Trade Ideas vs Scanz for day traders, compared on price and plan limits
Scanz is the cheaper scanner to start with at $89 per month, and Trade Ideas Standard costs $127 per month. The gap flips at the top: Scanz Pro is $199 and Trade Ideas Premium is $254. Scanz fits a trader who scans news and SEC filings. Trade Ideas fits a trader who wants prebuilt scans and, on Premium, AI signals and backtesting. If you only scan gaps, float and volume, DayTradingSoftware runs the same kind of real-time lists from $49 per month.
Trade Ideas vs Scanz pricing side by side
Prices are monthly list prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked in October and November 2026. Vendors change plans often, so confirm on the day you buy.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | What stands out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scanz Starter | $89 | Not listed | One scan at a time, 20 symbol watchlist |
| Scanz Pro | $199 | Not listed | Unlimited scans and alerts, desktop app |
| Trade Ideas Standard | $127 | $1,068 (about $89 per month) | Core scanning and alerts |
| Trade Ideas Premium | $254 | $2,136 (about $178 per month) | AI signals, backtesting, auto trading |
Scanz Ultra at $999 per month adds API access and concierge scan building, and has no Trade Ideas counterpart in this range. Scanz lists a 7 day trial on Starter and Pro that needs a card.
Over a year, a monthly Scanz Pro subscription costs $2,388 and a monthly Trade Ideas Premium subscription costs $3,048. Paid yearly, Trade Ideas Standard works out to about the same price per month as Scanz Starter.
Where Scanz wins
Scanz is built around four kinds of scans: data, signal, news and SEC filing. News and filings are included on every plan, so you can scan for a headline or a new filing the same way you scan for a gap. If your trades start with a catalyst, that matters more than any other row in this comparison.
The weakness is the entry plan. Starter runs one scan at a time and keeps a single watchlist of 20 symbols. A normal momentum morning is a gap list, a low float list and a halt list running together, and that means Pro at $199 for most active traders.
Where Trade Ideas wins
Trade Ideas is the better pick if you do not want to build scans from scratch. It has a long history with prebuilt scan channels, and Premium adds AI signals, backtesting and automated trading hooks, none of which Scanz lists on its pricing page. That makes Premium the choice for a trader who wants the software to suggest setups and test them.
The cost is the jump from $127 to $254 per month for those features. If you build your own scans and trade them manually, the Premium extras are mostly unused. Our Trade Ideas pricing breakdown goes through every plan.
Which one to pick
- Catalyst and filing traders: Scanz. News and SEC scans on every plan are the point.
- Traders who want prebuilt scans: Trade Ideas Standard, ideally billed yearly at about $89 per month.
- Traders who want AI signals and tested setups: Trade Ideas Premium.
- Traders who need several scans at once and a desktop app: Scanz Pro, or compare it with our Pro plan below.
- Traders who scan gaps, float and volume and want a journal: neither is built for that, and a scanner with a trading journal fits better.
Whichever you choose, set a rule for the first month. Write down which list you actually traded from. Most traders find they trade from one or two lists, and that tells you which plan limits matter.
A cheaper third option for gap and momentum traders
DayTradingSoftware is a real-time scanner for premarket gappers, low float runners and momentum, with 50 alerts on Starter at $49 per month and unlimited scans on Pro at $149. It has no news feed, no filings scanner and no AI signals, so it is not a replacement if those are the reason you pay for Scanz or Trade Ideas. What it adds is a journal that stores the scan state of every trade, so you can see which gap size, relative volume and float actually paid you.
| DayTradingSoftware Pro | Scanz Pro | Trade Ideas Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $149 | $199 | $254 |
| Real-time gap and momentum scans | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| News and SEC filings | No | Yes | Not part of this comparison |
| Trading journal | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
See the full Scanz alternative and Trade Ideas alternative pages for the long versions, or the best premarket scanner roundup if timing before the open is your main concern.
Three mistakes when comparing the two
- Comparing entry plan to entry plan. Scanz Starter limits you to one running scan, so the fair match for an active trader is Scanz Pro against Trade Ideas Standard or Premium.
- Ignoring billing. Trade Ideas shows a yearly price near $89 per month for Standard, while Scanz does not list an annual price on its page. Compare like for like.
- Paying for features you do not open. AI signals and filing scans are valuable only if your routine uses them.
If your strategy also holds positions for days, you can test the idea on long daily history with a tool such as a rule-based backtest on 20 years of daily data, which sits outside the intraday scanner decision.