The Best Free Real-Time Stock Scanners in 2026
Most "best free stock scanner" lists are affiliate-driven garbage. They rank tools by referral payout, then dress it up with a star rating and a screenshot. This isn't that.
What follows is an honest side-by-side comparison of the five free real-time stock scanners retail traders actually use in 2026, including what each one does well, what it hides, and which type of trader it's actually suited for.
The criteria:
- Refresh rate. "Real-time" means different things. We list how often each scanner actually updates.
- Coverage. Stocks only? Crypto too? US-only?
- Signal logic. Does it just show movers, or does it generate BUY/SELL signals?
- What's hidden behind the paywall. Every "free" scanner has a paid tier. The question is whether the free tier is actually useful.
1. Finviz
What it is: The grandfather of free stock screeners. Has been around since 2007.
Refresh rate (free tier): Delayed quotes. Prices are 15-minute delayed by default on the free tier. You can pay for Finviz Elite to get real-time data.
Coverage: US stocks only. No crypto, no futures.
Signal logic: No automated signals. Finviz is a screener — you set filters (RSI, market cap, sector, etc.) and it shows you stocks that match. Useful for end-of-day or longer-term setup hunting, less useful for intraday.
Best for: Swing traders and fundamentals-focused screening. If you're looking for "stocks with RSI under 30 and PE under 15," Finviz is still the standard.
What's hidden: Real-time data. Backtests. Signal accuracy. Most of the actually-useful features are behind Elite ($39.50/mo).
2. TradingView
What it is: The dominant charting platform. Has a built-in scanner (called "Stock Screener") and a separate "Pine Script" engine for custom alerts.
Refresh rate (free tier): Real-time on most US exchanges (NASDAQ, NYSE provide free streaming data via TradingView's deal). Delayed on some smaller exchanges.
Coverage: Global. Stocks, crypto, FX, futures, ETFs. The breadth is the main reason people use it.
Signal logic: No native BUY/SELL signal stream. You can write Pine Script strategies that generate signals, but you have to code them yourself or use community indicators (which vary wildly in quality).
Best for: Anyone who lives on the chart. The free tier is genuinely useful — you can run multiple alerts, save layouts, screen across thousands of symbols.
What's hidden: More than one chart per layout, more saved alerts, no-ads, and intraday minute-level history beyond a few weeks. Plus the entire backtesting framework. Paid tiers start at $14.95/mo.
3. Trade Ideas (Free Lite)
What it is: A scanner with prepackaged "strategies" that fire signals throughout the day. The full version is expensive ($138/mo and up); they offer a stripped-down free tier mostly as a lead magnet.
Refresh rate (free tier): Real-time on a small subset of strategies.
Coverage: US stocks.
Signal logic: Yes — this is the differentiator. Trade Ideas has dozens of named strategies ("HOLLY Grail," "Catfish Reversal," etc.) that fire BUY/SELL signals based on patterns the company's analytics detect. The Lite version exposes only a handful.
Best for: Active day traders who want a constant signal stream and are willing to pay $138+/mo for the full version. The free tier mainly demonstrates what you're missing.
What's hidden: Published signal accuracy. Trade Ideas does not publish ongoing win-rate data for its signal strategies. You see win-rate-by-strategy in marketing materials, but no live ledger of every signal and its outcome.
4. Thinkorswim Stock Hacker
What it is: The scanner inside TD Ameritrade's Thinkorswim platform (now owned by Schwab).
Refresh rate: Real-time, but requires a Schwab brokerage account.
Coverage: US stocks, ETFs, options chains.
Signal logic: Custom — you build your own scan with their thinkScript language. Powerful but high learning curve.
Best for: Schwab brokerage customers who want a serious scanner included with their account.
What's hidden: Nothing's hidden, but you need an account with Schwab to use it. And nothing happens automatically — every scan is hand-built.
5. SultraxAI
What it is: A free real-time scanner across ~100 stocks + 12 crypto, with one feature no other free scanner offers: the platform logs every signal it fires and publishes the back-tested win rate.
Refresh rate (free tier): 60 seconds across the entire universe.
Coverage: US stocks (NVDA, AAPL, TSLA, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, META, AMD, PLTR, and ~90 others) + major crypto (BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, etc.).
Signal logic: Yes — BUY and SELL signals are fired automatically, then back-checked at 1h, 4h, and 24h. Current platform-wide win rate at 1h is 50.4% across 371 signals; BTC-specific is 54.8% across 672 signals. All numbers visible on the dashboard, not in marketing materials.
Best for: Active swing/day traders who want an honest scanner and a chat assistant that uses live RSI/MACD data instead of hallucinating prices.
What's hidden: Faster scanner refresh, smart price alerts, unlimited AI chat, and signal export are behind the Pro tier ($11.90/mo or $89.90/yr). The scanner itself is free and uncapped.
Disclosure: I built SultraxAI. I tried to keep this comparison fair, but I have an obvious bias. Spot-check us against the other four if you want — that's exactly the kind of due diligence I'd recommend.
Side-by-side summary
| Scanner | Free refresh | Crypto? | Live signals? | Win rate published? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finviz | 15-min delay | No | No | N/A |
| TradingView | Real-time | Yes | No (DIY) | N/A |
| Trade Ideas Lite | Real-time (limited) | No | Yes | No |
| Stock Hacker | Real-time | No | DIY | N/A |
| SultraxAI | 60s | Yes | Yes | Yes (50.4% @ 1h) |
How to pick
- If you screen for end-of-day setups: Finviz, free. Stop reading this article.
- If you live on the chart: TradingView free tier is excellent for charting; pair it with a scanner that handles signals.
- If you're a Schwab customer: Stock Hacker is already in your account — use it.
- If you want live signals + know whether the service is actually right: SultraxAI (yes, this is the bias).
- If you have $138/mo to spare on Trade Ideas Pro: it's still the most feature-rich active-trading scanner. Just don't expect them to show you their losses.