Comparison

Tapeline vs MarketSmith — when transparency matters.

MarketSmith is the institutional pedigree — IBD's Composite Rating, 40+ years of CAN SLIM methodology, deep chart annotations. Tapeline is the transparent newcomer — published 6-factor formula, sub-60s scoring, a public scorecard with every pick back-checked. Pick the second one if you want methodology you can audit and a price you can actually pay monthly.

Try the live scanner free — no card→See the scorecard first
  • Free forever tier — no card
  • 14-day Premium trial — no card, nothing charged
  • Pro from $8.25/mo · $99.00/yr
  • 30-day money-back guarantee

Where Tapeline wins

FeatureTapelineMarketSmith
Published scoring formula✓ Six named factors on /how-it-worksNot published — Composite Rating weighting is proprietary
Public per-pick scorecard✓ Daily top-10 back-checked vs SPY, no editsAggregate IBD 50 performance disclosed; no per-pick daily public log
Sub-60s live scoring✓ Every tick during market hoursEnd-of-day updates; intraday data on charts but ratings refresh daily
Plain-English Why on every row✓ Default sentence per tickerNot available — composite rating + chart annotations only
Congressional trades feed✓ House + Senate disclosed trades (Premium)Not available — MarketSmith focuses on price + fundamental ratings
Recent insider buys (SEC Form 4)✓ Live Form 4 across ~2,500 tickers (Premium)Accumulation/Distribution rating present; no direct Form 4 feed
Annual subscription cost$99/yr (Pro) · $199/yr (Premium)$899/yr (basic MarketSmith)

Honest tradeoffs

Where MarketSmith has an edge — explained so you can pick what matters for your workflow.

Industry / sector group analysis

IBD's 197 industry groups with rankings + leadership analysis built in vs GICS-sector breakdowns + sector heatmap (Pro+)

MarketSmith's industry group analysis (197 IBD industries with leadership ranking) is more granular than Tapeline's 11 GICS sectors + 3 Tapeline buckets. If your workflow depends on identifying leading industries before stocks within them, MarketSmith has the edge there. Tapeline collapses to GICS to keep the heatmap usable on one screen.

Chart annotation depth

IBD-style charts with proprietary annotations (pivot points, base counts) vs TradingView charts (Pro+) — full indicator set, no IBD overlays

MarketSmith's chart engine has 30+ years of IBD-specific annotations (base counts, pivot points, RS line). Tapeline embeds TradingView for charting — universal indicator set but without the IBD-style overlays. CAN SLIM purists will prefer MarketSmith's chart language.

Brand + community

40+ years of IBD heritage, large community, established educational content vs Solo founder, transparency-first, ~6 months public

IBD / MarketSmith has decades of brand equity and a deep educational corpus (William O'Neil's books, MarketSchool, IBD videos). Tapeline is new, transparency-focused, and publishes a public scorecard. Different stages of the same kind of product.

Try the live scanner free.

Free forever tier — no card. Pro from $8.25/mo ($99.00/yr), with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Try the live scanner free — no card →See the scorecard first

Or read the methodology.

Tapeline vs MarketSmith — questions

Is Tapeline a MarketSmith alternative?

+

Yes. Both are dedicated scoring tools (not broker-bundled scanners) targeting retail traders who want a synthesised answer. Tapeline names all six factors and shows each one's contribution per ticker; MarketSmith's CAN SLIM-based ranks are proprietary. Tapeline is $8.25/mo annual; MarketSmith is ~$74.95/mo. Most users who've run both report the methodology transparency + the public scorecard as the deciding factor.

How is the Tapeline score different from MarketSmith's RS Rating or Composite Rating?

+

MarketSmith's Composite Rating blends multiple sub-ratings (EPS, RS, Industry, Sales+Margins+ROE, Accumulation/Distribution) into a 0–99 score using a proprietary weighting. Tapeline's composite is 0–100 with all six factors named and their weighting ordered publicly: Trend and Relative Strength weighted most, Momentum least, with Fundamentals, Smart Money, and Macro in between. Same shape of output; different weighting transparency.

How does the pricing compare?

+

MarketSmith is approximately $74.95/mo (basic plan) or $174.95/mo (full version with industry charts). Tapeline Pro is $8.25/mo annual ($99/yr); Premium is $16.58/mo annual ($199/yr). Tapeline Premium at the annual rate is under a quarter of the cost of MarketSmith basic — and adds Congressional trades, insider Form 4, unlimited Telegram alerts.

Does MarketSmith publish a scorecard?

+

MarketSmith publishes IBD's '50 Stocks to Watch' lists with periodic performance reviews, but no per-pick daily back-check against SPY in the public domain. Tapeline auto-publishes every top-10 daily pick at /scorecard with the next-session realised return + alpha vs SPY — and we don't edit it.

Is CAN SLIM still effective in 2026?

+

Tapeline doesn't endorse or refute CAN SLIM — that's IBD's framework. What Tapeline can show: the composite has factor overlap with CAN SLIM (RS, fundamentals, accumulation patterns) but synthesises them differently and into a 0–100 score that updates sub-60s. If you're a long-time CAN SLIM follower, you'll recognise the factor inputs; the difference is the transparency of how they're combined.

Comparison data verified 2026-05-20. Competitor pricing and feature claims sourced from their public pages. Spot a mistake? Tell us — we update within 48 hours.

Compare Tapeline to another tool

We’ve published side-by-side comparisons against the 17 tools traders most commonly evaluate Tapeline against. Pick yours — each comparison includes pricing, scoring methodology, scorecard transparency, and the categories where the competitor honestly wins.

Don’t see your tool? Tell us — we publish a new comparison every two weeks based on requests.