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The self-hosted TradeZella alternative
TradeZella is a polished cloud journal with strong education. TraderMemos trades SaaS convenience for something no subscription offers: your entire trading history in a file you own, analyzed deeper, for free.
Price
Your data
Setup
Broker import
Backtesting & replay
Analytics depth
AI
Languages
| Category | TradeZella | TraderMemos |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $35/mo subscription | Free — AGPL-3.0 open source |
| Your data | Lives in TradeZella's cloud | A SQLite (or Postgres) database on your own server |
| Setup | Sign up and go | Docker Compose on any server |
| Broker import | Broad auto-sync integrations | IBKR Flex sync, MT4/MT5 statements, 9 broker CSV presets, and the tm-sync folder watcher |
| Backtesting & replay | Replay and backtesting built in | Bar replay with paper accounts — results flow into the same analytics |
| Analytics depth | 50+ reports, Zella Score | Expectancy, SQN, Kelly %, behavior flags, rule-compliance P&L |
| AI | Built-in AI on their vendor | Your own OpenAI-compatible keys — local models supported |
| Languages | English | English · 日本語 · 繁體中文 · 简体中文 |
Where TradeZella wins
- Education — courses, community, and onboarding polish a self-hosted app doesn't try to match
- Zero setup: nothing to install, nothing to maintain
- Broker auto-sync breadth across mainstream US brokers
Where TraderMemos wins
- No subscription — free forever under AGPL-3.0
- Data ownership: your journal is a file on your box, not an account that can be closed
- Deeper trade math: expectancy, SQN, Kelly %, MAE/MFE, and behavioral flags out of the box
- Prop-firm mode and rule compliance built in, not bolted on
- AI with your own keys — or a local model, so nothing leaves your machine
The honest verdict
If you want a hosted product with courses and zero maintenance, TradeZella earns its subscription. If you'd rather own the journal itself — the data, the analytics, the AI keys — TraderMemos does more of the actual analysis and costs nothing.
Based on public pricing and feature pages as of August 2026. Products change — if something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it. Open an issue →
Run it on your own box
TraderMemos is free, open-source software. Clone the repo, run one command, and journal tonight's session on hardware you own.