What is Composer?
Composer (composer.trade) is a no-code automated trading platform: you describe a strategy in natural language or assemble it visually, backtest it, and deploy it. Execution happens inside Composer's own brokerage (Composer Securities), with a Trading Pass around $24/month billed annually that includes unlimited automated trading with zero commissions and zero management fees. The company reports its strategies power over $215 million in automated trades per day. For self-contained rule-based strategies, it is a polished product.
What is Tengu?
Tengu is the AI portfolio manager that connects 25+ brokerages, including Robinhood, Schwab, Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Coinbase, and Kraken, and executes the trades you approve through your own broker. Never custodial. Strategies from Tengu's marketplace (congressional trade tracking, 13F mirroring, AI model strategies) deploy to the accounts you already have; the AI researches with cited data and every order passes risk gates before reaching your broker.
See it on your own portfolio: connect a broker and ask Tengu anything about your money.
Try Tengu freeTengu vs Composer: the comparison
| Composer | Tengu | |
|---|---|---|
| Where strategies execute | Composer's own brokerage (custodial) | Your existing brokerages (non-custodial) |
| Must move your money | Yes, into Composer Securities | No, funds stay where they are |
| Sees your other accounts | No | Yes, whole-portfolio view |
| Strategy creation | No-code builder + backtests | Marketplace of live strategies + AI research; backtesting in Platform |
| Conversational AI grounded in your positions | Limited | Core product, with citations |
| Risk gates | Strategy rules | Position limits, leverage caps, drawdown breakers on every order |
| Price | ~$24/mo (annual) | Free start; Chat $20/mo; Platform $149/mo |
The custody question, plainly
Composer's model requires transferring funds into Composer Securities; your automated capital lives there. That is a legitimate model, but your automation is only as broad as the money you moved, and you now have one more account to track. Tengu inverts this. The automation comes to where your money already is: your Schwab stays Schwab, your Robinhood stays Robinhood, and the strategies, rebalancing, and AI act across all of them. If you are consolidating your financial life rather than adding another account to it, that inversion is the whole point. It is also the structural base of the AI family office Tengu is building.
When Composer is the right choice
If you want to hand-build rule-based strategies with a polished visual editor and are happy running them on dedicated capital in a separate account, Composer's builder and backtester are excellent, and its flat $24/month is good value for that job.
When Tengu is the right choice
If you want automation and AI on the accounts you already have, choose Tengu. You get research that cites its sources, strategies you subscribe to rather than build, and a portfolio-level brain across every broker. Custody never moves a dollar. That is the category: the AI portfolio manager that trades with your broker.