Tool comparison

Zoya vs Musaffa: Halal Stock Screener Comparison

Zoya and Musaffa are the two best-known halal stock screening apps. Both apply AAOIFI-style Shariah screening to stocks and ETFs, both offer free tiers, and both add purification and zakat tools on paid plans. They differ in coverage, rating detail, and what else they try to be. This page compares them feature by feature, using only what each company publishes about itself.

By the Canadian Halal Investor Editorial Team · Updated October 1, 2026

At a glance

Zoya: the focused screener

Zoya is a halal investing app (iOS and Android, with stock pages on the web) built around one job: telling you whether a stock or ETF passes Shariah screening, and showing the numbers behind the answer. We use it ourselves — it is the screening engine behind the DIY recommendations on this site, and we reviewed it in depth in our Zoya review.

How it screens. Zoya applies AAOIFI-style screening: a business-activity screen that filters out companies with impermissible revenue above tolerance (typically up to 5%), and financial-ratio screens that filter out companies carrying excessive interest-based debt. Each stock gets a rating — compliant, questionable, or non-compliant — with an in-depth report showing the ratio breakdown. The detail is the point: a compliant rating at 4.8% impermissible revenue tells a different story than one at 0.2%, and Zoya shows you which one you are looking at.

Where it stands out. Two features separate Zoya from a simple halal-stock list. First, ETF look-through: Zoya filters the underlying holdings of thousands of ETFs and mutual funds by compliance status, so you can see what percentage of an ETF is actually compliant before buying it — essential for funds like WSHR, which we cover in our halal ETF comparison. Second, purification: every holding shows a purification ratio, the portion of dividends considered impermissible income to donate to charity.

Portfolio features. Connect your brokerage account and Zoya imports your holdings, tracks portfolio-level compliance, and sends email alerts when a company's status changes. Zakat is equally practical: import your holdings and Zoya automates the zakat calculation on your stocks, and it publishes a free zakat calculator for stocks on the web. Zoya also lets you place trades through your existing broker without leaving the app, with fractional shares from $1.

Pricing. Core screening — compliance ratings for thousands of stocks, ETF look-through, and basic reports — is free. Zoya's official help center lists Zoya Pro at $14.99 per month or $119.99 per year for users in the United States; pricing for users outside the US differs by location, so check the App Store or Google Play for Canadian pricing. Pro unlocks deeper portfolio analytics, advanced alerts, and expanded zakat features. For most DIY investors, the free tier covers the essential job: checking a stock or ETF's compliance before buying.

Musaffa: the global platform

Musaffa is a halal investing platform (web and mobile apps with synced data) that combines Shariah screening with investment research, education, and managed portfolios. It reports over 600,000 Muslim users across 200+ countries, a 4.8 app rating from 8,000+ reviews, and a #2 Islamic Fintech in the USA ranking from Salaam Gateway (2024).

How it screens. Musaffa evaluates stocks using what it describes as a comprehensive Shariah screening methodology based on AAOIFI standards, with direct Shariah scholar oversight. Its stated differentiator is analyst depth: beyond the regular financial-statement overview, its analyst teams examine the footnotes of company earnings to determine compliance, and statuses are updated as new quarterly financial reports are released. Each stock or ETF is classified as Halal (green), Doubtful (orange), or Not Halal (red), with a Halal Rating from C− (weaker compliance, closer to doubtful) to A+ (very strong compliance). Up to three years of Shariah compliance history is shown per company.

Coverage. This is Musaffa's biggest structural advantage over Zoya: 150+ markets, 137,318 screened stocks and 8,259 screened ETFs (figures as published by Musaffa; counts change as coverage grows). For Canadians specifically, Musaffa's coverage page lists 3,159 Canadian stocks — 403 rated halal — and 1,281 Canadian ETFs with 10 rated halal. If you invest in Canadian-listed stocks, Musaffa is currently the more useful of the two screeners.

The MISRI score. Musaffa's distinctive extra is the MISRI score (Musaffa Islamic Social Responsibility Investing), a 0–100 rating measuring Islamic social responsibility beyond bare halal status: community impact and social controversies, labor practices and human rights, product and sector involvement, environmental responsibility, and ethical governance. A company can be Shariah compliant yet score low on MISRI — a useful second lens for investors who care about more than the compliance gate.

Free vs Premium. Musaffa's free tier is generous for screening: unlimited halal-status checks, unlimited detailed Shariah compliance reports, unlimited compliance history, unlimited MISRI scores, Shariah compliance filters, 10 stock-coverage requests per day, a watchlist, and compliance alerts. The paid Premium plan adds what the company calls in-depth screening and advanced portfolio analytics: automated zakat and purification calculators, broker-linked portfolio tracking and trading (in eligible countries), unlimited manual portfolios and watchlists, super-investor portfolios, stock forecasts, analyst ratings, daily questions to Shariah scholars, and Musaffa Learn courses. Musaffa does not publish the Premium price on its pricing page, so we could not verify the cost — check the app before subscribing.

Managed portfolios. Musaffa also offers halal managed portfolios for investors who want a done-for-you option. It presents itself as an SEC-registered investment adviser with assets protected up to $500,000 by SIPC — a US regulatory framing. Canadians should confirm whether the managed offering and brokerage integrations are available in Canada before relying on them.

Head-to-head: where they differ

Screening philosophy. Both follow AAOIFI-style rules — business-activity screening plus financial ratios — so on most large, clearly-compliant or clearly-non-compliant companies the two apps will agree. They can disagree at the margins, because each applies its own data pipeline, analyst judgment, and update timing. Musaffa's three-tier status (Halal / Doubtful / Not Halal) plus a C−-to-A+ grade gives more granularity than Zoya's three ratings, and the MISRI score adds a social-responsibility dimension Zoya does not attempt. Treat any single badge as a starting point and read the ratio breakdown — on either app.

Coverage. Zoya's strength is depth on US stocks and ETFs. Musaffa's strength is breadth: 150+ markets including dedicated Canadian coverage. For a Canadian investor screening TSX stocks, that is the single biggest practical difference on this page.

Cost. Both do the core job free. Zoya publishes Pro pricing ($14.99/month or $119.99/year in the US; differs elsewhere). Musaffa's free tier covers unlimited screening and reports, but the Premium price is not published — a transparency gap worth knowing about before you build a workflow around paid features.

Scope. Zoya stays close to screening: screen, track, purify, calculate zakat. Musaffa wants to be the whole investing home: screening plus research, education, and managed portfolios. Broader is not automatically better — it means more surface area to evaluate, and features like managed portfolios and brokerage trading may not extend to Canada.

Limits of app-based screening

Whichever app you use, four caveats apply:

1. Screens lag filings. Both apps update from published financial statements. A company's numbers can change between filings; a badge reflects the last data the app processed, not today.
2. Standards differ. AAOIFI-style screening is a family of methods, not one formula. Different apps, index providers, and scholars make different judgment calls — especially on diversified companies and the treatment of borderline revenue. Disagreement between apps is normal, not a sign one is broken.
3. A badge is not a fatwa. These are factual outputs of published screening rules. Personal rulings — especially on edge cases — belong to qualified scholars. See our Ask a Scholar page.
4. Screening is only half the job. A halal rating says nothing about whether a stock is a good investment. Valuation, diversification, and your own financial situation still matter.

For background on how screening works in general, see our Shariah screening methodology page — the same two-gate logic behind all 450+ of our stock screeners.

Which should you use?

• Use Zoya if you invest mainly in US stocks and ETFs, want deep ETF look-through and per-holding purification ratios, and like a focused tool that does one job well. The free tier covers the essentials; the workflow pairs naturally with a Canadian brokerage — screen in Zoya, trade in Questrade or Wealthsimple Trade.
• Use Musaffa if you screen Canadian or other non-US stocks, want the MISRI social-responsibility lens, or prefer an all-in-one platform with research, education, and (where available) managed portfolios.
• Use both if you want a second opinion: run the same ticker through each app and compare the ratio breakdowns. When they disagree, the footnotes and reports — not the badge — tell you why.

No affiliate links appear on this page: we link to neither app with commission, and our Zoya review explains our own workflow in full.