Why 8 million investors choose Simply Wall St over Morningstar
Before we start be aware there are range of Morningstar products:
- Morningstar Portfolio Manager
- Morningstar Investor
- Morningstar Premium
- Morningstar ARC
They are all different and all require a dedicated subscription.
TL:DR What are the key differences between Simply Wall St and Morningstar?
- Simply Wall St lets you build and maintain a Portfolio using narratives - this is not possible on Morningstar
- Morningstar primarily caters to finance professionals versus Individual investors
- Morningstar products are more difficult to use and built using older technology, with some users reporting outages
- Individuals may find they are treated as 2nd class customers compared to Morningstar's professional customers
- Simply Wall St was built for individual investors and does not have dedicasted product for finance professionals
- Simply Wall St is built on the principles of long term investing and focuses on simplicity, leveraging visuals to make data and analysis easy to understand
- Simply Wall St is a single subscription that gives access to all features
- Morningstar does not have a community of investors sharing ideas unlike Simply Wall St
Intro
Choosing the right investment research platform can make a huge difference for a retail investor. Both Simply Wall St and Morningstar are popular among savvy stock pickers but they are fundamentally different, lets explore why.
Foundational Principles
Simply Wall St is explicitly designed for individual investors, whereas Morningstar’s products have traditionally catered to investment professionals. Simply Wall St emphasizes an accessible and visual approach to stock research – its platform presents key financial data in easy-to-read charts and infographics. The service is popular among retail investors (over 8 million users worldwide as of 2025), and its design reflects this focus: complex financial metrics are distilled into intuitive visuals (like the Snowflake diagram) that help users quickly grasp a company’s fundamentals.
Morningstar, on the other hand, is a 40-year veteran in investment research known for its rigorous analysis and professional-grade tools. Its platform (especially Morningstar Premium and higher tiers) is intense and robust, built for users who want exhaustive data and expert insight. Morningstar’s heritage is in mutual fund and equity research for advisors and institutions, and it shows – the interface prioritizes depth over simplicity.
Stock Research Reports
For any stock worldwide, Simply Wall St gives you an instant visual summary (the “snowflake” graphic) that distills the company’s fundamentals into five dimensions (value, future growth, past performance, financial health, and dividends). Key metrics and fair value estimates are right there on the page, with color-coded graphics and sliders indicating how the company stacks up. This approach lets you quickly grasp a stock’s strengths and weaknesses without reading lengthy reports. It’s a fundamentally unbiased, by-the-numbers analysis – every stock is evaluated with the same rigorous criteria and data from S&P Global. The method used by Simply Wall St is also well documented on their Github account.
Morningstar uses a Star Rating system to evaluate stocks by comparing their market price to an analyst-determined fair value, derived from discounted cash flow (DCF) models. Ratings range from 1 to 5 stars, with 5 indicating undervaluation and 1 overvaluation, based on the degree of divergence from fair value. The system incorporates Economic Moat, Uncertainty, and Capital Allocation Ratings to assess competitive advantages, valuation confidence, and capital management, aiming to guide long-term investment decisions with transparent, fundamentals-driven insights.
Note star rating incorporates the fair value so is not considered a separate quality measure.
Relevant links
- Simply Wall St Company Report on Nvidia
- Simply Wall St Equity Research Methodology
- Morningstar Equity Research Methodology
Community Ideas
Morningstar does not feature a community unlike Simply Wall St, this means investors can't share and discuss ideas or build a portfolio using narratives.
Relevant links
Portfolio Management
Simply Wall St's portfolio product allows you to set up a link between your broker, or use AI Import to instantly add your complete transaction history. Once setup accurate returns including CAGR/ IRR (Internal rate of return) are calculated and other analysis is available. A unique feature is to manage the narratives and fair values for each of your stocks.
Morningstars Portfolio X-ray has more of a asset level analysis (see below), rather than at the individual stock level. You can see your total fees an expense ratio for any funds you own.
You cannot enter transactions e.g. Buy/ Sell into the Morningstar X-Ray Portfolio tool and this means you can't accurately calculate your returns.
Relevant Links
Cost (Plans and Pricing)
Simply Wall St Pricing: Simply Wall St has a freemium model with three tiers: Free, Premium, and Unlimited.
Morningstar Pricing: Morningstar’s free plan is ad supported and the top plan is priced for professionals.
Reviews and Ratings
Lets compare ratings of the two products side by side.
Simply Wall St Trustpilot: 4.4 ★★★★☆
Morningstar Trustpilot: 1.6 or 1.8 ★★☆☆☆
Something to be careful of with Morningstar is their platform reliability, customer service and policy on charging credit cards.
Simply Wall St Ratings
Simply Wall St Customer Reviews
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