Geldanlage: Bis zu 14 Prozent Jahresrendite: Welche Robo-Advisor am besten performen

Digital asset managers achieved a higher return on their products last year with their offerings than the broad stock market, with so-called Robo-Advisors that invest entirely in stocks and do not prioritize sustainability achieving an average return of 10.2% after fees, according to an annual evaluation by the consulting firm Fondsconsult.

This is higher than the global equity index MSCI All Country World (ACWI), which also generated a return of 7.9% in 2025, also calculated in euros. Many Robo-Advisors in a generally positive year for stocks benefited from the gold share in their portfolios. German digital asset managers managed a total of more than 128 billion euros in assets last year.

Robo-Advisors are digital asset managers that automatically assemble individual portfolios based on client preferences, investing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), classic investment funds, or individual stocks. Fondsconsult evaluated strategies from about two dozen providers available in Germany. Since the consultants rely on the information provided by the providers, the evaluation does not include all available Robo-Advisors.

The study nevertheless covers a large part of the market: Raisin, Scalable Capital, Growney, and Visualvest are among the largest providers, according to ExtraETF, and are also included in Fondsconsult. According to Andreas Hackethal, Professor of Finance at Frankfurt's Goethe University, the most important factor for investors is whether they consider the price of the offerings justified.

The management fees of German Robos amounted to slightly over 0.7% last, with additional product costs. Hackethal, who once sat on the supervisory board of the Robo-provider Vaamo, which is no longer represented in the German market, cites two types of investors for whom the strategies can be suitable. The first is the "delegators," who did not want to deal with their portfolios in depth due to lack of time or convenience.

The second is the "self-disciplined," who sought a simple structure that they would not panic to sell even in crisis phases. Fondsconsult distinguishes between strategies with and without a sustainability focus, as well as in four risk classes, ranging from a defensive portfolio with a maximum of 40% stocks and a high bond share to offensive strategies that can invest entirely in stocks.

Returns are stated before management fees. Significant return differences among Robo-Advisors were generated by the gold position. The precious metal's price rose 45% in 2025. Fondsconsult analyst Maximilian Wellner says: "Some Robo-Advisors invested up to 20% of their portfolios in gold, which naturally drove performance." Minveo's conventional strategy with the highest annual return among the examined offensive portfolios earned 14.3% in value last year.

Behind it was an offensive strategy from Minveo and a portfolio with a sustainability focus from Commerzbank's Cominvest. Many Robo-strategies benefited from their gold position in 2025. Wellner cites gold as the strongest single contributor to performance in Minveo's offensive portfolio. The strategy of momentum stocks and an alternative country weighting also benefited.

While the returns of individual strategies varied significantly, for example, the weakest offensive portfolio earned only 0.7% in 2025. Over a three-year period, neither conventional nor sustainable offensive strategies managed to beat the broad equity market on average. Sustainable Robo-strategies earned less return than comparable conventional strategies in all risk levels in the past year.