Pure Benchmarks · Comparison

Broker With Strong Performance Attribution Tools: Which Brokerages Explain Your Return

Short answer

A broker with strong performance attribution tools is rare. Among the large US brokerages, Interactive Brokers is the clear case: its free PortfolioAnalyst includes a Performance Attribution report that splits an account’s return against a benchmark into allocation and selection effects by sector, with 165 benchmarks added in 2022 and the S&P 500 as the default. Fidelity shows a personal rate of return and lets you compare it with single-market and blended benchmarks, but it does not publish an allocation and selection breakdown. On their public pages we could not find an attribution report for self-directed accounts at Schwab or Vanguard. Any brokerage can be paired with a separate attribution tool, including decision-level tools such as Pure Benchmarks, which score each buy and sell rather than each sector.

Searching for a brokerage with strong performance attribution tools usually turns up institutional software, because attribution has traditionally been sold to asset managers rather than built into retail accounts. Most brokerages give you a return number and, at best, a benchmark line beside it. That tells you whether you were ahead or behind. Attribution goes a step further and tells you why: which parts of the portfolio, or which of your decisions, produced the gap. This page compares what the main US brokerages actually show and what to add when your broker stops short.

Brokerage performance tools at a glance

Brokerage	Personal return	Benchmark comparison	Allocation and selection attribution	Cost
Interactive Brokers (PortfolioAnalyst)	Yes	Yes, 165 benchmarks added in 2022, S&P 500 by default	Yes, by sector	Free for account holders
Fidelity	Yes, money-weighted personal rate of return	Yes, single-market and blended benchmarks	Not published	Free for account holders
Charles Schwab	Yes	Not confirmed on public pages	Not published	Free for account holders
Vanguard	Yes	Not confirmed on public pages	Not published	Free for account holders
Pure Benchmarks (works with linked accounts)	Yes	Real investors in the same risk category	Decision-level, not sector-level	Free account

Read from each firm’s public help pages and release notes in October 2026. Interactive Brokers’ benchmark count is from its 2022 PortfolioAnalyst release notes. Fidelity’s description is from its performance-reporting help pages. "Not published" means we could not find the feature on the firm’s public pages, not that it cannot exist inside a logged-in account. Pure Benchmarks is our own product and is not a broker.

What counts as a strong attribution tool

A return figure is not attribution. Neither is a chart of your account against the S&P 500. Attribution splits the difference between your return and a benchmark into parts you can act on. The standard method, Brinson attribution, separates an allocation effect, from weighting sectors or asset classes differently from the benchmark, and a selection effect, from holding different securities inside each group. A strong tool lets you choose a benchmark that fits your mix, covers more than one period, and handles deposits and withdrawals correctly so new money is not counted as performance.

Interactive Brokers: the only large broker with a full attribution report

Interactive Brokers’ PortfolioAnalyst, free to its clients, includes a Performance Attribution report. Its white paper describes splitting the account’s return against a benchmark into allocation effects, from over- or underweighting sectors, and selection effects, from security choice inside sectors. In April 2022 the firm added 165 benchmarks to the report, with the S&P 500 as the default. A separate tool, the Stock/ETF Benchmarker, compares a portfolio with a chosen index in real time and shows each equity position’s contribution and weight. Third-party tools such as IBviz build further attribution views on Interactive Brokers data.

Fidelity: personal return and blended benchmarks

Fidelity reports a personal rate of return that its help pages describe as money-weighted, reflecting dividends, interest and fees as well as the size and timing of your deposits and withdrawals. Its performance page lets you compare that return with single-market and blended benchmarks, and suggests choosing one that matches where your money is concentrated. That is a useful benchmark comparison. It is not an allocation and selection breakdown, and Fidelity’s public pages do not describe one for retail accounts.

Schwab and Vanguard: returns without published attribution

Schwab and Vanguard both show account returns to their clients. On their public help and product pages we could not find a report that attributes an account’s return to allocation, selection or individual decisions. Schwab’s retirement-plan technology unit offers participants personal rate-of-return analytics with charts by asset class, fund and period, which is a breakdown of where money sits rather than an attribution against a benchmark.

Brokerage attribution versus decision attribution

Even Interactive Brokers’ report answers a sector question: did you beat the index because of the sectors you leaned into or the stocks you picked inside them. It does not tell you whether a specific trade in March was worth making. Decision-level attribution freezes the portfolio as it stood the moment before each change and runs it forward beside the real one, so every buy and sell carries its own result. Pure Benchmarks, our own product, does this on linked brokerage and retirement accounts and ranks the account against real investors in the same risk category. It does not produce a Brinson decomposition.

Choosing a broker for attribution

If sector-level attribution inside the brokerage itself is the deciding factor, Interactive Brokers is the one large US broker that documents it. If you already hold accounts elsewhere, changing broker for a report is rarely necessary: a separate tool can read the account and add the analysis. Check three things before relying on any report: which benchmark it uses, whether it removes deposits and withdrawals, and whether it explains the gap or only shows it.

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Frequently asked questions

Which broker has the best performance attribution tools?

Among large US brokerages, Interactive Brokers. Its free PortfolioAnalyst includes a Performance Attribution report with allocation and selection effects by sector against a choice of benchmarks. Fidelity offers benchmark comparison of a personal rate of return without a published attribution breakdown.

Does Fidelity have performance attribution?

Fidelity shows a money-weighted personal rate of return and lets you compare it with single-market and blended benchmarks. Its public pages do not describe an allocation and selection attribution report for retail accounts.

Does Schwab or Vanguard offer performance attribution?

Both show account returns. We could not find an attribution report for self-directed accounts on either firm’s public pages. A separate tool can add attribution to accounts held at either firm.

Is Interactive Brokers PortfolioAnalyst free?

PortfolioAnalyst is provided to Interactive Brokers account holders without a separate charge. Its Performance Attribution report compares sector allocation and selection against a chosen benchmark.

Can I get performance attribution without changing broker?

Yes. Third-party tools read your existing accounts and add the analysis. Portfolio Visualizer offers factor attribution on funds, IBviz works on Interactive Brokers data, and Pure Benchmarks, our own product, scores each of your buys and sells against the portfolio you held before it on a free account.

What is the difference between performance and attribution in a brokerage report?

Performance is the return figure. Attribution explains it, splitting the gap against a benchmark into the effect of how you weighted each part of the market and the effect of which holdings you chose inside each part.

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This page is an information baseline for comparison only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell, replace, or transfer any specific asset, account, or firm. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All figures shown are illustrative.