Finviz and TC2000 are the two screeners most US-focused traders end up choosing between, and they are less alike than the category suggests. Finviz is a web-native screener with a genuinely useful free tier and a filter set that runs from P/E ratios to candlestick patterns. TC2000 is a desktop-first charting platform whose scanner you program yourself, with a broker attached. One of them costs nothing to start; the other is the one you keep if scanning is your job.
Disclosure: we are an affiliate for both products and earn a commission either way. That is genuinely the useful case for you — we have no reason to steer this, and the sections below hand the decision to Finviz more than once.
The short answer
Pick Finviz if you want to start free, screen on fundamentals as readily as technicals, work from any browser, or export data and hit an API. Pick TC2000 if scanning is central to your day, you need real charting, you trade options, or you want to write scan criteria that no menu offers.
The honest split: most people should start on Finviz's free tier, because it costs nothing and answers the question "is screening actually part of how I invest?" Only once the answer is yes does TC2000's subscription make sense.
Pricing
| Finviz | TC2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes — delayed quotes, 50 presets, ads | None |
| Paid | Elite $39.50/mo | Basic $24.99 · Premium $49.99 · Premium Plus $99.99 |
| Annual | $299.50/yr (~$24.96/mo) | Biennial from $18.74/mo |
| Real-time US stocks | Elite only | Included on every tier |
| Real-time indexes | Included with Elite | +$9.99/mo |
| Options data | Not offered | +$9.99/mo |
| Trial | 7 days, card required, auto-renews | Length varies, no card required |
| Refund | — | 30-day money-back (Worden's terms) |
| Student discount | None published | $24.99/mo off with a .edu address |
Two things in that table matter more than the headline numbers.
Finviz has a real free tier and TC2000 has none. Not a crippled demo — the free Finviz screener runs the full filter set on delayed data with 50 preset screens. Plenty of people never need more.
The trials are not equivalent. Finviz's 7-day Elite trial requires a credit card and converts to a paid subscription automatically unless you cancel first. TC2000's trial needs no card at all. If you have ever forgotten to cancel something, that difference is worth more than a few dollars a month.
On like-for-like paid pricing they land close: Finviz Elite at $39.50/month against TC2000 Premium at $49.99. Annually Finviz drops to about $24.96/month; TC2000 on biennial billing goes to $18.74. Add TC2000's $9.99 index-data feed — included with Elite — and the gap narrows again. Neither is meaningfully cheaper; price should not decide this.
Screening: breadth vs depth
This is the real difference, and it is not "which is better".
Finviz is broader. One screen mixes fundamental filters (P/E, debt/equity, insider ownership, analyst recommendation) with technical ones (RSI, moving-average position, chart patterns, gaps) in a single row of dropdowns. Nothing else assembles a fundamental-plus-technical screen that fast, and it takes about four minutes to learn. Elite raises the preset limit to 200 and shows 100 results per page.
TC2000 is deeper. EasyScan builds conditions from menus, and Personal Criteria Formulas let you write criteria that no menu offers — a custom volatility measure, a relationship between two timeframes, a ranking of your own devising. Our Qullamaggie scan settings is a worked example: an ADR% formula that simply cannot be expressed in Finviz's dropdowns.
The test is whether your screening idea fits in a dropdown. If it does, Finviz will run it faster and probably free. If it does not, no amount of Finviz is going to get you there.
Charting: not close
TC2000 wins this decisively. It is a charting platform first — drawing tools, multi-monitor layouts, saved templates, indicator libraries, and a scan-to-chart workflow built around reading the results rather than listing them.
Finviz's charts are functional and improved on Elite (multi-layout charts, technical studies), but they are a screener's charts: fine for a quick look at a result, not where you would do analysis. If your workflow is "screen, then study twenty charts carefully," that is a TC2000 workflow. Our TC2000 review covers the charting side properly.
Where Finviz clearly wins
The free tier. Nothing in TC2000's lineup competes with free.
Fundamental screening. Finviz treats valuation, growth and ownership filters as first-class. TC2000 is built around price and volume; fundamental screening is not its purpose.
Data export and the API. Elite exports financial data and offers API access. TC2000 has neither, so anyone doing their own analysis in Python or a spreadsheet is on the wrong platform with it.
It works everywhere. Finviz is a website. TC2000's real application is Windows — Mac users get the full platform streamed into a browser, which works well but is a streamed session, and the iPhone app is still listed as coming soon.
Maps and heat maps. Finviz's market map is the best free market-overview tool anywhere, and it is genuinely useful for reading sector rotation at a glance.
Where TC2000 clearly wins
Custom scan criteria. Personal Criteria Formulas have no Finviz equivalent.
Charting depth, as above.
Options. TC2000 charts and screens them with a $9.99 real-time feed. Finviz does not screen options at all.
Integrated trading. TC2000 has a brokerage attached and advertises up to $300/year in commission discounts for routing through it — a real offset against the subscription.
Canadian markets. TC2000's included watchlists cover the TSX. Finviz is NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX only.
Real-time data on the cheap tier. TC2000 Basic at $24.99 includes real-time US stock quotes. Getting real-time out of Finviz means Elite at $39.50.
No-card trial and a published refund policy. See above — this matters more than it reads.
So which one?
Start with Finviz free. It costs nothing, it will run most screens you can currently describe, and it will tell you whether screening is actually part of how you invest. That question is worth answering before you subscribe to anything.
Upgrade to Finviz Elite if you hit the free tier's limits and your screens are fundamental-flavoured, or you want data export, alerts and real-time quotes without a desktop install.
Move to TC2000 when your screens stop fitting in dropdowns, when you need to read charts properly rather than glance at them, or when options and execution enter the picture. Start on Premium rather than Basic if EasyScan is your reason — Basic has no real-time scanning. There is a no-card trial if you want to see the scanner first.
Neither, if your actual question is whether the pattern you keep screening for has ever paid. A screener finds candidates; it says nothing about whether the setup works. Our strategy backtester is free and answers that, and the five kinds of analysis tool explains why screening and backtesting are not substitutes.
Frequently asked questions
Is Finviz cheaper than TC2000?
Finviz has a free tier and TC2000 has none, so at the entry level yes, by a lot. Paid, they are close: Finviz Elite is $39.50/month against TC2000 Premium at $49.99, and both drop on annual or biennial billing. TC2000 includes real-time US stock data on its $24.99 tier, which Finviz reserves for Elite.
Is the Finviz free version good enough?
For many people, yes. The free screener runs the full filter set on delayed quotes with 50 presets. You outgrow it when you need real-time data, more presets, alerts, data export, or an ad-free interface.
Which is better for fundamental screening?
Finviz, clearly. It treats valuation, growth, ownership and analyst filters as first-class alongside technicals. TC2000 is built around price and volume.
Which is better for custom scans?
TC2000. Personal Criteria Formulas let you write conditions no menu offers — see our Qullamaggie TC2000 scan settings. Finviz is limited to the filters it ships.
Can I screen options on either?
Only TC2000, which charts and screens options with an optional $9.99/month real-time feed. Finviz does not offer options screening.
Do both offer a free trial?
Both do, with an important difference: Finviz Elite's 7-day trial requires a credit card and renews into a paid subscription automatically. TC2000's trial requires no card.
Bottom line
These are not really rivals. Finviz is the screener you should already be using, because a large part of it is free and it answers fundamental and technical questions in one row of dropdowns. TC2000 is the platform you graduate to when screening becomes the centre of your process and the dropdowns stop being enough.
If you are choosing today and unsure: Finviz free, and revisit in a month. If you already know your screens need formulas, charts and an execution path, TC2000 is the one to trial — and test whatever you find on both before you trade it.