Trade Ideas vs Scanz

Both are built for the same trader: someone watching U.S. stocks during the session who needs to see a move as it happens, not on the next refresh. Scanz says its scans update every 500 milliseconds on paid plans and that its Signal Scanner streams events as they fire. It covers NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX and OTC, from 4:00 AM to 8:00 PM ET. Its homepage lists 15+ breakout events including block trades, and its pricing page cites 400+ real-time filters.

Scanz's Signal Scanner streams technical events; in Trade Ideas each event is its own alert. The help documents 308 alerts and 249 filters, including 2-minute opening range breakouts (with breakout and breakdown versions at 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 minutes), a 15-minute narrow range sell bar and a 15-minute 1-2-3 buy signal. Any alert can be filtered with any group of filters, each with a min and max, and 191 alerts have an extra setting, such as the volume ratio on a 1-minute volume spike. With one alert and two filters there are more than 9.5 million pairings, and the full set of combinations is effectively unlimited.

If all you need is a fast, configurable real-time scanner, either one will do the job. The rest of this page is about what each adds on top.

Its decision tools sit right beside the scanner: filterable Level 2 with bid and ask depth, time and sales, and prints you can link to any scan. OTC coverage on paid plans and a native Mac desktop app on Pro round it out. Scanz keeps shipping, too; its August and September 2026 release notes added a rebuilt navigation, scan templates, a Market Sessions view and a shared toolbar across scanners.

A scanner hands you names, and then the decision comes down to judgment. OddsMaker takes the exact alert and filters you trade, replays them across all stocks over past trading days, and shows the trades they would have produced, the win rate and the profit factor under your own entry, stop and exit rules. Scanz doesn't list anything comparable, so this is a clear difference between the two.

What happens after the data arrives is where the two part ways. Scanz's docs describe three scanners, Data, Signal and News, that share one engine of 65+ filters, with the Data Scanner updating twice per second (Scanners 101, checked Oct 7, 2026). Those docs cover scanning, alerts and watchlists; they do not describe a step that tests, optimizes or selects strategies.

In Trade Ideas the same data keeps going: you build measurements of your own in the Formula Editor, use them in strategies, test and optimize those strategies in OddsMaker with breakdowns by time of day, price and symbol, and Holly re-selects her strategies every night for the next session. You need TI Premium for OddsMaker and for Holly AI Signals. Our Data Difference page maps each step.

On Oct 5, 2026, Scanz's homepage still read "Execute Coming soon in May 2026!" and its FAQ said broker trading integrations "are on the roadmap but not shipped yet." In Trade Ideas Pro you send orders to a connected broker from the window that found the stock, with one-click Brokerage Plus orders or chart trading. Money Machine goes further: it trades from your own Top Lists (Screeners) and Streaming Alerts and manages each position with its own stop and target. See the supported brokers.

This is one comparison where both sides take real time seriously, which is exactly why traders weigh them against each other. Scanz no longer offers a free delayed plan, and the same rule applies to us: If you are okay with static non-refreshing data, Trade Ideas is probably not your best choice.

Scanz and Trade Ideas both scan US stocks in real time, so the choice comes down to what you do after a stock shows up. Scanz leans into news, filings and Level 2. Trade Ideas leans into proof: OddsMaker on TI Premium tests a setup on past data before you trade it, and Holly AI Signals publish finished ideas. Data comes from every US exchange, plus off-exchange trades and the NBBO. The Channel Bar's ready-made scans and the AI Assistant come with both plans, and a free account takes only an email.

Scanz: No free plan (Scanz dropped it; Starter and Pro have a 7-day free period). Starter, $89/mo: web and mobile, one scan running at a time, one saved scan of each type, one 20-symbol watchlist. Pro, $199/mo: desktop app, unlimited saved scans, alerts and watchlists, multi-monitor layouts. Ultra, $999/mo: concierge scan building, API access and automated trading hooks. Month to month, with a 7-day free period on Starter and Pro.

Prices checked October 2026. Sources (all on scanz.com, listed as text per our linking policy for this page): the homepage, /pricing/, /features/, the FAQ and /release-notes/september-2026/. Trade Ideas plans came from trade-ideas.com/pricing the same day.

Scanz updates often, as its monthly release notes show, so check scanz.com for anything that may have changed since.