Morningstar Investor vs Morningstar ETFInvestor: Which Morningstar Product Fits Your Portfolio?

You’ve decided on Morningstar. Smart move — forty years of independent research, no conflicts of interest, and a methodology that institutional investors pay six figures to access. But now you’re staring at two products with the same brand name and similar price tags, wondering which one actually belongs in your investment toolkit.

Morningstar Investor is the better choice for most investors. It gives you professional-grade research tools covering stocks, funds, and ETFs — Fair Value estimates, Economic Moat ratings, screeners with 200+ data points, and Portfolio X-Ray analytics. Morningstar ETFInvestor is a monthly newsletter with model ETF portfolios and industry commentary. If you’re building a diversified portfolio and want to make your own decisions, Morningstar Investor is the platform that grows with you. If you’ve already committed to ETF-only investing and want someone to curate the portfolio, Morningstar ETFInvestor delivers that focused guidance.

Morningstar Investor vs Morningstar ETFInvestor: Side-by-Side

The pattern is clear: Morningstar Investor is broader and deeper. Morningstar ETFInvestor is narrower and more guided. Your choice depends on whether you want to fish or have someone hand you the fish.

Morningstar Investor: The Full Research Arsenal

Morningstar Investor is not a stock-picking service. It does not hand you a list of “Top 10 Buys This Month.” What it does is give you the same analytical framework that Morningstar’s institutional clients use — translated into tools a retail investor can actually navigate.

The Core Tools:

Morningstar Investor provides access to screeners with 200+ data points for stocks and funds, unlimited analyst reports, and proprietary ratings that have been refined over four decades. Three tools stand out.

Fair Value Estimates tell you what Morningstar’s analysts think a stock is actually worth, independent of where the market prices it today. With the S&P 500’s CAPE ratio sitting near 40 — the second-highest level in 155 years — knowing the gap between price and value has never been more relevant.

Economic Moat Ratings assess a company’s competitive advantage. Wide-moat companies tend to weather downturns better and compound returns over longer time horizons. In a market where dispersion between winners and losers has reached 81 percentage points in 2026 — and sector rotations are extreme, with Energy ETFs up +21.6% while Financial ETFs have crashed to -5.7% — identifying companies with durable moats separates the winners from the casualties. With the VIX now at ~21.77, gold above $5,000, and CPI confirmed at 2.4% (four consecutive months of disinflation), elevated volatility makes both individual stock selection and ETF allocation critical decisions.

Portfolio X-Ray breaks down your entire portfolio’s sector exposure, geographic allocation, fee drag, and stock overlap. If you own five “diversified” funds that all hold the same top 20 stocks, X-Ray will show you that overlap before it becomes a problem.

Who Morningstar Investor Serves Best:

Self-directed investors who enjoy research and want the tools to validate their own ideas. If you find satisfaction in screening for undervalued wide-moat companies and reading 20-page analyst reports, this is your platform. You need to be willing to do the work — Morningstar Investor gives you the ingredients, not the finished meal.

The Limitations:

Morningstar Investor does not tell you what to buy. There are no model portfolios, no monthly pick lists, no “buy” signals. If you need hand-holding, you will find the platform overwhelming. The learning curve is real — it takes weeks of regular use to get comfortable with the screener interface and understand how to interpret Moat ratings in context.

At $249/year ($199 with the promotional offer), the pricing is competitive for what you get. A single well-researched investment decision can pay for years of the subscription. But you have to be the kind of investor who will actually use the tools.

Try Morningstar Investor — 7-Day Free Trial

Morningstar ETFInvestor: Curated ETF Intelligence

Morningstar ETFInvestor takes a completely different approach. Instead of handing you a toolbox, it hands you a blueprint. This is a monthly PDF newsletter edited by Bryan Armour, Morningstar’s Director of Passive Strategies Research for North America, and it delivers model portfolios, deep ETF analysis, and industry commentary.

The Model Portfolios:

Morningstar ETFInvestor maintains two primary model portfolios that demonstrate different ETF strategies.

The Basic Portfolio is a simple 60/40 allocation using three broad index ETFs: Vanguard Total Stock Market, Vanguard Total International Stock, and Vanguard Total Bond Market. Expense ratio: 0.04%. This serves as the benchmark against which the Factor Portfolio is measured.

The Factor Portfolio tilts toward systematic risk premiums using factor-based ETFs — iShares U.S. Equity Factor (LRGF), iShares International Equity Factor (IQLT), iShares Emerging Markets Equity Factor (EMGF), and WisdomTree Yield Enhanced US Aggregate Bond (AGGY). Expense ratio: 0.12%. Since its actual inception in November 2018, the Factor Portfolio has returned 6.20% annualized compared to the Basic Portfolio’s 6.98%.

That underperformance is worth acknowledging honestly. The factor portfolio has not beaten the simple 60/40 benchmark over its live track record. However, it has delivered a slightly lower max drawdown (-20.29% vs -21.06%) and a higher yield (2.89% vs 2.59%). The trade-off is modest and the data window is relatively short.

What Each Issue Delivers:

Each monthly issue includes a cover story analyzing ETF industry trends, updated model portfolio performance, and an individual ETF spotlight with Morningstar Medalist Ratings. A recent issue dissected structural innovations like the Alpha Architect Box ETF (BOXX) for tax-efficient cash management, and warned explicitly against single-stock ETFs, memecoin ETFs, and leveraged products — calling single-stock ETFs “among the worst on the market.”

This balanced perspective — highlighting both innovations and dangers — is what separates Morningstar ETFInvestor from the hype-driven ETF coverage you find elsewhere.

Who Morningstar ETFInvestor Serves Best:

Investors who have committed to an ETF-based portfolio and want institutional-quality guidance on which ETFs to own, how to construct factor tilts, and which ETF innovations to embrace or avoid. If you already know you want to build around ETFs and want someone at Morningstar’s level doing the analysis, this newsletter delivers.

The Limitations:

Morningstar ETFInvestor covers ETFs only. No individual stocks, no mutual fund analysis. The model portfolios are hypothetical — not funded with real money — which limits accountability. Monthly publication means you will not get timely alerts when market conditions shift. And the content is sophisticated enough that complete beginners may struggle to apply it.

At $239/year, the pricing is hard to justify as a standalone newsletter. That is just $10 less than Morningstar Investor’s full price — and with Morningstar Investor’s promotional offer, you actually pay less for the full research platform than for this ETF-only newsletter. You need to ask whether a monthly PDF newsletter justifies a subscription when Morningstar Investor gives you real-time ETF screeners and Medalist ratings as part of a broader platform.

Try Morningstar ETFInvestor

The Differences That Actually Matter

Comparing these two Morningstar products side-by-side reveals three distinctions that should drive your decision.

Platform vs Newsletter

This is the fundamental divide. Morningstar Investor is an interactive platform you use daily or weekly. You log in, run screens, read analyst reports, check Fair Value estimates, and manage your portfolio. The value compounds the more you use it.

Morningstar ETFInvestor is a monthly PDF. You read it, consider the model portfolio updates, and check back in 30 days. The format is appropriate for a passive ETF strategy — you do not need real-time data when your approach is to buy and hold low-cost ETFs. But it also means you are paying for something you interact with once a month.

Coverage Breadth vs Depth

Morningstar Investor covers the full investment universe: stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. If you own individual equities, bond funds, and sector ETFs, one platform handles all of them. The screener alone lets you filter the entire market by valuation, moat rating, dividend yield, sector, or dozens of other criteria.

Morningstar ETFInvestor goes deep on ETFs but only ETFs. The depth is real — Bryan Armour’s analysis of ETF structural innovations, Medalist rating breakdowns, and model portfolio construction is institutional quality. But if 60% of your portfolio is in individual stocks, this newsletter covers only the remaining 40%.

DIY vs Guided

Morningstar Investor assumes you want to make your own decisions. It equips you with tools and data but does not tell you what to do with them. This is a feature if you are an experienced investor. It is a bug if you want someone to just tell you what to buy.

Morningstar ETFInvestor gives you model portfolios with specific allocations. “Put 40% in LRGF, 15% in IQLT, 5% in EMGF, and 40% in AGGY.” That is an actionable portfolio you can implement in an afternoon. If you want guidance rather than tools, Morningstar ETFInvestor is more immediately useful.

The Overlap Question

Here is the elephant in the room: Morningstar Investor already includes ETF screeners, Medalist ratings, and analyst reports on ETFs. If you subscribe to Morningstar Investor, you get most of the ETF research that Morningstar ETFInvestor provides — minus the model portfolios and Bryan Armour’s monthly commentary.

The unique value of Morningstar ETFInvestor is the curated model portfolios and the specialized industry trend analysis. If those are not essential to your strategy, Morningstar Investor covers your ETF research needs alongside everything else.

How to Decide

Choose Morningstar Investor if:

• You invest in individual stocks, mutual funds, AND ETFs
• You enjoy doing your own research and want tools to support it
• You value Fair Value estimates and Economic Moat ratings for stock analysis
• You want a platform you will use weekly, not a monthly newsletter
• You are building a diversified portfolio that goes beyond ETFs

Choose Morningstar ETFInvestor if:

• You have committed to an ETF-only investment approach
• You want model portfolios with specific allocations to follow
• You prefer guided recommendations over doing your own screening
• You are specifically interested in factor investing and ETF industry trends
• You want expert curation from Morningstar’s passive strategies team

Either Works if:

• You already understand that past performance does not guarantee future results
• You are a long-term investor who values Morningstar’s independent research methodology
• You are willing to hold through volatility rather than chasing short-term returns

The Tiebreaker: Ask yourself this question: “Do I want to learn how to evaluate investments, or do I want someone to tell me which ETFs to own?” If the first, Morningstar Investor. If the second, Morningstar ETFInvestor.

The Bottom Line

Morningstar Investor wins for most investors. The platform covers stocks, funds, and ETFs with tools that institutional investors use. Fair Value estimates, Economic Moat ratings, Portfolio X-Ray, and screeners with 200+ data points give you the analytical framework to evaluate any investment. At $249/year ($199 with the current promotional offer and a 7-day free trial), you are getting a research platform that serves your entire portfolio — not just one asset class.

Morningstar ETFInvestor is the better choice if you have already decided that ETFs are your only investment vehicle and you want curated model portfolios rather than research tools. Bryan Armour’s expertise on passive strategies, factor investing, and ETF industry innovations delivers institutional-quality guidance at $239/year. The monthly format matches the buy-and-hold cadence of an ETF strategy — but at that price, you are paying nearly the same as Morningstar Investor’s full platform.

If you can only subscribe to one Morningstar product, start with Morningstar Investor. It covers the broader need — and it includes ETF research. If you later want model portfolios and deeper ETF-specific commentary, Morningstar ETFInvestor is a worthwhile add-on. But the platform comes before the newsletter.

Try Morningstar Investor — 7-Day Free Trial

For individual reviews, see our Morningstar Investor review and Morningstar ETFInvestor review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Morningstar Investor vs Morningstar ETFInvestor: which is better?

Morningstar Investor is better for most investors. It provides research tools covering stocks, funds, and ETFs — including the same Medalist ratings available in Morningstar ETFInvestor — plus screeners, Fair Value estimates, Economic Moat ratings, and Portfolio X-Ray. Morningstar ETFInvestor is better only for investors committed to an ETF-only strategy who want curated model portfolios rather than DIY research tools. At $249/year (promo $199) vs $239/year, the price difference is essentially nonexistent — making Morningstar Investor the clear value winner.

Is Morningstar Investor worth it?

Yes, for self-directed investors who want professional-grade research tools. Morningstar Investor gives you access to the same analytical framework used by institutional investors — Fair Value estimates, Economic Moat ratings, and screeners with 200+ data points — for $249/year. The 7-day free trial lets you evaluate the platform before committing. The key requirement is that you are willing to do your own research. If you want someone to hand you a portfolio, this is not the right product.

Is Morningstar ETFInvestor worth it?

Yes, for ETF-focused investors who want expert-curated model portfolios. Morningstar ETFInvestor delivers monthly analysis from Bryan Armour, Morningstar’s Director of Passive Strategies Research, including model portfolios (Factor Portfolio, Basic Portfolio), individual ETF deep-dives, and warnings about problematic ETF categories. At $239/year, the value depends on whether you will implement the model portfolios — and whether you can justify paying nearly the same price as the full Morningstar Investor platform for a monthly newsletter. If you just want ETF data and screening, Morningstar Investor covers that within its broader platform.

Can I use both Morningstar Investor and Morningstar ETFInvestor?

You can, but most investors do not need both. Morningstar Investor already includes ETF screeners, Medalist ratings, and analyst reports. Adding Morningstar ETFInvestor makes sense only if you specifically want Bryan Armour’s monthly model portfolio updates and ETF industry trend analysis. If you start with Morningstar Investor and find yourself wanting more ETF-specific guidance, Morningstar ETFInvestor is a natural complement. But subscribing to both from day one is unnecessary for most investors.

Does Morningstar ETFInvestor include access to Morningstar Investor tools?

No, they are completely separate products. Morningstar ETFInvestor is a monthly newsletter delivered as a PDF. It does not include access to Morningstar Investor’s screeners, Portfolio X-Ray, interactive watchlists, or real-time analyst reports. If you want both the newsletter and the platform tools, you need separate subscriptions. This is an important distinction — the Morningstar brand covers many products, but they are not bundled together.

What kind of returns can I expect from Morningstar ETFInvestor’s model portfolios?

The Factor Portfolio has returned 6.20% annualized since its November 2018 inception, compared to the Basic Portfolio benchmark’s 6.98% annualized return. These are model portfolios — hypothetical, not funded with real money — so actual investor results will vary based on timing, execution, and fees. The Factor Portfolio has delivered slightly lower max drawdown (-20.29% vs -21.06%) and higher yield (2.89% vs 2.59%) than the benchmark. Past performance does not guarantee future results.