Zoya vs Musaffa for NZ Investors (2026): Which Halal Screener Actually Fits?

Here is the fact that frames this whole comparison: no New Zealand investment platform offers any halal screening. Sharesies, Hatch and Tiger Brokers will happily sell you shares in a conventional bank. The compliance layer has to come from an app, and as of our August 7, 2026 verification, exactly two serious candidates are live on the NZ App Store: Zoya (version 2.0.73) and Musaffa (version 2.18.0). Both are free to start. Both apply AAOIFI-based methodologies. They are still meaningfully different tools.

Zoya: the quick answer

Zoya, from US company Investroo Inc., gives instant AAOIFI-based compliance verdicts on stocks worldwide for free. Pro unlocks full ratio-level reports, four alternative screening rulebooks (S&P, MSCI, Dow Jones, FTSE Russell), ETF and mutual fund look-through screening, compliance change alerts, and zakat and purification tools with three published methods. Oversight is by named advisors: Sheikh Joe Bradford (AAOIFI CSAA certified, formerly of Al Rajhi Bank) and Sheikh Umer Khan.

Its NZ limits are two. First, the NZX is not covered at all: Zoya cannot screen any locally listed share. Second, its in-app brokerage linking runs through US, Canadian and Australian brokers, not NZ platforms, so portfolio tracking for Sharesies or Hatch users is manual. On price, watch the App Store markup: headline Pro tiers listed at NZD 27.49 per month or NZD 149.99 per year on the NZ App Store, against a pay-what-you-think-is-fair web checkout anchored around USD 9 to 11 per month. Buy on the web.

Musaffa: the research desk

Musaffa, from Musaffa LLC in New York, screens more than 120,000 stocks and ETFs across 60+ markets against AAOIFI standards, with detailed ratio-level compliance reports, three-year compliance history, a letter-grade style ranking system, purification and zakat calculators, and 100+ screener filters. Its methodology is reviewed by Shariah advisors the company states include a sitting AAOIFI board member, and the screening doctrine, including its no-purification-on-capital-gains position and 90-day grace period, is published in unusual detail.

The headline NZ advantage: Musaffa is the only screener with any NZX coverage at all. It is partial and inconsistent, and each local ticker must be checked individually, but partial beats nothing in a market with no domestic halal equity products beyond AE Investor. Pricing via the NZ App Store starts at NZD 7.99 per month or NZD 79 per year for Foundation, rising to NZD 299.99 and NZD 449 per year for the Pro and Premium Plus tiers. Web pricing anchors lower, with a free first year frequently offered on Foundation.

Head to head

Which one for which investor

• You buy a handful of US-listed names through Sharesies or Hatch and want a fast, trustworthy verdict before each order: Zoya. The free tier alone covers most of what you need.
• You hold or want NZX-listed shares: Musaffa, because nothing else can see the NZX at all. Verify each ticker individually and accept that some will show as not covered.
• You want depth: compliance history, ratio breakdowns, halal alternatives, comparison tools. Musaffa's research features justify its Foundation tier for active investors.
• You cannot decide: run both free tiers. They cost nothing, and a second opinion on marginal stocks is genuinely useful because AAOIFI implementations differ at the edges.

The honest caveats for both

Setting up the NZ workflow

Whichever app you choose, the working setup for a New Zealand investor looks the same. Buy the subscription through the web checkout rather than the NZ App Store, where both products list materially higher prices; the App Store convenience costs real money annually for identical features. Build your watchlist in the app first, screen every candidate before it ever reaches your platform's buy screen, and turn on compliance change alerts if your tier includes them, because a portfolio screened once is only compliant as of that date. For ETFs, use the look-through screening rather than assuming an index fund is clean; mainstream indices are full of banks, and both apps will show you the underlying holdings verdict.

Running both free tiers together is a legitimate strategy, not indecision. The apps implement AAOIFI with different data pipelines and different judgment calls at the margins, so a stock that passes on one and fails on the other is telling you something useful: it is a borderline case, and borderline cases are exactly where a cautious investor either digs into the ratio detail or simply picks a cleaner alternative. Treat agreement between the two apps as reasonable assurance and disagreement as a flag, and you have built a second opinion into your process for free.

Finally, keep expectations calibrated on portfolio tracking. Neither app links to Sharesies, Hatch or Tiger accounts, so your holdings list lives in the app only if you maintain it by hand. Five minutes after each trade keeps the alerts meaningful; skip it and the compliance monitoring quietly monitors a portfolio you no longer own.

Neither app custodies your money, which keeps the risk profile clean, but it also means neither can see your NZ platform portfolio automatically: tracking is manual either way. Both are cheaper on the web than through Apple's checkout. And both are verdict engines, not muftis: for edge cases like employer share schemes or exotic ETFs, the published methodologies are the thing to read, and a scholar is the person to ask. For how the screening math actually works, read our AAOIFI screening guide, and for the full local context, start at the investing hub.