Tradune vs Snowball Analytics
Snowball Analytics and Tradune measure returns more alike than most trackers: both compute an IRR from your own cash flows, both show a time-weighted return, and both replay your trades into a benchmark fund. The real differences are what sits around that number — Snowball’s dividend tooling and broker sync, or Tradune’s risk, insider and US tax tooling.
Checked on October 16, 2026 against Snowball Analytics’s own pages · sources listed under the table.
Tradune is a fit if you want to know whether your stock picking beat SPY on a money-weighted basis, with VaR, factor exposure, a stress test, SEC insider and 13F signals and tax-loss harvesting.
Not a fit if dividend income is the centre of your plan, or you want brokerage linking — Snowball’s dividend rating, dividend calendar and broker sync (on its paid plans) are stronger.
Snowball Analytics is a portfolio tracker with a strong dividend focus — automatic dividend tracking, a dividend calendar and IRR-based performance, with a free tier that never expires.
| Capability | Tradune | Snowball Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio tracking & P&L | Yes | Yes |
| Screener | Yes | Yes |
| Price & technical alerts | Yes | —No |
| Insider & analyst signals | Yes | —No |
| Risk / VaR analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Tax-loss harvesting | Yes | —No |
| Automatic brokerage account linking | —No | Yes |
| Dividend rating / dividend-safety scoring | —No | Yes |
| Price | Free right now · no paid price set | Free forever (10 holdings) / $79.99–$249.99 per year |
Capabilities & pricing reflect each product’s public plans as of October 2026. Coarse yes/no by design — verify current details on each provider’s site.
Snowball Analytics pricing, read October 16, 2026 on its own pricing page: Snowball Analytics has a Free plan with no end date (1 portfolio, 10 holdings). Paid plans are Starter at $79.99 a year, Investor at $149.99 a year and Expert at $249.99 a year, each with a 14-day free trial and no card required; monthly billing is also offered. Prices are in USD.
Sources for Snowball Analytics, read October 16, 2026: Snowball Analytics pricing · Snowball help: internal rate of return · Snowball help: time-weighted return · Snowball help: portfolio value graph and benchmark · Snowball Analytics changelog
The last 2 rows are things Snowball Analytics does that Tradune does not — they are in the table because leaving them out would make the comparison flattering and wrong.
Where Snowball Analytics is strong
- Automatic dividend tracking with a calendar and a dividend rating
- Both an IRR and a time-weighted return (TWR, in beta since May 2025), with fees, dividends and trades included
- A genuinely permanent free tier, and brokerage linking from the first paid plan
Where Tradune goes further
Snowball is built around the income stream, and it already measures IRR and TWR and replays your trades into a benchmark fund. Tradune shares that money-weighted core and builds risk and US tax tooling around it: VaR/beta/drawdown, a Fama-French factor X-ray, a beta-scaled stress test, SEC insider and 13F signals, and realized gains split short-term vs long-term with likely wash sales flagged. Free for everyone right now · no card · nothing to buy.
Specifically, versus Snowball Analytics, the gaps it closes are:
- No SEC Form 4 insider-cluster or 13F ownership tracking
- No tax-loss-harvesting workflow with quantified dollar impact
- Risk is reported as metrics (beta, Sharpe) rather than portfolio VaR, factor X-ray or a stress test
- Screening is dividend-focused — 5 names on Free, up to 50 with all filters on higher tiers
How Snowball Analytics and Tradune compute the numbers
| Question | Tradune | Snowball Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| How returns are measured | Money-weighted XIRR on your dated cash flows, plus a time-weighted (TWR) base-100 curve. Under a year it shows a cumulative return and refuses to annualise. | IRR via the XIRR method on deposits, withdrawals and final value, and a time-weighted return (in beta since May 2025). For periods under a year its help center says the XIRR result is scaled down by days held. |
| Trade-level history | Every buy, sell, deposit, withdrawal and stock split is a dated transaction; cost basis and returns are recomputed from them. | Trade by trade, or a current amount plus average cost; realized and unrealized P&L shown per transaction. |
| US cost basis and tax lots | FIFO, LIFO or average cost per portfolio; realized gains split short-term vs long-term, with likely wash sales flagged (same symbol bought within 30 days either side). No specific-lot selection. | Tax features listed are dividend withholding-tax settings; a lot-selection method or US capital-gains report is not listed on its public pages. |
| Getting holdings in | Manual entry, or a positions CSV (ticker, quantity, cost basis; up to 200 rows). No automatic broker sync. | Broker-report import on every plan; brokerage linking from Starter, including a native Interactive Brokers integration (January 2026). |
| Benchmark comparison | A SPY twin: your own cash flows replayed into SPY (dividends reinvested) on the same dates; SPY and QQQ on the TWR curve. | Each purchase and sale is replayed into the chosen fund, with its dividends reinvested; index funds on Free and Starter, any asset on Investor and Expert. |
Money-weighted vs time-weighted return: the published method →
If Snowball already has IRR and benchmark replay, what is left to compare?
Mostly the edges. Snowball’s help center describes the same core idea Tradune is built on — buy the benchmark with the value of each of your transactions and see where you would be — so on the headline “did I beat the index” question the two tools are close, and Snowball lets paid plans benchmark against any asset rather than SPY or QQQ.
One difference is how short histories are shown: Snowball scales a sub-year XIRR down by days held, while Tradune shows a cumulative return and no annual rate until a year of data exists. The bigger differences are around the number: Tradune adds portfolio VaR, a Fama-French factor X-ray, a beta-scaled stress test, SEC Form 4 cluster signals and 13F ownership changes, none of which appear on Snowball’s pricing page.
Where is Snowball Analytics the stronger choice?
For income investors. Snowball’s dividend rating, dividend calendar, forward income view and push or email alerts for dividend events are the centre of the product, and brokerage linking from its Starter plan means trades arrive without manual entry. Its pricing page also lists backtests and risk metrics such as beta and Sharpe on every plan.
Tradune tracks dividends and projects income too, but it never links a broker, and its tax tooling is built for US filers rather than for dividend withholding across countries.
Moving from Snowball Analytics to Tradune
- Snowball’s pricing page lists “Export holdings and transactions to CSV” on every plan, including Free. (Snowball Analytics pricing, read October 16, 2026)
- Snowball’s changelog (a May 2023 release note, desktop and mobile) puts export in the portfolio’s three-dots menu on the dashboard, next to share, edit, delete and clone; the menu may have moved since. If Snowball gives you a holdings-level file, use that rather than the transactions file. (Snowball Analytics changelog, read October 16, 2026)
- Use a holdings file with one row per position — ticker, share quantity and cost basis (per share or total), with the column headers on the first line. Tradune’s importer reads positions, not a buy-and-sell history. An acquisition-date column is optional and is used only while the account has no measured history yet.
- In Tradune, open Import Portfolio, paste or upload the file and choose Preview. Common column names are recognised automatically; otherwise you map symbol, quantity and cost basis yourself. Up to 200 rows per file.
- Check the matched and unmatched rows, then import. A row without a cost basis, or a symbol with no quote, is listed as unmatched rather than priced at zero. Each position is saved as a buy with an offsetting cash deposit; nothing syncs afterwards, so add new trades by hand — importing the same file again would add every position a second time.
Frequently asked
Is Tradune a good Snowball Analytics alternative?
If you want portfolio risk analytics (VaR, factor exposure, stress testing), insider and 13F signals and tax-loss harvesting alongside tracking, Tradune goes further. Snowball is the better pick if dividend income — including its dividend rating — is the main thing you are optimising.
Does Tradune track dividends?
Yes — dividends received, forward income projected from your holdings, the dividend calendar, a reinvestment-snowball view and a dividend-safety score that marks any factor it could not measure.
Is Snowball Analytics free?
Snowball has a Free plan with no end date, capped at 1 portfolio and 10 holdings, with the dividend calendar and broker-report import. Unlimited holdings, brokerage linking and the dividend rating start on Starter at $79.99 a year; Investor is $149.99 and Expert $249.99 a year, each with a 14-day trial (Snowball’s pricing page, October 16, 2026). Tradune: Free for everyone right now · no card · nothing to buy.
Can I export my data from Snowball Analytics?
Yes. Snowball lists CSV export of holdings and transactions on every plan, including Free. To move to Tradune, export the holdings file, check each row has a ticker, quantity and cost basis, and import it — the steps are above. Tradune records positions, not the transaction history.
Does Snowball compare my return to a benchmark?
Yes. Snowball’s pricing page lists benchmarking against index funds on Free and Starter and against any asset on Investor and Expert, and its help center says the benchmark view “buys” or “sells” the chosen fund with the value of each of your transactions, reinvesting its dividends. Tradune does the same with SPY — your own cash flows on your own dates — and reports the money-weighted (XIRR) difference, with the method published.
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This comparison is for educational purposes only and is not investment advice. Competitor names are trademarks of their respective owners; capability and pricing claims reflect their public plans as of October 2026 and may have changed — verify on their sites. Tradune is not affiliated with Snowball Analytics.