Charting software · Comparison
TradingView vs thinkorswim in 2026: Price, Tools and Who Can Use Each
thinkorswim costs nothing, but only Schwab clients can log in, and Schwab’s site is designed for US residents. TradingView needs no broker account: a free plan with 2 indicators per chart, then 12.95 to 199.95 USD a month billed annually. Both offer scripting, back-testing, replay and simulated trading. Every figure below comes from the providers’ own pages, read on 23 September 2026.
thinkorswim: a Charles Schwab brokerage account is required to log in; schwab.com is designed for US residents, and non-US residents are subject to country-specific restrictions (Schwab One International account).
The first button is a plain link to Schwab; Schwab pays us nothing. The second is our TradingView partner link: TradingView pays us a commission if you subscribe through it, and the price is the same either way.
Written and checked by Sascha Martins, Promo Code Network, Switzerland
How TradingView vs thinkorswim was compared
Eight criteria: price, free tier, trial, refunds, indicators and alerts, scripting and back-testing, replay, and execution with market data and eligibility. Every row comes from TradingView’s and Schwab’s own pages, read on 23 September 2026; where a page is silent, the table says so. Nothing was measured.
thinkorswim is Schwab’s own trading software: the platform is free, and Schwab is the broker. TradingView is a subscription charting service that routes orders to selected brokers. Day trading, especially with leverage or margin, carries a high risk of loss.
TradingView vs thinkorswim: price, free tier, trial and refunds
| Criterion | TradingView | thinkorswim |
|---|---|---|
| Platform price | Basic free; Essential 12.95, Plus 29.95, Premium 59.95, Ultimate 199.95 USD a month billed annually (14.95 / 34.95 / 69.95 / 239.95 monthly) | No charge for Schwab clients; Schwab’s standard pricing applies to trades: 0 USD online stocks and ETFs, 0.65 USD per options contract, 2.25 USD per futures contract |
| Free tier | 1 chart per tab, 2 indicators per chart, 3 price alerts, 5K historical bars, ads, no customer support | The full platform suite for account holders; no minimum to open the account, but day trading needs margin approval and 25,000 USD minimum equity at all times |
| Trial | 30 days on Essential, Plus and Premium, 14 on Ultimate | 30-day Guest Pass without an account: simulated trading in paperMoney only, cannot be extended |
| Refunds | Annual plans within 14 calendar days of payment. Monthly: 7 days under the policies page, but the pricing-page FAQ excludes monthly plans; none for upgrades | No platform fee to refund |
| Sign-up offer | Partner link: 15 USD off your next plan once you have bought your first; the first payment is unchanged | None stated for the platform |
TradingView pricing page (the Swiss page shows the same figures in CHF), policies and partner pages; Schwab thinkorswim, Guest Pass and pricing pages. All read 23 September 2026.
Indicators, alerts, scripting, back-testing and replay
| Criterion | TradingView | thinkorswim |
|---|---|---|
| Indicators | 400+ built-in and 100K+ community indicators on every plan; 2 / 5 / 10 / 25 / 50 per chart from Basic to Ultimate | “Hundreds of technical indicators, studies, and drawing tools”; the desktop page names 400+ technical studies; no per-chart cap published |
| Alerts | Price alerts 3 / 20 / 100 / 400 / 1,000; technical alerts 20 to 1,000 on paid plans; webhooks from Essential; alerts expire after 1 month on Basic and 2 on Essential and Plus | No alert limit published on the pages read |
| Scripting | Pine Script on every plan | thinkScript, with a condition wizard, to build your own order-execution and strategy-testing algorithms |
| Back-testing | Strategy back-testing with a basic report on every plan; advanced report metrics from Essential; deep backtesting from Premium | Strategy testing through thinkScript; options back-testing and “what-if” simulations |
| Replay and simulation | Bar Replay on every plan: daily and higher on Basic, minute history 180 days on Essential, 365 on Plus, all from Premium; paper trading on every plan | thinkOnDemand replays any trading period from the last several months; paperMoney simulates trades with live market data |
TradingView plan comparison table; Schwab thinkorswim and thinkorswim desktop pages, and Schwab’s article “6 Ways to Get Started With thinkorswim” for thinkOnDemand. All read 23 September 2026.
Broker execution, market data and who can sign up
| Criterion | TradingView | thinkorswim |
|---|---|---|
| Orders from the chart | “Trade through selected brokers”, chart trading and Depth of Market trading on every plan, including Basic | Schwab is the broker: orders go to your Schwab account; 24/5 trading on over 1,300 stocks and ETFs |
| Markets and data | 3,539,722 instruments per the pricing page; extra real-time exchange data (NASDAQ, NYSE, CME and others) bought separately with a paid plan or trial; 2 / 4 / 6 / unlimited data subscriptions on Essential to Ultimate | Stocks, ETFs, options, futures and forex; Schwab Crypto (Bitcoin and Ethereum, 0.75% fee) listed as “coming soon” |
| Who can sign up | Anyone with a TradingView account; sales tax may be added by location; only Ultimate is sold to professional users | A Schwab account is required to log in; the site is designed for US residents; non-US residents face country-specific restrictions and apply for a Schwab One International account by country of residence |
TradingView pricing page; Schwab thinkorswim page and international.schwab.com. Read 23 September 2026. TradingView bought in the App Store or Google Play follows Apple’s or Google’s refund policy and may bypass the partner link.
Verdict: thinkorswim for Schwab clients, TradingView for everyone else
TradingView’s free plan needs no card: 2 indicators per chart, 3 price alerts, daily Bar Replay and broker trading. Plus, at 29.95 USD a month billed annually, adds 10 indicators, 100 price and 100 technical alerts and a year of minute-level replay. The partner link gives 15 USD off your next plan after the first paid purchase; the first plan costs the same either way. A Schwab client can use both side by side.
TradingView vs thinkorswim: common questions
Is thinkorswim really free?
Can I use thinkorswim if I live outside the US?
Does TradingView have something like thinkOnDemand?
Can both Pine Script and thinkScript back-test strategies?
What does the TradingView partner link give me?
Sources
- TradingView: Pricing and plan comparison, prices, per-plan limits, Bar Replay, Pine Script, backtesting, trading and data rows; and Policies, refund windows. Read 23 September 2026.
- TradingView: Partner program, “a $15 discount on their next plan, once they’ve bought their first”. Read 23 September 2026.
- Charles Schwab: thinkorswim platforms, thinkorswim desktop and Guest Pass: platform terms, studies, thinkScript, day-trading rule, residency notice. Read 23 September 2026.
- Charles Schwab: Pricing, commissions for stocks, options and futures; 6 Ways to Get Started With thinkorswim, thinkOnDemand; Schwab International, Schwab One International account. Read 23 September 2026.