VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Sunday, October 5, 2025

Head-to-head

Seeking Alpha vs Unusual Whales comparison

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

Quick takeaways

Seeking Alpha adds ETF Screeners, Stock Comparison, Data Visualizations, Watchlist, Financials, Scores, Bulls Say Bear Say, Transcripts, ETF Overview, ETF Performance, ETF Holdings, ETF Fundamentals, ETF Factors, Analyst Forecasts, Analyst Recommendations, Analyst Price Targets, Options, Which ETF includes this Stock?, AI Report, and AI Earnings Summary coverage that Unusual Whales skips.

Unusual Whales includes Options & Derivatives, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, APIs & SDKs, Data APIs, and Education categories that Seeking Alpha omits.

Seeking Alpha highlights: Quant Ratings for stocks with five Factor Grades (Value, Growth, Profitability, Momentum, EPS Revisions), plus ETF Factor Grades (Momentum, Expenses, Dividends, Risk, Liquidity)., Stock and ETF screeners with ratings, grades, and advanced filters. Premium members can save screens for reuse., and Side-by-side comparison of up to 20 stocks, with export to Excel or PDF..

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..

Seeking Alpha logo

Seeking Alpha

seekingalpha.com

Editor’s pick Hands-on review

One of the largest investor communities online, blending crowdsourced research with data tools. Premium unlocks Quant Ratings and Factor Grades, stock and ETF screeners, advanced comparison tools with Excel/PDF export, broker syncing (via Plaid and SnapTrade), and AI-driven “Virtual Analyst” reports. PRO goes further with curated Top Ideas, Short Ideas, and the PRO Quant Portfolio. Market quotes are a mix of real-time and 15-minute delayed, depending on the exchange.

Platforms

Web
Mobile

Pricing

Free
Subscription

Quick highlights

  • Quant Ratings for stocks with five Factor Grades (Value, Growth, Profitability, Momentum, EPS Revisions), plus ETF Factor Grades (Momentum, Expenses, Dividends, Risk, Liquidity).
  • Stock and ETF screeners with ratings, grades, and advanced filters. Premium members can save screens for reuse.
  • Side-by-side comparison of up to 20 stocks, with export to Excel or PDF.
  • Portfolio tools with custom views, health scores, and Excel export. Premium users can link brokers for daily auto-sync through Plaid or SnapTrade.
  • Market data includes both real-time and delayed quotes, with advanced charts covering intraday to multi-year intervals.

Community votes (overall)

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Unusual Whales logo

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

6 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Screeners, Portfolio, and News plus 3 more areas.

Where they differ

Seeking Alpha

Distinct strengths include:

  • Quant Ratings for stocks with five Factor Grades (Value, Growth, Profitability, Momentum, EPS Revisions), plus ETF Factor Grades (Momentum, Expenses, Dividends, Risk, Liquidity).
  • Stock and ETF screeners with ratings, grades, and advanced filters. Premium members can save screens for reuse.
  • Side-by-side comparison of up to 20 stocks, with export to Excel or PDF.
  • Portfolio tools with custom views, health scores, and Excel export. Premium users can link brokers for daily auto-sync through Plaid or SnapTrade.

Unusual Whales

Distinct strengths include:

  • 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

AttributeSeeking AlphaUnusual Whales
Categories

Which research workflows each platform targets

Shared: Screeners, Portfolio, News, Alerts, Calendar, Dividends

Unique: ETF Screeners, Stock Comparison, Data Visualizations, Watchlist, Financials, Scores, Bulls Say Bear Say, Transcripts, ETF Overview, ETF Performance, ETF Holdings, ETF Fundamentals, ETF Factors, Analyst Forecasts, Analyst Recommendations, Analyst Price Targets, Options, Which ETF includes this Stock?, AI Report, AI Earnings Summary

Shared: Screeners, Portfolio, News, Alerts, Calendar, Dividends

Unique: Options & Derivatives, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, APIs & SDKs, Data APIs, Education

Asset types

Supported asset classes and universes

Stocks, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Closed-End Funds, Options

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, Mobile

Web, Mobile, API

Pricing

High-level pricing models

Free, Subscription

Free, Subscription

Key features

Core capabilities called out by each vendor

Unique

  • Quant Ratings for stocks with five Factor Grades (Value, Growth, Profitability, Momentum, EPS Revisions), plus ETF Factor Grades (Momentum, Expenses, Dividends, Risk, Liquidity).
  • Stock and ETF screeners with ratings, grades, and advanced filters. Premium members can save screens for reuse.
  • Side-by-side comparison of up to 20 stocks, with export to Excel or PDF.
  • Portfolio tools with custom views, health scores, and Excel export. Premium users can link brokers for daily auto-sync through Plaid or SnapTrade.
  • Market data includes both real-time and delayed quotes, with advanced charts covering intraday to multi-year intervals.
  • Full library of earnings call transcripts, with AI-generated “Earnings Call Insights” and “Virtual Analyst” summaries.

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

Yes

Yes

Editor pick

Featured inside curated shortlists

Highlighted

Highlighted

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do Seeking Alpha and Unusual Whales both support?

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

Do Seeking Alpha and Unusual Whales require subscriptions?

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

How can you access Seeking Alpha and Unusual Whales?

Both Seeking Alpha and Unusual Whales support web and mobile access, making it easy to keep tabs on research away from the desk.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

Seeking Alpha differentiates itself with Quant Ratings for stocks with five Factor Grades (Value, Growth, Profitability, Momentum, EPS Revisions), plus ETF Factor Grades (Momentum, Expenses, Dividends, Risk, Liquidity)., Stock and ETF screeners with ratings, grades, and advanced filters. Premium members can save screens for reuse., and Side-by-side comparison of up to 20 stocks, with export to Excel or PDF., 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..

Curation & Accuracy

This directory blends AI‑assisted discovery with human curation. Entries are reviewed, edited, and organized with the goal of expanding coverage and sharpening quality over time. Your feedback helps steer improvements (because no single human can capture everything all at once).

Details change. Pricing, features, and availability may be incomplete or out of date. Treat listings as a starting point and verify on the provider’s site before making decisions. If you spot an error or a gap, send a quick note and I’ll adjust.