashboard tools (now called the Empower Personal Dashboard) remain available, alongside paid wealth management services.

Whether you knew it as Personal Capital or Empower, the underlying limitation is the same: this platform isn’t available outside the United States. Its accounts, cash product and wealth management service are built around US residents, US bank accounts and US tax rules, so if you live in Europe (including the UK), Canada, Australia or anywhere else outside the US, you can’t use them.

The good news is that there are strong alternatives for international investors, whether you want robo-advisory services, a low-cost broker with automated investing, or full-service wealth management. In this article, we cover the best Personal Capital and Empower alternatives by region.

What is Empower (formerly Personal Capital)?

Founded in 2009 as Personal Capital and rebranded as Empower in 2023, Empower Personal Wealth is a US digital wealth management platform offering both free portfolio tracking tools and paid wealth management services. Here’s an overview of Empower’s main service offerings:

• Empower Personal Dashboard (free): the popular portfolio aggregation and tracking tool that links your bank accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, and credit cards into a single net-worth view. Includes investment fee analysers, budgeting tools, retirement planners, and savings calculators, all free.
• Personal Strategy (paid): Empower’s managed investment service starts at $100,000 in investable assets, with annual fees of 0.89% up to $1 million, falling in steps to 0.49% above $10 million. Private Client service starts at $1 million.
• Portfolio construction and asset allocation: a personalised asset allocation strategy is built based on your profile, goals, and risk tolerance.
• Tax-efficient investing: tax-loss harvesting, asset location optimisation across taxable and tax-advantaged accounts, and strategies to minimise the tax drag on returns.
• Automatic rebalancing: portfolios are automatically rebalanced when allocations drift beyond preset thresholds, with Empower’s Smart Weighting approach also adjusting for excessive sector concentration.
• Socially responsible investing (SRI): ESG-aligned portfolio options for clients who want to invest in companies aligned with their values.
• Empower Personal Cash: a cash account paying 3.50% APY (variable, as of 17 September 2026) through FDIC-insured program banks, the former “Personal Capital Cash”.
• Retirement planning: dedicated retirement planning calculators that let you analyse 401(k) holdings, project future expenses, run different scenarios, and factor in income events. Particularly strong given Empower’s roots as one of the largest US retirement plan administrators.

Best alternatives for international investors

US investors have plenty of Empower alternatives (Betterment, Wealthfront, Vanguard Personal Advisor, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, M1 Finance, etc.), but the rest of the world isn’t as well served by an equivalent all-in-one platform combining free portfolio aggregation with optional wealth management.

That said, several strong international alternatives offer different combinations of robo-advisory, portfolio tracking, and wealth management features. Here’s our roundup by region:

1. Sarwa (UAE & MENA): a leading regional robo-advisor and personal finance platform for residents of the UAE and the wider MENA region. Sarwa offers managed ETF portfolios (Sarwa Invest), stock, ETF and options trading (Sarwa Trade, $1 or 0.25% per order), crypto and a savings product (Sarwa Save). It is regulated by the ADGM FSRA (Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority). Sarwa Invest fees range from 0.85% to 0.40% a year depending on portfolio size, with a $500 minimum. Read our Sarwa review.
2. Moneyfarm (UK & Italy): one of Europe’s leading digital wealth management platforms. Offers Stocks & Shares ISAs, Junior ISAs, General Investment Accounts, Personal Pensions (SIPPs), and a Cash ISA. Available to UK and Italian residents. Since July 2025, UK clients pay a management fee (from 0.45%, falling as the portfolio grows) plus a separate 0.25% platform fee, on top of fund costs. Read our Moneyfarm review.
3. InbestMe (Spain): a leading European robo-advisor with multiple portfolio options including standard ETF portfolios, value/growth tilts, dividend-focused, and ISR (socially responsible) variants. Features automatic rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting for tax efficiency. Management fees scale from 0.41% to 0.13% depending on portfolio size, plus ETF costs. A personal manager (inbestMe Plus) is available at no extra cost from €100,000. Read our InbestMe review.
4. Indexa Capital (Spain): Spain’s largest independent robo-advisor, with more than 178,000 clients and €6.29 billion under management (September 2026), offering diversified index fund portfolios with a focus on transparency and low costs. The management fee starts at 0.40% and falls with portfolio size, and the average total cost (management, custody and funds) is about 0.53% a year. Fund portfolios are available to residents of most EU countries, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, with a €1,000 minimum. Read our Indexa Capital review.
5. Hargreaves Lansdown (UK): the UK’s largest investment platform, with more than 2 million clients and £172 billion in assets. Strong fit for UK investors using ISAs, SIPPs, and Junior ISAs. Hargreaves Lansdown was taken private in March 2025 by a consortium of CVC, Nordic Capital and ADIA for £5.4 billion, leaving the London Stock Exchange. Since 1 March 2026, it charges 0.35% a year on funds (falling for larger balances) and 0.35% on shares and ETFs, capped at £150 a year, plus £6.95 per online share trade. It also offers ready-made portfolios.
6. Scalable Capital (Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, France): one of Europe’s largest digital investment platforms, with more than 1 million clients and over €60 billion in client assets. Its broker charges €0.99 per trade on the FREE plan (or a €4.99 monthly PRIME+ subscription) with free savings plans from €1, while its managed wealth service is only available in Germany and Austria. Scalable received a full banking licence in 2025 and is supervised by BaFin and the Deutsche Bundesbank.
7. Stockspot (Australia): Australia’s leading independent robo-advisor, offering diversified ETF portfolios with automatic rebalancing. Fees go from $1 a month for small balances to 0.66% a year from $20,000 and 0.396% from $2 million (including GST).
8. Wealthsimple (Canada): the Canadian equivalent of Empower, offering managed portfolios, self-directed investing, crypto, chequing and savings accounts, and tax software, which makes it one of the most complete personal finance platforms available to Canadian residents. Managed portfolios cost 0.5% a year (Core), 0.4% (Premium), and between 0.4% and 0.2% for Generation clients.
9. Trade Republic (18 European countries): while not a traditional wealth manager, Trade Republic, with more than 10 million customers, offers a low-cost DIY brokerage with ETF savings plans, fractional shares, real cryptocurrencies, and interest on uninvested cash, a strong choice for European investors who want self-directed control rather than managed portfolios. Available across most EU markets.
10. Trading 212 (UK, EU, EEA, Switzerland): an investing platform with no commission on stocks and ETFs (other fees may apply, see terms and fees) and Pies & AutoInvest, which executes your scheduled deposits into a portfolio you build yourself. It offers a Stocks & Shares ISA, Cash ISA and SIPP in the UK. Sponsored Code. New users can get a free fractional share worth up to €100 with the promo code IITW. Terms apply.

Empower alternatives at a glance

Why has Empower (formerly Personal Capital) become so famous in the US?

One of the biggest drivers of Empower’s popularity is its free Empower Personal Dashboard, the no-fee portfolio tracking, budgeting, and net-worth aggregation tool used by millions of US households. The dashboard punches well above its weight in terms of features: it pulls together your bank accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement plans, mortgages, and credit cards into a single view, with strong tools for investment fee analysis, retirement planning, savings goal tracking, and budget management, all without requiring you to sign up for paid wealth management.

Even setting the free features aside, Empower is a polished investment management platform. It combines the efficiency of automated portfolio construction and rebalancing with the engagement of dedicated human financial advisors (for clients with $100,000 or more), aggregating multiple tools and account products under a clean, intuitive interface. Compared to the clunky, jargon-heavy dashboards used by many traditional US wealth management firms, Empower’s design has been a meaningful differentiator since the Personal Capital days.

The acquisition by Empower Retirement in 2020 (now simply Empower) significantly amplified the platform’s resources and credibility, Empower is one of the largest retirement plan administrators in the US, with more than $2.1 trillion in assets under administration and over 20 million participants and investors (mid-2026). That institutional backing has expanded what the platform can offer while preserving the Personal Capital-era user experience that built the brand’s popularity in the first place.

Will Empower (formerly Personal Capital) become available internationally?

Despite the growth of investing outside the US, Empower has not indicated any plans to expand outside the United States. The platform remains focused on its core US market, particularly through its dominant position in the US retirement plan administration space, where it serves more than 20 million participants and investors.

That said, if Empower announces an international expansion, we’ll update this article with the details. For now, international investors are best served by the regional alternatives covered above, each typically offering better local tax integration and regulatory protection than a hypothetical US-based service could provide.

Is it safe to invest your money in these companies?

All the investment platforms covered in this article are regulated by their national or regional financial authorities, so client assets must be kept separate from the company’s own, and in most regions an investor compensation scheme applies if a firm fails. Here’s the regulatory framework by region:

• UK platforms (Moneyfarm UK, Hargreaves Lansdown, Trading 212 UK): regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with investments covered up to £85,000 under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if the firm fails, and cash deposits held with banks covered up to £120,000 per bank since December 2025.
• EU/EEA platforms (Moneyfarm Italy, InbestMe, Indexa Capital, Scalable Capital, Trade Republic, Trading 212 EU): regulated by national EU regulators (CONSOB Italy, CNMV Spain, BaFin Germany, etc.) under the harmonised MiFID II framework. Investor compensation typically up to €20,000-€100,000 depending on the specific scheme and asset type (cash vs securities), with national variations.
• UAE platforms (Sarwa): regulated by the ADGM FSRA (Abu Dhabi). There is no investor compensation scheme equivalent to the FSCS, so protection relies on client asset segregation.
• Canadian platforms (Wealthsimple): regulated by CIRO (Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization), with client assets covered up to CAD$1 million per account category under the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).
• Australian platforms (Stockspot): regulated by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission).
• US platforms (Empower, Betterment, Wealthfront, Vanguard): regulated by the SEC and FINRA, with securities accounts protected up to $500,000 (with $250,000 cash limit) under SIPC.

Always verify the specific entity serving you (different regional subsidiaries may have different licensure and protection coverage) and check current scheme limits before opening an account.

The bottom line

Your final platform decision should be based on your own research, particularly around tax treatment, regulatory protection, and product fit for your financial goals.

The Empower (formerly Personal Capital) story is a good reminder that platforms evolve significantly over time, through acquisitions, rebrands, and strategic pivots. The dashboard tools that made Personal Capital famous remain available under the Empower brand, but the platform is now part of a retirement and wealth management group with more than $2.1 trillion in assets under administration rather than an independent fintech challenger.

For international investors who can’t access Empower, the alternatives covered above each excel in different dimensions:

• For UAE/MENA residents: Sarwa offers the most comprehensive Empower-equivalent platform with managed portfolios, brokerage, and crypto access.
• For UK investors: Moneyfarm and Hargreaves Lansdown are the strongest options for tax-efficient ISA/SIPP investing.
• For European investors: InbestMe, Indexa Capital, Scalable Capital, and Trade Republic offer different combinations of managed portfolios and self-directed trading.
• For Canadian residents: Wealthsimple is the closest functional equivalent to Empower available outside the US.
• For Australian residents: Stockspot is Australia’s leading independent robo-advisor.

We hope this breakdown of Empower and its international alternatives has been useful. Always remember to verify current fees, regulatory protection, and product availability directly with each platform before committing funds.

Happy investing.

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