A $10 Fundrise share and a $25,000 CrowdStreet fund are not the same product.
Real-estate crowdfunding is a label that covers open eREITs, fix-and-flip notes, fractional rentals, accredited CRE funds, and farmland. The accreditation line and the minimum decide which one you are actually buying.
We compared 8 real-estate (and farmland-adjacent) platforms from the 21 alternative-investing products we publish. Fundrise starts at $10 with partial accreditation: core funds are open, some credit sleeves are not. Groundfloor, Arrived, and Worthy Bonds take non-accredited money at $100 or $10. RealtyMogul is $5,000 and partial. EquityMultiple is $5,000 and accredited-only. CrowdStreet is $25,000 and accredited-only. FarmTogether is $15,000 accredited farmland, included as an adjacent land product, not a city apartment deal. Do not rank them on a single “best platform” ribbon. Rank them on minimum, accreditation, and whether you can leave. Full tables live on the private credit directory and statistics.
“Real estate crowdfunding” is a leftover 2010s phrase. In September 2026 it still gets used for products that barely share a structure. Fundrise sells diversified eREIT-style funds at $10. CrowdStreet sells accredited institutional funds at $25,000 after shutting its old direct-deal marketplace. Groundfloor sells individual fix-and-flip debt. Arrived sells pieces of single-family rentals. Worthy Bonds sells $10 bonds that fund developers. Putting those on one leaderboard is how people buy the wrong risk.
This guide keeps the comparison to what we can defend: the minimum investment and the accreditation flag. We are not publishing target IRRs. If a platform’s homepage leads with a percent, treat that as their marketing, not our number.
Nine of our 21 published alternative products skip accreditation entirely. Several of those are real-estate related and appear below. The rest of this list is partial or accredited-only, and we say so in the first sentence of each pick. For the open-to-all set across art, consumer loans, and BDCs, use the no-accreditation guide.
Top Picks
Based on features, user feedback, and value for money.
| Tool | Starting price | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fundrise | Custom | 4.8(37,714) | A first diversified real-estate fund check if you accept self-marked NAVs and gated red... |
| CrowdStreet | Custom | n/a | An accredited investor who has read the Nightingale record and still wants institutiona... |
| Groundfloor | Custom | 4.5(2,120) | Non-accredited buyers who want debt, not equity, and can lock 6–18 months per loan. |
| Arrived | Custom | 4.8(1,229) | Someone who wants a specific house, not a national eREIT, and can hold 5–7 years. |
| RealtyMogul | Custom | n/a | A non-accredited investor who wants a REIT wrapper and has read the 2026 distribution c... |
| EquityMultiple | Custom | n/a | Accredited investors who want CRE debt or notes and accept that Alpine Notes are unsecu... |
| Worthy Bonds | Custom | n/a | A tiny, open ticket if you understand you are underwriting Worthy, not a specific build... |
| FarmTogether | Custom | n/a | An accredited investor who wants orchards or groves and can hold 5–12 years with no int... |
A first diversified real-estate fund check if you accept self-marked NAVs and gated redemptions.
An accredited investor who has read the Nightingale record and still wants institutional CRE funds, not the old deal marketplace.
Non-accredited buyers who want debt, not equity, and can lock 6–18 months per loan.
Someone who wants a specific house, not a national eREIT, and can hold 5–7 years.
A non-accredited investor who wants a REIT wrapper and has read the 2026 distribution cuts first.
Accredited investors who want CRE debt or notes and accept that Alpine Notes are unsecured obligations of the platform.
A tiny, open ticket if you understand you are underwriting Worthy, not a specific building.
An accredited investor who wants orchards or groves and can hold 5–12 years with no interim exit.
What these platforms actually sell
Four different things wear the same badge.
Pooled funds. Fundrise core funds and RealtyMogul non-traded REITs. You own shares in a portfolio. NAV is typically marked by the manager. Liquidity, when it exists, is a window, not a market.
Deal-level debt. Groundfloor LROs and EquityMultiple notes and debt deals. You are underwriting a loan, or a note the platform itself issued.
Deal-level equity. Arrived homes, CrowdStreet funds (today), FarmTogether farms. Multi-year holds. You are in the residual claim.
Issuer bonds. Worthy Bonds. One company, many $10 tickets, proceeds lent onward to developers.
Farmland (FarmTogether, and AcreTrader at $10,000 accredited) is land, not a Brooklyn walk-up. We include FarmTogether so you do not discover that after funding. It is adjacent, and the hold is measured in years.
Why the $10 vs $25,000 gap is the whole story
A low minimum is how platforms industrialize retail. It is also how people confuse a diversified eREIT with a single construction loan. Fundrise at $10 is a pooled, gated fund. CrowdStreet at $25,000 is an accredited fund shop that rebuilt after the Nightingale fraud. Those are not two sizes of the same idea.
Accreditation is the other split. Non-accredited investors can use Fundrise (core), Groundfloor, Arrived, Worthy Bonds, and RealtyMogul REITs. They cannot use CrowdStreet, EquityMultiple, or FarmTogether. If a form asks you to self-certify accreditation you do not have, stop. The investor protections you would be waving exist because this category already produced PeerStreet, Nightingale, and paused REIT distributions.
Cash you might need in a year still belongs in a high-yield savings account, not in a quarterly redemption queue.
Key Features to Look For
Fundrise and Worthy Bonds at $10. Groundfloor and Arrived at $100. RealtyMogul and EquityMultiple at $5,000. FarmTogether at $15,000. CrowdStreet at $25,000.
False (open): Groundfloor, Arrived, Worthy Bonds. Partial: Fundrise, RealtyMogul. Required: CrowdStreet, EquityMultiple, FarmTogether.
A Groundfloor LRO can go to zero on one property. A Fundrise fund spreads that. An Arrived home is equity. Worthy Bonds is issuer credit.
Quarterly redemptions that queued in 2022–23 (Fundrise). No early exit on LROs (Groundfloor). Multi-year closed-end funds (CrowdStreet). Anytime redemption as policy (Worthy Bonds).
CrowdStreet had Nightingale. RealtyMogul paused a REIT’s distributions in 2026. Groundfloor carries going-concern language. Read those before the photo of the building.
Sort the shelf before you compare fees
Decide debt vs equity first. Debt can still lose principal. Equity can sit for 5–10 years.
Write down your accreditation status honestly. Partial platforms will upsell you into the accredited sleeve.
Match the minimum to a check you can lose. $10 is still real money if you copy it across twenty deals without a plan.
Read the 2022–23 redemption history on any fund that advertises quarterly liquidity.
If the property type is farmland, say that out loud. FarmTogether is not a substitute for Arrived.
Evaluation Checklist
Name the product type in one word: fund, loan, home share, bond, or farm. If you cannot, you are reading marketing.
Circle the accreditation flag. Partial means you will be offered a second product that you may not qualify for.
Write the minimum next to a check you can lose. $10 and $25,000 are not two ends of one slider.
Find the last time redemptions were queued, paused, or gated. Fundrise has a 2022–23 example. RealtyMogul paused a distribution in 2026.
If the pitch mentions Nightingale, going-concern language, or a paused REIT, read the primary source, not a summary tweet.
For cash you need on a date, stay in a high-yield savings account.
Pricing Overview
Fundrise (partial: core funds open) and Worthy Bonds (open). Same ticket, different legal objects: fund shares vs issuer bonds.
Groundfloor (debt, no accreditation) and Arrived (equity / credit fund, no accreditation).
RealtyMogul REITs (partial) and EquityMultiple (accredited-only). Same minimum, different gate.
FarmTogether ($15,000, accredited farmland) and CrowdStreet ($25,000, accredited funds). AcreTrader ($10,000, accredited) sits next to FarmTogether and is not one of the eight picks.
Pricing Comparison
| Product | Minimum | Accreditation | Product type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fundrise | $10 | Partial (core open) | Pooled real-estate / income funds |
| Worthy Bonds | $10 | Not required | Issuer bonds funding developers |
| Groundfloor | $100 | Not required | Fix-and-flip loan LROs |
| Arrived | $100 | Not required | Fractional SFRs + credit fund |
| RealtyMogul | $5,000 | Partial (REITs open) | Non-traded REITs; placements accredited |
| EquityMultiple | $5,000 | Required | CRE notes, debt, and equity |
| FarmTogether | $15,000 | Required | Permanent-crop farmland (adjacent) |
| CrowdStreet | $25,000 | Required | Institutional CRE funds |
Minimums and accreditation flags as published on Financeradar, reviewed September 2026. We are not displaying platform-reported target returns.
Mistakes to Avoid
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Buying Fundrise at $10 and assuming you have “the same access” as an accredited CrowdStreet fund.
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Treating Worthy Bonds as a property investment. You are lending to the bond issuer.
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Using Groundfloor like a savings ladder because terms are 6–18 months. There is no early exit and loans default.
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Skipping the no-accreditation guide and then wiring BCRED because a friend said private credit is open now. That is a different wrapper.
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Averaging advertised yields across debt and equity as if they were one asset class.
Expert Tips
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Start with the accreditation counts. Nine products are fully open. This real-estate list mixes those with partial and accredited names on purpose.
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If you are not accredited, your honest shortlist is Fundrise (core), Groundfloor, Arrived, Worthy Bonds, and RealtyMogul REITs. Cross the others off.
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If you are accredited, do not default to the $10 product out of habit. The question is lockup and concentration, not the cheapest login.
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Keep farmland on a separate mental shelf. FarmTogether and AcreTrader will not hedge your Arrived house.
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One platform, one minimum check, one calendar reminder. Then stop adding until the first hold is over.
Red Flags to Watch For
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A comparison chart that ranks Fundrise and CrowdStreet as cheaper vs premium versions of one product.
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Self-certifying accreditation you do not have.
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A paused or cut distribution treated as a buying opportunity without reading why it paused.
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Deal photos that outrun the operating agreement. The picture is not the security.
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Farmland sold as “like housing but more stable” without a 5–12 year hold in the same sentence.
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Silence on platform failure. PeerStreet’s creditors are still in line.
The Bottom Line
Fundrise at $10 and CrowdStreet at $25,000 share a marketing category and almost nothing else. Sort first by accreditation and minimum: open $10–$100 names (Fundrise core, Groundfloor, Arrived, Worthy Bonds), partial $5,000 (RealtyMogul), accredited $5,000–$25,000 (EquityMultiple, FarmTogether, CrowdStreet). We are not publishing target returns. We are telling you the door price and whether the door is locked. For products that skip accreditation entirely, including the interval BDCs, use the alternative investing without accreditation guide. For cash, use high-yield savings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fundrise the same as CrowdStreet?
No. Fundrise starts at $10. Core funds do not require accreditation. CrowdStreet starts around $25,000 and requires accreditation. Fundrise is pooled funds with quarterly windows. CrowdStreet is accredited institutional funds after a marketplace that hosted the Nightingale fraud. Same “real estate crowdfunding” label, different securities.
Which real-estate crowdfunding platforms do not require accreditation?
On this list: Groundfloor, Arrived, and Worthy Bonds are fully open. Fundrise and RealtyMogul are partial (core/REIT products open; some sleeves accredited). EquityMultiple, CrowdStreet, and FarmTogether require accreditation. Across all 21 alternative products we publish, 9 are fully open; not all of those nine are real estate.
What is the lowest minimum for real-estate crowdfunding?
Fundrise and Worthy Bonds at $10. Then Groundfloor and Arrived at $100. $10 Fundrise shares are fund interests. $10 Worthy bonds are issuer debt. Do not treat them as two share classes of one deal.
Can I lose my entire investment?
Yes. A single Groundfloor loan can fail. An Arrived home can lose value and sit unsold. A RealtyMogul REIT can pause distributions and mark NAV down. CrowdStreet investors lost money in Nightingale and in ordinary 2021–22 deals. Worthy Bonds depend on one issuer. There is no FDIC wrap on these investments.
Why is FarmTogether on a housing crowdfunding list?
Because people search “real estate crowdfunding” and get shown farmland. FarmTogether is $15,000, accredited, permanent-crop land, 5–12 year holds. AcreTrader is the other farmland product we publish ($10,000, accredited). They are adjacent. They are not substitutes for Fundrise or Arrived.
Where should cash I might need actually go?
A high-yield savings account, not a quarterly redemption queue. Crowdfunding windows close in stress. That is when people want out.