The best backtesting software in 2026

Our verdicts

• Best all-in-one, no code: QuantGPT. The data, the backtest engine and the AI are in one place. You ask Claude or ChatGPT in plain English and get a full backtest back, with nothing to install and no data feed to buy or wire up.
• Best for coders, every asset class: QuantConnect. Python or C#, survivorship-free US stocks from 1998, plus options, futures, forex and crypto, and live trading through many brokers.
• Best for fundamental and factor screens: Portfolio123. Point-in-time data and ranking systems without code, though full strategy simulations start at $174 a month.
• Best for chart traders: TradingView. Pine Script on the chart, free to start, but strategies cannot trade on their own.
• Best no-code automation inside one brokerage: Composer. Build, backtest and automate stock and ETF portfolios, but only in Composer's own brokerage account.
• Best for futures: NinjaTrader. Best for index options bots: Option Alpha.
• Skip unless you have a specific reason: Trade Ideas, Tickeron, Backtrader, AmiBroker and MetaTrader 5. Why.

Every fact below comes from the vendor's own pages, read on November 1, 2026, and links to them. Prices change and several vendors were running promotions that day, so check the linked page before you buy.

Side by side

Why the delisted column matters: a test that only includes companies still trading today leaves out the ones that failed, and its results look better than anything you could have traded at the time.

The winners

QuantGPT

Best all-in-one, no code. Most tools on this list make you assemble the pieces: a data source, a scripting language, then a place to run it. QuantGPT ships them together. It connects Claude or ChatGPT over MCP to its own US market data warehouse and backtest engine (home page), so you describe the idea in plain English, from "buy the 20 cheapest S&P 500 stocks by free cash flow yield each month" to "what did the index do after every Fed hike", and get the full result back with no setup.

What is built in:

• Prices for the S&P 500 from 1928 and single US stocks (thin before 1980), with fundamentals dated by when they were filed, not by quarter end (data warehouse).
• 55+ precomputed factors, plus crypto (daily prices and funding rates), commodities, weather and FRED macro series.
• Every result carries a trading cost model and an out-of-sample split, and a 175-entry strategy library (55 runnable) is there to start from.
• Factor regressions, a portfolio optimizer and a book risk model, in the same conversation.
• On QuantGPT Pro, your own code can run on QuantGPT Cloud and send orders to your brokerage account; Alpaca is supported today (execution).

QuantGPT is $49 a month or $490 a year, and QuantGPT Pro is $149 a month or $1,490 a year, each with a 3 day trial (pricing).

Where it is not the pick: options and futures strategies, intraday tests, and coders who want to write every line themselves (QuantConnect). Companies that later delisted are partly included from 1998, and each result reports the share it measured; before 1998 the stock universe is survivors only.

QuantConnect

Best for coders and every asset class. You write strategies in Python or C# on LEAN, its open source engine (GitHub, Apache 2.0). Its US equity data starts in January 1998 and is described as survivorship bias free, covering "all US listed and delisted" equities (dataset page), and options, futures, forex and crypto are covered too (home page).

The free plan includes unlimited backtesting but no live trading. The Researcher setup shows as $84 a month or $888 a year, a bundle of a seat, compute and support (pricing). Its AI assistant, Mia, and an MCP server let an AI agent create and run backtests; the MCP server needs a paid node (docs). The catch: you are writing code. If you do not, look at QuantGPT or Composer.

Portfolio123

Best for fundamental and factor screens. Rules and ranking systems are written as formulas with ready made factors, on point in time data that it says has "no survivorship or look-ahead biases" (research page). The catch is price: the Screener plan ($35 a month, $25 billed yearly) backtests only 5 years, and full simulations with buy and sell rules start at the Portfolio plan ($174 a month); history runs to 20 years on Ultimate (plans). Orders can go to Interactive Brokers.

TradingView

Best for chart traders. Strategies are written in Pine Script and backtested on the chart, across a very wide range of markets, and the free Basic plan includes strategy backtesting (pricing). Two limits: history is counted in bars (10K on Essential, 40K on Ultimate), not years, and strategies cannot trade on their own. Its help center says "Strategy trading is limited to the backtesting mode only" (help center). Its MCP server, on Essential and above, covers watchlists, data, screeners and alerts, but its docs do not mention backtesting (MCP docs).

Composer

Best no-code automation inside one brokerage. You build portfolios of stocks and ETFs in a visual editor or by chatting with its AI, backtest them free and without limit, and automate them (pricing). Backtests use daily adjusted closes and the date picker goes back 30 years (help center). The catch: strategies run only in a Composer brokerage account, and Composer does not connect to outside brokers or apps (help center).

NinjaTrader

Best for futures. Backtesting, charting and paper trading are free on every plan (pricing); paid plans lower futures commissions. Strategies are written in NinjaScript, which uses C# syntax, and its pages do not say how far back the data goes.

Option Alpha

Best for index options bots. Its backtester supports SPX, SPY, QQQ, IWM and XSP, with 1 minute options data for 0DTE and 1DTE tests (backtester). That is the whole list: it is not a stock strategy tool. Pro is $149 a month or $99 billed yearly, or $0 with a qualifying account at TradeStation, Tradier or tastytrade (pricing).

TrendSpider

Good, not best. A capable no-code Strategy Tester with a Sidekick AI agent that can build rules and run backtests (product page), but no options or index backtesting, no free plan (a 14 day trial costs $19), and Standard was listed at $89 a month or $54 billed yearly (pricing). Chart traders get most of this from TradingView for less.

Skip unless

• Trade Ideas: $254 a month (Premium) is what it costs to backtest at all, and OddsMaker tests alert setups on "recent market events" only (pricing). Worth it only if you day trade off its real-time scanners.
• Tickeron: ready-made AI pattern signals and robots, not a tool for testing your own rules, and its pages do not state its data history or whether delisted stocks are included.
• Backtrader: a free Python library under GPL 3.0, but its last commit was April 19, 2023 (GitHub), and you supply and clean all the data yourself.
• AmiBroker: a fast portfolio level backtester for a one time $299, but no data comes with it; delisted stocks only with paid Norgate data (data sources).
• MetaTrader 5: free and strong for forex expert advisors, but the history depends on your broker. MetaQuotes announced a built in AI assistant and MCP support on October 20, 2026 (news).

Questions

What is the best backtesting software in 2026?

For most people who do not write code, QuantGPT: the data, the backtest engine and the AI come together, so you describe a test to Claude or ChatGPT in plain English and get the full result with no setup. Coders who want every asset class should pick QuantConnect, fundamental investors Portfolio123, and chart traders TradingView.

Which backtesting software has the data built in?

QuantGPT, QuantConnect, Portfolio123, TradingView, Composer and TrendSpider come with their own data. QuantGPT's covers prices back to 1928 for the S&P 500, fundamentals by filing date, factors, crypto, commodities and macro series in one warehouse. AmiBroker and Backtrader make you bring your own data, and MetaTrader 5 uses your broker's.

Is there free backtesting software?

Yes. QuantConnect's free plan includes unlimited backtesting, TradingView's free Basic plan includes strategy backtesting, Composer's free Starter plan backtests without limit, NinjaTrader's backtesting is free on every plan, MetaTrader 5 is free from MetaQuotes, and Backtrader is a free open source Python library.

Which backtesting software includes delisted stocks?

QuantConnect and Portfolio123 state that their US stock data includes companies that later delisted. QuantGPT includes them partly from 1998 and reports the share it measured on each test. AmiBroker gets them only with paid Norgate data. The other tools' pages do not say.

Can I backtest a strategy with ChatGPT or Claude?

Yes. QuantGPT connects Claude or ChatGPT over MCP to its own market data warehouse and backtest engine, so you can describe a test in plain English and get the full result. QuantConnect also has an MCP server, which needs a paid node and works on code. TradingView's MCP server, on Essential and above, covers data, screeners and alerts, but its docs do not mention backtesting.

Which backtesting tools can trade live?

QuantConnect, Composer (in its own brokerage), Portfolio123, TrendSpider, NinjaTrader, Option Alpha, Trade Ideas, AmiBroker, MetaTrader 5 and Backtrader can send orders through a broker. On QuantGPT Pro, your own code can run on QuantGPT Cloud against your brokerage account. TradingView strategies cannot trade on their own.

What is the cheapest paid backtesting software?

Among the paid plans here, Composer Advanced is $10 a month and TradingView Essential is $14.95 a month ($12.95 billed yearly). Several tools backtest for free, listed above.

How we chose

We read each vendor's pricing, documentation and product pages on November 1, 2026 and recorded what they state, with links. Where a vendor does not state something, the table says so. We name a winner in each category, say plainly which tools are weaker, and explain why. More on how we test.

Nothing here is investment advice. A backtest is history, not a forecast.