VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Monday, October 6, 2025

View Google Finance View Interactive Brokers Back to Home

Head-to-head

Google Finance vs Interactive Brokers comparison

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

Quick takeaways

Google Finance adds News, Stock Comparison, Data Visualizations, Financials, ETF Overview, and ETF Holdings coverage that Interactive Brokers skips.

Interactive Brokers includes Brokerage, Paper Trading, Advanced Order Types, Smart/Direct Routing, Order Book / Level II, APIs & SDKs, Data APIs, Risk Metrics (VaR/ES/Drawdown), Scenario & Stress Tests, Performance Attribution, and Options & Derivatives categories that Google Finance omits.

Google Finance highlights: Custom watchlists to follow securities and markets, with tailored news feeds for tracked symbols., Simple portfolio tools: add holdings with quantity, cost basis, and date; convert watchlists to portfolios; experiment with simulated “playground” portfolios; switch portfolio currency., and Performance tracking with one-day and total returns, plus portfolio value charts. Comparisons are based on time-weighted rate of return (TWR)..

Interactive Brokers is known for: Single universal account providing access to around 160 markets across 36 countries and 28 currencies., More than 100 order types and algos, including Bracket, OCO, and OCA, with either SMART routing or direct exchange routing., and Market depth (Level II) and full order book views via Trader Workstation (TWS)..

Google Finance has a free tier, while Interactive Brokers requires a paid plan.

Interactive Brokers offers mobile access, which Google Finance skips.

Google Finance

google.com

Editor’s pick Hands-on review

Free web portal for quotes, charts, news, watchlists, and simple portfolio tracking. Portfolios can include stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and crypto, with returns shown using time-weighted calculations. Data freshness varies by source: some exchanges stream in real time, while others are delayed (e.g., 15 minutes for many equities, 10 minutes for CME futures, end-of-day for mutual funds). Currency and crypto quotes update every few minutes. Google Sheets supports the GOOGLEFINANCE() function for live data pulls, though no public REST API is offered.

Platforms

Web

Pricing

Free

Quick highlights

Custom watchlists to follow securities and markets, with tailored news feeds for tracked symbols.
Simple portfolio tools: add holdings with quantity, cost basis, and date; convert watchlists to portfolios; experiment with simulated “playground” portfolios; switch portfolio currency.
Performance tracking with one-day and total returns, plus portfolio value charts. Comparisons are based on time-weighted rate of return (TWR).
Interactive charts, quotes, and aggregated financial news across global markets.
Coverage across multiple asset classes with varied latency: U.S. equities often real-time, international equities typically 15-minute delay, futures about 10 minutes, crypto and currencies ~3 minutes, and mutual funds end-of-day.

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Interactive Brokers

interactivebrokers.co.uk

Editor’s pick Hands-on review

A global, multi-asset direct-access broker with coverage across 160 markets in 36 countries and 28 currencies. Crypto trading and some services vary by region (IBKR Crypto is powered by Paxos or Zero Hash where supported). Client APIs include the Client Portal Web API and TWS API; retail users authenticate via the local Client Portal Gateway, while OAuth2 applies to approved web integrations.

Platforms

Web

Mobile

Desktop

API

Pricing

Other

Quick highlights

Single universal account providing access to around 160 markets across 36 countries and 28 currencies.
More than 100 order types and algos, including Bracket, OCO, and OCA, with either SMART routing or direct exchange routing.
Market depth (Level II) and full order book views via Trader Workstation (TWS).
Advanced options analytics with Greeks, implied volatility curves, and a 3D volatility surface viewer.
Risk Navigator for real-time portfolio risk, Value-at-Risk, and what-if scenario analysis.

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Overlap

Shared focus areas

2 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Watchlist, and Portfolio.

Where they differ

Google Finance

Distinct strengths include:

Custom watchlists to follow securities and markets, with tailored news feeds for tracked symbols.
Simple portfolio tools: add holdings with quantity, cost basis, and date; convert watchlists to portfolios; experiment with simulated “playground” portfolios; switch portfolio currency.
Performance tracking with one-day and total returns, plus portfolio value charts. Comparisons are based on time-weighted rate of return (TWR).
Interactive charts, quotes, and aggregated financial news across global markets.

Interactive Brokers

Distinct strengths include:

Order Book / Level II

APIs & SDKs

Data APIs

Risk Metrics (VaR/ES/Drawdown)

Single universal account providing access to around 160 markets across 36 countries and 28 currencies.
More than 100 order types and algos, including Bracket, OCO, and OCA, with either SMART routing or direct exchange routing.
Market depth (Level II) and full order book views via Trader Workstation (TWS).
Advanced options analytics with Greeks, implied volatility curves, and a 3D volatility surface viewer.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

Attribute	Google Finance	Interactive Brokers
Categories Which research workflows each platform targets	Shared: Watchlist, Portfolio Unique: News, Stock Comparison, Data Visualizations, Financials, ETF Overview, ETF Holdings	Shared: Watchlist, Portfolio Unique: Brokerage, Paper Trading, Advanced Order Types, Smart/Direct Routing, Order Book / Level II, APIs & SDKs, Data APIs, Risk Metrics (VaR/ES/Drawdown), Scenario & Stress Tests, Performance Attribution, Options & Derivatives
Asset types Supported asset classes and universes	Stocks, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Currencies, Cryptos, Futures, Bonds	Stocks, ETFs, Options, Futures, Bonds, Mutual Funds, Currencies, Commodities, Cryptos
Experience levels Who each product is built for	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Platforms Where you can access the product	Web	Web, Mobile, Desktop, API
Pricing High-level pricing models	Free	Other
Key features Core capabilities called out by each vendor	Unique Custom watchlists to follow securities and markets, with tailored news feeds for tracked symbols. Simple portfolio tools: add holdings with quantity, cost basis, and date; convert watchlists to portfolios; experiment with simulated “playground” portfolios; switch portfolio currency. Performance tracking with one-day and total returns, plus portfolio value charts. Comparisons are based on time-weighted rate of return (TWR). Interactive charts, quotes, and aggregated financial news across global markets. Coverage across multiple asset classes with varied latency: U.S. equities often real-time, international equities typically 15-minute delay, futures about 10 minutes, crypto and currencies ~3 minutes, and mutual funds end-of-day. Google Sheets integration via =GOOGLEFINANCE() for fetching current and historical data (with limits on coverage, frequency, and history depth).	Unique Single universal account providing access to around 160 markets across 36 countries and 28 currencies. More than 100 order types and algos, including Bracket, OCO, and OCA, with either SMART routing or direct exchange routing. Market depth (Level II) and full order book views via Trader Workstation (TWS). Advanced options analytics with Greeks, implied volatility curves, and a 3D volatility surface viewer. Risk Navigator for real-time portfolio risk, Value-at-Risk, and what-if scenario analysis. Portfolio Rebalancer tool to realign or target allocation weights across accounts.
Tested Verified by hands-on testing inside Find My Moat	Yes	Yes
Editor pick Featured inside curated shortlists	Highlighted	Highlighted

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do Google Finance and Interactive Brokers both support?

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

Which tool offers a free plan?

Google Finance offers a free entry point, while Interactive Brokers requires a paid subscription. Review the pricing table to see how the paid tiers compare.

Which tool has mobile access?

Interactive Brokers ships a dedicated mobile experience, while Google Finance focuses on web or desktop access.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

Google Finance differentiates itself with Custom watchlists to follow securities and markets, with tailored news feeds for tracked symbols., Simple portfolio tools: add holdings with quantity, cost basis, and date; convert watchlists to portfolios; experiment with simulated “playground” portfolios; switch portfolio currency., and Performance tracking with one-day and total returns, plus portfolio value charts. Comparisons are based on time-weighted rate of return (TWR)., whereas Interactive Brokers stands out for Single universal account providing access to around 160 markets across 36 countries and 28 currencies., More than 100 order types and algos, including Bracket, OCO, and OCA, with either SMART routing or direct exchange routing., and Market depth (Level II) and full order book views via Trader Workstation (TWS)..

Keep exploring

Stay on top of related tools

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