VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Sunday, October 5, 2025

View Firefly III View Unusual Whales Back to Home

Head-to-head

Firefly III vs Unusual Whales comparison

Compare pricing, supported platforms, categories, and standout capabilities to decide which tool fits your workflow.

Quick takeaways

Firefly III adds Webhooks, and Other coverage that Unusual Whales skips.

Unusual Whales includes Screeners, Options & Derivatives, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, Alerts, News, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, Data APIs, Education, Calendar, and Dividends categories that Firefly III omits.

Firefly III highlights: Self-hosted open-source personal finance manager (AGPLv3 license)., Supports double-entry bookkeeping with budgets, categories, tags, and detailed reporting., and Comprehensive REST API (JSON) with OAuth2 and Personal Access Tokens, plus a full OpenAPI specification..

Unusual Whales is known for: Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy., Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones., and Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals..

Unusual Whales offers mobile access, which Firefly III skips.

Firefly III

firefly-iii.org

An open-source, self-hosted personal finance manager licensed under AGPLv3. Offers full double-entry bookkeeping, REST APIs, and optional event webhooks. Exchange-rate conversion is available from v6.2 onward as an opt-in feature. Bank connections are handled separately through the Firefly Data Importer app.

Platforms

Web

API

Pricing

Free

Quick highlights

Self-hosted open-source personal finance manager (AGPLv3 license).
Supports double-entry bookkeeping with budgets, categories, tags, and detailed reporting.
Comprehensive REST API (JSON) with OAuth2 and Personal Access Tokens, plus a full OpenAPI specification.
Event webhooks for transaction create/update/delete, enabled through environment configuration.
Separate Data Importer tool supports CSV and CAMT.053, with optional bank integrations via Salt Edge, GoCardless, and SimpleFIN.

Community votes (overall)

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Unusual Whales

unusualwhales.com

Editor’s pick Hands-on review

Real-time options flow and dark-pool analytics built for active traders. Free plans view delayed data; paid tiers stream live flow, with annual plans unlocking data downloads. The public API is sold separately, and “Periscope” (market-wide SPX exposure) is available as an add-on.

Platforms

Web

Mobile

API

Pricing

Free

Subscription

Quick highlights

Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.
Paper trading for both stocks and options to test ideas without risk.

Community votes (overall)

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Overlap

Shared focus areas

2 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Portfolio, and APIs & SDKs.

Where they differ

Firefly III

Distinct strengths include:

Webhooks

Other

Self-hosted open-source personal finance manager (AGPLv3 license).
Supports double-entry bookkeeping with budgets, categories, tags, and detailed reporting.
Comprehensive REST API (JSON) with OAuth2 and Personal Access Tokens, plus a full OpenAPI specification.
Event webhooks for transaction create/update/delete, enabled through environment configuration.

Unusual Whales

Distinct strengths include:

Screeners

Options & Derivatives

Paper Trading

Dark Pool & Off-Exchange

Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

Attribute	Firefly III	Unusual Whales
Categories Which research workflows each platform targets	Shared: Portfolio, APIs & SDKs Unique: Webhooks, Other	Shared: Portfolio, APIs & SDKs Unique: Screeners, Options & Derivatives, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, Alerts, News, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, Data APIs, Education, Calendar, Dividends
Asset types Supported asset classes and universes	Other	Stocks, ETFs, Options
Experience levels Who each product is built for	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Platforms Where you can access the product	Web, API	Web, Mobile, API
Pricing High-level pricing models	Free	Free, Subscription
Key features Core capabilities called out by each vendor	Unique Self-hosted open-source personal finance manager (AGPLv3 license). Supports double-entry bookkeeping with budgets, categories, tags, and detailed reporting. Comprehensive REST API (JSON) with OAuth2 and Personal Access Tokens, plus a full OpenAPI specification. Event webhooks for transaction create/update/delete, enabled through environment configuration. Separate Data Importer tool supports CSV and CAMT.053, with optional bank integrations via Salt Edge, GoCardless, and SimpleFIN. CSV export available for accounts, budgets, categories, tags, recurring transactions, subscriptions, piggy banks, rules, and more.	Unique Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy. Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones. Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals. Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L. Paper trading for both stocks and options to test ideas without risk. Portfolio Manager with broker linking for IBKR, tastytrade, Fidelity, and Robinhood.
Tested Verified by hands-on testing inside Find My Moat	Not yet	Yes
Editor pick Featured inside curated shortlists	Standard listing	Highlighted

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do Firefly III and Unusual Whales both support?

Both platforms cover Portfolio, and APIs & SDKs workflows, so you can research those use cases in either tool before digging into the feature differences below.

Do Firefly III and Unusual Whales require subscriptions?

Both Firefly III and Unusual Whales keep freemium access with optional paid upgrades, so you can trial each platform before committing.

Which tool has mobile access?

Unusual Whales ships a dedicated mobile experience, while Firefly III focuses on web or desktop access.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

Firefly III differentiates itself with Self-hosted open-source personal finance manager (AGPLv3 license)., Supports double-entry bookkeeping with budgets, categories, tags, and detailed reporting., and Comprehensive REST API (JSON) with OAuth2 and Personal Access Tokens, plus a full OpenAPI specification., whereas Unusual Whales stands out for Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy., Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones., and Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals..

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