Most experienced registered investment advisors (RIAs) and other wealth and asset management professionals have at least heard of Addepar and Aladdin. But just hearing about these platforms in passing isn’t really enough to help you decide which is better for your practice. And it can be difficult to take the time to sit down and do enough research to make the right choice when you’re inundated with client work day in and day out. 

That’s why we put together this guide that compares and contrasts the topline features of Addepar vs. Aladdin. Plus, we’ll also introduce a new player in the wealth tracker game — Kubera — so you have the perfect number of options to choose between, and maybe even use in tandem, to create a modern wealth management experience for today’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs).

Addepar vs. Aladdin — Plus a New Option

When talking about Addepar, Aladdin, and Kubera to choose your best portfolio management tool — or combo of tools — it’s all about understanding who each platform was ultimately built to serve. 

In this section, we’ll dive into the high-level details of each of these options so you can get a feel for which is best for different scenarios and client types. 

Addepar: Wealth Management for Firm-Based RIAs 

Topline: Addepar’s platform focuses on providing data aggregation, analytics, and portfolio reporting tools for RIAs working in firms. 

Serving about 500 firms and overseeing trillions in assets is the wealth management platform Addepar.

Founded in 2009, the U.S.-based company has risen to become a top player in financial management as it’s honed in on the core features its RIA audience desires: data aggregation, portfolio analytics, and reporting.

The first defining feature of Addepar is how seamless it makes it for wealth managers to aggregate all of their clients’ assets to create a holisting portfolio view. 

The Addepar platform then deepens this portfolio view by continuously collecting data on all assets. This data is continually monitored for inaccuracies and analyzed to uncover any breaking insights.  

Addepar also layers in robust reporting features, templates, and drag-and-drop functionality to make it easy to build out custom reports that help pros and clients communicate on the next best steps.  

In addition to these features, Addepar users aren’t only limited to staying within the brand’s ecosystem. Addepar uses application programming interface (API) technology to allow financial managers to integrate the tool with the rest of their financial management suites. This willingness to be flexible and enable RIAs to build unique strategies around their platform is what ultimately makes Addepar such a constant in so many RIA toolboxes. 

And, Addepar has an interesting future ahead. The company recently committed to releasing even more data-focused features, starting with the Investor Sentiment Index — which reveals insight based on trades that are made within Addepar. 

"We're setting the stage," Addepar CEO Eric Poirier said. "[This] is product number one of many ... [because] we're now at the point of critical mass where we can really derive meaningful insights from [accumulated client data]."

While Addepar promises to deliver “the best client experiences” for family offices, private banks, broker-dealers, and RIAs alike — the pricing structure leads us to believe it’s best for advisors who work within a firm rather than run their own individual or small office. 

Addepar Pricing 

At the time of writing, Addepar appears to offer firm-based licenses that are priced by assets under management (AUM) and other factors. Interested parties will have to get in touch with the Addepar team to nail down exactly what it’ll cost them to use the platform. 

Aladdin by BlackRock: Risk Management for Individuals and Firms

Aladdin by BlackRock: Risk Management for Individuals and Firms

Topline: A risk management-focused tool from BlackRock, Aladdin is purpose-built asset software for insurers, pensions, corporations, banks, and RIAs. Used by fee-based individuals and firms. 

Aladdin — an acronym for Asset, Liability, Debt, and Derivative Investment Network — is a portfolio management software platform created and owned by the world’s largest investment management corporation, BlackRock.

Aladdin was originally introduced in the early ’90s as a tool for assessing bond portfolios. But thanks to the more recent purchase of private markets data firm eFront, Aladdin is now able to create holistic portfolio views that can be used to evaluate risk analytics across both public and private asset classes.  

There are many facets to BlackRock’s Aladdin, but Aladdin Wealth is the one most focused on serving RIAs. This platform promises to deliver sophistication at scale so that financial managers can build portfolios that are aligned with client goals and create content that differentiates you in your field. 

Notable features start with the “portfolio deep dive” which allows financial managers to see individual accounts, household holdings, and outside assets to gain a deep understanding of exposures, risks, and contributors — and create detailed scenario analyses based on this information. Then there’s Aladdin Wealth’s proposal generator, which will help you quickly create investment proposals to rebalance client portfolios as their needs change, risk tolerance fluctuates, and the market shifts. Alerts enable asset managers to take a data-driven approach when identifying which clients and accounts take priority. Alerts can be customized to acknowledge when specific issues or opportunities arise, so it’s not always about responding to a problem — sometimes they can help you close an upsell or win new business!

Speaking of business, Aladdin Wealth also provides insight into patterns that impact every instance of the platform, so wealth managers can view business performance and identify risks whether across various enterprise locations or across just one, independent firm.    

Aladdin Pricing

Like many financial management platforms of this scope, there is no readily-available pricing information for Aladdin. However, it appears that the software is targeted at RIAs who use fee-based pricing instead of asset-based pricing. This makes it more approachable for a wider variety of financial service providers — from large firms to smaller wealth managers with smaller clients. 

Kubera: Modern Platform for All Experience-Focused Finance Professionals 

Topline: Kubera is an affordable solution (or add-on!) for managing a variety of traditional and modern financial assets from an easy-to-use platform.

Kubera is a user-friendly crypto tracker and wealth tracker for managing everything from stocks to bank accounts, DeFi assets, Fiat money from around the globe, antiques, homes, metals, NFTs, and pretty much anything else that can be owned. For a more detailed list of all the accounts and exchanges that Kubera tracks, check out our living document here

While Kubera is certainly easy enough for DIY HNWIs to handle, it can also be white-labeled so that the modern financial advisor, wealth manager, and any other institutional professional can use it to deliver the experience millennial, Gen Z, and other tech-savvy client types crave.

Kubera makes it easy for asset managers or their clients to add assets to the spreadsheet-like interface. Many assets will update immediately in Kubera, but for those that aren’t tied to an account, details like cost, current value, expenditures and investments, and more are simple to add. Thanks to this functionality, you get a more complete view of client finances so you can serve them more accurate plans and projections. And, integrations with asset experts (such as Zillow for home value, EstiBot for domain value, and more) keep client dashboards updated with the real-time market value of key investments. 

As for reporting, Kubera automatically calculates the IRR of assets and compares how they rank against popular indices and tickers, so it’s easy to explain performance to clients in terms of industry standards and create a case for any recommendations you make. And Kubera’s charts offer a way to show clients portfolio and asset performance as well as net worth growth. 

In addition to usability, privacy is another thing that sets Kubera apart from other tools for RIAs. On top of providing bank-level security, Kubera doesn’t sell or even look at user data to push annoying ads or sell products. 

Kubera Pricing 

Professionals can sign up for a demo or contact Kubera at hello@kubera.com to create a custom pricing plan.

Addepar vs. Aladdin vs. Kubera — Pick Your FinTech

Addepar was created to provide a wealth management platform for RIAs — especially those who work within large firms. Aladdin by BlackRock’s tool is best suited for risk-focused asset managers and institutional financial professionals. Kubera is cutting-edge software that can be used alone or in tandem with other programs to create a modern wealth management experience.

Try Kubera today to round out a financial management tech stack that will help you win new business in the changing world of wealth. 

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