Wealthsimple vs Unified: Investment Platform vs Finance Dashboard
Wealthsimple and Unified serve different purposes. One helps you invest. The other shows you everything across all your banks. Here's how they compare — and why most Canadians should use both.
Quick Verdict
Wealthsimple is a great investment platform. Unified is a bank aggregation dashboard. They're complementary tools, not direct competitors. Use Wealthsimple to grow your money through investing. Use Unified to see your complete financial picture across all your Canadian banks — your TD chequing, RBC savings, BMO credit card, Scotiabank mortgage, and Wealthsimple investments, all in one dashboard.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Wealthsimple and Unified are built for different jobs. This table shows exactly where each tool excels.
| Feature | Wealthsimple | Unified |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Investing & trading | Multi-bank aggregation dashboard |
| Price | Free trading (premium tiers available) | $4.99 CAD/month (7-day free trial) |
| Canadian bank support | Wealthsimple accounts only | 15,000+ Canadian institutions |
| Net worth tracking | Wealthsimple portfolio only | All connected accounts |
| Spending analytics | None | Detailed (weekly + monthly) |
| Budget tools | None | Spending limits by category |
| Transaction search | Wealthsimple transactions only | Cross-bank search |
| Multi-bank view | No | Yes (all accounts in one dashboard) |
| Security | Bank-level encryption, CIPF protected | Plaid, 256-bit encryption, privacy mode, auto-logout |
What Wealthsimple Does Best
Wealthsimple has earned its reputation as one of Canada's leading fintech platforms, and for good reason. It makes investing accessible to everyday Canadians with an intuitive interface, commission-free stock and ETF trading, and managed portfolio options for hands-off investors.
With Wealthsimple, you can trade Canadian and US stocks, invest in ETFs, buy and sell cryptocurrency, and set up automated managed portfolios. The platform supports TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, and non-registered accounts, making it a one-stop shop for Canadian investors who want to build wealth over time.
Wealthsimple also offers a cash account with a competitive interest rate, peer-to-peer money transfers, and a tax filing product. It is a comprehensive financial services platform focused on helping Canadians invest and manage their Wealthsimple money.
Where Wealthsimple falls short is visibility into the rest of your financial life. It shows you your Wealthsimple accounts and nothing else. Your TD chequing balance, your RBC credit card statement, your BMO mortgage, your Scotiabank savings — none of that appears in Wealthsimple. That is exactly the gap Unified was designed to fill.
What Unified Does Best
Unified is a bank aggregation dashboard built specifically for Canadians. Its job is simple but powerful: connect all your Canadian bank accounts into one secure view so you can see your complete financial picture at a glance.
When you connect your banks to Unified, you immediately get a dashboard showing your total net worth across every institution — not just one bank, but all of them. TD, RBC, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank, Tangerine, Simplii, National Bank, Desjardins, and over 15,000 other Canadian financial institutions.
Beyond aggregation, Unified provides detailed spending analytics with weekly and monthly breakdowns by category, showing you exactly where your money goes across all your accounts. You can set budget limits by category to stay on track and use cross-bank transaction search to find any purchase across every connected institution.
Unified also prioritizes privacy with features you won't find in most finance apps: balance masking lets you hide your numbers with one tap when checking your finances in public, and automatic session timeout logs you out after 10 minutes of inactivity to protect your data.
All of this is available for just $4.99 CAD/month, with a 7-day free trial to get started. Unified is built for the Canadian who wants to understand their complete financial situation without juggling five different banking apps.
Using Wealthsimple and Unified Together
The smartest approach for most Canadians is to use both tools. Wealthsimple and Unified solve different problems, and together they give you full control over your financial life.
Use Wealthsimple for:
- Buying and selling stocks and ETFs
- Managing your TFSA, RRSP, and FHSA
- Automated managed portfolios
- Crypto trading
- High-interest cash savings
Use Unified for:
- Seeing all bank accounts in one dashboard
- Tracking your true net worth across everything
- Understanding weekly and monthly spending patterns
- Searching transactions across all your banks
- Setting budgets and tracking spending limits
Think of it this way: Wealthsimple helps you grow your money. Unified helps you see all your money. Most Canadians have accounts at multiple institutions — a chequing account at one bank, a credit card at another, a savings account somewhere else, and investments at Wealthsimple. Without an aggregation tool, you are logging into four or five different apps to understand your financial position.
Unified eliminates that friction. Connect all your banks once, and your dashboard gives you the complete picture in seconds. Your Wealthsimple portfolio value sits right alongside your TD chequing, your RBC credit card balance, and your BMO savings — all in one view with your total net worth calculated automatically.
Your Complete Financial Picture
The average Canadian has accounts at 2 to 4 different financial institutions. A typical setup might include a chequing account at TD, a savings account at Tangerine for the higher interest rate, a credit card through RBC, a mortgage at Scotiabank, and investments at Wealthsimple. That is five different apps, five different logins, and five different places to check before you understand your financial position.
Wealthsimple only shows you one piece of that puzzle — your investment accounts. It cannot tell you how much is in your TD chequing, whether your RBC credit card payment went through, or what your Scotiabank mortgage balance is. It was never designed to do that.
Unified connects to all of those institutions simultaneously and presents everything in a single dashboard. Your net worth is calculated by adding up every asset and subtracting every liability across every connected account. Your spending analytics pull data from every chequing account and credit card to show you the real picture of where your money goes each week and month.
When you search for a transaction in Unified, you are searching across every bank at once. Looking for that Amazon purchase? You will see it whether you paid with your TD debit card, your RBC Visa, or your BMO Mastercard. That cross-bank visibility is something neither Wealthsimple nor any individual banking app can provide.
Unified also includes privacy features that protect your data while you are checking your finances. Balance masking hides all your numbers with one tap, and automatic session timeout ensures your dashboard is not left open if you step away. These are practical security features for anyone who checks their finances on shared devices or in public spaces.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Wealthsimple and Unified together?
Yes, and that's the recommended approach. Wealthsimple handles your investing and trading. Unified connects all your other bank accounts — TD, RBC, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank, and more — into one dashboard so you can see your complete financial picture including net worth, spending analytics, and transaction search across every institution.
Does Wealthsimple show all my bank accounts?
No. Wealthsimple only shows your Wealthsimple accounts — trading, savings, crypto, and managed portfolios. It does not connect to other banks like TD, RBC, BMO, CIBC, or Scotiabank. To see all your accounts in one place, you need a bank aggregation tool like Unified, which connects to over 15,000 Canadian financial institutions.
Does Unified offer investment trading like Wealthsimple?
No. Unified is not an investment or trading platform. It is a bank aggregation dashboard that connects all your Canadian bank accounts into one view. Unified shows your net worth, spending analytics, budgets, and transactions across all your banks. For investing, continue using Wealthsimple or your preferred brokerage.
How much does Unified cost?
Unified is $4.99 CAD/month and includes bank aggregation across 15,000+ Canadian institutions, net worth tracking, spending analytics, budget management, and transaction search. New users get a 7-day free trial to explore all features before being charged.
Can Unified track my Wealthsimple investments?
Unified can connect to Wealthsimple through Plaid to display your account balances, which factor into your overall net worth calculation. However, Unified does not offer detailed investment portfolio tracking, individual stock performance, or trading capabilities. For detailed investment management, use Wealthsimple directly.
See What Wealthsimple Can't Show You
Wealthsimple shows your investments. Unified shows everything else — your chequing, savings, credit cards, and loans across every Canadian bank, all in one secure dashboard.