A free stock screener is a tool that lets you search for stocks based on certain criteria. Free screeners do the same thing as paid ones — cut through the noise of thousands of stocks.
Checking for trading opportunities manually only works for a few stocks. You need stock screener software to spot opportunities reliably without wasting time and missing out on potential trades.
Most of the best stock screener apps are paid, but you also have free alternatives. In my experience, a paid app usually offers more features and better customer support — but free screeners can be a good starting point if you’re just testing the waters.
What Is a Free Stock Screener?
A free stock screener is just that, a stock screener you can download and use for free.
Here’s the stock screener 101 for you: Stock screeners are tools that let you categorize stocks based on certain filter criteria. For instance, you can screen stocks based on price, volume, and float.
You can use stock screeners on iPhones, Android, tablets, and computers. Many traders prefer desktop stock screeners because they have the most features.
However, some users prefer free stock screeners for both cost and convenience. Desktop and laptop scanners are more powerful — but the time it takes for you to boot them up might mean you miss a trading opportunity!
Looking for stock screeners? Check out my guide to the best stock screener apps available today.
Why Do You Need a Free Stock Screener?
You might need a free stock screener for a variety of reasons. There’s no downside — it’s free!
Some people use free stock screeners because they don’t want to spend money on subscription fees for the paid options. Others use free screeners to test out new screeners without committing.
There’s no rule saying you can’t use more than one stock screener — in fact I encourage it! That’s the best way to find a screener that fits your trading style.
From my experience testing out stock screeners, paid stock scanners are worth spending money on. But that doesn’t mean free screeners are useless. Check out stock screener app reviews to find which price bracket suits your needs.
If you’re serious about trading, a paid stock screener should pay for itself. I like using StocksToTrade for its beautiful charts, trader-built screens, and an incomparable news scanner.
Check it out — StocksToTrade has a 14-day trial for only $7!
Advantages of Free Stock Screeners
I’ve used stock screeners for a while, so I know a good screener is an essential part of your toolbox.
Let’s break down the advantages of free stock screeners:
- Many free stock screeners still have robust functionality: “Free” doesn’t have to mean bad. Many free stock screeners have a comparable number of custom parameters to the paid ones.
- Free stock screeners are cheaper: They’re free of charge, so naturally they’re cheaper! But remember, free stock screeners might be tied to certain brokerage services. Some free screeners also lock their full scanning capabilities behind a paywall.
- Free stock screeners save your preferences: Most free stock screeners can save your custom preferences. This saves you a lot of time because you don’t have to change the settings each day.
That’s what you can get from a free stock screener — imagine what you can do with paid ones. Take StocksToTrade, for instance. It has many features you won’t find in most stock screeners, paid or free.
StocksToTrade’s Breaking News feature makes a real difference to my trading — see how it can change how you trade. Try it now — a StocksToTrade + Breaking News 14-day trial is just $17!
What Are the Best Free Stock Screeners?
There’s no one “best” free stock screener…
What you should be looking for is a stock screener that fits your trading strategies and goals.
A stock scanner that’s good for day trading might not be the best for swing trading. The work that you need to do is to figure out what you will be scanning for.
Then make sure your scanner has the capacity to deliver!
How We Evaluated These Best Free Stock Screeners
To find the best free stock screeners, you’ve got to sift through a mountain of crud…
How do I separate the wheat from the chaff? Here’s a look at my evaluation criteria:
- Cost (monetary and non-monetary): This is a list of free stock screeners, so everything on this list is free to use. However, some screener apps aren’t entirely free — you might need to create a brokerage account to use them.
- Database timeliness and update schedule: Many free stock scanners update their quotes on a delay. This makes them borderline unusable for day traders.
- Customizability: A stock screener is only as good as its indicators. A good screener app should be customizable enough to fit a decent range of needs for its target audience.
Different stock screeners excel at different things. Check out my picks for the best stock screener for volume, five-year performance, low-float stocks, and penny stocks.
Best Free Stock Screeners for 2024
My top free stock screener picks are:
- TradingView — Best Overall Free Screener
- Finviz Stock Screener — Best Screener for Fundamental Analysis
- Motley Fool CAPS Stock Screener — Best Growth Stock Finder
- Zacks Stock Screener — Best Screener for Gauging Market Sentiment
- Seeking Alpha — Best Screener for Researchers
Here’s an overview of my five favorite free stock screeners:
1. TradingView — Best Overall Free Screener
TradingView is a stock screener app that also offers screeners for other financial products like forex and crypto. Its basic version is free, but you can get more advanced features with a subscription starting from $14.95 per month.
Just calling it a stock screener is misleading — you can use TradingView to scan more than 130 markets! That’s one of the reasons I put it as the best overall on this list. It fits the needs of more traders than any other free stock screener.
Its free version is powerful and versatile. It includes over 100 fundamental and technical criteria in its scanner, as well as uncommon search filters like a stock’s performance in different economic climates.
2. Finviz Stock Screener — Best Screener for Fundamental Analysis
Finviz (Financial Visualizations) is a no-frills web-based stock scanner app. Following the link to the site puts you on a page filled with tickers and charts for major stocks and exchanges. You can use the tabs on the top to navigate to the screener, news page, portfolio manager, and more.
Finviz’s free screener can filter results according to 67 different metrics. These are weighted toward the fundamental side of things, but diverse enough on the technical side to serve day traders. The only knock against it is that it’s not mobile-friendly.
Finviz only scans for U.S.-based stocks. If you’re looking to trade other markets, you’ll need to look for another stock screener like Finviz.
3. Motley Fool CAPS Stock Screener — Best Growth Stock Finder
The Motley Fool CAPS Stock Screener is different from other screeners. Why? Because instead of one organization, community members all contribute to the database. People who submit more accurate data and projections get higher ratings.
Community sourcing means you get lots of data from multiple people. But the main caveat here is that Motley Fool usually focuses on blue-chip stocks with high growth potential. You won’t find a lot of info on penny stocks here.
Another thing to remember — Motley Fool’s data is community-sourced, so take every bit of information with a grain of salt. Do further research before committing to a trade.
4. Zacks Stock Screener — Best Screener for Gauging Market Sentiment
Zacks Stock Screener is a free, web-based stock screener app with a simple user interface. It provides custom-made filters like the Zacks Rank, which is one of the leading analyst signals in the market.
As an investment research firm, Zacks lets you drill further down into each stock. For example, you can compare a company’s performance to its earnings per share history — great for fundamental analysis. But you might find Zacks slightly lacking when it comes to technical screens and filters.
If you need more out of this stock screener, Zacks offers a paid version at $249/year. It has extra premium features to accommodate more advanced trading strategies.
5. Seeking Alpha — Best Screener for Researchers
Seeking Alpha provides various screens and stock picks for traders. You can check out the site’s top-rated stocks, highest-yielding assets, the best growth stocks, and more.
Seeking Alpha is a data goldmine, which makes it great if you like researching new trading opportunities. There’s also a wealth of free stock analysis articles to help you dive deeper into each stock pick.
Seeking Alpha’s screener is free at a basic level, giving access to stock summaries. However, you’ll need a subscription to drill down and read the details of each screen. A Seeking Alpha premium membership costs $239/year.
Final Thoughts
Free stock screeners can help you filter stocks according to your preferred criteria and reduce your research time. But my experience using both paid and free screeners has shown me there’s a massive gap…
That’s why I always use a paid stock screener like StocksToTrade.
That said, free stock screeners can still be useful. They’re great for beginners just getting their feet wet. But they’re also a viable option for pros looking for another weapon.
I’ve got the inside track on another great scanner — millionaire trader Matt Monaco’s Alpha Scanner.
Matt used to be a software engineer, and now he’s a top trader! He built Alpha Scanner based on his trading style and packed it chock full of trade alerts, live mentoring, and other resources. Matt’s life’s work might just be your edge in trading.