The best halal investment app in the UAE depends on how much you want to do yourself. For a hands-off saver, StashAway wins on price: Shariah Global Portfolios with no minimum and fees from 0.8% a year falling to 0.2%, under a DFSA licence. For a stock picker, baraka is the only app here with a DFSA Islamic Window endorsement and compliance labels inside the trading screen, at $1 a trade after the free ones. For a beginner who wants a human, Sarwa charges 0.85% from a $500 minimum under ADGM regulation. Musaffa and Zoya are screeners, not UAE brokers. The rest of this guide shows the fees on AED 10,000, where your assets sit, and who should choose what.
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Five apps, three kinds of licence
The first sorting question is not fees or returns but what the company is legally allowed to do with your money. Three of these five hold a UAE financial services licence. Sarwa Digital Wealth (Capital) Limited is regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in Abu Dhabi Global Market with a Category 3C licence, a retail client endorsement and an endorsement to hold and control client investments and money. StashAway Management (DIFC) Limited is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority under licence F006312 for arranging custody, arranging deals, advising and managing assets, with a retail endorsement. Baraka Financial Limited is DIFC-registered and DFSA-regulated with a Category 3C licence, retail endorsement, a holding and controlling client assets endorsement, and an Islamic Window endorsement.
Musaffa LLC describes itself as an SEC-registered investment adviser that is not a broker-dealer; its trading runs through a clearing agreement with Alpaca Securities LLC, a FINRA and SIPC member in the United States. Zoya states that it is not a broker-dealer, investment adviser or FINRA member and that brokerage is provided by third parties through integrations; it is non-custodial, so your assets stay at your existing broker. Neither has a UAE regulator. That does not make them useless, but it changes what they are: research and routing layers rather than places to hold money. The investing hub explains the UAE regulatory map, and the uncomfortable truth about halal labels on UAE investing apps covers what each licence does and does not promise about Shariah compliance.
| App | Regulator and licence | What it is | Minimum | Screening basis stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarwa | FSRA, ADGM; Category 3C, retail, client assets; no Islamic Window endorsement | Robo-advisor plus self-directed trading | $500 (Invest and Trade) | Halal portfolios of sukuk, gold ETC and Islamic-principle ETFs |
| StashAway | DFSA; licence F006312; retail endorsement | Robo-advisor | None | ETFs certified by their issuers; StashAway does not certify |
| baraka | DFSA; Category 3C, retail, client assets, Islamic Window | Self-directed broker | None stated on pricing page | Third-party screening data under a Shariah Supervisory Board |
| Musaffa | SEC-registered adviser (US); clearing via Alpaca Securities | Screener with US trading route | Not stated on pages reviewed | In-house screening of 120,000+ stocks and 8,200+ ETFs |
| Zoya | None; not a broker or adviser | Screener and portfolio tracker | Not applicable | AAOIFI-based reports, panel of Shariah advisors |
The managed apps: StashAway and Sarwa
StashAway's Shariah Global Portfolios come in four risk levels, moderate to very aggressive, built from Shariah-compliant equity ETFs, sukuk and gold, with an average underlying expense ratio the page states as 0.4% a year, USD as base currency, and no minimum balance, no lock-in and no monthly requirement. The management fee is tiered on total investment: 0.8% on the first $25,000, 0.7% on the next tranche to $50,000, 0.6% to $100,000, 0.5% to $250,000, 0.4% to $500,000, 0.3% to $1 million and 0.2% above that, charged monthly from a 1% cash allocation. The page is careful to say the portfolios are labelled Shariah-compliant solely because their ETFs are certified by their issuers, and that StashAway does not certify them itself.
Sarwa Invest's Halal portfolios are built from sukuk, a gold ETC and ETFs that follow Islamic principles, with a $500 minimum. Pricing is 0.85% a year under $100,000 with a $7 monthly minimum, 0.7% at Platinum from $100,000 with a dedicated advisor, 0.5% from $500,000 and 0.4% from $5 million. Sarwa's footer states that it does not hold an Islamic Window endorsement from the FSRA and advises clients to do their own due diligence on alignment, which is a disclosure StashAway's pages do not make either way. Our halal robo-advisor comparison goes portfolio by portfolio; this guide only needs the fees.
The self-directed broker: baraka
baraka is the one app on this list that is both a licensed UAE broker and built for Muslim investors. The Standard plan is free, with one free US stock or ETF trade a month and $1 a trade after that; Premium is $9.99 a month for 12 free trades and Premium+ is $19.99 for 25. Options cost $1 a contract, GCC trades cost 0.15% on ADX and 0.28% on DFM plus a AED 10 DFM fee, and precious metals trade free. Funding from a UAE bank costs 0.75% on Standard, 0.65% on Premium and 0.60% on Premium+, which is the fee most people forget. There is no account management fee, but a $1 monthly inactivity fee applies to accounts under $50 with no open positions, and a $1 charge applies to extended-hours trades. Client assets carry SIPC protection of $500,000 through the US custody chain.
On compliance, baraka's own legal text is precise: screening data comes from a third-party provider, is for reference only, does not constitute a fatwa, applies to equities and ETFs but not to bonds or options, and operates under the oversight of baraka's Shariah Supervisory Board through its Islamic Window. That is the honest framing for any app-level label, and it means a second screener is worth running on any name you are unsure about.
The screeners: Musaffa and Zoya, and why they are not UAE brokers
Musaffa's platform page claims screening of more than 120,000 stocks and 8,200 ETFs across 60 markets, a purification calculator and a published methodology, and offers trading through a clearing arrangement with Alpaca Securities in the United States. Zoya offers compliance reports for more than 60,000 stocks, an ETF and mutual fund screener, portfolio syncing from your existing brokerage, trade routing through supported brokers, and a zakat calculator, and states it has crossed $1 billion in connected assets and 400,000 investors. Both are valuable research tools, and both tell you plainly that they are not brokers.
The practical consequence for a UAE resident is custody. With Musaffa, any money you trade sits with a US clearing firm under US rules, with no DFSA or FSRA complaint route. With Zoya, nothing is held at all; your assets stay wherever your broker is, and Zoya only reads and routes. The subscription prices for either service were not on the pages we reviewed and should be checked on their pricing pages before relying on the numbers. If you want a screener and a UAE-regulated broker, the usual pairing is Zoya or Musaffa for research with baraka or Sarwa Trade for execution; our guide on how to buy halal stocks in the UAE walks through that setup.
What AED 10,000 costs on each app for a year
AED 10,000 is about $2,724 at the 3.671 rate baraka quotes for dirham deposits. The figures below use only published fee schedules and ignore market movement, FX spread and ETF expense ratios inside the funds, except where stated. They assume one deposit at the start and, for the brokers, a modest twelve trades in the year.
| App | Published fee basis | Approximate year-one cost on AED 10,000 |
|---|---|---|
| StashAway Shariah | 0.8% a year on the first $25,000; ETF expense about 0.4% embedded | About AED 80 in management fees, plus about AED 40 inside the ETFs |
| Sarwa Invest Halal | 0.85% a year, but a $7 monthly minimum | The $7 minimum applies: about $84, or roughly AED 308 |
| baraka Standard | 0.75% UAE funding fee; 1 free trade a month then $1 | About AED 75 to fund, then $0 to $11 for twelve trades |
| Sarwa Trade | $1 or 0.25% of each trade, whichever is higher; no custody fee | About AED 25 to buy in one order; about AED 44 for twelve trades |
| Musaffa or Zoya | Subscription plus your broker's fees | Subscription not verified here; broker fees depend on the linked broker |
Two things stand out. The Sarwa Invest monthly minimum makes it the most expensive managed option at this size, which flips once a balance passes about $10,000 and the 0.85% exceeds $84. And baraka's funding fee is a one-off cost larger than a year of its trading fees for a small account, so fund in fewer, larger transfers. At AED 100,000 the picture changes again: StashAway's blended rate drops as the tiers kick in and Sarwa's percentage fee overtakes its minimum.
Custody and investor protection: where your assets actually sit
- StashAway holds a DFSA licence that includes arranging custody and managing assets, so client positions are held through its custody arrangements under DFSA client asset rules.
- Sarwa's FSRA licence includes holding and controlling client investments and money, and its pages describe global custody with top-tier banks for the Invest product.
- baraka's DFSA licence includes holding and controlling client assets, and its pricing page states SIPC coverage of $500,000, split $250,000 cash and $250,000 securities, through its US clearing relationship.
- Musaffa routes trades to Alpaca Securities, a FINRA and SIPC member, so protection is US-based and the UAE regulators have no role.
- Zoya is non-custodial by design; your protection is whatever your existing broker provides.
Our view: which app for which investor
The hands-off saver should open StashAway's Shariah Global Portfolio. No minimum, 0.8% falling with size, a DFSA licence, and a disclosure that tells you exactly what the halal label rests on. Add Sarwa only if you want a named advisor and are investing more than about $10,000, where its fee stops being distorted by the monthly minimum, or if the Sarwa Save and Trade products in one app matter to you.
The stock picker should use baraka, because it is the only UAE-licensed broker here with an Islamic Window endorsement and a compliance flag at the point of purchase, and should fund it in larger lumps to limit the 0.75% transfer cost. Pair it with Zoya for a second opinion on any borderline name. The beginner with AED 1,000 should go to StashAway or baraka's Standard plan; Sarwa's $500 minimum is within reach but the $7 monthly fee eats 8% of AED 1,000 in a year. Do not treat Musaffa or Zoya as a place to keep money. For the wider map see how to invest halal and compare the three licensed apps side by side on the comparison hub. Facts checked against sarwa.co, stashaway.ae, getbaraka.com, musaffa.com, zoya.finance on 13 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best halal investment app in the UAE?
For hands-off investing, StashAway's Shariah Global Portfolios, with no minimum, fees from 0.8% to 0.2% and a DFSA licence. For picking your own stocks, baraka, the DFSA-regulated broker with an Islamic Window endorsement and in-app compliance labels. For advice from a person, Sarwa under ADGM regulation. Musaffa and Zoya are screeners rather than UAE brokers.
Is Musaffa a real broker or just a screening app?
Musaffa is a US SEC-registered investment adviser and says it is not a broker-dealer. Trading on its platform runs through a clearing agreement with Alpaca Securities LLC, a FINRA and SIPC member. Its screener and purification calculator are real and widely used, but it holds no UAE licence, so any money you invest through it sits in the United States.
Which halal investing apps are regulated in the UAE?
Three on this list. Sarwa Digital Wealth (Capital) Limited is regulated by the FSRA in ADGM. StashAway Management (DIFC) Limited is regulated by the DFSA under licence F006312. Baraka Financial Limited is regulated by the DFSA with Category 3C, retail, client asset and Islamic Window endorsements. Musaffa and Zoya have no UAE regulator.
What are the best alternatives to baraka?
For self-directed trading under UAE regulation, Sarwa Trade charges $1 or 0.25% a trade with a $500 minimum and no custody fee, though Sarwa has no Islamic Window endorsement. For managed halal portfolios, StashAway and Sarwa Invest replace stock picking entirely. For screening alone, Zoya and Musaffa cover more markets than baraka's in-app labels.
How much does it cost to invest AED 10,000 through a halal app?
Roughly AED 80 a year at StashAway plus about AED 40 inside the ETFs; about AED 308 at Sarwa Invest because of the $7 monthly minimum; about AED 75 to fund baraka from a UAE bank plus $1 per trade after the free one; and about AED 25 to buy in a single order on Sarwa Trade. Screener subscriptions were not verified here.
Compare providers in your state
See side-by-side comparisons of Shariah-compliant products, or let our matcher recommend the best options for your situation.
Does a halal label on an app mean the investment is certified?
Not always. StashAway says its portfolios are labelled Shariah-compliant only because the ETFs are certified by their issuers, and that it does not certify them. baraka says its screening data is third-party, for reference, and not a fatwa, while operating under a Shariah Supervisory Board. Sarwa states it has no Islamic Window endorsement. Read each disclosure before trusting the label.
