VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Sunday, October 5, 2025

View Interactive Brokers View QuantRocket Back to Home

Head-to-head

Interactive Brokers vs QuantRocket comparison

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

Quick takeaways

Interactive Brokers adds Brokerage, Smart/Direct Routing, Order Book / Level II, APIs & SDKs, Portfolio, Watchlist, Risk Metrics (VaR/ES/Drawdown), Scenario & Stress Tests, Performance Attribution, and Options & Derivatives coverage that QuantRocket skips.

QuantRocket includes Screeners, Quant, Backtesting, Auto-Trading & Bots, and Broker Connectors categories that Interactive Brokers omits.

Interactive Brokers 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., and Market depth (Level II) and full order book views via Trader Workstation (TWS)..

QuantRocket is known for: Includes survivorship-bias-free US minute-bar data (from 2007 onward) for Zipline backtests and live trading, with optional real-time feeds from brokers like IBKR and Alpaca., Supports point-in-time screening and ranking pipelines, and integrates with Alphalens and Pyfolio for in-notebook analysis inside Jupyter., and Global coverage through Interactive Brokers’ historical and real-time data across 60+ exchanges, plus optional feeds like EDI global EOD, Sharadar fundamentals, and Brain sentiment datasets..

QuantRocket keeps a free entry point that Interactive Brokers lacks.

Interactive Brokers ships a mobile app. QuantRocket is web/desktop only.

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.

Community votes (overall)

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QuantRocket

quantrocket.com

A Docker-based research, backtesting, and live-trading platform built around Jupyter. The free tier is limited to research, while paid plans unlock live and paper trading along with bundled US minute-bar data. Broader global datasets are available via third-party providers. Its tight IBKR integration brings advanced order types, while real-time market data can be streamed from IBKR, Polygon, or Alpaca.

Platforms

Web

API

Pricing

Free

Subscription

Quick highlights

Includes survivorship-bias-free US minute-bar data (from 2007 onward) for Zipline backtests and live trading, with optional real-time feeds from brokers like IBKR and Alpaca.
Supports point-in-time screening and ranking pipelines, and integrates with Alphalens and Pyfolio for in-notebook analysis inside Jupyter.
Global coverage through Interactive Brokers’ historical and real-time data across 60+ exchanges, plus optional feeds like EDI global EOD, Sharadar fundamentals, and Brain sentiment datasets.
Deep IBKR integration enabling advanced order types such as algorithmic, parent-child, and bracket orders, as well as combos/spreads, margin 'what-if' checks, option greeks, and auction imbalance data.
Streams tick-level data into TimescaleDB with WebSocket access, and allows flexible bar aggregation.

Community votes (overall)

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Overlap

Shared focus areas

3 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Paper Trading, Advanced Order Types, and Data APIs.

Where they differ

Interactive Brokers

Distinct strengths include:

Brokerage

Smart/Direct Routing

Order Book / Level II

APIs & SDKs

Portfolio

Watchlist

Risk Metrics (VaR/ES/Drawdown)

Scenario & Stress Tests

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.

QuantRocket

Distinct strengths include:

Includes survivorship-bias-free US minute-bar data (from 2007 onward) for Zipline backtests and live trading, with optional real-time feeds from brokers like IBKR and Alpaca.
Supports point-in-time screening and ranking pipelines, and integrates with Alphalens and Pyfolio for in-notebook analysis inside Jupyter.
Global coverage through Interactive Brokers’ historical and real-time data across 60+ exchanges, plus optional feeds like EDI global EOD, Sharadar fundamentals, and Brain sentiment datasets.
Deep IBKR integration enabling advanced order types such as algorithmic, parent-child, and bracket orders, as well as combos/spreads, margin 'what-if' checks, option greeks, and auction imbalance data.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

Attribute	Interactive Brokers	QuantRocket
Categories Which research workflows each platform targets	Shared: Paper Trading, Advanced Order Types, Data APIs Unique: Brokerage, Smart/Direct Routing, Order Book / Level II, APIs & SDKs, Portfolio, Watchlist, Risk Metrics (VaR/ES/Drawdown), Scenario & Stress Tests, Performance Attribution, Options & Derivatives	Shared: Paper Trading, Advanced Order Types, Data APIs Unique: Screeners, Quant, Backtesting, Auto-Trading & Bots, Broker Connectors
Asset types Supported asset classes and universes	Stocks, ETFs, Options, Futures, Bonds, Mutual Funds, Currencies, Commodities, Cryptos	Stocks, ETFs, Futures, Currencies, Options
Experience levels Who each product is built for	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Platforms Where you can access the product	Web, Mobile, Desktop, API	Web, API
Pricing High-level pricing models	Other	Free, Subscription
Key features Core capabilities called out by each vendor	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.	Unique Includes survivorship-bias-free US minute-bar data (from 2007 onward) for Zipline backtests and live trading, with optional real-time feeds from brokers like IBKR and Alpaca. Supports point-in-time screening and ranking pipelines, and integrates with Alphalens and Pyfolio for in-notebook analysis inside Jupyter. Global coverage through Interactive Brokers’ historical and real-time data across 60+ exchanges, plus optional feeds like EDI global EOD, Sharadar fundamentals, and Brain sentiment datasets. Deep IBKR integration enabling advanced order types such as algorithmic, parent-child, and bracket orders, as well as combos/spreads, margin 'what-if' checks, option greeks, and auction imbalance data. Streams tick-level data into TimescaleDB with WebSocket access, and allows flexible bar aggregation. REST API ('Houston') with Python client and CLI tools; endpoints return CSV or JSON for easy downstream use.
Tested Verified by hands-on testing inside Find My Moat	Yes	Not yet
Editor pick Featured inside curated shortlists	Highlighted	Standard listing

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do Interactive Brokers and QuantRocket both support?

Both platforms cover Paper Trading, Advanced Order Types, and Data APIs workflows, so you can research those use cases in either tool before digging into the feature differences below.

Which tool offers a free plan?

QuantRocket 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 QuantRocket focuses on web or desktop access.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

Interactive Brokers differentiates itself with 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)., whereas QuantRocket stands out for Includes survivorship-bias-free US minute-bar data (from 2007 onward) for Zipline backtests and live trading, with optional real-time feeds from brokers like IBKR and Alpaca., Supports point-in-time screening and ranking pipelines, and integrates with Alphalens and Pyfolio for in-notebook analysis inside Jupyter., and Global coverage through Interactive Brokers’ historical and real-time data across 60+ exchanges, plus optional feeds like EDI global EOD, Sharadar fundamentals, and Brain sentiment datasets..

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