10 Best Free Stock Charting Software, Tools & Apps 2021

Free Stock Charts! We all want the best stock charts for free, but who provides the best software?  Save time & money with the webs most in-depth comparison of free stock market charting programs.

If you are relatively new to stock market investing, you are probably looking around for free stock charts so you can experiment with learning technical analysis and plotting stock chart indicators.

It is a wise move to start with free software, but as you develop your skills, you will probably need more powerful software with backtesting, forecasting, and screening. Our three tested review winners TradingView, Stock Rover, and TC2000, will grow with your skills.

Free Stock Charting Software Summary

Our research shows TradingView is the best free stock charting and analysis software with 160 indicators and charts for Stocks, Forex, Commodities & ETFs globally. Stock Rover is the best free stock software for growth, dividend & value investors with a 10-year financial database and industry-leading screening, research, and portfolio management capabilities. TC2000 has excellent chart analysis and real-time Stock and ETF market scanning for the USA & Canada.

10 Best Free Stock Charting Software Summary

1. TradingView: Best Free Stock Charts & Community
2. Stock Rover: Best Free Stock Analysis & Research Tool
3. TC2000: Best Free Charts for Powerful Technical Analysis Scanning
4. StockCharts: Best for Advanced Charts & Experts Analysis
5. Yahoo Finance: Good Free Charts + Broker Integration
6. CNN Money: Basic Free Stock Charting & Watchlists
7. Robinhood: Simple Free Charts Trading
8. Finviz: Limited Stock Market Visualizations & Charts
9. Reuters: Free Stock Market News & Charts
10. MSN Money Central: An Average Stock Tool

Jump to the detailed and searchable charting software comparison table.

1. TradingView: Best Free Stock Charts & Community

Recommended for USA & International Traders who value a great price (free), excellent Fundamental & Technical Analysis with great streaming news engines, and the best ease of use.

I love TradingView, I use it every day, and I post charts and market analysis directly into the TradingView community and connect with other traders. Connect with me on TradingView.

Pricing & Software

You can have TradingView for free; it is also the winner of our Premium Subscription Stock Software Review for the last four years in a row. The prices are reasonable and unlock a lot of extra functionality. If you like TradingView, you can upgrade to PRO for only $10 per month; the benefits are extensive, including priority customer support, alerts, backtesting, and screening.

TradingView runs on PC, Mac, Tablets, and Smartphones and requires zero installation; it simply works. Click here, and it will be running in 2 seconds.

According to our research, TradingView is the best free stock charting software. TradingView has the largest selection of exchanges globally, making it ideal for international investors. TradingView is not just for free stock charts; it also includes charts for ETFs, Futures, Forex, Bonds, and Cryptocurrency, all at no extra price. 

Video: Why I Rate TradingView the Best Free Charting Software

Try TradingView Now

TradingView Stock Screening

TradingView has real-time scanning, filtering, and fundamental scanning included for free. The screener is incredibly easy to use; you can scan & filter on over 150 criteria.  Any idea you have based on technical analysis will be covered.  TradingView even has vast amounts of economic data such as Federal Funds Rates and World Economic Growth, thanks to a connection to the Federal Reserve (FRED) database.

Watchlists have fundamentals broken into Performance, Valuation, Dividends, Margin, Income Statement, and Balance Sheet.  You can set the watchlist and filters to refresh every minute if you wish.

What makes TradingView stand out is the huge selection of economic indicators you can map and compare on a chart. For example, you can compare the Civilian Unemployment Rate versus the growth in Company Profits for the USA.  This is incredibly powerful.

Stock Market News & Social Community

The TradingView platform is built with social at the forefront, including integrated chat systems, forums, and ways to share your drawings and analysis with a single click. This makes for an excellent way to generate ideas and learn from other traders.  You have to try it and see it in action to understand the power of the implementation. I share charts, ideas, and analysis regularly; follow me here.

They have also thoughtfully integrated a Kiplinger newsfeed, Stocktwits, and various FX newsfeeds.  With a social-first development methodology, combined with powerful economic statistics and a solid newsfeed, it is a great package.

The news feeds are fully integrated, including Kiplinger, DailyFX, Futures Magazine, FXStreet, and StockTwits.  Add that to the social network, and you have a great solution.  The news service is only second to MetaStock with their Reuters Feeds & Benzinga’s News For Traders.

Free Technical Analysis Stock Charting

With over 160 different indicators, and unique specialty charts such as LineBreak, Kagi, Heikin Ashi, Point & Figure, and Renko, you have everything you will need as an advanced trader. TradingView also has an exceptional selection of drawing tools, including tools unavailable on other platforms such as extensive Gann & Fibonacci tools. In total, TradingView has 65 drawing tools and hundreds of icons for your charts, notes, and ideas.

I have the Premium membership, and with that, you also get Level II data and insight, fully integrated.

This Chart Features Moon phase and Darvas Boxes Complete Flexibility For Free.

Stock Market Apps Usability

Within 5 minutes, I was using TradingView, no credit card, no installation, no configuring data feeds; it was literally just there.

TradingView is up and running with a single click.

Click on the TradingView logo on the left, and it will be instantly running. 

It does not get easier than that.

Even better is the fact it is already configured for use.  All controls are intuitive, and the charts look amazing.  It is quite a feat that it is easy to use, considering TradingView has so many data feeds and backend power.

TradingView is the outright winner for Free Stock Charts in 2021.  There is a huge selection of indicators, drawing tools, and it is fully interactive for free.  They also offer a premium service to rival the best software vendors out there.  Check it out at www.tradingview.com. The PRO plan is very cost-effective, starting at $9.95 per month, and that gets you even faster real-time charts, advert-free services, and SMS alerts.

[Related Article: Backtesting For Advanced Stock Charting System Development]

2. Stock Rover: Best Free Stock Analysis & Research Tool

From my perspective, Stock Rover is simply the single best stock screener on the market today; in fact, it won our Top 10 Best Stock Screeners Review & Test.

Our tests show that Stock Rover is the best stock analysis tool for fundamental and financial research and screening. Stock Rover has ten years of historical financial performance data combined with 350 fundamental performance metrics that allow you to implement powerful dividend, growth, and value investing strategies and portfolios.

Stock Rover also has stock charting capabilities that complement the scanning functionality focusing on financial metrics charting and technical indicators like volume, moving averaging, and relative strength.

You can have Stock Rover for free; however, the real power of Stock Rover is unleashed with the Premium Plus service.  Moreover, their top tier of service is not even expensive when compared to the competition.

How Much Does Stock Rover Cost?

Stock Rover’s service starts with free, meaning you can perform research and screen over 10,000 stocks and ETFs. Included in the free service are a stock newsfeed and powerful watchlist/portfolio management. If you want unlimited access to the 10-year financial database and fair value/ margin of safety ratings, then you will need the Premium Plus service at $27.99 per month.

• Free $0. Scanning for 10,000 stocks, 43,000 mutual funds & ETF’s, broker integration, portfolio analysis & market news
• Essentials $7.99 US /mo. 5 years of historical data, 10 fair value, and margin of safety ratings per month + earnings calendar
• Premium $17.99 US /mo. 350 fundamental metrics, 10 years of historical data, stock & ETF ranked screening, 10 stock ratings per month, 20 fair value & margin of safety ratings per month.
• Premium Plus (Recommended) $27.99 US/mo. 10 years of historical screening, an unlimited margin of safety and fair value scoring, unlimited stock warnings, and stock ratings + analyst ratings scoring.

I strongly recommend going for the Stock Rover Premium Plus at $27.99 per month.  Why?  Because having used the service extensively, I cannot live without the unlimited stock ratings, analyst ratings scoring, and the unlimited fair value and margin of safety scoring.

Video: My 10 Reasons Why Stock Rover Is Rated “Best Free Stock Screener”

Get Stock Rover Free Now

Stock Charting & Technical Analysis

Looking at stock charts with Stock Rover is different from all the other free stock software on the market.  Whereas MetaStock & TradingView focus on hundreds of technical analysis price/volume indicators, Stock Rover focuses on charting the fundamental financial strength indicators.

With 154 different financial indicators and only 9 technical analysis indicators, Stock Rover is not the best technical analysis software for traders. Still, it is by far the complete package for fundamental income, growth, and value investors.

Stock Rover’s Free Stock Analysis Reports

Stock Rover provides free stock analysis with its innovative research reports. The research reports combine all of the historical and forecasted financial data of a company into a cohesive unbiased analysis. The free stock analysis provides a real-time view of the company’s financial situation, earnings, and analyst consensus estimates.

The reports are available to download in PDF format for the Dow Jones 30 Index component companies here.

Stock Rover for Value Investors

Testing shows that Stock Rover enables you to build a more informed value investing portfolio because it has integrated a deep set of Fair Value and Margin of Safety calculations. This enables the investor to rank stocks based on how much they are undervalued, according to the forward cash flow and fair value calculations popularized by Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett.

Stock Rover Screeners Buffett’s Holy Grail

When you log in to Stock Rover and select any screener, in this case, I selected the “Strong Buys Screener” and simply select the “Fair Value” tab; you are rewarded with arguably the killer features of Stock Rover.  The Fair Value and Margin of Safety analysis and rankings.

These analysis factors are difficult to calculate yourself manually, and it could be said to warrant the investment in Stock Rover all by themselves.

[Related Tutorial: Setup Your Own Buffett Stock Screener With Stock Rover]

Stock Rover Usability

Stock Rover is incredibly easy to use. Within 5 minutes, I was using Stock Rover as there is no installation required and no need to configure data feeds. Also, there are so many curated screeners and portfolios to import and use; you are instantly productive. It is quite a feat that it is easy to use, considering Stock Rover has so many powerful scoring and analysis systems.

Introduction to Stock Rover Video

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3. TC2000: Best Free Charts for Powerful Technical Analysis Scanning

FreeStockCharts.com has now merged with TC2000, a review winner for our Premium Stock Market Software Review, so they have an excellent track record in delivering quality services. This is great for you because now you can use the first-class service for free, sure there are some restrictions, but it still is one of the best on the market.

TC2000 is still free, and no credit card is required. You get stunning charts, all US stocks & options, 140 indicators, streaming data, option chains, even free practice paper trading.

TIP: When you download TC2000, ensure you select the free version.

Stock Charts, Indicators & Drawing Tools

The FREE service has over 140 stock chart indicators (or studies), which you can apply to the chart; all the popular ones are there, and many exotic indicators.  You can use different bar types like Japanese Candlesticks and Open, High, Low Close OHLC. 

What is really nice is that you have the ability to plot trendlines not only on the price data but on all the indicators. This can be very valuable when you become more experienced in technical analysis.

They also allow you to use Fibonacci Lines, Fibonacci Fans, and Fibonacci Arcs in terms of drawing tools.  The user interface is simple and effective. With easy access to watchlists and stock scans, you will need to sign in to access and save your watchlists.

This is a great free software package with:

• a vast array of indicators
• candlesticks, OHLC.
• the ability to plot Trend lines not only on price but on all the indicators
• Fibonacci Lines / Fans / Arcs
• free mealtime streaming Price & Volume
• intra-day 1 minute to 1 year per bar
• integrated portfolio management,
• streaming news, this is invaluable
• good user interface
• powerful watchlists

Also, with the premium version, there is a powerful stock scanning system built-in.

Overall there is an excellent array of technical indicators and drawing tools; all the big ones are there, from OBV, RSI, and Bollinger Bands to Fibonacci Fans and Andrews Pitchfork. They have also introduced live alerts that you can configure to email or pop up if an indicator or trend line is breached.  Very useful indeed.

Real-time Charts

The charts are real-time, and the data comes from BATS, which means the price data is accurate, but the volume data only represents BATS trades.  Luckily you can select whether you want to see only BATS volumes or get an estimate of the broader market volume. The data is free real-time streaming of Price & Volume, and you can go to a granularity of intra-day 1 minute up to 1 year per bar.

Free is Great, but the Paid Version is Better

The Liberated Stock Trader uses TC2000 to screen, sort, and find winning stocks. Starting at $9.95 per month, you will get a full suite of excellent features and end-of-day data.  The powerful Fundamental & Technical Stock Screeners,

Watch this TC2000 Video to See A Live Demo

4. StockCharts: Best for Advanced Charts & Experts Analysis

Worthy of consideration is StockCharts.com, which also comes with a solid recommendation.  Worth mentioning are the sharp charts, which are visually impressive, and its array of exotic indicators may excite the more advanced investor. One thing to mention, this service offers excellent Point and Figure Charts, which, to my knowledge, no other free service offers.

Missing trend lines, rolling EPS, and a weak news service do not do it justice. They do also offer, like the other service providers, a monthly Membership service with increased functionality.

5. Yahoo Finance: Good Free Charts + Broker Integration

Yahoo has updated its interactive charting experience, it is a clean experience and full screen, so now it is actually very good indeed. With 114 different technical indicators, you are well covered with Yahoo Finance.  The interactive charts also now allow you to draw trendlines, linear regressions, and even quadrant lines. A nice new addition is that Yahoo now provides real-time quotes and charts via the BATS system.

Yahoo Finance is working hard to make its charting system a respectable alternative to other free vendors. They have actually done something quite innovative.  You can now trade stocks through the Yahoo Finance charts.  Yahoo has partnered with “Trade.It” which essentially provides an interface to transport trade requests to many mainstream US brokers.

This means, using Yahoo, you can trade stocks with your broker.  It is a nice feature, but if you have a brokerage account, you will already have access to real-time data, charts, and quotes and can trade directly with them, so it seems a little redundant but still a step forward.

Research & News

Yahoo finance does provide a news aggregation engine and actually contributes original news via the Yahoo Finance news team. If you opt for Yahoo Finance Premium, you will get a good selection of analyst research reports. These are static reports which could be useful, but again for the price tag of $49.99 per month, it might not be worth it because most mainstream brokers offer research reports for free. In fact, Firstrade offers free stock trades and research reports from both Zacks and Morningstar.

Profit & Loss & Performance Reporting

Yahoo Finance can connect to a wide variety of brokers. It can then download your stock position data and then perform analytics on your portfolio, but again you will require the overpriced Yahoo Premium subscription. There is currently no functionality in Yahoo Finance Premium for Portfolio Weighting & Rebalancing or Automated Portfolio Management.

However, they do provide reporting on your Portfolio Asset Allocation per industry sector and dividend income reporting.

[Related Article: The Top 10 Best Stock Trading Platforms. Trade From Charts]

However, Yahoo has climbed from nearly last place to fourth place in this review thanks to their constant improvements.  Coming in higher than Google in our review, Yahoo, it seems, can do at least one thing better than Google.

6. CNN Money: Basic Free Stock Charting & Watchlists

CNN money fares well with all basic indicators available but suffers from only one sub-window and no ability to draw trend lines.  Also, the chart is only static, and the non-interactive format becomes highly annoying after a while. Having to continually refresh the page to get new indicators plotted will make the experienced investor growl.

However, on the bright side, you can plot earnings (EPS) on the chart, which is also a rare advantage amongst its competitors.

[Related Article: Best Financial & News Services For Traders]

7. Robinhood: Simple Free Charts Trading

Robin Hood is a commission-free broker with a $0 account minimum.  This means you can essentially sign up for Robin Hood and gain access to the free stock charts and real-time quotes and charts for free.

The only downside is that you cannot really do any serious stock analysis using Robin Hood.  Because it is a mobile-first company, the interface is limited to the size of your phone.

Mobile-first refers to the fact that Robinhood started only as an app on the phone and not a fully-fledged trading platform.  This means you have to do everything via the phone, including opening, funding, and trading.

The charts are free but severely limited in functionality.

Free trading refers to $0 commissions for Robinhood Financial self-directed individual cash or margin brokerage accounts that trade US-listed securities via mobile devices.  As Robinhood is a mobile-first company, this means if you trade from your smartphone on the Major U.S. listed stocks available through Robinhood, then the trade has no cost.

[Related Article: Best Brokers For Zero Commissions Trading]

8. Finviz: Limited Stock Market Visualizations & Charts

Finviz used to be an excellent free service, but now it is all behind a paywall.  To get access to anything good here in terms of an interactive free charting experience, you will need to pay a handsome sum. Finviz has many fans and some good heatmaps and visualizations, but practically none of it for free.

9. Reuters: Free Stock Market News & Charts

With its powerful news reporting and RED Green Candlestick plotting Reuters does have something to offer. Missing a rolling EPS indicator combined with its lack of trendlines takes it out of the reckoning for overall leadership. I really like the ability to plot breaking news for a stock on the chart itself; this is really what sets it apart from the other charting tools. For quickly referencing the global markets and perusing the news, it is an OK service.  For chart analysis, it is useless.

[Related Article: The Ultimate Guide To Robo Advisors Simplify Your Investing]

10. MSN Money Central: An Average Stock Tool

While the stock screener from MSN Money is, in the author’s opinion, one of the best free screeners available, the charting software comes in poorly.  Lack of trend lines, moving averages, OBV, and index overlay mark it down heavily. However, with membership, you can get real-time stock quotes.

11. Google Finance Retired

Google finance suffered criminally in the weakness of its charting, scoring 13 out of 28 points. It is not all bad news.
Google is an excellent place to go for a single page of the delayed news, blog alerts, and the P&L & Balance Sheet of any stock, and if you only need a rapid view of the general stock, this is still a good stop of point for a general look. The news reports can be overlaid on top of the stock price, which is unique and valuable to the investor interested in how news plays out in the stock price.

12. AOL Finance Retired

AOL finance now redirects to Yahoo Finance for all charting and quotes, officially retired.

Summary: Free Stock Charting Software Review

There are many free stock charting services available, but only three are worth looking at. If you want a service that will grow with you on your journey, TradingView is the clear winner. TC2000 FREE is great and allows you a good upgrade path to TC2000, our review-winning software. Finally, Stock Rover’s free service is a great start in the world of stock screening, research, and portfolio management.

The market for Free Chart Services is competitive, but some clear winners offer great free services and additional add-ons for a fee.  Ultimately, what you select is down to your needs. If you are starting as a new investor with a few hundred dollars to invest, you certainly will not buy a premium stock charting package for $30 per month; you will use the free stock charting services.

The rest offer quick access to basic services, but nothing more.

But as you mature and your investment pot grows, you will need to seriously think about selecting a Professional Grade Stock Charting Software Package.

Good luck on your journey to find the tools you need.

[Related Article: 30 Best Stock Market Websites for Investors]

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Free Stock Charts Comparison Table

Through detailed research of the most popular Free Stock Charting Tools on the web, Liberated Stock Trader has compiled the definitive review of FREE Stock charting tools.  We selected the Stock Charting Community’s biggest hitters and pitted them head to head to make your life easier and save you the work.  Liberated Stock Trader has tested 30+ charting services, and the best made our top 10.

Each service was rated against 29 different factors.  Those tools that offer the most flexibility, usability, functionality, and, most of all, being cost-free made the top 10.

Free Stock Charts Ratings Logic.

1. Login Required. Is a login required to use the Free Charting Service?”
2. Cost “Are the Stock Charts Free”
3. Chart Interactive “Interactive charts are easier to manipulate than static charts, making the user experience better.”
4. Price Windows (Logarithmic) “Logarithmic scaling is vital for good chart assessment.”
5. Draw Trend Lines. “As we know plotting trend-lines, are a crucial part of the stock analysis (3 points for a Yes)”
6. Size (large) “Large charts make it easier to see and read the patterns.”
7. Bars “Does the service provide Bar Charts.”
8. Candlesticks “Does the service provide Japanese Candlestick Charting.”
9. OHLC “Does the service provide Open High Low Close Bar Charting.”
10. Streaming “Free Real-time streaming charts.”
11. Extended hours “Out of hours stock prices.”
12. Intraday “Are hourly or 1-minute charts available.”
13. Indicators. What indicators are available for the free stock charts
14. The number of Lower Windows (min 3) “3 windows provide additional insight for stock analysis.”
15. Volume. Volume Indicators available
16. MACD. “Moving Average Convergence / Divergence Indicator”
17. RSI “Relative Strenght index.”
18. Index Compare, e.g., SP-500 “Can we overlay the industry or Index on the price chart.”
19. SMA / EMA “Simple Moving Average / Exponential Moving Average”
20. Show Earnings “Can we overlay earnings reports onto the chart.”
21. On Balance Volume “On Balance Volume indicator.”
22. Stochastics “Fast and Slow Stochastic Available”
23. Money Flow, “Money Flow Indicator available.”
24. Rolling EPS “Rolling EPS is very valuable to the investor.”
25. Rolling Dividend “interesting for those that like to see a dividend, not so important for the wise investor.”
26. Other Options
27. News Overlay On Price “interesting for comparison for people trading news, or wanting to understand how news affects the price.”
28. News sources “Quality of news feeds into the site.”
29. Portfolio Tracking “ability to track stock for you.”

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Now it’s over to you, did you like the review, agree, or disagree? Leave a message. I will be sure to reply.