Best backtesting software (2026, compared)

Cells were read on each vendor’s own pages on 1 Nov 2026. “Not verified” means the page did not state it or blocked our read (forextester.com (all pages, HTTP 403)), not that the feature is missing. Prices change; confirm on the linked page.

Backtesting software applies a trading strategy to past market data and records what would have happened. There are two kinds. Replay tools hide the future and let you step through bars by hand, taking trades by your rules: this is for discretionary strategies you cannot easily code. Automated testers run coded rules over years of data in seconds: this is for strategies you can write as a script.

Neither kind tells you what will happen next. A backtest describes the past under the assumptions you set (data, costs, fills), and its value depends on those assumptions being honest.

If your entries need judgement (a level, a pattern, a market structure read), use replay: TradingView Bar Replay, FX Replay or Soft4FX. If your rules are exact enough to code, an automated tester runs far more trades and removes your own bias from the trade selection: TradingView's Strategy Tester (Pine Script) or MetaTrader 5's Strategy Tester (MQL5).

Many traders do both: replay to develop the idea and practise execution, then code the parts that can be coded and test them over a much longer period.

On the pages we read on 1 November 2026: TradingView's Basic plan is free; its Bar Replay page does not state the free-plan limits, so check them in the app. FX Replay's free Beginner plan allows 2 sessions, 1 indicator, 1 week of data retention and 50 trades per session. Soft4FX's free demo allows 5 trades per simulation on 2 sample years, without saving. NinjaTrader states that it is free to use for charting, backtesting and simulation. Elave's backtest report is free with a signed-in account.

FX Replay states that you can run a strategy inside challenge rules and track drawdown. For the other vendors in the table, we found no prop-firm simulation on the pages we read.

Elave's "Would I pass?" runs your trades against a firm's published rules as a simulation, not a forecast. On your own data it is included with the Elave Bootcamp; other users see a demo. You can also check a backtest by hand: our guide on how to backtest a trading strategy shows how to replay results against a daily loss limit and a trailing drawdown.

MetaTrader-native tools run inside the platform you may already trade on. MT5's Strategy Tester tests Expert Advisors written in MQL5, with optimisation and a visual mode. Soft4FX is a Windows-only plug-in for MT4/MT5. Browser tools (TradingView, FX Replay) need no install and work on a Mac. NinjaTrader is a desktop platform for futures, with web and mobile apps.

NinjaTrader's pricing page is built around futures (ES, NQ, GC, FDAX and micros). Soft4FX lists about 60 forex pairs plus metals, two cryptocurrencies and 12 stock indices, with 10 to 20 years of tick data on the paid licence. MetaTrader 5 describes itself as multi-asset (forex, stocks, futures), with the data your broker provides. FX Replay lists 120+ assets across 6 markets. TradingView's replay data depth depends on the plan, and tick-based replay reaches up to 7 days back.

Elave Backtest imports a TradingView Strategy Tester "List of trades" export and builds a report (seeded Monte Carlo, results by hour, weekday and month), saved in a library and kept apart from your live journal. It has no bar-by-bar replay.

Use it when you already test in TradingView and want a clearer report than the Strategy Tester tab, kept next to (but apart from) your live journal so you can compare backtest and live results. It is not a replay tool and not a strategy engine.

Forex Tester is a well-known desktop and online replay tool. Its site blocked our reads (HTTP 403) on 1 November 2026, so every cell is "Not verified" rather than filled from third-party pages. Check its own pricing page directly.

• How you will execute under pressure: replay trades carry no real money and weaker emotions.
• Real fills: slippage and spread around news are usually worse than a backtest assumes.
• Whether the market regime will continue: a strategy built on one year of trending data may fail in a range.
• Whether the result is luck: with fewer than about 100 trades, the honest range is wide.

1. Write down how your strategy decides entries. If a script could make every decision, you need an automated tester; if it needs your eye, you need replay.
2. List the markets and sessions you trade, and check the tool has that data at the timeframe you execute on.
3. Check the free plan's real limits (sessions, trades per session, data retention, saving) against a test of at least 100 trades.
4. If you trade a prop account, check whether the tool can apply a daily loss limit and a trailing drawdown, or plan to check that by hand.
5. Check where it runs: Windows-only plug-ins need a Windows machine or a virtual one; browser tools run anywhere.
6. Make sure you can export the results, so backtest trades can be compared with your live journal later.

When the free plan's limits stop you from reaching a meaningful sample. A free plan that caps you at 50 trades per session or 5 trades per simulation is enough to learn the tool, not to judge a strategy. Pay when you have written rules, have outgrown the free limits on a real test, and know which feature you are paying for: more history, more sessions, tick data or saved results. Paying for a tool before the rules are written rarely helps.

• Every trade with entry, exit, stop, size, costs and the setup tag, in the same fields as your live journal.
• The test period and the market conditions it covered.
• Every rule change during the test, with the date, so you know which trades were taken under which version.
• Expectancy after costs, maximum drawdown, longest losing streak and the worst day, compared with your prop firm's daily loss limit.

Only for strategies where the order of prices inside a bar decides the outcome: tight stops and targets on low timeframes, scalping, or entries and stops inside the same candle. On one-minute or higher bars with stops several times the spread, bar data is usually enough. When a bar touches both your stop and your target, a bar-based test has to guess which came first; tick data removes the guess. Soft4FX's paid licence lists 10 to 20 years of tick data, and TradingView's tick-based replay reaches up to 7 days back.

For many retail strategies, it is a good start: you write the rules in Pine Script and get a strategy report on the chart. Watch three settings that change the result: commission and slippage (set them to your real costs), the order-fill assumptions, and the period tested. Then look past the headline profit: the list of trades shows whether one month or one huge trade carries the whole result. Exporting the "List of trades" lets you analyse it elsewhere, for example by hour and weekday.

Enough for at least 100 trades and more than one kind of market: a trending stretch, a ranging stretch and a volatile one. For an intraday strategy taking a trade a day, that is several months; for a swing strategy taking two trades a month, several years. More history helps only if the market's structure has not changed; very old data on a contract with different hours or tick sizes can mislead.

Each cell was read on the vendor's own pricing, help, documentation or product page on 1 November 2026, and links to that page with a short quote kept for audit. "Not verified" means the page did not state the fact or blocked our read; it does not mean the feature is missing. Prices are copied as shown, in the currency shown; some vendors localise prices by region. Elave's row is ours, and states its limits. We will re-check these pages at least monthly.

• Elave's free backtest reportImport a TradingView Strategy Tester export.
• How to backtest a trading strategy
• AI trading coaches compared
• Prop firm challenge checklist
• Trading guides, rules and tools

• TradingView — official site · checked 1 Nov 2026
• MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester — official site · checked 1 Nov 2026
• FX Replay — official site · checked 1 Nov 2026
• Soft4FX Forex Simulator — official site · checked 1 Nov 2026
• NinjaTrader — official site · checked 1 Nov 2026
• Forex Tester — official site · checked 1 Nov 2026

Elave (elavefx.com) is a free trading platform for retail and prop-firm traders: an auto-synced trading journal, Guardian rule checks on MetaTrader 5, an AI Coach that reads your own trades, a report for TradingView Strategy Tester backtests, a Telegram trading desk and application-only coaching (Elave Bootcamp). The platform is free with no subscription and no card; Elave is funded by partner-broker (introducing-broker) relationships.

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