11 Best Alternative Investment Platforms
Stock-bond portfolios are becoming outdated.
In fact, BlackRock's portfolio advisory business has moved away from the traditional 60-40 stock-bond portfolio in favor of a 50% stock, 30% bond, and 20% alternative assets split.
Alternative investments:
- Offer diversification outside of stock and bond markets
- May be good hedges against inflation
- May generate higher returns
And thanks to a number of alternative investment platforms, alternatives are no longer limited to the top 1%.
Investors anywhere can add private market investments to their portfolios.
Here's how to access them.
What's an alternative investment platform?
Traditional assets are stocks, bonds, and cash — so any asset outside of those three is considered an alternative asset.
These include real estate, art, collectibles, cryptocurrency, private credit, private equity, and more.
However, most alternative assets are not available on traditional investing platforms (like a brokerage account). To access these asset classes, you need to create an account on an alternative investment platform.
The majority of these platforms specialize in one alternative asset class, though some feature more. Yieldstreet, for example, offers ten different asset classes.
Are you an accredited or retail investor?
Some of these platforms are only available to accredited investors. You qualify as an accredited investor if you meet one of the following criteria:
- You have an annual income of $200,000 individually or $300,000 jointly
- Your net worth exceeds $1,000,000 (excluding your primary residence)
- You are a qualifying financial professional
If you don't meet one of these criteria, you're a retail investor (don't worry, there are great options for you, too).
Here's my list of the best alternative investing platforms available right now.
A quick look at the best platforms
- Best overall: Yieldstreet
- Best for private credit: Percent
- Best for venture capital: Fundrise
- Best for pre-IPO investments: Hiive
- Best for single-family real estate: Arrived
- Best for commercial real estate projects: EquityMultiple
- Best traditional brokerage for buying alternatives: Public
- Best for large commercial real estate: CrowdStreet
- Best for private REIT investing: RealtyMogul
- Best for art investing: Masterworks
- Best for farmland: AcreTrader
Keep reading for detailed breakdowns of each platform listed above.
Disclaimer: Ratings are my opinion. Actual results may vary, and past performance does not guarantee future results. All investors should do their own due diligence.
1. Yieldstreet: best overall
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Real estate, art, private credit, cryptocurrencies, VC, private equity, notes, infrastructure, and a multi-asset class fund
- Accreditation requirement: Primarily accredited
Yieldstreet is the premier platform for private market investing. It offers 10 alternative assets all under a single login.
Since 2015, Yieldstreet has invested more than $6 billion on behalf of investors and has averaged 7.4% net annualized returns across all of its investments (a 60/40 stock/bond portfolio returned 6.5% annualized returns over the same period).
More importantly, it generated those returns with much lower volatility — one of the primary reasons for adding alternatives to a portfolio.
This extra diversification is especially important during public market downturns. Here's how alternative investments have performed relative to stocks in each of the most recent times of volatility:
Source: Yieldstreet
In addition to its range of offerings, what helps Yieldstreet earn the top spot on this list is its Alternative Income Fund.
The income-focused fund invests across multiple asset classes and is professionally managed, so you get all the benefits of private market diversification without all the work.
Plus, the Alternative Income Fund is available to all, not just accredited, investors.
If you're looking for diversification outside of public markets, there's no better platform than Yieldstreet.
Primary benefit: More private market asset classes than any other platform.
2. Percent: best for private credit
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Private credit
- Accreditation requirement: Accredited only
Percent gives you access to the $3.17 trillion private credit market, one of the most popular asset classes for income-focused (and institutional) investors.
"Middle market" private companies (those with annual revenue between $10 million and $1 billion) are too big for traditional banks but can't issue bonds on the public markets, so they must turn to the private credit markets for financing.
Since the money is harder to come by, the terms are very favorable for lenders.
Private credit deals typically entail:
- Higher yields
- Shorter durations
- Secured debt (loans are backed by assets)
- Returns that are largely uncorrelated with public markets
Here's how it stacks up against other asset classes:
Source: Percent
For these reasons, private credit is becoming increasingly popular among yield-focused investors. And Percent is the best platform for accessing it.
Private credit has much higher average returns and much lower default rates than typical high-yield bonds. Since its launch, matured deals on Percent have averaged a 13.76% annual coupon rate and a 2.58% default rate.
That's why 89% of investors on Percent re-invest in a second deal.
While Yieldstreet offers some private credit deals, I've found Percent often has a larger inventory of investments to choose from, so it may be worth it to have an account on both platforms.
Plus, Percent is offering a welcome bonus of up to $500 when new investors make their first investment. For more information, read my full Percent Review.
Primary benefit: Largest inventory of private credit deals of any investment platform.
3. Fundrise: best for venture capital
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Venture capital and real estate
- Accreditation requirement: Any investor
Fundrise was one of the first platforms to offer crowdfunded real estate investing — that is, investors could invest in real estate (individual deals and specialized funds) from their phones with as little as $10.
While it's still best known for its real estate offerings, it also launched the Fundrise Innovation Fund — an alternative investment fund that buys stakes in private, high-growth technology companies.
The fund has positions in Databricks, OpenAI, Anthropic, Ramp, Canva, and more.
Fundrise launched this fund for the same reason it started offering real estate: venture capital investing has been one of the best-performing asset classes in the last 40 years, and they wanted to make it accessible to more people.
Source: Fundrise
While you may not be able to invest directly in private companies (like accredited investors can with Hiive; more on that below), you can invest in Fundrise's venture fund.
The Innovation Fund is available to all investors and has a minimum investment of just $10.
Primary benefit: Retail investors can invest in a venture capital fund filled with many of today's hottest startups.
4. Hiive: best for pre-IPO investments
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Private companies
- Accreditation requirement: Accredited only
Hiive is the best platform for investing in pre-IPO companies.
There are over 2,000 private companies with shares for sale on Hiive. The most actively traded companies on its platform are SpaceX, Anthropic, Epic Games, ThoughtSpot, and Attentive.
Source: Hiive
Hiive connects accredited investors with employees, venture capitalists, and angel investors who own shares of private companies.
The platform functions similarly to a traditional stock exchange — after a seller creates a listing, buyers can accept the seller's asking price or place bids.
Once two parties agree on a price, Hiive's team handles the legal process of getting the shares transferred from the seller to the buyer.
Now you can buy shares of private companies right alongside the venture capitalists and private equity firms who know the real money is made before the IPO, not after.
Primary benefit: Invest in private, VC-backed companies.
5. Arrived: best for single-family real estate
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Single-family homes
- Accreditation requirement: Any investor
Arrived is a real estate crowdfunding platform that serves all investors, both accredited and non-accredited.
Arrived is solely focused on single-family homes. It purchases properties for both long-term rentals and short-term (vacation) rentals. Like all real estate investments, Arrived investors benefit from both rental income and price appreciation.
Source: Arrived
Arrived takes care of everything — it evaluates, buys, lists, and manages every property. You don't have to worry about studying the market, legal contracts, closing costs, maintenance, repairs, or tenants.
After purchasing a new property, the company will securitize and make shares available for purchase on its platform. Then, you sit back and collect your “rental income,” which comes in the form of dividends.
Primary benefit: Build a real estate portfolio starting with just $100.
6. EquityMultiple: best for commercial real estate projects
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Commercial real estate projects
- Accreditation requirement: Accredited only
EquityMultiple is a crowdfunding real estate platform focused on commercial real estate, and is quickly growing in popularity thanks to its attractive offerings.
For example, the Ascent Income Fund has a historical distribution yield of 9.08%. It takes senior debt positions, so every investment is backed by commercial real estate assets.
With a $5k minimum investment, Ascent is another great option for yield-focused investors.
Source: EquityMultiple's Ascent Income Fund
However, EquityMultiple's most popular investment is the Alpine Note, which offers 3-, 6-, and 9-month term lengths with fixed APYs of 6%, 7%, and 7.35%, respectively.
You won't find these interest rates at your local bank.
Primary benefit: Invest in commercial real estate via short-term notes, equity, and/or funds.
7. Public: best traditional brokerage for buying alternatives
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Stocks, ETFs, Treasuries, cryptocurrencies, and collectibles
- Accreditation requirement: Any investor
Public is our most recommended brokerage, especially for investors under the age of 35. It's fast, capable, well-designed, and offers free stock and ETF trading.
The only reason it's not higher on this list is because this article is about alternative investment platforms, which is not Public's emphasis.
That said, it does offer some alternative investments, whereas most traditional brokerages don't offer any.
On Public, you can buy several cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Litecoin) and invest in shares of different types of collectibles (like shoes, NFTs, art, trading cards, etc.).
Source: Public
I wouldn't go out of my way to create an account with Public for its alternative offerings, but it's a nice perk to have alongside your traditional portfolio.
Primary benefit: Invest in some alternative assets alongside your traditional portfolio.
8. CrowdStreet: best for large commercial real estate
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Commercial real estate
- Accreditation requirement: Accredited only
CrowdStreet is one of the oldest, most established real estate crowdfunding platforms out there.
Since 2012, the company has funded more than 800 deals (197 of which have been sold) and has invested more than $4.4 billion on behalf of its investors.
Of those 197 sold deals, CrowdStreet has generated a 12.9% realized IRR with an average holding period of 3.3 years.
The platform connects investors to developers who are looking to raise capital for their projects. CrowdStreet has invested in 17 property types, including hotels, multifamily apartment complexes, storage facilities, industrial parks, and more.
Source: CrowdStreet
Every proposed deal is vetted by an experienced team of analysts with a combined $6.5 billion in transactional experience before being listed on CrowdStreet's Marketplace, so you can be confident in the deals you're considering.
You can choose to invest in individual deals or, for easy diversification, CrowdStreet's Diversified Funds. For high-net-worth investors, it also offers professionally managed portfolios.
Primary benefit: The most established, and probably the biggest, platform for commercial real estate investing.
9. RealtyMogul: best for private REIT investing
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Commercial, multifamily, and single-family real estate
- Accreditation requirement: Primarily accredited
RealtyMogul gives you access to both commercial and residential real estate under one login.
Like CrowdStreet and EquityMultiple, RealtyMogul connects investors to developers (sponsors) and handles the bulk of the vetting process for you.
The platform offers investments in real estate projects like industrial parks, mixed-use facilities, and residential developments. These projects have a $25,000 minimum investment.
The main reason RealtyMogul makes this list is because of its Income and Growth REITs, which have $5,000 minimum investments and are available to all investors.
Source: RealtyMogul
REITs are known for providing investors with stable cash flow (in the form of dividends, which are tax-efficient), liquidity, stability, and diversification.
Since the Income REIT's inception in 2016, it has distributed monthly dividends of 6% (net of fees) for 104 consecutive months. These distributions have totaled $42.9 million to date.
Primary benefit: Private real estate investing via REITs.
10. Masterworks: best for art investing
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Fine art
- Accreditation requirement: Any investor
Masterworks is the best way to invest in contemporary art, a long-time favorite investment of the ultrawealthy.
Why art? It offers a unique combination of price appreciation and stability.
Source: Masterworks
Art is rare, can appreciate, and has historically been inflation- and recession-proof. And, until recently, art investing required time, skill, and a lot of money.
Now, Masterworks's team of experts scours the world for artists and paintings, purchasing only those with the most momentum. After purchasing the art, the company securitizes it with the SEC, which allows its users to invest in individual shares.
To realize returns, investors can sell their shares to other users on the platform or wait until the Masterworks team sells the painting and the proceeds are distributed.
You can also invest in art on Yieldstreet, but if you're serious about art as an investment vehicle, then Masterworks is the obvious choice.
Primary benefit: Specialization in fine art investing.
11. AcreTrader: best for farmland
- Our rating:
- Asset(s): Farmland
- Accreditation requirement: Accredited only
AcreTrader offers another type of real estate to invest in — farmland.
We will always need food, regardless of inflation, economic conditions, or the stock market. Couple that with a rapidly growing global population, and farmland looks like a pretty compelling investment.
Historically, its return/volatility ratio has been exceptional.
Source: AcreTrader
AcreTrader connects investors with farmers — timber, alfalfa, soybeans, corn, and more. Each new listing must pass a thorough due diligence process by AcreTrader's team of expert analysts, which only approves ~5% of deals.
The target holding periods range from 5–10 years. During that period, the farmers pay rent to AcreTrader, which distributes it among the investors. At the time of the sale, any price appreciation, pro rata rent, and principal are returned to investors.
The median realized IRR has been around 15%.
Primary benefit: The only platform where you can invest in shares of farmland.
What's the most popular private market investing platform?
This is a hard question to answer because not every platform releases this data to the public, and some information may be outdated.
Here are a few of the most popular from what data is available:
- Yieldstreet has 500,000+ investors who have invested more than $6 billion on the platform.
- CrowdStreet has invested $4.4 billion since its inception for over 300,000 investors.
- Masterworks has 985,000+ investors and over $1 billion invested.
The most popular alternative investment is real estate. The U.S. real estate market alone is estimated to be worth close to $4 trillion. Of the platforms on this list, the best options for investing in real estate are Fundrise and Arrived.
How we chose the best alternative platforms
When evaluating investing products and services, we consider the following.
- Core offering: How good is the product or service?
- Price/fees: Overall price, value for money, average cost per month, and any hidden fees.
- Usability: What the interface looks like, whether the site is easy to use and navigate, the inclusion of modern design elements and features, and accessibility.
- Credibility: Quality of information and data, as well as company and brand reputation.
- Audience: Who the product is for, the range of uses and applications, whether it actually works for its target audience, if it's the best option available, and any limitations therein.
- Offers: Whether there is a special offer for signing up or any discounts.
Final verdict
The data is pretty clear — alternatives have historically provided excellent diversification outside of public markets and have the potential for outperformance.
At this point, you may be ready to follow BlackRock's lead and invest up to 20% of your portfolio into one or more of the investment platforms listed above.
Where to allocate that 20% (or however much you decide) is up to you, based on your own goals and investing style. Each of the assets and platforms on this list has its own benefits.
My favorites from this list are:
- Yieldstreet, because of its diverse offering of alternative assets. Plus, if you can't decide which specific alternatives you'd like to invest in, Yieldstreet's Alternative Income Fund is an easy way to get exposure to a broad range of private markets, whether you're an accredited or retail investor.
- Percent, because it gives accredited investors access to the extremely popular private credit market. Double-digit yields, maturity dates of less than 1 year, and low default rates — what's not to like?
- Fundrise and Arrived, because they give retail investors access to a venture capital fund and real estate investments with exceptionally low minimum investments.
Remember, past performance does not guarantee future results. Always do your own research before investing.
Any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of Hiive Markets Limited (“Hiive”) or any of its affiliates. Stock Analysis is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser. This communication is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation, solicitation, or research report relating to any investment strategy, security, or digital asset. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Additionally, there is no guarantee that any statements or opinions provided herein will prove to be correct. Stock Analysis may be compensated for user activity resulting from readers clicking on Hiive affiliate links. Hiive is a registered broker-dealer and a member of FINRA / SIPC. Find Hiive on BrokerCheck.
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