Best Trading Journals in 2026: Compared for Live, Demo, Prop and Backtest Accounts
Eight trading journals and a DIY spreadsheet, compared on free plans, price, AI, broker import and prop firm tools. There are no scores or rankings: the right journal depends on your broker, your markets and how you review trades.
Prices checked: 5 October 2026 for TradeZella (source) and TraderSync (source). Other tools show the date they were last researched. Competitor prices are in US dollars; The Trading Terminal's are in Australian dollars. We don't convert between them.
How we compared them
We looked at five things for each tool: whether there is a free plan (and whether it needs a card), what analytics go beyond win rate and P&L, whether it has tools for prop firm rules such as daily loss limits and drawdown, how it brings trades in, and its price.
Disclosure: This page is published by The Trading Terminal, which is one of the tools listed. We have made reasonable efforts to verify competitor information, but plans and prices change often and may differ by the time you read this. Always confirm with each provider before buying.
At a glance
| Journal | Free plan | Prop firm tools | AI | Broker auto-import |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Trading Terminal | Yes (A$0) | Risk Desk (Elite) | None | cTrader, MT4/MT5, CSV |
| TradeZella | No | Prop Firm Sync | Zella AI (credit-based) | 500+ brokers |
| TraderSync | No (7-day trial, no card) | Not confirmed | Cypher AI (all plans, daily limits) | 900+ brokers |
| Edgewonk | No | Not listed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| TradesViz | Yes (limited) | Not listed | Not confirmed | Broad import |
| Myfxbook | Yes | Not listed | None | MT4/MT5 sync |
| Tradervue | Yes (basic) | Not listed | Not confirmed | Many brokers |
| Trademetria | Yes (30 trades/mo) | Not listed | Not confirmed | Multiple brokers |
"Not confirmed" means we could not confirm the feature from the source we used. "Not listed" means it was not listed when we last researched the product. Check each provider's site before you buy.
The journals, one by one
The Trading Terminal
May suit: Forex, gold, oil, crypto, indices and futures traders on live, demo, prop firm or backtest accounts who want a free plan.
What it offers: A free plan (A$0) with 1 account, 30 trades a month and 90 days of dashboard history. Pro adds unlimited trades, 60+ analytics views and Mistake Cost Analysis. Elite adds Risk Desk, Trade Lab (with Do Not Trade danger zones), Connections and unlimited accounts. Limits: no AI, trade replay or backtesting; imports from cTrader, MT4/MT5 and CSV only; no native mobile app.
Pricing: Free A$0 · Pro A$19/mo or A$189/yr · Elite A$29/mo or A$249/yr (Australian dollars). New users can try Elite free for 7 days; a card is required. · Full comparison →
TradeZella
May suit: Traders who want broad broker auto-import, trade replay or AI review.
What it offers: Auto-import from 500+ brokers, Prop Firm Sync, backtesting, Zella AI (credit-based) and trade replay on Pro and above.
Pricing: Essential US$35/mo or US$315/yr · Pro US$59/mo or US$531/yr · Ultra US$99/mo or US$891/yr. No free plan and no free trial. Prices checked 5 October 2026 (source). · Full comparison →
TraderSync
May suit: Traders who want auto-import from a very wide range of brokers and AI on every plan.
What it offers: Auto-import from 900+ brokers and the Cypher AI assistant on all plans, with daily message limits of 5, 15 or 60 depending on the plan.
Pricing: Pro US$29.95/mo · Premium US$49.95/mo · Elite US$79.95/mo. The free plan has been removed; there is a 7-day free trial with no card. Prices checked 5 October 2026 (source). · Full comparison →
Edgewonk
May suit: Traders who prefer an annual flat fee and a focus on psychology tracking.
What it offers: An annual flat fee rather than a monthly subscription, Tiltmeter emotional tracking and an Edge Finder statistics tool.
Pricing: About US$197 a year, annual only, with a 14-day money-back guarantee and no free plan. Last researched in September 2026; not rechecked on 5 October. · Full comparison →
TradesViz
May suit: Traders who want a large library of analytics charts and broad import options.
What it offers: 100+ analytics charts and import for stocks, options, futures, forex and crypto. In our September research the free plan covered stocks only; forex needed a paid plan.
Pricing: Free plan plus paid plans (September 2026 research: Pro US$19.99/mo, Platinum US$29.99/mo). Not rechecked on 5 October, so confirm at tradesviz.com. · Full comparison →
Myfxbook
May suit: Traders who want automated MT4/MT5 account tracking and public performance records rather than a discretionary journal.
What it offers: Live sync from MT4/MT5, community features and public track records for forex and CFD accounts. It does not capture the reasoning behind a trade such as setups, screenshots or psychology fields.
Pricing: Free. Last researched September 2026; not rechecked on 5 October. · Full comparison →
Tradervue
May suit: Traders who value broker import breadth and sharing trades for community review.
What it offers: A long-established platform with a basic free tier and shared-trade features.
Pricing: Free (basic), Silver US$29.95/mo, Gold US$49.95/mo. Last researched July 2026; not rechecked on 5 October.
Trademetria
May suit: Traders who want a multi-asset journal with a free tier.
What it offers: Multi-asset support, strategy tracking, accounting tools and API access. The free plan allows 30 trades a month on 1 account.
Pricing: Free, Basic US$19.95/mo, Pro US$29.95/mo. Last researched September 2026; not rechecked on 5 October.
Spreadsheet (DIY)
May suit: Traders with fewer than about 100 trades who do not need built-in analytics or risk tracking.
What it offers: Free and fully customisable, but analytics need formulas most traders never build, and it scales poorly. Our trading journal template is a free starting point.
Pricing: Free.
How to choose
- If you don't journal yet, start with a plan you can use without paying. The Trading Terminal, TradesViz, Tradervue and Trademetria all have free plans, with different limits. See best free trading journals for free plans only.
- If you trade across many brokers, check import coverage first. TradeZella (500+ brokers) and TraderSync (900+ brokers) import from far more brokers than The Trading Terminal does.
- If you want AI review, TradeZella (credit-based) and TraderSync (daily message limits) both include an assistant. The Trading Terminal does not.
- If you review your own tagged data, look at how each tool breaks down results by setup, session and mistake. See our trading analytics page and how we calculate our numbers.
If you trade prop firm challenges
A prop firm challenge is judged against a daily loss limit and a maximum drawdown, and breaching either can end it however the rest of the month is going. A journal that only logs profit and loss tells you about a breach after it has happened. Some tools track those limits for you (TradeZella's Prop Firm Sync and The Trading Terminal's Risk Desk work in different ways, and we could not confirm equivalents for every tool above), while for others you track them yourself in a spreadsheet or your firm's dashboard. It is worth checking this specifically if challenges are your main use.
Challenges are often lost to rule breaches rather than missed profit targets, and those breaches tend to follow patterns that are hard to see from memory. Our guide on why most prop firm challenges fail covers them, and prop firm trading journal explains how Risk Desk works. None of this is advice on what to trade or how much to risk.