SoFi vs Square: Which Stock Opportunity is Right for You?

SoFi stock vs Square stock

When it comes to investing your money wisely, there are so many options available to you these days. Many people stumble across the leading platforms and wonder who leads them, where they got their start, and just how profitable these companies are. When it comes to SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) vs Square (NYSE: SQ), what are the real differences? 

Both SoFi and Square offer great investment products with no commissions and no account minimums. They also feature fractional share investing so that you can purchase shares of your favorite companies with extremely low initial costs. SoFi offers a wider variety of services including loans, insurance, and cash management accounts while Square offers peer-to-peer payment and investing.

CategorySoFiSquare
LeadershipAnthony Noto, CEO
Chris Lapointe, CFO
Jack Dorsey, CEO
Amrita Ahuja, CFO
Founding20112009
ProductsRefinancing student loans
Variety of loan products
Insurance
Cash management accounts
Investing
Point of sale hardware
Peer-to-peer payment service
Cash App Investing
Customer BaseStudents/Beginner investorsBeginner investors
RevenueEstimated $980 million for 2021$9.49 billion (2020)

If you are trying to decide between these two stocks, here is all the background information you need. 

If you are looking for SoFi vs Square from a user’s perspective we have made an article on that as well.

SoFi vs Square Products       

SoFi

When it comes to products, SoFi is clearly the winner here. They still stick with many of the products that put their company on the map. For example, recent graduates (including medical school graduates) can refinance their student loans through SoFi with competitive rates. They also offer private student loans for those who need help funding their tuition. 

Social Finance also works as a lender, offering many types of loans including: 

  • Credit card consolidation loans
  • Home improvement loans
  • Family planning loans 
  • Travel loans
  • Wedding loans

They even offer the largest loans of all – mortgages. Along with this, they offer various types of insurance to cover your home, apartment, and vehicle. 

However, most people are familiar with them because of SoFi Money and SoFi Invest. SoFi Money offers a cash management account where you can earn interest without any fees. This portion of the company has great features for those who need a basic account. When you enroll in direct deposit, you get paid up to two days earlier, earn 0.25 percent APY, and have no overdraft fees. 

SoFi Invest is a robust platform that allows you to trade stocks and ETFs with no commission. You can also trade twenty different kinds of cryptocurrency. They feature automated investing that makes it easy for beginners to get started. 

One of the best features of SoFi Invest is the ability to purchase fractional shares of more expensive stocks. You can get started with as little $5. 

SoFi vs Square

Square

Square’s products started with a line of point of sale hardware accessories like registers and card readers. However, they have seriously expanded over the years to include Cash App and Cash App Investing. 

Cash App is their peer-to-peer payment service that allows you to send and receive money with no fees. It is a highly convenient and competitive platform for those who need to send funds to family or friends. 

Cash App Investing is the newer arm of the Square portfolio. Many of the features it offers are very competitive with SoFi Invest. They allow you purchase commission-free stock and ETF trades with the added bonus of fractional share investing. Unlike SoFi’s $5 minimum, you can get started with investing on Square for just $1. 

Their platform is extremely easy to use and features no monthly maintenance fees, commissions, or minimum balances. 

While Square gives you access to hundreds of stocks, it also allows you to easily purchase bitcoin to diversify your investment portfolio. 

SoFi vs Square Leadership


SoFi

Social Finance (SoFi) is run by CEO Anthony Noto who has a long past working in executive positions at well-known companies. His finance career was jumpstarted when he joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 and was named partner in 2004 where he worked as head of communications media and Internet equity research. He also worked as COO of Twitter and CFO of the National Football League. 

Noto is helped by his CFO Chris Lapointe who joined SoFi after working as the Global Head of FP&A, Corporate Finance, and Fintech at Uber Technologies. He was also the Vice President of TMT Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs. 

SoFi vs Square


Square

Square also has some well-known people in positions of leadership. They are run by CEO Jack Dorsey and CFO Amrita Ahuja. Dorsey may sound familiar to you, and that is because he is also CEO of Twitter and cofounder of both companies. 

Ahuja previously worked as the CFO of Blizzard Entertainment and held leadership roles at Fox Networks Group, Walt Disney Company, and Morgan Stanley. 

Founding

SoFi

Social Finance (SoFi) was founded in 2011 by Stanford business school students to connect recent graduates with alumni as part of a new lending model. By 2012, they were refinancing student loans and were setting a name for themselves as the first company to refinance private and federal student loans. 

Over the next few years, they launched mortgages, personal loans, and employee benefits. 

However, it wasn’t until 2019 that they launched some of the products that they are most known for: SoFi Money and SoFi Invest. This was a stellar move on their part, and they saw their first 1,000,000 members by the end of the following year. 

Square

Square was originally founded in 2009 as a means of combining merchant services and mobile payments into one service. They started with chip readers and cash registers designed to make taking payments easy for the average retailer. 

In 2013, they expanded to Cash App which allowed individuals to send and receive money from friends or family. This peer-to-peer payment service was designed to be a direct competitor with the likes of Venmo and Apple Pay. This wasn’t the end of their desire to branch out though. 

Toward the end of 2019, they also launched Cash App Investing which was geared toward beginner investors who wanted to purchase commission-free stocks. 

SoFi vs Square

Customer Base

SoFi

SoFi has a wide customer base that really runs the gamut. Because they offer student loan refinancing and personal loans, they attract a much different crowd than Square. However, their SoFi Invest platform is also geared mostly toward beginners. 

They have no management fees, commission-free trades, and no account minimums. Their platform is very user-friendly. 

This company attracts both active investors who make consistent trades, as well as those who prefer to let SoFi do the work with automated investing. 

Square

Square’s customer base for Cash App Investing is mostly geared toward beginners. It does not have advanced features that could be helpful for more seasoned traders. The platform is simple and user-friendly, but it lacks the features of other companies. 

It is also lacking in investment selection. Bonds, future, mutual funds, and other types of cryptocurrency simply are not available on the app. If you only want to dabble in investing with stocks of your favorite companies, then Square may be a good fit for you. 

Revenue

SoFi has had a good track record over the past few years. They reported $547 million in revenue for 2018. Their 2021 revenue was forecasted to exceed $980 million, which would have been more than a 30 percent increase over 2020 revenue numbers. 

Square is still the leader when it comes to revenue. In 2020, they had a reported revenue of $9.49 billion. 

SoFi vs Square: Which is Right for You? 

Both SoFi and Square give great options for beginner investors or those who are looking for basic financial products. Be sure to do your research to figure out which platform is the right fit for your investing needs. 

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