Portfolio123 is a no-code platform for building, testing, and running rules-based stock and ETF strategies on point-in-time data that most retail tools never get near. It fits the systematic investor who rebalances on a weekly or monthly schedule and wants to think in factors and rules rather than candles and ticks. It is the wrong tool for an intraday day trader, because there is no real-time scanner, no Level 2, and no hotkeys anywhere in the product.
See Also: Best Stock Analysis Software, Top Stock Research Sites, Best Backtesting Software
What Portfolio123 Actually Does
The platform has been running since 2004, and the workflow has barely changed because it works. A user starts with an investment idea, builds a multi-factor ranking system that scores every stock in a chosen universe, backtests that system against historical point-in-time data, and then launches the result as a live strategy that issues buy and sell recommendations going forward. Each stage feeds the next, so a screen becomes a ranking, a ranking becomes a simulation, and a simulation becomes a live portfolio.
None of this requires code. The same loop that a quant fund would build with a development team and a data vendor is packaged into a browser, which is the entire reason the platform exists. The trade-off is that a trader has to learn to express ideas as rules and factors, and that learning curve is real.
Feature-by-Feature Breakdown
Screening and the Factor Database
The screener works across stocks and ETFs and runs on a factor database of more than 4,300 factors and 430 functions. That depth is what separates it from a typical retail screener, where the filter list runs to a few dozen fields. Screens are not limited to long ideas either: short and hedged screens are supported, and a rolling screen backtest can rerun a screen every week or every four weeks across a holding period to show how the criteria would have performed over time rather than as a single snapshot.
One catch sits at the entry level. The cheapest paid tier runs only the expert ranking systems that Portfolio123 supplies, not custom ones a user builds. Building a ranking system from scratch starts one tier up.
Ranking Systems and Backtesting
This is the core of the platform and where the money is. A ranking system scores and orders every stock in a universe on whatever combination of factors a user weights, and the backtest engine measures how a strategy built on that ranking would have performed using point-in-time fundamentals. Point-in-time data matters more than it sounds: it reflects what was actually knowable on a given historical date rather than restated figures, which is the difference between an honest backtest and a flattering one.
Backtests come in two forms. Simulated strategies run in the past, while live strategies run forward in real time and keep issuing trade signals. Several strategies can be combined and weighted inside a book, short strategies can be paired with long ones, and the heavier validation tools (the optimizer for parameter sweeps, rolling tests across overlapping windows, and regression functions) are present for traders who want to stress a system before trusting it. Those last three tools are reserved for the top tier, which is worth knowing before assuming the platform validates everything at every price point.
AI Factor
AI Factor is the no-code machine-learning layer, and it is more substantial than the usual bolt-on. A user can train models including XGBoost and neural networks, tune them with grid search, engineer features, and read the results through lift charts and standard data-science reports. The validation method is the tell that this was built by people who understand the failure modes of financial machine learning: it uses blocked K-fold cross-validation with a 1-year gap, which guards against the lookahead leakage that makes most amateur backtested models worthless.
The cost structure is the part a buyer needs to plan for. AI Factor is available only on the Portfolio and Ultimate tiers, and it carries usage fees for GPU and CPU training plus monthly prediction charges on top of the subscription. The headline plan price does not include it.
Manage and Broker Connectivity
Manage is the free layer that turns research into execution. It connects a Portfolio123 account to a brokerage account, sends multiple orders with one click, and updates holdings and fills automatically as they execute. A trader can run several accounts against the same strategy, track different strategies separately inside one account, and follow expert or third-party Designer models with rebalancing handled for them.
The honest limitation is the broker list. Automated order routing runs through Interactive Brokers, with linked-account allowances of 2 to 5 depending on tier. The site signals that more brokers and features such as fractional shares and programmable limit orders are planned, but a trader who does not use Interactive Brokers gets the research without the one-click execution.
DataMiner and API
For users who want to pull data in bulk or automate, DataMiner runs hundreds of operations from human-readable instructions and outputs plain text, running on Windows, Mac, or Linux. It sits on top of the API. Both the API and DataMiner are weighted toward the Professional plans, which carry far higher request caps.
Pricing
Portfolio123 prices the same product two ways. Non-Professional pricing is for individuals managing personal accounts under $5 million. Professional pricing applies to anyone managing outside assets, publishing analysis, or running research as a business, and it costs roughly double for an identical feature set. A free tier sits underneath both, available indefinitely, offering 30 days of screener and backtest access with no credit card required.
| Plan | Non-Professional (monthly / annual) | Professional (monthly / annual) | Backtest history |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 30 days screener & backtest, no card | — | — |
| Screener | $25 / $300 | $84 / $1,000 | 5 years |
| Backtest | $84 / $1,000 | $167 / $2,000 | 10 years |
| Portfolio | $125 / $1,500 | $250 / $3,000 | 15 years |
| Ultimate | $200 / $2,400 | $500 / $6,000 | 20 years |
Annual billing is the obvious value: Non-Professional plans include 3 months free (a saving of up to 28%), and Professional plans include 2 months free (up to 23%). Adding a second data region, choosing between United States and Canada or Europe and the UK, costs 40% extra. Enterprise pricing for multi-user firms and institutions is custom and quoted on request. Plans can be upgraded at any time, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current term.
Rules and Restrictions That Change What It Costs
The single most important thing a buyer should understand is that the advertised $25 plan cannot trade. Live and simulated strategies, short strategies, and ETF hedging all require the Portfolio tier or higher, which means the real entry point for anyone who wants to run a live portfolio is $125 a month, not $25. The two cheapest tiers are research seats. They screen and backtest; they do not execute.
The pricing also scales with backtest depth in a way that affects the quality of validation. A trader on the 5-year tier is testing across roughly one market cycle, while the 20-year Ultimate tier covers multiple regimes including 2008 and 2020. For a strategy meant to survive a downturn, that history is not a luxury.
Several other mechanics stack cost on top of the subscription. AI Factor adds training and prediction fees. Designer Models from the third-party marketplace are paid directly to the designer who built them, separate from any Portfolio123 plan, and designers keep 65% of that subscription revenue. Resource units, hourly quant-engine request caps, and monthly API caps all scale by tier, which matters for anyone running frequent or large jobs rather than a single weekly rebalance. The optimizer, variable position sizing, and the rebalance X-ray report are Ultimate-only. The full platform, with AI and the heavy validation tools genuinely switched on, is an expensive piece of software.
Bottom Line
Portfolio123 is the strongest no-code option available for an investor who wants to build, validate, and run systematic equity strategies on data that holds up to scrutiny. The natural buyer is the methodical, quantitatively minded investor who will actually use ranking and backtesting most weeks, connect Interactive Brokers, and treat the platform as a research-to-execution pipeline. A casual investor will not get $125 a month of value out of it, and a day trader will not find the tools they need in it at all.
Pros
- Point-in-time data and a factor library of 4,300+ factors and 430+ functions, deeper than anything else aimed at retail.
- A genuine no-code path from screen to ranking to backtest to live, broker-connected execution.
- AI Factor brings real machine learning, including XGBoost and neural networks, with leakage-aware cross-validation rather than a marketing gimmick.
- The Manage execution layer, including one-click order routing and multi-account tracking, is free.
- Transparent tiered pricing with a meaningful annual discount and a free, no-card research tier to learn on.
Cons
- The $25 entry plan cannot run a live strategy at all, so a trader who wants execution starts at $125 a month. The cheapest advertised price is misleading about what it takes to actually trade.
- True full-platform cost is higher than the sticker price once AI Factor usage fees, Designer Model subscriptions, and the 40% second-region charge are added.
- Automated broker execution is effectively limited to Interactive Brokers, leaving users of other brokers with research but no one-click trading.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Portfolio123 cost?
For individuals, Portfolio123 runs from Screener at $25 per month, to Backtest at $84, Portfolio at $125, and Ultimate at $200, with professional pricing roughly double for the same features. A free tier offers 30 days of screener and backtest access with no credit card. Annual billing adds 3 free months on the individual plans, and a second data region costs 40% extra.
Can you run a live strategy on the $25 Portfolio123 plan?
No, the $25 Screener tier only screens and backtests; live and simulated strategies, short strategies, and ETF hedging all require the Portfolio tier or higher. That makes the real entry point for running a live portfolio $125 per month, not $25. The two cheapest tiers are research seats rather than execution tools.
Is Portfolio123 worth it?
For a methodical, quantitatively minded investor who will use ranking and backtesting most weeks and connect a brokerage account, it is the strongest no-code option for building and validating systematic equity strategies on point-in-time data. A casual investor will not get $125 a month of value from it, and a day trader will not find the tools they need, since there is no real-time scanner, Level 2, or hotkeys. Fit depends on whether the platform becomes a regular research-to-execution pipeline.
Is Portfolio123 good for day trading?
No, Portfolio123 is built for systematic investors who rebalance weekly or monthly, not for intraday trading, and it has no real-time scanner, Level 2, or hotkeys. Its strength is point-in-time backtesting and factor-based ranking across a database of more than 4,300 factors. Automated execution also routes only through Interactive Brokers, so users of other brokers get the research without one-click trading.