Free MT5 journal options compared

You can journal MT5 trades for free. Here is what each free route gives you, where it stops, and which fits your trading.

Free ways to journal MT5 trades

You do not have to pay to keep a trading journal. Here are the free routes for MetaTrader 5, what each gives you and where each stops.

1. A free spreadsheet template

Cost: nothing. You copy each trade from MT5 into a sheet that calculates win rate, profit factor and drawdown. The catch is the typing. Get one in the free MT5 trading journal template, and export your history with this step-by-step guide.

2. A free Notion template

Cost: free to a few dollars. A nicer place to keep notes and screenshots, but still manual unless something writes to it. See the Notion trading journal template guide.

3. A free Expert Advisor or script

Some Expert Advisors on MQL5 and forums log trades to a file, a web page or Notion. They can be free. Check reviews, read what the code is allowed to do, test on a demo account first, and remember that an EA must stay attached to a chart and the terminal must keep running. Some also send your trades to an outside server.

4. A free tier of a cloud journal

Some journals offer a free plan with limits. For example, TradesViz lists a free Basic plan that supports stocks only, with forex and CFD support on its paid Pro plan, checked on 7 October 2026. Free plans and limits change, so check each vendor's own pricing page.

5. A free trial of a paid journal

A trial lets you test the real product. AI Trading Journal has a 7-day free trial of the full app, no card required, then a one-time $19.99. Most cloud journals also offer a trial, then a subscription.

Which free option fits you

If you...	Try
take a few trades a week	The free spreadsheet template
live in Notion	A Notion template, then automate it later if typing becomes the problem
like tinkering and trust the code	A free Expert Advisor, tested on demo
want it automatic and private	A free trial of a local app such as AI Trading Journal

Mistakes people make when they go free

Choosing the tool before the habit. A free tool you open once a month will not help. Pick one you will actually update.
Trusting an Expert Advisor blindly. It runs inside your terminal. Read what it can do.
Never reviewing. Free or paid, the journal only helps if you read it. Use the weekly review checklist.
Counting only money. Time spent copying trades is a cost too.

A simple way to decide

Start free for two weeks. Count how many trades you actually logged against how many you took. If you logged almost all of them, the free route works for you. If you missed a lot, the habit is breaking at data entry, and that is the problem an automatic journal solves.

The real cost of free

Free journals usually cost your time, which is the thing that makes people quit journaling. A paid tool that never misses a trade can be cheaper in practice. The maths over three years is in an MT5 trading journal with no subscription.

What AI Trading Journal is, plainly

It is not free. It is a Windows app with a 7-day free trial and a one-time $19.99. It reads your own MT5 terminal and saves its trades in your own journal on your PC (with an optional copy in your own Notion workspace). It does not need your broker login and your trades do not pass through our servers.

This page is general education. It is not trading or investment advice.

What each free option costs in time (hypothetical)

Option	Setup	Minutes per day with 5 trades	Where it usually breaks
Spreadsheet template	10 minutes	5 to 10	Skipped days and typing errors
Notion template	20 minutes	5 to 10	The same, plus the temptation to over-build
Free Expert Advisor	30 to 60 minutes	0 once running	Silent failure when the chart or terminal closes
Free tier of a cloud journal	15 minutes	Depends on the import	Limits on trades, accounts or asset types
Free trial of a paid app	10 minutes	0	The trial ends and you have to decide

The minutes are rough illustrations, not measurements. The point is that free options spend your time instead of your money, and time spent typing is the cost most likely to end the habit.

Checks before you install a free Expert Advisor

Where was it published, and does the seller explain exactly what it sends and where?
Does it need WebRequest permission, and for which addresses?
Can you read the code, or does it come as a compiled file only?
What do the reviews say about it failing or going silent?
Test it on a demo account before it goes near a live account.

A two-week experiment

Choose one free option and use it for ten trading days.
Count the trades you took and the trades that reached the journal.
Note how many minutes a day the journal took.
On day ten, answer three questions: Did I log almost every trade? Did I read it back? Did it change anything I did?
If the answers are yes, keep going. If the first one is no, the data entry is the problem and it is worth trying an automatic option.

The upgrade path

Many traders start with a spreadsheet, move to Notion for the notes and screenshots, and then automate the data entry once they know what they want to track. Nothing is wasted along the way: the fields and review habits carry over. The free template is a good first step, and when you are ready, the setup guide shows the automatic route and the no-subscription page shows what it costs.

If you are comparing paid and free tools side by side, best MT5 trading journal: how to choose sets out how each one imports trades and what it costs over three years.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free MT5 trading journal?

Yes: free spreadsheet and Notion templates, some free Expert Advisors, and free tiers or trials of paid tools. Most free routes involve manual work or limits.

Does MT5 have a built-in journal?

MT5 has a History tab with your closed trades and a Report option to save it, but it does not keep notes or statistics like a journal.

Is a free Expert Advisor safe?

Read what it is allowed to do, check reviews, test it on a demo account, and be aware that some send your trades to an outside server.

Related guides

Try the 7-day free trial

Free for 7 days, no card required. After that, a one-time $19.99 purchase. No subscription. Also on the Microsoft Store.

One-time $19.99, no monthly fee · your MT5 login never leaves your PC · trades go into your own journal on your PC, not through our servers.

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