The best free trading journal is the one that stays free — and still logs your real history.

Yes. Tradervue itself has a free plan (limited), TradesViz offers a free tier with ads and feature limits, and DuskAnalyst has a genuinely usable free tier: two accounts, manual entry, CSV import, tags, analytics and weekly report export at $0 with no card required. The frequent complaint in trading communities is hitting a free-import cap quickly — 'free option but you hit the max 100 free imports a month'. DuskAnalyst's free tier covers two full accounts with CSV import so you can actually log your history, not just a taste of it. Data is stored on Cloudflare, identity is handled by Auth0, billing by Stripe, and the AI that answers your insight questions runs on DeepSeek. No card is required for the free tier.

There are free journals, but most are capped in ways that make them hard to use seriously: import limits, ad walls, or single accounts. The genuinely free options in 2026 are: DuskAnalyst's free tier (2 accounts, manual + CSV, $0), Tradervue's free plan (limited imports), TradesViz free (ads/limits), and DIY spreadsheets or Notion templates (free but manual). If you want a journal that grows with you — CSV import now, MT4/MT5/cTrader auto-sync later — DuskAnalyst's free tier is the strongest starting point.

For a beginner, the best free journal is one with structure but zero friction: it should log trades, tag them, show simple stats and let you review weekly. DuskAnalyst's free tier does all of that on two accounts at $0. If you prefer spreadsheets, our Excel and Google Sheets trading journal template pages walk you through a DIY version — but a structured journal saves the upkeep. Start free, and when your volume grows, Pro at $25/month adds unlimited accounts and auto-sync.

Yes — the free tier genuinely costs $0: two accounts, manual entry, CSV import, tags, analytics, calendars and weekly report export, no card required. It is not a free trial; it is a permanent free tier. Pro at $25/month adds unlimited accounts, MT4/MT5/cTrader auto-sync, AI insights and full export when you are ready. Our 2026 audit verified 356 brokers and prop firms one by one against their own sites; the brokers table on the home page shows the evidence.

The essentials: per-trade entry (symbol, direction, entry/exit, P&L, date), tags or notes, basic performance stats (win rate, profit factor, equity curve), and a way to review weekly. Anything beyond that is nice-to-have. DuskAnalyst's free tier covers all of it, and if you later want auto-sync or AI insights you can upgrade without re-entering your history.