The best stock screeners
Most screeners filter — you set the rules, they return a list. A much smaller number value, estimating what a business is worth and showing the gap to today's price. Work out which you want first and the choice gets much easier.
The short answer
There is no single best screener, because they answer different questions. Most of them filter — you set the rules, they return a list. A much smaller number value — they estimate what a business is worth and show the gap to today's price. Work out which of those you want first, and the choice narrows quickly.
The two kinds, and why it matters
Filters
You supply the criteria: P/E under 15, dividend yield above 4%, return on capital above 20%. The tool returns everything that matches. Powerful, and it assumes you already know what you're looking for. SharePad, Stock Rover and Koyfin are in this category.
Valuers
The tool estimates intrinsic value for each company and ranks by the discount to price. You start from a shortlist rather than a blank form. Oak Growth, Alpha Spread, GuruFocus and Morningstar do this, in different ways.
The main options
| Tool | Price | Fair value? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Growth | £18/mo | DCF on every company | Valuation plus quality and timing, 8 markets |
| Alpha Spread | from ~$12/mo | DCF + relative | Widest coverage, 100,000+ companies |
| Stockopedia | from £32/mo | No — ranks | UK ranking system, StockRanks |
| SharePad | tiered | No | Deepest UK fundamental data |
| ShareScope | £36/mo | No | Windows desktop, live UK news |
| Morningstar | $249/yr | Analyst-covered only | Funds and ETFs first |
| GuruFocus | from $549/yr | GF Value | 30 years of data, guru tracking |
| Stock Rover | from $7.99/mo | Top tier only | US and Canada, 700+ metrics |
| Koyfin | $39/mo | No | Charting and macro, adviser-grade |
How to choose, in four questions
1. Which markets do you actually buy in?
This eliminates more options than anything else. Stock Rover covers the US and Canada only. Value Line is North American. If you hold FTSE shares, several of the best-reviewed tools are simply not for you.
2. Do you want a number or a ranking?
A rank of 1 to 5 tells you a company scores well against peers. A fair value in pounds tells you what it's worth. Only the second lets you sort a whole market by margin of safety.
3. Is the feature you want on the tier you'd buy?
Fair value sits behind Stock Rover's top plan. International coverage sits behind Finbox's Professional plan. Headline prices frequently aren't the price you'd pay.
4. What will the subscription cost as a share of your portfolio?
£295 a year is 2.95% of £10,000 and 0.30% of £100,000. On a smaller portfolio the tool has to earn back a meaningful return before you're level.
Why I built Oak Growth, and where it doesn't win
It exists because nothing did all four of these at once: a discounted cash flow value on every company, Buffett's four pillars scored, an entry signal on the same chart, and eight markets including the UK on one price with no tiers. £18 a month.
Where it doesn't win, plainly. Alpha Spread covers a hundred times more companies and costs less. SharePad and ShareScope have deeper UK data and full unfiltered live RNS. GuruFocus has thirty years of financial statements. Koyfin has better charting. If those are your priority, buy those instead.
A value on every company, not a filter to fill in
Oak Growth publishes a discounted cash flow intrinsic value for roughly 1,000 companies across eight markets, ranks them all by margin of safety, and scores each on moat, management, economics and value.
Explore Oak GrowthCommon questions
What is the best stock screener?
It depends on whether you want a filter or a valuation. Filters like SharePad, Stock Rover and Koyfin return companies matching criteria you set. Valuers like Oak Growth, Alpha Spread and GuruFocus estimate what a business is worth and rank by the discount to price. The second is what value investing needs.
Is there a free stock screener?
Most brokers, Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, Finviz and TradingView all offer free filtering on measures like P/E and dividend yield. Free tools that publish an intrinsic value are far rarer, and those that do cap it — a few company reports a week or month. Unlimited access requires a subscription with every provider.
What is the difference between a stock screener and a stock ranking system?
A ranking system scores companies relative to each other, so a rank tells you a company looks good compared with peers. A screener that publishes a fair value tells you what the business is worth, which lets you measure the gap to today's price and sort an entire market by margin of safety.
How much should a stock screener cost?
Serious tools range from around £18 a month to over $1,000 a year. The useful test is the cost as a share of your portfolio: £295 a year is nearly 3% of a £10,000 portfolio but 0.30% of £100,000, so the tool has to earn back much more on a smaller balance.
Also see: Best stock screener UK → · Oak Growth vs Alpha Spread → · How to calculate intrinsic value →