SyncoTrade vs AI Trading Journal: two local MT5 journals compared
Two Windows apps that read MetaTrader 5 without a broker login and keep your trades on your own PC. Here is how they differ on analytics, notes, calendars, reports and price.
The short verdict
- Choose SyncoTrade if you want a free-to-install, fully local analytics app with a large set of metrics, custom strategies and tags and a configurable dashboard, and you want the deepest analysis on your own PC.
- Choose AI Trading Journal if you want a journal that fills itself in every five minutes without a click, with notes, ratings and screenshots on every trade, a P&L calendar, goals, Excel reports and daily backups, and you prefer a known one-time $19.99 price.
These two are the closest pair in this series. Both are Windows desktop apps that read MetaTrader 5, both keep your trades on your own PC, both are listed on the Microsoft Store, and neither needs a broker login. They differ in how much analysis each does, how new trades arrive and what the journal around the numbers looks like. Both are made by small teams, and neither is a replacement for the other so much as a different answer to the same problem.
Side by side
| SyncoTrade | AI Trading Journal | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free to install; its Store listing shows in-app purchases, so check what they cover | 7-day free trial, then $19.99 once |
| Billing | Not stated on its pages; see the Store listing | One-time purchase, no subscription |
| Where your data lives | Only on your computer, in a local folder. Its pages say it has no servers and collects no personal data | Only on your computer, in a file in your Documents folder. Notion is an optional copy you can connect later |
| How MT5 data gets in | Connects to your running MT5 terminal, with a one-click sync of your history | Reads your logged-in MT5 terminal: the first run imports your whole history, then new closed trades arrive about every 5 minutes with no click |
| Analytics | Over 80 metrics, an equity curve and filters by strategy, symbol and session, according to its listing | A desktop dashboard (Daily, Weekly, Monthly or All time) with score, win rate, profit factor, P&L charts and drawdown, plus a Progress page with monthly goals |
| Calendar view | Not listed on its pages | A P&L Calendar page with a green or red tile for every trading day, weekly totals and a month summary |
| Notes and organisation | Strategies and tags, a customisable dashboard, bulk editing of trades | Per trade: setup, emotion, plan followed, rating, tags, notes and screenshots, searchable and filterable |
| Export | Export to Excel, according to its site | Export Report builds an Excel workbook: key figures, six charts, daily and trades sheets and a calendar tab for every month |
| Backups | Not described on its pages | A daily automatic backup, to a folder you choose, plus Back up and Restore buttons |
| Broker login needed | No | No |
| Listed on the Microsoft Store | Yes | Yes, under the publisher name Wajid Farooq |
| Store ratings | None yet when we read it | None yet when we read it |
| Platforms | Windows 10 or later, with MetaTrader 5 | Windows 10 and 11, with MetaTrader 5 |
The SyncoTrade details come from its Microsoft Store listing and its own website, read on 9 October 2026. We have described only what those pages say. We have not tested the app, so we make no claim about how well any of it works.
Where SyncoTrade is the better choice
- It costs nothing to install. You can try the whole thing before deciding whether any in-app purchase is worth it.
- More analysis out of the box. Over 80 metrics, filters by strategy, symbol and session, and a configurable dashboard go well beyond our dashboard figures and Progress page.
- Strategies, tags and bulk editing are built into the app, which suits traders who want to label and re-label many trades quickly. Our journal has a setup and tags field per trade, but no bulk editing.
- No account of any kind. Its pages say it collects no personal data. We also keep your trades on your PC, but we check a license key against our activation server, so there is one small network call that SyncoTrade does not describe.
Where AI Trading Journal is the better choice
- A journal, not only analytics. Each trade carries your setup, emotion, plan-followed answer, rating, tags, notes and chart screenshots, and a re-sync never overwrites them.
- It runs without you. Closed trades arrive about every five minutes whether or not you open the app, so a busy week does not leave gaps. The first run reads your account's whole history.
- The P&L calendar and goals. Every day is a coloured tile with the result and trade count, and the Progress page tracks a monthly profit target and loss limit.
- Excel reports with monthly calendars, and daily backups to a folder you choose, such as OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox.
- A known price. $19.99 once, after a 7-day trial of the full app. We do not know what SyncoTrade's in-app purchases cost, because its pages do not say.
- Optional Notion. If you also live in Notion, you can connect it and receive your history, notes and screenshots there.
What you give up with AI Trading Journal
- Fewer metrics, and no strategy manager or bulk editing inside the app.
- A purchase after the trial, where SyncoTrade is free to install.
- Windows and MetaTrader 5 only, a five-minute sync cycle, and one computer per license.
What you give up with SyncoTrade
- Per its own pages, no screenshots or long-form notes per trade are described, and a manual sync step ('one-click sync') unless it keeps itself up to date in the background, which we have not tested.
- A calendar view, goals and monthly Excel calendars are not described on its pages.
- A price that is not stated on its pages, if you need features behind in-app purchases.
A privacy comparison, stated plainly
| Question | SyncoTrade (its own pages) | AI Trading Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Where is the trade data stored? | On your computer only | On your own PC, in a file in your Documents folder; in Notion, a cloud service, only if you connect it |
| Does a vendor server see your trades? | Its pages say it has no servers | No: trades stay on your PC and never pass through our servers. Licensing checks use a key and device ID |
| Does it need a broker password? | No | No |
| Can it place trades? | Its pages describe it as an analytics journal | No, it is read-only |
On privacy the two are close: both keep your trades on your own PC. SyncoTrade says it has no servers at all, while ours makes one license check. Neither answer is wrong.
Can you use both?
Yes. Both only read your MetaTrader 5 history, so they do not interfere with each other or with your trading. Some traders will want SyncoTrade for deep analysis and AI Trading Journal for the notes, calendar and reports. Run each for a week on the same account and compare the trade count and net result with the MT5 History tab. They should agree, and any difference is worth chasing before you trust either.
How to decide
| If you... | Probably choose |
|---|---|
| Want the most metrics and filters in one app | SyncoTrade |
| Want to pay nothing to start | SyncoTrade |
| Want notes, ratings and screenshots on every trade | AI Trading Journal |
| Want a P&L calendar and monthly goals | AI Trading Journal |
| Want new trades to appear automatically | AI Trading Journal |
| Want to know the price before you start | AI Trading Journal |
| Cannot decide | Try both free for a week |
More comparisons: TradeZella, TraderSync, Tradervue, Edgewonk and TradesViz. For what the Microsoft Store listing does and does not tell you about an app, see Store desktop journal versus cloud journal. To check any journal before you install it, use the legit and safe checklist.
Full transparency: we make AI Trading Journal. We describe SyncoTrade from its Microsoft Store listing and its website as they were on 9 October 2026, and we have not used it. Plans and features change, so check its own pages before you decide. If you spot anything out of date, tell us through the contact option on the product page and we will correct it.
Frequently asked questions
Is SyncoTrade a good alternative to AI Trading Journal?
Is SyncoTrade free?
Which is more private?
Can I use both on the same MT5 account?
Related guides
- TradeZella alternative for MT5: an honest comparison
- Edgewonk alternative for MT5 traders
- TraderSync alternative for MT5 traders
- Tradervue alternative for MT5 traders
- Excel trading journal vs an automatic journal
- TradesViz alternative for MT5 traders
- Notion template vs an automatic Notion journal
- MT5 history vs a journal
- A local trading journal for MT5
- P&L calendar for MT5
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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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