Best Trading Journal Software 2026: 6 Tools Compared

There is no best trading journal, only the one that fits your broker, your markets and your budget. Every provider calls itself the number one. What actually decides whether you keep using a journal is simpler: do your trades get in automatically, are costs included, can you try it first and can you take your data with you.

We compared six tools on exactly those points. On October 3, 2026 we checked each provider’s pricing page, terms and help center, and we rechecked prices and terms on October 6 and October 25: Edgewonk, TradesViz, Trademetria, TraderSync, Tradervue and TradeZella. This is a documentation comparison, not a hands-on test; four of the tools have their own detailed review, linked below. This article follows our editorial policy.

Trading journal software in 30 seconds

• Free options: a spreadsheet, the free plans of TradesViz (stocks only), Trademetria (30 orders a month) and Tradervue (30 trades a month).
• Cheapest paid plans: about $20 a month at TradesViz and Trademetria; Edgewonk sells $35 a month or $197 for 12 months.
• Refunds are rare: only Edgewonk advertises a 14-day refund period. TradeZella, TraderSync and TradesViz state that they do not refund, and Tradervue’s sign-up page says all sales are final.
• Automatic sync varies widely: on TraderSync’s list 195 of 503 entries were marked for autosync (October 25, 2026), on Tradervue’s 5 of 82 (October 3, 2026). Check your own broker before anything else.
• Watch the costs: on some cheaper plans, commissions and fees are not tracked, so results look better than your account.

Which journal fits you? A decision guide

What matters most to you right now?

• Start free and keep full control of your data→Spreadsheet
• A free journal for stocks with automatic sync→TradesViz
• One price for all features, a refund period and a focus on psychology→Edgewonk
• Automatic sync with Interactive Brokers, Schwab or Tradovate, and a trial→TraderSync
• Low monthly price with costs tracked from the free plan→Trademetria
• Several prop firm accounts and Prop Firm Sync→TradeZella
• US day trading with charts and a mentor→Tradervue

A starting point, not a ranking. Check your broker on the provider's list before you pay.

Comparison table: price, free plan and refunds

Tool	Cheapest paid plan	Free access, trial or refund
Edgewonk	$35 a month or $197 a year	14-day refund period after purchase
TradesViz	$19.99 a month	free plan, 7-day trial
Trademetria	$19.95 a month	free plan, feature test
TraderSync	$29.95 a month	7-day trial
Tradervue	$29.95 a month	free plan, 7-day trial
TradeZella	$35 a month	none

Prices in US dollars from each provider’s pricing page, rechecked October 25, 2026, before tax. Yearly billing is cheaper at most providers; details in the sections below.

• TradesViz Pro$19.99per month
• Trademetria Basic$19.95per month
• TraderSync Pro$29.95per month
• Tradervue Silver$29.95per month
• TradeZella Essential$35.00per month
• Edgewonk$35.00per month, or $197 a year

Prices rechecked October 25, 2026, before tax. Edgewonk also sells 12 months for $197, about $16.40 a month paid up front.

How we compared the tools

We used the same five questions for every tool. They come from what makes a journal work in practice, as described in our guide on how to keep a trading journal.

1. Import: which brokers connect automatically, which need a file upload, and is your market supported?
2. Costs: are commissions and fees included in the results, and on which plan?
3. Price and terms: what do you pay, is there a free plan, a trial or a refund?
4. Data portability: can you export your trades if you leave?
5. Evidence: what did we verify on the provider’s own pages, and what is only advertised?

We did not rank the tools or give stars. A journal that is ideal for a US day trader with DAS Trader can be useless for a swing trader at a European broker.

Broker counts are the providers’ own list entries on the date given. They count brokers and platforms, sometimes the same broker twice, and each provider builds its list differently. A tick for automatic sync is the provider’s statement, not a connection we tested, and some limits count executions, others orders or grouped trades. Treat the numbers as a way to find your broker, not as a ranking.

The six tools in detail

Edgewonk: monthly or yearly, with a refund period

Edgewonk sells one feature set for $35 a month or $197 for 12 months. EU and UK buyers pay VAT on top. It has no trial, but it is the only tool here that advertises a 14-day refund period. The focus is on trading psychology: an automatic weekly Edge Finder scan, a Tiltmeter for rule breaks and session report cards.

• Import: auto sync for MetaTrader 4 and 5 brokers and prop firms; most other brokers, including Interactive Brokers, by fast file import.
• Costs: commissions and fees are listed as a feature.
• Limits: no app, a manual backtester where you enter test outcomes yourself, and no login after you cancel.

Full details in our Edgewonk review.

TradesViz: a free plan for stocks with automatic sync

TradesViz offers a free plan with automatic sync, but only for stocks. The free Basic plan imports up to 3,000 executions a month (single fills, not trades) for one account. Pro costs $19.99 a month ($14.99 billed yearly), Platinum $29.99 ($22.49 yearly), according to the TradesViz pricing page.

• Import: “250+ supported brokers and platforms, with 70+ auto-sync connections”, according to its broker list. Separately, the provider offers sync through Plaid for “3,000+ US and Canadian brokers and banks”; that is a different route, so we do not add it to the native connections.
• Costs: commission and fee tracking is not part of the free plan, and neither is export.
• Price and terms: 7-day trial for Pro and Platinum. The FAQ says plainly: “We do not offer refunds for any subscription purchases.”
• Extras: a large statistics library and a free daily simulator (the “Daily Drill”) on every plan; the full trading simulator and Trade Replay are in Platinum only.

Our view: a strong free starting point for stock traders. Once you need costs, other markets or exports, you are in a paid plan.

Trademetria: low price, costs tracked early

Trademetria is the cheapest monthly option here and tracks commissions and fees even on the free plan. The free plan allows 30 orders a month and one account. Basic costs $19.95 a month ($169 a year), Pro $29.95 ($249 a year), according to the Trademetria pricing page.

• Import: “140+ brokers”, according to the provider. Automatic broker sync is a Pro feature; Free and Basic import by file.
• Export: from Basic upward; not on the free plan.
• Price and terms: you can test all features for 200 page views. Refunds are only issued if coding errors persist that the team cannot fix.

Our view: good value if you import by file anyway. You also get costs in your numbers from the start.

TraderSync: broad documented automatic sync

TraderSync documents automatic sync for a broad range of brokers. On October 25, 2026 its broker list had 503 entries, and 195 were marked for autosync, including Interactive Brokers, Charles Schwab, TradeStation, Tradovate, tastytrade, NinjaTrader, MetaTrader 4 and 5, and Zerodha in India. Robinhood, Webull and Fidelity need file uploads.

• Price: $29.95, $49.95 or $79.95 a month. On October 25, 2026 the yearly plans were advertised as a special offer at $179.64, $269.64 and $383.76, against list prices of $359.40, $599.40 and $959.40; no end date is given.
• Terms: a 7-day trial with exports locked; after that “all payments made are non-refundable”.
• Extras: Market Replay in every plan (1-minute precision on Pro), the Cypher AI assistant with 5 to 60 messages a day. Which plans replay options is stated differently on the pricing page.

Full details in our TraderSync review.

Tradervue: charts and mentoring for US day traders

Tradervue is built for US day traders who share their journal with a mentor. Silver costs $29.95 and Gold $49.95 a month; a free plan allows 30 trades a month.

• Import: only 5 of 82 listed brokers imported automatically when we counted on October 3, 2026; Interactive Brokers works by file upload. Stocks and options are supported on US markets only; futures cover Eurex and ICE too.
• Costs: commissions, fees and net P&L require Gold. Silver reports results before costs.
• Terms: a 7-day trial that turns into a charge unless you switch to the free plan; the sign-up page says “All sales are final - no refund”. Cancelling means choosing the Free plan under Plans and Billing.

Full details in our Tradervue review.

TradeZella: Prop Firm Sync, but no way to try

TradeZella combines AI agents and Prop Firm Sync, but has no free plan, no trial and no refunds. Since July 2026 Essential costs $35, Pro $59 and Ultra $99 a month, about 25 percent less billed yearly.

• Import: “500+ brokers and platforms” according to the provider, by auto sync or file upload depending on the broker.
• Limits: Essential connects one account and has no Trade Replay; what else it includes is stated differently on the pricing page. The terms state a “no refund policy after sign-up”.
• Extras: AI agents for tagging and session reviews, CSV export of trades.

Full details in our TradeZella review.

A spreadsheet first

For many traders, a spreadsheet is the right first journal. Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc cost nothing, Excel works if you already have a licence, and the data is yours. Formulas, filters, pivot tables and CSV imports can produce most of the reports journal software sells, but you set them up and maintain them yourself, including date formats, which depend on your import settings.

Switch to software when setup and manual logging become the bottleneck. That is usually when you trade daily or run several accounts: journal software packages the imports and reports into a ready workflow. Our journal guide has a column list you can copy into a sheet.

Four checks before you pay for any journal

• Your broker on the list: look up your broker on the provider’s own list and note whether it syncs automatically or needs a file.
• Costs included: make sure commissions and fees are tracked on the plan you buy.
• Reconcile once: compare the journal’s totals with your broker statement for the same month.
• Exit plan: check that you can export your trades, and save them before you cancel.

Tools we left out

We focused on tools that work for an international, English-speaking reader. Two journals from our German edition are not included here: Visual Trading Journal, a German-language tool that imports from Interactive Brokers and its German resellers, and FlowTrader AI, a new German-language journal without broker import at the time of writing. Both are covered on our German site.

Conclusion: start with your broker, not the feature list

The right journal is the one your trades flow into without daily work. If your broker syncs automatically with a tool, that tool will probably get used; if not, even the best reports stay empty.

Our suggestion: build the habit first, then pay for software. Start with a spreadsheet or a free plan. When you move to paid software, check the broker list first, then costs, then refund terms.

Each tool fits a different starting point. TraderSync if your broker is among its documented autosync connections, Edgewonk for one feature set with a refund period, TradesViz or Trademetria for a low price, TradeZella if you want Prop Firm Sync and accept buying without a trial, Tradervue if you are a US day trader with a supported platform.

Frequently asked questions about trading journal software

What is the best trading journal software?

There is no single best one; it depends on your broker and markets. For broad documented autosync, look at TraderSync; for a free stock journal, TradesViz; for one feature set, monthly or yearly, with a refund period, Edgewonk.

Is there a free trading journal?

Yes, several free options exist. A spreadsheet is free, and TradesViz (stocks only, 3,000 executions a month), Trademetria (30 orders a month) and Tradervue (30 trades a month) have free plans with limits.

Which trading journal syncs with Interactive Brokers?

TraderSync lists Interactive Brokers with automatic sync. At Edgewonk, Tradervue and Trademetria’s lower plans, Interactive Brokers trades come in by file upload. TradeZella lists it too; its broker page shows which method applies.

Which trading journals offer refunds?

Only Edgewonk advertises a 14-day refund period. TradeZella, TraderSync and TradesViz say they do not refund, and Tradervue’s sign-up page says all sales are final; Trademetria refunds only for unresolved coding errors.

Do trading journals track commissions and fees?

Most do, but not on every plan. TradesViz does not on its free plan, and Tradervue only on Gold. Check this before you buy, because results without costs look better than your account.

This comparison was written by Karsten Kagels. It is based on the providers’ own pages checked on October 3, 6 and 25, 2026, not on paid accounts or hands-on tests. Prices and features change; check the provider’s pages before you buy. This is not investment advice.