AI Trading Journal compared with other trading journals
Honest comparisons for MetaTrader 5 traders: what each journal costs, what it does, and where it beats a $19.99 one-time app. Prices were read from each company's site on 7 October 2026.
| Price | MT5 auto-sync | On the Microsoft Store | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Trading Journal | $19.99 once | Yes, about every 5 minutes | Yes, listed |
| TradeZella | $315 to $891 a year (billed yearly) | Yes, via broker sync | No listing found (9 Oct 2026) |
| TraderSync | $269.52 to $719.52 a year (billed yearly) | 700+ brokers listed | No listing found (9 Oct 2026) |
| Tradervue | $29.95 to $49.95 a month | Check supported brokers | No listing found (9 Oct 2026) |
| Edgewonk | $197 a year | Automated imports for supported brokers | No listing found (9 Oct 2026) |
| TradesViz | Free Basic plan; Pro $14.99 and Platinum $22.49 a month, billed yearly | Expert Advisor sync, FTP import or report upload | No listing found (9 Oct 2026) |
| SyncoTrade | Free to install; in-app purchases listed | One-click sync of your MT5 terminal | Yes, listed (9 Oct 2026) |
TradeZella alternative for MT5: an honest comparison
Pricing, features and trade-offs: a subscription cloud journal versus a one-time local app.
Edgewonk alternative for MT5 traders
What an annual subscription journal costs against a one-time $19.99 app, and who should pick which.
TraderSync alternative for MT5 traders
TraderSync's real prices against a one-time $19.99 MT5 journal, and who should pick which.
Tradervue alternative for MT5 traders
Tradervue's monthly prices against a one-time $19.99 automatic MT5 journal.
Excel trading journal vs an automatic journal
When a spreadsheet is enough, and when typing every trade stops being worth it.
TradesViz alternative for MT5 traders
TradesViz plans against a one-time $19.99 MT5 journal, and who should pick which.
Notion template vs an automatic Notion journal
A paid or free Notion template still means typing every trade. When that is fine.
SyncoTrade vs AI Trading Journal: two local MT5 journals
Two Windows MT5 journals compared: a fully local analytics app and a local app that keeps your journal on your PC with an optional Notion copy. Where each wins.
MT5 history vs a journal
What the History tab gives you, where it stops and when a journal is worth having.
Free trading calculators
Free position size calculator (forex and gold)
Work out your lot size from your balance, risk percentage and stop loss.
Free risk to reward calculator
Get your R:R ratio and the win rate you need to break even.
Free drawdown recovery calculator
How much you must gain to get back after a loss, and roughly how long it takes.
Free trading expectancy calculator
Expectancy, profit factor and payoff ratio from your win rate and average win and loss.
Free forex and gold profit and loss calculator
Work out the profit or loss of a trade from lots, entry and exit price.
Free margin calculator for forex and gold
How much margin a position needs at your leverage.
Free trading compounding calculator
See how a steady return compounds over months, with the caveats that matter.
Free losing streak calculator
The chance of a losing run of any length, given your win rate and number of trades.
Prop firm drawdown calculator (daily and maximum loss)
Enter your firm's own limits to see your daily and maximum loss floors and how much buffer is left.
Prop firm risk calculator: how many losing trades until the limit
Turn your daily buffer and risk per trade into the number of losers you can take.
Risk of ruin calculator for traders
Simulate the chance your account reaches a drawdown you call ruin, from win rate, payoff and risk per trade.
Pip value calculator for forex and gold
The value of one pip for any lot size, including USD-base, JPY and cross pairs, and the value of a $1 move in gold.
Breakeven win rate calculator
The win rate you need to break even from your reward-to-risk ratio, with costs included, plus a table from 1:0.5 to 1:5.
Average win and average loss calculator
Turn a trade list into average win, average loss, payoff ratio, win rate, expectancy and profit factor.
R multiple calculator
Enter direction, entry, initial stop and exit to see the result as a multiple of the risk you took.
Daily loss limit calculator
Three ways to choose a daily stop, with the strictest highlighted.
Profit factor calculator
Divide what you won by what you lost: profit factor, net result and expectancy from your totals.
XAUUSD profit calculator
Gold lots, ounces and dollars: result, the value of a $1 move and net after costs.
Win rate calculator
Wins, losses and breakeven trades in, win rate and the range your sample size allows out.
XAUUSD margin calculator
Lots, gold price and leverage in; margin, free margin and margin level out.
XAUUSD stop loss calculator
Entry, lots and money at risk in; stop distance, stop price and points out.
Forex session times converter
Pick your time zone and date to see the Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York sessions in your local time.
XAUUSD take profit calculator
Entry, lots and wanted profit in; target price, distance and points out.
XAUUSD risk reward calculator
Entry, stop and target in; dollars at risk, ratio and break-even win rate out.
XAUUSD pip value calculator
Lots, contract size and pip size in; dollar value of a gold pip and your pips out.
Prop firm consistency rule calculator
Best day against total profit: your share, pass or fail and the profit still needed.
Trading cost calculator
Commission, spread and swap added into one cost per trade and its share of your target.
Three-year cost at the prices we read
Each comparison page shows the full year-by-year table. This summary puts the three-year totals side by side. All figures come from each company's own pricing page as read on 7 October 2026 and exclude tax. Plans and prices change, so confirm on the company's site before you decide.
| Journal | Three-year cost at the prices we read | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Edgewonk | $591 | Annual subscription |
| TradesViz Pro (billed yearly) | $539.64 | Subscription; a free Basic plan also exists |
| TradesViz Platinum (billed yearly) | $809.64 | Subscription |
| TraderSync Pro (billed yearly) | $808.56 | Subscription |
| TraderSync Premium (billed yearly) | $1,348.56 | Subscription |
| TradeZella Essential (billed yearly) | $945 | Subscription |
| TradeZella Pro (billed yearly) | $1,593 | Subscription |
| Tradervue Silver | $1,078.20 | Monthly subscription; a free plan also exists |
| Tradervue Gold | $1,798.20 | Monthly subscription |
| AI Trading Journal | $19.99 | One-time purchase after a 7-day free trial |
Price is only one dimension. The other journals offer things AI Trading Journal does not, such as trade replay, backtesting, AI coaching, charts, many brokers and browser access, and each comparison page says so under where they win. If you need those, the extra cost may be justified.
How to choose in about ten minutes
- Check your platform first. AI Trading Journal reads MetaTrader 5 on Windows only. If you trade elsewhere, the answer is already made.
- Write down what you will actually use each week. Replay and AI are impressive, but only if you open them.
- Look at three years of cost, not the first month.
- Decide where you want your data to live, and read what each tool needs from you to connect.
- Test two tools on the same week of trades and compare against the MT5 History tab.
How we make these comparisons
- We read each company's own pricing and platform pages and show the date we checked.
- We state only what those pages say, and we say when something could not be confirmed.
- We include a section on where each competitor is better and a section on what you give up with our app.
- We make AI Trading Journal, so you should weigh our pages accordingly. If something is out of date, tell us through the contact option on the product page and we will correct it.
If you are not ready to pay for anything
A journal does not have to cost money. The free MT5 trading journal template, the free Notion template and the free options guide show how to start with a spreadsheet or Notion and decide later whether automation is worth it. The Excel comparison and Notion template comparison cover those routes honestly.
What each comparison covers
| Page | Best read if you are considering | Main difference from AI Trading Journal |
|---|---|---|
| TradeZella | A full journaling platform with replay and an AI coach | Cloud, broad broker support, subscription |
| TraderSync | A cloud journal with replay, backtesting and an AI assistant | Cloud, 700+ brokers listed, subscription |
| Tradervue | Chart-based trade review, mentoring and a free plan | Cloud, several asset types, subscription |
| Edgewonk | A statistics and psychology toolkit sold annually | Many brokers, annual subscription |
| TradesViz | A very large analytics suite, with a free plan for stocks | Online, several asset classes, subscription |
| SyncoTrade | A fully local Windows MT5 journal with deep analytics | Local only, no Notion; free to install with in-app purchases |
| Excel or Sheets | A free journal you build yourself | You type every trade |
| A Notion template | A free or cheap layout in your own Notion | You type every trade |
AI Trading Journal is the odd one out: it is a small local Windows app for MetaTrader 5 that keeps your journal on your PC (with an optional copy in your own Notion workspace) for a one-time $19.99. It does less than the platforms above, and it does it without a subscription and without a broker login. Which is better depends on what you need.
Questions to ask any journal, including ours
- What do I have to give it to connect to my account?
- Where is my data stored, and can I leave with all of it?
- What does it cost over three years?
- Does it work with my platform and operating system?
- What happens if the company stops operating?
Our legit and safe checklist goes through each of these and applies it to our own app, including the places where we come up short.