Free Trading Journal Apps: Current Options and How to Choose
Compare current permanent-free trading journal apps and a separate free-trial option by their stated limits, imports, accounts, scope, and portability.
Free trading journal apps can be useful when they preserve the record you actually need to review—not merely a list of winners and losers. This guide compares four products that currently publish permanent $0 plans: StonkJournal, TradesViz, Tradervue, and Trademetria. TraderSync appears separately because it offers a seven-day free trial, not a free-forever plan.12[^tradervue-quota][^trademetria]3
The right choice depends on the job. A free journal can be enough for factual trade history, basic tagging, and a regular review. It is less likely to fit when the fields, imports, access, or export you need sit behind a paid tier. Before creating an account, compare the stated limits and test a representative record yourself: plan, actual trade, exception, retrieval, and export.
This is a free-access comparison, not a general answer to every journal workflow; for import-centered automation, use the automated trading journal guide.
Quick answer
For a permanent free trading journal, investigate StonkJournal first if unlimited manual logging and unlimited accounts matter most. TradesViz is relevant when a large free stock-import allowance matters, but its Basic tier is stock-only and limited to one account. Tradervue has a permanent free plan with a quota of 30 imported logical trades per calendar month. Trademetria’s $0 plan lists 30 imported orders per month and one account. TraderSync is a seven-day trial, not a free-forever option. None is universally best: the practical choice depends on whether you need manual entry, imports, account separation, export, or behavioral review context.12[^tradervue-quota][^trademetria]3
Free trading journal apps at a glance
The table reports current vendor-published terms, not hands-on independent testing, a security audit, or a ranking. Plans can change; check the linked official pages immediately before signing up.
| App | Permanent free plan? | Main free limit | Markets / material scope | Import method or restriction | Account limit | Export / portability note | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| StonkJournal1 | Yes | Unlimited manual trades | Stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, indices | Manual entry on Free; CSV import is Pro | Unlimited accounts | No free-tier export statement verified on the reviewed page | A trader who wants no-cap manual logging across accounts |
| TradesViz2 | Yes | 3,000 executions/month | Stocks only on Basic | Stock imports on Basic; other asset imports are paid | 1 account/portfolio | No Basic export entitlement asserted here | A stock trader prioritising a large stated import allowance |
| Tradervue[^tradervue-pricing] | Yes | 30 imported logical trades/calendar month | Vendor describes stock, options, futures, and forex support | Quota applies to grouped logical trades, not individual executions | Not verified for Free in the reviewed sources | Export is shown on the pricing comparison; confirm Free-tier availability before relying on it | A lower-frequency trader who wants to test an established import workflow |
| Trademetria[^trademetria] | Yes | 30 imported orders/month | Equities, options, futures, forex, crypto, CFDs | Vendor lists manual, CSV, and API import paths; plan caps imports | 1 account | Vendor lists trade export on Free | A light-use trader needing broad stated market scope and export |
Paid trading journal with a free trial: TraderSync
TraderSync3 publishes a seven-day trial for its paid plans, not a permanent free tier. Its support documentation says the trial excludes CSV trade export.4 That can still be useful for evaluating a paid workflow, but treat cancellation terms and the inability to test export as part of the trial decision—not as a free-journal feature.
How these free trading journals were compared
This comparison uses current publicly stated vendor terms only. It evaluates whether a plan is permanently free; its trade, order, or execution limits; account limits; stated market scope; manual versus imported records; export or data-portability statements; whether a record can plausibly retain review context; and the material boundaries that require an upgrade. It does not represent hands-on independent product testing, nor does it infer a capability where the vendor page did not state one. A published feature list is a starting point for testing your own workflow, not evidence that every broker, trade structure, or export will work as you expect.
Choose the free option from the question you need to answer
“Free” is a price condition, not a review category. Decide what evidence must survive the journal before comparing dashboards or AI labels.
| Review question | Minimum record | What to test in the free tier |
|---|---|---|
| What did I trade and what did it cost? | Instrument, time, direction, size, entry, exit, fees, result | Can it handle your usual trade structure and corrections? |
| Did a setup meet its own definition? | Setup criteria, market context, invalidation, outcome | Can the original definition remain attached to the trade? |
| Did actual risk match planned risk? | Planned risk, actual size, session state, changes | Can the plan be recorded before the result and retrieved later? |
| Where does an existing rule drift? | Rule, trigger, planned response, actual action, rule status | Can the record show the decision context rather than only P&L? |
One product does not have to answer all four questions. A factual trade log may be enough for reconciliation. A setup review needs stable classifications. A behavioral review needs the plan and action to remain distinct. The trading journal app guide explains these broader workflow categories; this page focuses on the paid-versus-free access decision.
How to test a free journal before moving your history
Use a short, representative test instead of importing every past trade immediately. The point is to discover whether the free tier can preserve a complete record for your own review—not to evaluate a strategy or promise better results.
1. Enter an ordinary trade and an awkward one
Use a typical trade, then add the case your current process handles badly: a partial exit, a changed size, a re-entry after a loss, or a multi-leg position. Confirm that the free tier can represent both without reducing them to a vague note.
2. Preserve the plan before the outcome
For a reviewable record, keep the setup conditions, planned risk, invalidation, and applicable rule separate from later P&L. This reduces the temptation to redefine the decision after learning how it ended. Baron and Hershey’s decision-evaluation research found that outcome information affected evaluations of decisions under uncertainty. It does not establish how an individual trader will judge a trade; it supports keeping the original standard visible for later review.
3. Make one correction
Amend an incorrect import, add a missing fee, or correct a partial exit. Check whether the journal preserves an understandable history of the record and whether the correction leaves the original plan intact. A polished dashboard is not much help if a routine correction makes the evidence unreliable.
4. Retrieve one pattern
Search for a question you expect to ask after a week or month. Examples include: “Which trades used more than planned risk?” or “How often did I enter after my written session cutoff?” If the tool cannot retrieve the minimum evidence for your question, it may still be a good trade log—but it is not the journal you need for that analysis.
For an example of how factual, setup, execution, and behavioral entries differ, see four trade journal examples. A useful label should describe the observable gap, such as “entry after cutoff,” rather than turn one trade into a psychological diagnosis.
5. Test departure before committing
Export the sample if the tier permits it, then open the file outside the product. Verify that dates, trade details, notes, tags, rule status, and any essential context survive in a format you can use. When export is unavailable—as TraderSync states for its free trial—treat that as a trial constraint, not proof that the product is unusable.4
If you cannot test export yet, write down exactly which records would be difficult to reconstruct. That turns “I might be locked in” into a specific decision about whether the trial is acceptable.
Free forever, free trial, and free spreadsheet are different choices
These terms are often mixed together, but they create different risks and opportunities.
| Option | What it can be good for | What to verify before relying on it |
|---|---|---|
| Free-forever app tier | Sustained low-cost logging within published limits | Feature caps, import limits, historical access, exports, and terms that may change |
| Free trial | Testing a fuller workflow for a limited period | Trial length, credit-card requirement, export restrictions, renewal price, and cancellation steps |
| Spreadsheet | A fully controlled field structure for a simple review | Whether manual entry and retrieval remain practical as records grow |
A spreadsheet is not inferior merely because it lacks automation. It can be the best free option when you need a few defined fields and can reliably maintain them. Conversely, a free app is not automatically better because it imports transactions. Imported fills may not preserve the setup, risk method, or rule that applied before an entry.
Check privacy and commercial terms separately from the feature list
Trade journals can contain account-related information, trading times, market interests, screenshots, and personal notes. Feature availability says little about how a provider collects, uses, retains, or secures that information. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission advises consumers to review a website or app’s privacy policy or terms to understand what information is collected, how it is used, and how it is protected.5
For each candidate, review the provider’s current privacy policy, terms, security information, data-retention explanation, deletion process, and support channel. Then check the exact plan conditions: whether an introductory offer becomes paid, whether imports or exports are limited, and which features require an upgrade. Do not assume a plan is free forever because an old article or comparison said so.
When a free journal is enough—and when it is not
A free workflow is enough when it lets you keep the minimum complete record, retrieve the pattern you need, and remain comfortable with its commercial and data terms. Upgrade only when a concrete missing capability blocks that work; when one does, the comparison of paid trading journal software shows which named products address which capability rather than which has the longest feature list.
Typical reasons to move beyond a free tier include:
- a trade structure or correction you need cannot be captured;
- imports, history, or exports are capped below your real workflow;
- the original plan cannot remain separate from the outcome;
- a needed pattern cannot be retrieved without manual rework; or
- your main problem occurs before or during a decision, but the journal only helps after the fact.
The final point is not a criticism of retrospective journals. They remain useful for trade history, setup analysis, and review. But when a known rule becomes negotiable under pressure, a later note may identify the pattern without changing the live decision. Why trading journals do not fix rule-breaking by themselves explains that timing gap.
Where Costante fits
Costante is not a free trading journal app. It is paid subscription software, with current pricing on the Costante pricing page. It is designed for discretionary traders who already have a defined method and need a behavioral-performance workflow around it: session planning, self-defined guardrails, pre-trade and in-session checks, low-friction logging, and structured review of execution drift.
Costante does not connect to brokers or exchanges, import or route orders, provide signals, validate a strategy, decide whether a trade should be placed, or block a trade. It does not guarantee discipline, profitability, or trading outcomes. If the job is only to retain factual trade history, a free journal or spreadsheet may be enough. If the recurring problem is that the plan disappears at the decision point and returns only in the later review, a behavioral process may be the better fit.
Frequently asked questions
Which trading journal apps are free forever?
At the time of this review, TradesViz and StonkJournal publicly describe $0 free plans rather than time-limited trials. Their stated limits and features differ, so confirm the current terms on each provider’s official plan page before signing up.21
Is a free trial the same as a free trading journal app?
No. A trial gives temporary access to a paid workflow; a free tier is intended to remain available without an initial subscription. For example, TraderSync describes a seven-day trial and states that CSV export is excluded during it.34
What should I check before importing my full trading history?
Test a normal trade, a difficult trade structure, one correction, pattern retrieval, and export where available. Also inspect the current privacy policy, terms, limits, and cancellation process. Move the full archive only after the sample can answer the review question you actually have.
Sources
Costante provides educational workflow tools, not financial advice. Trading involves risk.
Footnotes
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StonkJournal free-plan details (accessed 28 August 2026) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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TradesViz pricing and plan details (accessed 28 August 2026) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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TraderSync pricing and seven-day trial details (accessed 28 August 2026) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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TraderSync free-trial export details (accessed 28 August 2026) ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Federal Trade Commission. Online Shopping: Look for a Privacy Policy. ↩