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Compare Morningstar Direct and Direct Advisory Suite

Discover which solution is best equipped to support your team’s investment, reporting, and advisory workflows.

Best fit at a glance

Who is it for?

Role	Morningstar Direct	Direct Advisory Suite
Investment researchers	Yes	No
Investment analysts	Yes	No
Portfolio managers (sales)	Yes	No
Portfolio strategists	Yes	No
Risk Analysts	Yes	No
Product teams	Yes	No
Marketing and sales teams	Yes	Partially applicable: Direct Advisory Suite can be used to promote the value firms create via Morningstar's IP and insights.
Financial advisors	No	Yes
Broker-dealers	Yes	Yes
Wirehouses	Yes	Yes
Compliance teams	Partially applicable: While Direct's investment data, research, and analytics can support due diligence and oversight activities, Direct itself isn't a dedicated compliance management platform.	Yes
RIAs	Partially applicable: Morningstar Direct's features cater to investment teams and RIA roles that perform research and analysis rather than individual advisors that construct portfolios for clients.	Yes
Wholesalers	Yes	Yes
Analysts	Yes	No

What do you need to do?

Use case	Morningstar Direct	Direct Advisory Suite
Research investments	Yes	Yes
Build portfolios	Yes	Yes
Build models	Yes	No
Create branded reports	Yes	Yes
Create factsheets and sales decks	Yes	No
Distribute approved content	Yes	Partially applicable: With Direct Advisory Suite, users can distribute approved content to clients via secure connections and per their firm's compliance restrictions.
Build client proposals	No	Yes
Compare client portfolios	Partially applicable: While Morningstar Direct can be used to compare client portfolios, its core use case is performing in-depth portfolio analysis.	Yes
Assess risk profiles	No	Yes
Ensure advisor compliance	Partially applicable: While Direct can help support compliant advice processes with investment data, research, and portfolio analysis, it doesn't ensure or enforce advisor compliance.	Yes
Access AI Assistant	Yes	Yes
Assess asset allocation	Yes	Yes
Build performance reporting	Yes	Yes
Analyze models	Yes	Yes
Conduct manager research	Yes	Yes
Conduct competitive analysis	Yes	Partially applicable: Users of Direct Advisory Suite can show their value by comparing their portfolios with those of their competitors. Direct Advisory Suite does not perform competitive analysis of individual advisors or firms.
Review score cards	Yes	Yes
Perform scenario analysis	Yes	Yes

What output do you want?

Reporting format	Morningstar Direct	Direct Advisory Suite
Fund factsheets	Yes	No
Product reports	Yes	No
Sales presentations	Yes	Partially applicable: While client-facing reports from Direct Advisory Suite can be used to showcase the value of an advisory service, they are not mean to sell stocks, models, or assets.
Model portfolio reports	Yes	Yes
Client proposals	Yes	Yes
Client review reports	Yes	Yes
Risk reports	No	Yes
Compliance documentation	Partially applicable: Direct Advisory Suite offers FINRA-approved templates that are automatically compliant. Clients using Morningstar Direct must verify that their templates are compliant.	Yes
Advisor dashboards	No	Yes
FINRA reviewed reports	No	Yes
Risk model analysis	Yes	No
Risk tolerance questionnaire	No	Yes
Batch reports	Yes	Partially applicable: Users of Direct Advisory Suite can select multiple investments and portfolios and generate reports from those selections.

Table Key

● = Yes

— = No

◐ = Partially Applicable

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