Written by Blain Reinkensmeyer
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Steven Hatzakis
January 31, 2024
Searching for new stock ideas doesn’t have to be a chore if you use a great screener. The best free stock screeners make it easy to rapidly sift through thousands of stocks and identify a dozen or so stocks that fit your market view and trading style.
Like my list of the best free stock chart websites, this list focuses in on the best stock screeners and scanners available to stock traders and casual investors. The criteria used in this ranking include depth of filter criteria, selection of both fundamental and technical filters, ease of use, and any extra functionality that I think complements a good screener.
I also found some solid screeners that, while not free, are worth a look and may suit your style. I’ve included those here as well.
As much as I’d love to review the mobile versions of these screeners, I was surprised that only a few had mobile apps, and even then the screeners were basic, at least on the free versions. If you need to screen for stocks while on the go, I suggest using a broker app, specifically Power E*TRADE or Interactive Brokers’ IBKR Mobile. (Read full reviews of both E*TRADE and IBKR on sister site StockBrokers.com.)
Best Stock Screeners
- TradingView - Best Stock Screener (website)
- ChartMill - Best for Casual Traders
- FINVIZ - Best Fundamental Screening
- Seeking Alpha - Best Independent Ratings
- Stock Rover - Handy Thumbnail Charts
- Yahoo Finance - Free and Easy
- MarketSmith - Best for CAN SLIM investors
5.0 Overall
Review
Best Stock Screener (website)
TradingView is my favorite site for stock and ETF screening because it offers the best overall combination of quality data and ease of use. It’s visually appealing and its prolific dropdowns make it very efficient.
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Where the world charts, chats and trades.
5.0 Overall
Review
Best for Casual Traders
ChartMill will hold a lot of appeal for casual traders. It’s more basic than my top pick but still offers most popular screening options, and it’s intuitive and fun to use.
5.0 Overall
Review
Best Fundamental Screening
The FINVIZ.com stock screener stands out for its large selection of fundamental stock criteria and overall functionality, and it can present fundamental data visually. There’s a large selection of fundamental and technical criteria, and the interface is user-friendly.
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4.5 Overall
Review
Best Independent Ratings
Seeking Alpha offers a wide variety of data and services, but they now come only with a paid membership. Its screener’s strength is in its stock ratings, preset screens and contributor opinions.
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Get top stocks ideas with Seeking Alpha.
4.0 Overall
Review
Handy Thumbnail Charts
While a free version is available, Stock Rover is best suited for those who demand more than what their broker can offer and are willing to pay for it. There’s an extensive selection of tools and variables to conduct analysis and research.
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Create Your Free Stock Rover Account!
4.5 Overall
Review
Free and Easy
The Yahoo Finance stock screener is very basic, but what it lacks in depth of technical and fundamental criteria, it gains with simplicity. The free screener includes streaming quotes, ESG data filters, and useful fundamental data.
4.0 Overall
Review
Best for CAN SLIM investors
While neither free nor cheap, the MarketSmith stock screener is a must-have tool for investors who follow the CAN SLIM strategy via Investors Business Daily. Its excellent charting package includes access to the screener along with IBD’s entire list of proprietary ratings.
1. TradingView
TradingView is my favorite screening site because it offers the best overall combination of quality data and ease of use, and how it combines screening for fundamental data and identifying chart signals. It’s visually appealing and its prolific dropdowns make it efficient to use. You might not even need to create a custom screen, because there’s a wealth of useful presets.
There’s a vast selection of technical and fundamental indicators, and customizing data ranges is a breeze. Hands down, TradingView is my go-to site for free stock charts and free stock screening, and it won No. 1 Stock Screener in our investor.com Annual Awards for 2024
- Pros:TradingView’s fully featured stock screener has an excellent selection of fundamental data and an outstanding array of technical data. The free version is very functional for most investors.
- Cons: TradingView has a mobile app, but it doesn’t include a screener. This is a small quibble, but data exports and streaming real-time quotes require a paid subscription to TradingView Pro.
2. ChartMill
If you’re intimidated by TradingView and want a simpler screener that still gives you a decent amount of technical filters, ChartMill offers a perfect compromise between ease of use and useful indicators. I could easily imagine ChartMill as being indispensable to many casual traders.
Finding appealing stocks is as simple as moving a few sliders and ticking a few boxes. If you don’t want to come up with your own definition of what makes a stock cheap or safe or growthy, ChartMill also has proprietary ratings and preset screens. The chart views are laid out in a logical fashion, and screen results pop up quickly.
- Pros: ChartMill is intuitive to use. There’s a good selection of fundamental filters, but not so many that it becomes overwhelming. Both traditional and candlestick pattern recognition are supported.
- Cons: The pricing is vague. A no-credit-card 14-day trial enables all the features, but once the free trial expires, users are granted a monthly budget of “credits,” which is confusing. A monthly full-feature subscription is $29.97/month.
3. FINVIZ
The FINVIZ stock screener ranks third on my list of top screeners because of its large selection of criteria, user-friendly interface, and overall functionality. FINVIZ offers a thorough selection of both fundamental and technical data and can present fundamental data visually (thus the name, I guess). My favorite feature is the ability to hover the cursor over any stock ticker and instantly get a high quality chart thumbnail.
- Pros: Large selection of fundamental and technical criteria. A logical layout makes it easy to use. Quick hover stock charts.
- Cons: The free website version is dominated by ads and there’s no mobile app. Advanced features like data exporting, customized filters, and backtesting are locked behind FINVIZ Elite paywall.
4. Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha offers a wide variety of data and services, and its screeners are useful, but they now come only with the paid membership. The first month is $4.95, which renews at $239/year. That’s a steep commitment if you only want a stock or ETF screener. The Seeking Alpha screener’s strength is in its stock ratings and preset screens. You can screen for quantitative ratings, Wall Street analyst consensus, and Seeking Alpha contributors’ opinions. I like having the contributor ratings, because they come from a sophisticated group of market watchers who aren’t beholden to Wall Street bosses.
I found the stock screener to be far more focused on stock fundamentals than price action, which could lead traders to look elsewhere. I also, frankly, think the user interface is clunky. Creating custom screens took way too many clicks compared to other screeners, primarily because I needed to click a button to get to the filtering choices instead of having them always accessible at the top of the page.
- Pros: Seeking Alpha has excellent preset screens and the contributor ratings are unique.
- Cons: The workflow to create custom screens is annoying and there are only a few chart/price action filters.
5. Stock Rover
Stock Rover, a subscription-based web platform, offers features including screeners, portfolios, and watch lists, which are grouped under collections; and much more is packed under the hood. I found it simple to save an item to favorites and add a bookmark. Navigating the broker-platform-like layout was smooth as well.
Stock Rover offers a free 14-day trial and three premium options, including Essentials, Premium, and Premium Plus, which range from $7.99 to $27.99 per month; discounts are available for yearly commitments. Stock Rover is best suited for those who demand more than what their broker can offer, aren’t willing to change brokers, and are willing to pay a premium for better analysis and market tools.
- Pros: Extensive selection of tools and variables to conduct analysis and research. Numerical color-coded scores make it easy to assess rankings and sentiment. The fully loaded version brings over 600 metrics and greater access to additional data limits.
- Cons: The screener requires a $7.99/month subscription. Trading directly from Stock Rover is not supported — that is, it must complement your existing broker trading platform software.
6. Yahoo Finance
The Yahoo Finance stock screener is basic, but what it lacks in depth of technical and fundamental criteria to be filtered, it gains in simplicity. The premium tier, Yahoo Finance Plus Essentials (that’s a mouthful) is comprehensive but costs $29.16 a month.
Alongside ease of use, the free stock screener includes free streaming quotes, ESG data filters, and results provide useful fundamental data.
- Pros: Yahoo’s screener is easy to use and includes streaming quotes and ESG filters.
- Cons: There aren’t many criteria available for screening, and a ton of goodies are locked behind a paywall. The screener isn’t available on the Yahoo Finance app.
7. MarketSmith
Rounding out my list of top stock screeners is MarketSmith. MarketSmith is the charting package from Investors.com (Investors Business Daily). First, it is important to note that MarketSmith is neither free, nor even cheap. To access the screener, which includes all the William O’Neil metrics and ratings, you have to subscribe. The monthly subscription rate is $149.95, though the first “trial” month is “only” $29.95. I think this is wishful pricing. Data, opinions, and investing methods can be found cheaper than this.
That said, the charting platform identifies growth stock ideas that fit IBD founder William O’Neil’s CAN SLIM criteria. If you’re comfortable with the CAN SLIM methodology (and CAN SLIM has been around for seven decades, give or take),then MarketSmith is worth a look.
- Pros: Excellent charting package includes access to the screener alongside IBD’s entire list of proprietary ratings.
- Cons: To gain access to the stock screener, you must sign up for MarketSmith, which costs $149.95/month after an initial month fee of $29.95.
Closing thoughts
My fave among stock screeners is TradingView’s website, which easily accommodates experienced traders. If you’re only trading casually, give ChartMill a try. It has most of the popular screening options and it’s a blast to use.
What is a stock screener?
There are thousands of stocks out there that investors can choose from. Stock screeners allow investors to develop lists of stocks that fit their needs or interests, rather than going with only hot or recognizable names. A value investor might screen for stocks with high dividends, while a growth investor might screen for rapidly accelerating profits. Once an investor is satisfied with the screen results, he or she can either trade those stocks or research them further.
Are there any good free stock screeners?
Yes, there are good free screeners. The best free stock screener is on TradingView.com. It’s easy to use, visually appealing, and provides extensive filtering options suitable for both long-term investing and short-term trading. If you want to trade directly from a stock screener, consider trying the Stock Hacker screening tool on Charles Schwab's thinkorswim platform.
Are stock screeners worth it?
Stock screeners play an important part in the research process. They allow investors to focus their attention on stocks most likely to complement their market views and portfolio allocations. There is a wide variety of free stock screeners. The best free stock screener in my analysis comes from TradingView. Top online brokers also often provide comprehensive stock screeners for free.
What’s the best free stock screener app?
The best free stock screening on mobile is on broker apps. That shouldn’t deter you because most U.S. brokers don’t have a minimum investment or charge platform fees. (You can read about top picks for online trading apps on our sister site, StockBrokers.com.)
E*TRADE’s Power E*TRADE app has a powerful “Scanner” under its Live Action menu. Sophisticated investors will also like the staggering amount of options available in Interactive Brokers’ IBKR Mobile.
Read Next
Explore our other online trading guides:
- 5 Best Online Stockbrokers
- 6 Best Trading Journals and How to Journal Successfully
- 20 Best Stock Trading Books
- 6 Best Free Stock Chart Websites
- 10 Great Ways to Learn Stock Trading
- How to Read Stock Charts
- 7 Best Free Stock Screeners
- Why Day Trading Is a Losing Game
- How to Invest (Beginner's Guide)
