Cheap trading journal alternatives
| Product | Cheapest paid plan | Free plan | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Trading Journal | €5 / month (Pro) | Yes — 10 trades/month, forever | AI screenshot logging, TradingView webhooks, CSV import, MFE/MAE, emotion and rule tracking. Pro+ €12/month unlimited. |
| TraderSync | $29.95 / month (Pro) | No free plan — 7-day trial | Broker sync across many platforms; cheaper billed annually. |
| TradeZella | $35 / month (Essential) | No free plan | Backtesting plus journalling; annual billing lowers the monthly figure. |
| Tradervue | Paid tiers up to $49.95 / month (Gold) | Yes — limited free plan | Long-established, equities-focused, plainer interface. |
| TradesViz | Paid tiers listed from $179 upwards | Yes — free plan | Very deep charting and analytics; the most complex option here. |
| Edgewonk | $169 one-off style purchase | No free plan — money-back guarantee | Strong on psychology and expectancy; manual-entry oriented. |
Competitor figures were taken from each vendor's own public pricing page in 2026 and are shown in the currency they publish. Plans change — check the linked page before deciding. Annual billing usually reduces the monthly figure.
How to choose
Pick on the thing that stops you journalling. If it is effort, choose the tool with the fastest logging path — screenshot paste with automatic ticker, timeframe, time and entry extraction beats any form. If it is cost, note that a $35/month journal costs about $420 a year, which for most retail accounts is a meaningful share of expected profit.
If you need institutional-grade backtesting or dozens of direct broker connections, the expensive platforms earn their price. If you need discipline data — R-multiple, MFE/MAE, emotion tags, rules followed versus broken, per-instrument statistics — the cheap option is not a compromise.
Where we are honest about limits
- No strategy backtesting engine — this is a journal, not a research platform.
- No direct broker order connection; data arrives via webhooks, CSV or read-only API keys.
- The product is in beta, so expect frequent changes and please send feedback.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest trading journal?
- Simple Trading Journal is among the cheapest: free forever up to 10 trades a month, Pro at €5/month for 300 trades and 300 AI chart analyses, and Pro+ at €12/month for unlimited use. Most established competitors start around $29–35 per month.
- Is a free trading journal good enough?
- For fewer than ten trades a month, yes — a free plan covers position logging, R-multiple, emotion tags and rule tracking. You mainly outgrow it on volume and on AI screenshot analyses rather than on features.
- What do I give up by choosing a cheaper journal?
- Mostly breadth of direct broker connections and very deep backtesting suites. Simple Trading Journal covers TradingView webhooks, CSV statement import for MT4/MT5, IBKR, cTrader and Tradovate, and read-only crypto exchange keys, but it is not a backtesting platform.
- Can I cancel or get a refund?
- Yes. Plans are monthly with no setup fee, cancel anytime from the subscription page, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Stop guessing. Start journaling.
Log a trade from a chart screenshot in seconds. Free plan forever, Pro from €5/month.