Zoya App Review 2026: The #1 Halal Investing App?

Overview: The Comprehensive Halal Investing Platform

The name "Zoya" is of Slavic origin meaning "life," but was chosen by the founders as a memorable, internationally accessible name for their Islamic finance platform. Since its launch, Zoya has built one of the most engaged communities in the halal investing space, with a strong social media following and an active community within the app itself.

What differentiates Zoya from pure stock screeners like Islamicly is its integrated approach. An investor can use Zoya to screen a stock, add it to their portfolio, track its performance, receive an alert if its Shariah status changes, and then calculate the zakat payable on their equity holdings at the end of the year — all within a single app. This integration reduces friction in the halal investing workflow and makes Zoya particularly valuable for active Muslim investors who manage their own portfolios.

The community aspect is also a genuine differentiator. Zoya's social features allow users to follow other investors, share analysis, discuss specific stocks, and learn from the collective wisdom of a community of halal-focused investors. This creates a Muslim investing equivalent of platforms like StockTwits or the community features of Public.com, but filtered for halal investing.

How Zoya Works

Zoya's workflow is centred on its stock screener. Users search for a stock or ETF by name or ticker, and Zoya returns a compliance report showing whether the security passes or fails the AAOIFI-aligned screen, with detailed data on each criterion including the numerical values for key financial ratios.

For portfolio management, users can build a portfolio within Zoya by adding their stock holdings. The platform tracks the current value and aggregate compliance status of the portfolio, flagging any positions that have changed compliance status. The integration with brokerage accounts (read-only sync) is available in some markets, allowing automatic portfolio import without manual data entry.

For zakat, users navigate to the Zakat section and follow a guided calculation process that uses their portfolio data alongside any manually entered additional assets (cash, gold, silver, business assets, property equity) to generate a comprehensive zakat calculation. Use our standalone Zakat Calculator for a comparison of calculation methodologies.

Screening Methodology

Zoya's screening methodology is AAOIFI-aligned, following the standards of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions — the most widely cited standard-setting body for Islamic finance globally. This gives Zoya's compliance assessments credibility among scholars and investors who prioritise methodological rigour.

Business Activity Screen

Companies primarily engaged in prohibited activities are automatically excluded: alcohol, tobacco, pork, weapons, gambling, pornography, and conventional financial services. For diversified companies with some prohibited revenue, Zoya applies AAOIFI revenue threshold tests. The specific thresholds applied depend on the category of prohibition: more serious prohibitions (like alcohol and pork) have stricter thresholds than lesser prohibitions.

Financial Ratio Screen

Zoya applies three financial ratio tests aligned with AAOIFI Standard 21: (1) Total interest-bearing debt divided by trailing 24-month average market capitalisation — must be below 33%; (2) The sum of cash and interest-bearing assets divided by trailing 24-month average market cap — must be below 33%; (3) Accounts receivable and cash divided by total assets — must be below 70% (or per the specific AAOIFI threshold for the applicable standard). Using trailing 24-month average market cap (rather than current market cap) reduces the volatility of the compliance assessment during periods of rapid share price movement.

Zoya is transparent about its methodology and acknowledges the inherent subjectivity in applying these standards to complex, diversified companies — particularly technology companies with diverse revenue streams and large cash balances. The app provides the underlying data so users can evaluate the compliance decision for themselves, which is more transparent than a simple pass/fail black box.

Key Features

• Stock & ETF Screening: AAOIFI-aligned compliance screening with detailed reports. Free tier includes limited monthly screenings; Premium is unlimited.
• Portfolio Tracking: Build and track a halal portfolio within Zoya. Monitor value, compliance status, and aggregate purification amount.
• Zakat Calculator: Investment-specific zakat calculation based on company zakatable assets per share. Also covers cash, gold, and other asset classes.
• Compliance Alerts: Real-time notifications when a stock in your portfolio changes Shariah compliance status (Premium feature).
• Community: Follow other investors, share stock ideas, discuss halal investing topics, and learn from a curated Muslim investor community.
• Purification Tracker: Tracks cumulative purification amounts across your portfolio, helping you donate the correct amount to charity over time.

Zakat Calculator

The integrated zakat calculator is one of Zoya's most valuable differentiating features. Calculating zakat on a stock portfolio is more complex than calculating zakat on cash or gold: you need to determine what portion of each company's assets per share is "zakatable" (eligible for zakat), which requires access to each company's balance sheet data broken down on a per-share basis.

Zoya handles this calculation automatically. The platform retrieves each company's balance sheet data, calculates the zakatable assets per share (typically cash, accounts receivable, and inventory, divided by shares outstanding), and multiplies this by the number of shares you hold. The result is the zakatable amount attributable to your equity holdings, to which the 2.5% zakat rate is applied.

This method — known as the CRI (Current Receivables and Inventory) method — is endorsed by a majority of contemporary Islamic scholars for individual investors holding shares in publicly listed companies. It is more rigorous than the simpler market-value method (applying 2.5% to the total market value of your portfolio) and typically results in a lower zakat amount, as it excludes the portion of company value attributable to fixed assets and intangibles. Alternatively use our dedicated Zakat Calculator for Investments for comparison.

Pricing

Zoya operates a freemium model. The free tier provides access to a limited number of stock screenings per month, basic portfolio tracking, community access, and limited zakat calculator functionality. This is sufficient for casual investors checking a few stocks periodically.

Zoya Premium (currently priced at approximately $4.99/month or $49.99/year) unlocks unlimited stock and ETF screening, full portfolio tracking and analytics, real-time compliance alerts, the complete investment zakat calculator, detailed compliance reports, and premium community features. The annual plan represents significant savings over monthly billing.

Compared to Islamicly (which offers more features on its free tier) and Musaffa (which has more research depth), Zoya Premium is positioned at a reasonable price point for its feature set. Most active halal investors who manage their own portfolios will find Zoya Premium worthwhile, particularly for the compliance alert functionality and the integrated zakat calculator.

App Experience

Zoya consistently receives some of the highest ratings among halal investing apps on both the App Store and Google Play, typically averaging 4.5–4.7 stars. This reflects genuine satisfaction with the overall experience: the app is well-designed with a modern, clean interface, fast search and screening, and an intuitive navigation structure.

The design language is more polished than competitors, with thoughtful use of Islamic motifs (crescent moon, Arabic calligraphy accents) that reinforce the platform's identity without being heavy-handed. The portfolio dashboard provides a clear overview of holdings with compliance status indicators. The community feed is well-moderated, with substantive investing discussions rather than speculative noise.

Common user complaints are minimal and typically relate to: free tier limitations (users wanting more free screenings), occasional data discrepancies compared to other screening apps, and the desire for direct brokerage integration for automatic portfolio syncing in more regions.

Customer Reviews

Zoya is the most loved halal investing app among the broader Muslim investing community, judging by social media mentions, Reddit discussions, and YouTube coverage. The platform has cultivated a loyal following of Muslim investors who value both the technical quality of the product and Zoya's visible commitment to the Muslim community through its content, events, and educational resources.

Community members frequently highlight the quality of Zoya's investor education content (blog posts, webinars, and in-app explanations of Islamic finance concepts), which helps new investors understand both the "why" (Islamic principles) and the "how" (practical halal investing) simultaneously. This educational positioning makes Zoya particularly effective at converting Muslims who are new to investing into confident, halal-focused investors.

Alternatives

• Islamicly: Best free halal screener with 30,000+ global stocks and the Moons rating. No zakat calculator or community, but much more generous free tier.
• Musaffa: Deeper research functionality including Halal Score, detailed financials, and compliance analytics. More suited to sophisticated stock analysts.
• Wahed Invest: For investors who prefer automated portfolio management over self-directed stock picking. No screening needed; Wahed handles the halal management for you.

Pros & Cons

Who Is Zoya For?

Zoya is the best all-round halal investing app for active investors who manage their own stock portfolio, want a comprehensive platform rather than a single-purpose screener, and appreciate a well-designed experience with community features.

Ideal for: Active investors building and managing their own halal stock portfolio. Muslims who want the zakat calculation integrated with their investment tracking. Community-minded investors who value shared ideas and discussion. US-focused investors (strongest stock coverage). Those who value design quality and UX alongside functional depth.

Less ideal for: International investors needing comprehensive global coverage (Islamicly is stronger). Those wanting the deepest possible research data (Musaffa is stronger). Investors who prefer a completely automated approach (Wahed is more appropriate). Those unwilling to pay a subscription for meaningful access.