If you manage a large investment portfolio, especially if you are an active trader, it can be difficult to stay on top of your account balances and activity. That’s where a good stock tracker can help.
But with so many to choose from, how do you know which one is right for your portfolio? In this article, I’m sharing 10 of the best stock trackers in 2023. I’ll cover pricing and ratings and let you know what to consider when choosing a stock tracker.
Table of Contents
What Is a Stock Tracker?
A stock tracker is a software application that enables you to monitor your investments in real time. This is different from the simple lists of stocks displayed in your broker portfolio. A stock tracker not only lists your securities but it can also be customized to give you instant access to the information you deem most important.
Some stock trading apps offer their own online stock trackers. And while these can be effective, they’re not necessarily in-depth tools. After all, a broker is a broker, and a stock tracker is a highly specialized investment tool. Still, I have included some brokers whom we feel have excellent trackers, along with best-in-class investing capabilities.
What Makes a Good Stock Tracker?
When choosing a stock tracker, use the following five criteria:
Capabilities. This is the ultimate measure of a good stock tracker. It includes factors like the number of stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and mutual funds the tracker can cover, the ability to directly manage your portfolio from the application, integration with your brokerage account(s), the amount of company and market information directly available on the app, customization, capacity, and ease of use. Ideally, a stock tracker should offer you a free trial period, so you can test the product.
Availability. Is the tracker available for desktop, mobile apps, or both? Even though the majority of your investing activity may take place on your desktop, you may also want the ability to access the stock tracker on your mobile app when you’re not at your desk.
Reputation. There are millions of active investors just like you. They represent a serious source of objective opinions about any stock tracker. If a tracker gets high marks from its users, there’s a better chance you’ll be satisfied with the product.
Price. Stock trackers are available at different price points, ranging from free versions to those costing hundreds of dollars. A free version may work well if your portfolio is relatively small, holds few stocks, or if you’re not an active trader. But for a larger portfolio and an active trading profile, paying for a premium tracker could be one of the best investments you can make.
Your own personal needs and preferences. The best stock tracker is the best stock tracker for you. It doesn’t matter what an online reviewer decides. You’ll need to make your choice based on your own investment style, needs, and preferences.
Best Stock Trackers in 2023
1. Morningstar
Best for: Best all-around for investors at all levels
Price: $34.95 per month, or $249 per year ($20.75 per month equivalent)
Ratings: The App Store: 4.1/5.0; Google Play: 1.3/5.0
Morningstar is one of the best-known and respected names in the investment industry. Professional investors, including investment management firms, commonly use its services. There are plenty of good reasons why this is true.
Morningstar gives you the ability to seamlessly link multiple brokerage accounts to its program. You can then take advantage of professional grade data and ratings. They’re well-known for providing their Morningstar point ratings, ranging from one star to five stars, making stock selection much easier.
One of the features Morningstar is best known for is its Portfolio X-Ray. It enables you to evaluate your positions from multiple angles. Meanwhile, Morningstar Stock Intersection gives you the ability to know immediately when you have overlapping assets. That can prevent you from becoming too heavily allocated in any one asset class.
If you’re looking for specific investment ideas, Morningstar is one of the richest sources of that information. You can get information on a multitude of investment ideas, including growth stocks, value stocks, funds, and sectors. For more information, check out our Morningstar Investor review.
For a limited time, Morningstar Investor is discounted by $50!
It comes with a 7-day free trial so you can lock in your savings, try the service, and cancel if you don’t think it’s for you.
2. Seeking Alpha
Best for: Self-directed investors interested primarily in stock information
Price: Free for the basic version; Premium $239/year, starting with one full month at $4.95
Ratings: The App Store: 4.8/5.0; Google Play: 4.1/5.0
Though you can start out using the free version of Seeking Alpha, it’s a pretty limited application. But the Premium version is where you’ll get all the features and benefits Seeking Alpha is known for. It’s one of the more popular stock trackers on the market, with more than 250,000 users.
You’ll get access to hundreds of articles each day covering thousands of individual stocks. The stock analysis will include specific ratings, like buy, strong buy, hold, or sell, giving you some insight into the standing of the security. And while Seeking Alpha doesn’t provide specific stock recommendations, they do offer stock screeners providing Quant Ratings, Seeking Alpha Ratings, Wall Street Ratings, Valuation, Growth, and Profitability.
Though they don’t offer a free trial period, the first month is just $4.95. That will give you an opportunity to test the tracker to make sure it’s the right choice for you. And if it is, you can sign up for an annual subscription at $239. That’s an excellent price, given all the information, insight, and analysis Seeking Alpha provides. Read our Seeking Alpha review for more information.
💵 Seeking Alpha Premium Spring Sale – 25% Off
Seeking Alpha offers a 7-day free trial for Seeking Alpha Premium so you can see whether it’s right for you. If it is, the regular price is $239 for an entire year and now you can get 25% off – making it just $179 for the year.
If you don’t like it, you can always downgrade to the Basic plan and still use all the portfolios, screeners, and research you’ve done without paying the premium fee.
The trial is a great way to test-drive Seeking Alpha Premium.
👉 Get the Seeking Alpha Premium 7-Day Free Trial
(Offer expires April 3rd, 2024)
Learn More About Seeking Alpha
3. The Motley Fool Stock Advisor
Best for: Investors looking for specific stock recommendations
Price: $99 for the first year, then $199 per year; comes with a 30-day membership fee back guarantee
Ratings: The App Store: not rated; Google Play: 2.8/5.0
The Motley Fool is one of the top investment advisory services in the industry, with more than 500,000 subscribers. The company claims its stock picks have heavily outperformed the S&P 500 in recent years. In fact, they claim it outperformed the index 3-to-1 over the past 20 years. Most recently, they claim to have provided 173 stock recommendations with returns of greater than 100%, with average recommendations returning more than 432%.
As a member, you’ll receive two new stock picks each month. They also provide rankings of the top 10 investment opportunities they believe to be available. You’ll also enjoy access to dozens of stock reports written by Motley Fool investment experts, as well as a library filled with investment articles.
One of the more compelling features of The Motley Fool is that they offer an online community. That’s where you can join conversations with other members, swapping investment strategies and recommendations.
The service comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee giving you an opportunity to see if the service will work for you.
*Billed annually. Introductory price for the first year for new members only. First year bills at $99 and renews at $199.
4. Empower
Best for: Complete professional investment management
Price: Free for the basic financial aggregator, then 0.89% to 0.49% of your portfolio value (minimum $100,000) for the Wealth Management Service
Ratings: The App Store: 4.7/5.0; Google Play: 4.2/5.0
Empower (formerly Personal Capital) offers its free financial aggregator, where you can link all your financial accounts. That includes bank accounts, loans and mortgages, credit cards, and of course, investment accounts. That’ll give you a high-altitude view of your entire financial situation on a single platform.
Once all your accounts have been linked on the platform, you’ll be able to track balance changes and, ultimately, your net worth. The platform will also provide cash flow and investment reporting.
But at the heart of Empower is its Wealth Management service. It provides customized, human-assisted investment management of your portfolio for a single, all-inclusive annual advisory fee. That will include access to a dedicated investment advisor.
The fee ranges from 0.89% per year for portfolios up to $1 million, then gradually declines to 0.49% for portfolios over $10 million.
5. M1 Finance
Best for: Investors looking to choose their own investments, then take advantage of automated investment management
Price: None
Ratings: The App Store: 4.7/5.0; Google Play: 4.5/5.0
M1 Finance is a unique robo-advisor that enables you to choose the individual stocks and exchange-traded funds you want to invest in. Then, once you’ve made your choices and created your portfolio, M1 Finance provides complete automated portfolio management, including dividend reinvestment and periodic rebalancing. And they do it all free of charge. That includes no fees for selecting the investments in your portfolios and no annual management fee.
What’s more, you can open an account with no money at all, then begin investing once you’ve added at least $100 in funds to your account. Each portfolio can be filled with up to 100 securities and funds, and you can build an unlimited number of portfolios, which M1 Finance refers to as “pies”. Each pie can also be organized around a specific investment theme, like renewable energy, sustainability, urban renewal, or anything you choose.
They also offer M1 Plus. That’s a premium service you can participate in for just $10 per month – or $95 per year. It provides you with more investing tools and high-yield savings (currently up to 5.00% APY), plus up to 10% cash back using the M1 Owner’s Rewards Card. Learn more in our full M1 Finance review.
6. Stock Rover
Best for: Investors who want to ease into a stock tracker as their portfolio grows
Price: 4 Plans: 1) Free, 2) Essentials, $7.99/month ($59.99/year), 3) Premium, $17.99/month ($134.99/year), 4) Premium Plus, $27.99/month ($209.99/year)
Ratings: The App Store: N/A; Google Play: N/A
Stock Rover offers four different plans. Exactly what services and features will be available will be based on the plan you select.
Many investors will be more than adequately served by Stock Rover Free. It provides comprehensive information on more than 8,500 North American stocks, as well as 4,000 ETFs and more than 40,000 mutual funds. The plan includes broker integration, portfolio management, and a portfolio dashboard with detailed portfolio performance information. You can also get daily analyst ratings and rankings, in-depth market news, and an ideas panel with screeners.
Essentials offers investment comparison, fully customizable financial views and columns, stock screening, portfolio and watch list tracking, and more than 260 metrics with five years of detailed historical data.
The Premium version adds 90 additional metrics with more than ten years of detailed financial history. It also comes with data export, ETF and fund comparison data, over 100 charts of all financial metrics, advanced alerting, detailed portfolio analytics, and Monte Carlo portfolio simulation.
Finally, Premium Plus adds over 300 additional metrics, as well as custom metrics. It also comes with equation screening, historical data screening, stock ratings, stock fair value and margin of safety, investor warnings, and current and historical scoring for growth, value, quality, and sentiment. Our Stock Rover review has more details.
7. TradeStation
Best for: Advanced Investors
Price: No program fees, plus commission-free trading of stocks, but trading fees do apply to international investors, as well as a $50 fee for low balance or lower activity accounts
Ratings: The App Store: 4.5/5.0; Google Play: 3.9/5.0
TradeStation is an investment broker offering one of the top trading platforms in the industry. It’s designed primarily for more advanced investors, offering an award-winning trading platform, including a dedicated trade desk and real-time market data. There is no minimum balance required to open an account. It’s available to both US and non-US investors. They offer trading in cryptocurrencies in addition to the usual lineup of stocks, bonds, funds, options, and futures.
The desktop platform provides direct market access with automatic trade execution. It can be customized to take advantage of the many features and tools offered on the platform. TradesStation’s RadarScreen feature enables you to track and rank symbols in real time based on more than 180 indicators. Daily stock data goes back over 50 years, while daily index data goes back as much as 59 years. They also offer simulated trading so you can test investment strategies before risking your money. Learn more in our TradeStation review.
8. GuruFocus
Best for: Investors in non-US stocks
Price: $499 per year, following a seven-day free trial
Ratings: The App Store: 3.5/5.0; Google Play: 3.6/5.0
GuruFocus is available to investors in both the US and abroad. The app has been around since 2004 and provides a wealth of information on both buying and selling stocks. That includes a wide selection of screeners and research tools. You’ll also have access to a monthly newsletter analyzing stocks the same way world-class investors like Warren Buffett and Ben Graham do. And not only is there information on thousands of US stocks but also those available in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
There are scores of theme-oriented screeners, such as CEO Buys, Dividend Kinds, Hedge Fund GuruTop 10 Aggregated, S&P 500 Bubble, Buffett-Munger, and Undervalued Predictable. You’ll also have access to model portfolios and sector-based stock comparisons.
GuruFocus has the highest annual membership fee of any stock tracker on this list. But it does offer perhaps the most comprehensive menu of investment tools, screeners, and information. Meanwhile, it also comes with a seven-day free trial, as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the product.
9. Yahoo! Finance
Best for: New investors
Price: Free version; Yahoo! Finance Plus plans – Lite $250/year ($20.83/month) or Essential $350/year ($29.16/month) – 14-day free trial for each plan
Ratings: The App Store: 4.7/5.0; Google Play: 4.4/5.0
Yahoo! Finance is one of the industry’s most popular investment platforms. The free version provides real-time quotes on both markets and individual securities. You can also set up MyPortfolio and watchlists and take advantage of available screeners.
Yahoo! Finance Plus offers two different premium plans, Lite and Essential. Lite provides all the features of the free version but adds daily trading ideas, fair value analysis for stocks, advanced portfolio performance analysis tools, and 24/7 account support.
Essential provides all the features of the Lite version but also adds features like research reports from Morningstar and Argus, enhanced charting and auto pattern recognition, unique company insights on leading indicators, historical financials and statistics with CSV export, and the Market Digest newsletter.
Either premium plan will also provide you with portfolio analytics, research reports, investment ideas, enhanced charting, company insights, and community insights from other users of the platform. And in a feature that is attractive to many, the premium versions are available without ads.
Learn More About Yahoo! Finance
10. Robinhood
Best for: Active traders
Price: No annual fee; commission-free trades of stocks, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies
Ratings: The App Store: 4.2/5.0; Google Play: 4.0/5.0
Robinhood is an investment app designed specifically with active traders in mind. They offer one of the best mobile apps for trading, along with commission-free trades of stocks, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. You can open an account with no money at all and begin investing with as little as $1.
If you are also interested in earning high interest on cash balances that exceed the $250,000 FDIC limit, Robinhood is currently offering 4.65% APY on balances up to $1.5 million. Full insurance coverage of deposits is provided by participation from multiple FDIC-insured banks.
Robinhood also offers what might be the most interesting IRA perk in the industry. Robinhood Retirement provides a 1% match on your IRA contributions, along with custom-recommended portfolios and no commissions. You can even get the matching contribution from account balances transferred from third-party IRA accounts, and old 401(k) plans. Robinhood claims the 1% matching contribution could be worth an extra $25,000 in 45 years.
If that’s not enough, they also offer their Cash Card. When you use a debit card to make purchases, Robinhood will round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and move the change into your investment account. But you’ll also earn a bonus of between 10% and 100% on your weekly roundups – up to $10 per week. The bonus will be invested in the purchase of stocks and crypto. You can find our Robinhood review here.
Final Thoughts
If you manage your own portfolio, you almost certainly need a good stock tracker. This is especially true if your portfolio consists of a large number of individual stocks, but it can also be a major asset if you have multiple funds.
Even though your brokerage account provides updated lists of your securities holdings, stock trackers have more flexibility. And if you trade stocks, a stock tracker can be one of the most critical tools you have available to you.
If you’re not currently using a stock tracker, choose one of the services listed above and get started. It can take a while to become familiar with how the stock tracker works. That’s why it’s important to begin using one as soon as possible. And once you master the learning curve, you’ll wonder how you ever managed to invest without a stock tracker.
