7 Best Free Algo Trading Software in India 2026

Updated 29 September 2026. This list was rebuilt from scratch, not re-dated. Every free tier below was re-checked against the vendor's own current pricing or help pages this month, three platforms that no longer have a free tier were removed, and one — Zerodha's algoZ — was removed because the product no longer exists. If you have read a 2026 "free algo trading software" list that still names algoZ, you have read a copy of a 2023 article.

Two things changed in the Indian market since this page was first written, and both matter more than any feature comparison:

• The best no-code platform stopped charging. Streak went free for all Zerodha account holders in January 2024 and its old Basic/Premium/Ultimate plans (roughly Rs 500 to Rs 1,400 a month) were retired. Sensibull did the same for Zerodha users in February 2024. If you hold a Zerodha account, the two tools most Indian retail option traders pay for are already included.
• The free part moved from the software to the infrastructure. SEBI's February 2025 retail algo framework ends open broker APIs. From 2026 an API-routed algo needs a vendor-client-specific API key, a static IP whitelisted with your broker, and an exchange-assigned Algo ID. The platform can be free; the static IP is not. See the SEBI section below before you budget anything.

If you want the underlying concepts first, start with our complete guide to algo trading in India. If you want the paid platforms alongside these, see our companion list of the best algo trading software in India. And a word we will repeat: free software does not make a strategy work. Algorithmic execution removes hesitation and fat fingers from a rule set you already trust. It does not supply the rule set.

Quick comparison — free algo trading software in India, September 2026

"Free tier" below means permanent but capped. "Trial" means full-featured but expiring. The distinction is the single most useful column in this table, and it is the one most lists leave out.

Platform	What is actually free (Sept 2026)	Type	NSE/BSE live orders	Best for
Streak (Zerodha)	Free for all Zerodha users. Unlimited equity backtests; 50 dynamic options backtests/day; 5 live + 15 virtual deployments; 5 live scanners	Free tier	Yes — native, Zerodha only	No-code Indian equity & F&O
Dhan (DhanHQ)	Trading API and TradingView webhook orders free, no monthly fee. Data API free once you cross 25 trades in 30 days, else Rs 499/month	Free tier	Yes — native	Coders and TradingView automation
TradingView	Basic plan: 1 chart per tab, 2 indicators per chart, 3 price alerts (30-day expiry), 1 saved layout, full Pine Script editor and strategy tester	Free tier	No — research layer; needs a broker bridge	Strategy research and backtesting
AlgoTest	25 backtests per week, permanently — explicitly not a trial. Paid plans from Rs 499/month, live deployment included at that tier	Free tier	On paid plans only	Multi-leg options backtesting
Sensibull	Free: option chain, verified P&L, FII/DII data, positions, events calendar. Pro (strategy builder, OI charts, IV charts, screener) Rs 800/month, or Rs 480/month annual — and free for Zerodha users	Free tier	Yes — via linked broker	Reading the options chain before you automate
Tradetron	Paper trading free. Starter plan Rs 300/month and capped at 1 live deployment	Free tier (paper only)	On paid plans	Deploying someone else's strategy
Coinrule	Starter plan: 2 rules, USD 3,000/month volume cap. Paid from USD 29.99/month billed annually	Free tier	No — crypto exchanges only	Crypto rule automation

Before anything else: SEBI's retail algo rules change what "free" costs

SEBI's circular of 4 February 2025, Safer participation of retail investors in Algorithmic trading, is the most important development on this page. Its implementation timeline was extended by a further circular on 30 September 2025, giving a phased glide path with milestones through January 2026 and full applicability from April 2026. Three provisions bite directly on anyone automating through a broker API:

• No open APIs. Brokers must permit access only through a unique vendor-client-specific API key together with a static IP whitelisted by the broker, so that both the algo provider and the end user are identifiable and traceable.
• Static IP, not dynamic. Retail traders must register one or two fixed public IPs with the broker; rotating or dynamic IPs are not accepted. A home broadband connection usually has neither, which is why third-party static-IP services for Indian algo traders have appeared at roughly Rs 300-600 a month.
• Algo IDs. Orders placed by an algorithm must carry an exchange-assigned identifier so every automated order can be traced back to its source.

There is also a hard onboarding date: brokers that are not live on the specified checkpoints cannot onboard new retail clients for API-based algo trading from 5 January 2026. Practical consequence — pick a broker that is already compliant rather than the cheapest API. Our longer write-up is here: SEBI algo trading regulations in India.

Note what this does not touch. Backtesting, paper trading, scanners, and no-code platforms that execute inside the broker's own stack (Streak on Zerodha) sit outside the static-IP requirement, because you are not calling an API from your own machine. If your reason for going free is that you are still learning, that whole category remains free and unaffected.

The 7 free platforms, in the order we would actually try them

1. Streak — the only genuinely free no-code platform for Indian F&O

Streak is a no-code systematic trading platform: you describe entry and exit conditions from a list of indicators, backtest them, and deploy. Since January 2024 Zerodha covers the cost for every Zerodha account holder, and the earlier paid tiers were withdrawn — this is a genuine free tier, not a trial.

The free caps are generous and specific: unlimited backtests on equities, up to 50 backtests a day on dynamic options contracts, 5 live deployments and 15 virtual deployments at a time, and 5 live scanners. For an option seller testing one expiry-day rule set, 50 dynamic-contract backtests a day is enough to do real work.

Pros:

• No subscription and no coding, with backtest and deployment in one place.
• Executes inside Zerodha, so the SEBI static-IP requirement does not land on you.
• Scanners on the free tier — most competitors put those behind a paywall.

Cons:

• Zerodha account required. There is no standalone free access.
• Condition-builder logic only — anything genuinely path-dependent is hard to express.
• The 50/day cap on dynamic options contracts is the one that will bind you first.

2. Dhan (DhanHQ) — the best free route if you can write code, or use TradingView alerts

Dhan is the outlier on pricing: its trading APIs carry no monthly charge, which is unusual in a market where API access is normally a subscription. The webhook order type is also free, so a TradingView alert can fire a live Dhan order without a paid bridge in between. The Data API is the exception — free once you cross 25 trades in 30 days, otherwise Rs 499 plus taxes a month.

The API supports REST plus websocket streaming, with SDKs for Python, Java, Node.js and C#, and a published request budget in the tens of thousands of calls a day. Delivery is free and intraday is Rs 20 an order, so brokerage does not quietly reintroduce the cost.

Pros:

• Genuinely free trading API — no monthly platform fee to automate your own logic.
• TradingView webhook to live order with nothing in between.
• SDKs in four languages and websocket streaming, so you are not screen-scraping.

Cons:

• You are writing the strategy, the risk layer and the reconnection logic yourself.
• Data API costs Rs 499/month unless you trade enough to clear the 25-trade waiver.
• API routing puts you squarely inside the SEBI static-IP requirement.

3. TradingView — free research and backtesting, not free execution

TradingView is where most Indian retail strategies are actually designed, and the free Basic plan is more capable than its caps suggest: the full Pine Script editor and strategy tester are included, so you can write and backtest a complete strategy without paying anything. What Basic limits is workspace, not capability — one chart per tab, two indicators per chart, one saved layout, one 30-symbol watchlist, and three price alerts that expire after 30 days.

The two-indicator cap is the real constraint, and there is a standard workaround: fold your indicators into a single Pine Script study so three or four plots count as one indicator. The alert cap is harder to work around, and it is what pushes most people to a paid tier once they go live.

Pros:

• Pine Script and the strategy tester are on the free plan — the backtesting itself costs nothing.
• Largest published library of community scripts of any charting platform.
• Pairs directly with Dhan's free webhook orders for live execution.

Cons:

• Two indicators per chart and three expiring price alerts will bind quickly.
• No native Indian broker execution — you need a bridge or a webhook-capable broker.
• Pine Script backtests on intraday options data are easy to over-fit; treat results as a filter, not proof.

4. AlgoTest — 25 free backtests a week, permanently, for multi-leg options

AlgoTest is built for the strategy family most Indian F&O traders actually run: multi-leg option structures with per-leg stops and adjustments. Its free allowance is 25 backtests a week, and the vendor is explicit that this is not a trial and does not expire. Paid plans start at Rs 499 a month with live deployment included from that first tier.

Twenty-five backtests a week is not much if you sweep parameters, but it is plenty to settle a single question properly — one entry time, one stop distance, one expiry. That is the right way to use it: bring a specific hypothesis, not a grid.

Pros:

• Permanent free allowance rather than a countdown trial.
• Genuine multi-leg options modelling with per-leg stops.
• Live deployment included at the first paid tier, not three tiers up.

Cons:

• 25 backtests a week rules out parameter sweeps on the free plan.
• No live deployment at all on the free tier.
• The interface assumes you already know option structures.

5. Sensibull — free options analytics, and free outright for Zerodha users

Sensibull is analytics rather than automation, and it earns its place because the most common cause of a failed options algo is a misread chain, not a bad execution layer. The free tier covers the basic option chain, verified P&L, daily analysis, FII/DII data, the positions page, the events calendar and watchlists. Pro — custom strategy builder, advanced option chain, open-interest charts, IV charts, virtual trades, the options screener, basket orders — is Rs 800 a month, or about Rs 480 a month on the annual plan. Since February 2024 Zerodha covers full Pro access for its own users at no cost.

Pros:

• Full Pro tier free for Zerodha users — a Rs 800/month tool at zero.
• Best-in-class options chain and IV/OI visualisation for the Indian market.
• Basket orders execute through your linked broker.

Cons:

• Not an algo platform — there is no backtester and no deployment engine.
• The free tier deliberately withholds the strategy builder and OI charts.
• Non-Zerodha users pay for what Zerodha users get bundled.

6. Tradetron — free paper trading, and that is the honest limit

Tradetron is a strategy marketplace: you can build a strategy without code, or subscribe to one someone else built, and deploy it against NSE, BSE and MCX data. Paper trading is free. Live deployment is not — the Starter plan is Rs 300 a month and is capped at a single live deployment, with quarterly and annual billing discounts of roughly 7% and 17%.

We have kept it on a "free" list because free paper trading against live data is genuinely useful, and because the marketplace lets you see how a strategy behaved before you commit. Be clear-eyed about marketplace equity curves, though: they are the seller's, on the seller's chosen window.

Pros:

• Free paper trading against live NSE/BSE/MCX data.
• No coding, and a large library of ready strategies.
• Cheapest paid entry point of any full deployment platform here at Rs 300/month.

Cons:

• One live deployment on Starter — you will outgrow it fast.
• Marketplace track records are self-reported and self-selected.
• Nothing live happens on the free tier.

7. Coinrule — free crypto rules, irrelevant if you trade NIFTY

Coinrule is a rule-based crypto automation tool covering Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and others. Its free Starter plan allows 2 rules and caps monthly traded volume at USD 3,000 — the only plan with a hard volume cap, which makes it a testing tier rather than a trading tier. Paid plans run from about USD 29.99 a month billed annually up to USD 449.99 for Pro, on flat fees with no cut of volume.

It is on this list for completeness. It touches no Indian exchange, so if your interest is NSE F&O it is not a candidate.

Pros:

• Plain-language rule builder — no code, very fast to a first working bot.
• Flat fees; the platform takes no percentage of volume.
• Free tier is enough to validate a simple idea in demo mode.

Cons:

• No NSE, BSE or MCX access at all.
• USD 3,000 monthly volume cap makes the free plan unusable for real size.
• Thinner feature set than dedicated crypto bot platforms.

What we removed from this list, and why

A refresh is only worth the name if things come off it. Four entries did:

• Zerodha algoZ — the product no longer exists. algoZ was enabled on the old Zerodha Trader terminal in April 2013 and has since been decommissioned, along with its successor, Pi. The previous version of this page described a "7-day free trial, 50 backtests a day, 5 live deployments, from Rs 250 a month" — those were Streak's old paid-plan mechanics, wrongly attached to a retired product. Zerodha's current routes are Streak and the Kite Connect API.
• TradeStation — not usable for Indian equities or F&O. It is a capable US platform with strong backtesting, but it does not give an Indian retail trader NSE or BSE access, and it was never free. It had no business on a list of free algo trading software in India.
• Speed Bot and Robotrader — demo mode is not a free tier. Both are live platforms with real products, and both were listed here purely on the strength of offering a demo. A demo that cannot place a live order is a sales tool. If either publishes a permanent capped free plan we will re-add it with the cap stated.
• Bigul — zero account-opening charges is not free software. Bigul is a legitimate broker whose algo offering is largely a Stoxxo integration, and "Rs 0 account opening, Rs 18 annual maintenance" is a brokerage fact, not a free algo tier. Broker pricing belongs in a broker comparison.

Paid, but worth knowing about before you commit to free

Two platforms come up constantly in Indian algo conversations and neither has a free tier, so they are named here rather than smuggled onto the list:

• Stoxxo (by Algobaba) is an execution bridge rather than a strategy platform — it takes signals from TradingView, Chartink, Excel, Python, Amibroker or MT4/MT5 and fires them at your broker, with sub-10ms execution claimed and a dedicated options module. Several brokers, including 5paisa and Bigul, list it as an integration partner. Pricing is quoted through partners rather than published. If your bottleneck is execution quality rather than idea generation, this is the category you want.
• Quantiply runs multiple strategies simultaneously with strategy-level live monitoring. Its free access is a 7-day trial, which is a trial, not a tier.

Both appear with current pricing detail in our comparison of the best algo trading software in India.

How to actually use a free tier without wasting it

1. Write the rules down in words first. Entry, exit, stop, position size, and the condition under which you switch the algo off. If it cannot be written in five sentences it cannot be coded.
2. Backtest one question at a time. Free tiers are capped in runs, which is a discipline, not a handicap. Twenty-five deliberate backtests beat two hundred accidental ones.
3. Include costs and slippage. A backtest without brokerage, STT, exchange charges and realistic slippage on option legs is not a backtest. This is where most free-tier equity curves die.
4. Paper trade through at least one expiry cycle. Live data behaves differently from historical data on the days that matter most — expiry, gap opens, and event days.
5. Sort your SEBI compliance before you go live, not after. Static IP, whitelisting, broker readiness. See the section above.
6. Start at the smallest size the contract allows, and only scale after the live results and the backtest agree for a month.

Before going live it is also worth reading the honest downside case in the disadvantages of algo trading, and the mechanics in our algo trading strategies breakdown.

Is algo trading legal in India?

Yes. SEBI permitted algorithmic trading in India in 2008, initially through Direct Market Access restricted to institutional investors, and retail participation followed as brokers built API and platform access. The February 2025 framework does not restrict retail algo trading — it formalises it, by requiring identifiable, traceable order routes. Using any platform on this page is legal; using it through an unwhitelisted dynamic IP after the compliance dates will simply stop working.

Where EliteAlgo fits

EliteAlgo is a proprietary desk running rule-based NIFTY and SENSEX expiry-day option-selling systems with pre-defined risk limits. We are not a SEBI-registered adviser and we do not sell signals or tips — what we build is analytical software, not investment advice. We publish pages like this one because we run the same evaluation internally every year, and because most "best free algo trading software" content in this market is three years stale.

If you would rather not build and maintain the stack yourself, our algo trading services page sets out how a managed engagement works. If you would rather build it, everything on this page is enough to start without spending anything on software.

Free algo trading software in India 2026 — quick summary

Best genuinely free no-code platform for Indian F&O: Streak, free for Zerodha users. Best free route for coders and TradingView users: Dhan, whose trading API and webhook orders carry no monthly fee. Best free research and backtesting: TradingView Basic. Best permanent free options backtesting allowance: AlgoTest, 25 backtests a week. Best free options analytics: Sensibull, and free at Pro level for Zerodha users. Best free paper trading: Tradetron. Crypto only: Coinrule. Budget for a static IP, not for software.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free algo trading software in India in 2026?

For Indian equity and F&O specifically, Streak is the strongest genuinely free option — Zerodha has covered its cost for all Zerodha account holders since January 2024, which includes unlimited equity backtests, 50 dynamic options-contract backtests a day, 5 live deployments and 5 live scanners. Dhan is the strongest free option for anyone who wants to automate their own code: the DhanHQ trading API and the TradingView webhook order type carry no monthly fee. TradingView remains the best free charting and strategy-research layer, and AlgoTest gives 25 free backtests every week on a permanent basis rather than a trial.

Can I do algo trading for free in India in 2026?

You can research, backtest and paper trade for free, and you can place live API orders for free with a broker such as Dhan. What you cannot do for free any more is run an API-based algo without infrastructure: SEBI's February 2025 retail algo framework requires every API order to originate from a static IP whitelisted with your broker, and a static IP typically costs around Rs 300-600 a month. Budget for that, not for the software.

Do SEBI's new algo trading rules apply to free platforms?

Yes — the rules attach to the order route, not to the price of the software. SEBI's circular of 4 February 2025 on safer participation of retail investors in algorithmic trading, whose timeline was extended by the circular of 30 September 2025, closes open APIs, requires a unique vendor-client API key plus a broker-whitelisted static IP, and requires exchange-assigned Algo IDs on algo orders. Brokers not live on the checkpoints cannot onboard new retail API-algo clients from 5 January 2026, with full applicability from April 2026. A free platform that routes through a broker API is inside this perimeter. See SEBI algo trading regulations.

Which free algo trading software is best for beginners in India?

Streak, if you already hold a Zerodha account — no code, no subscription, and backtesting and deployment sit in the same screen. If you do not, start with TradingView's free Basic plan for strategy research and Sensibull's free tier for reading the options chain, and only add an execution platform once a strategy has survived a few hundred backtested days.

Is Zerodha algoZ still available?

No. algoZ was a 2013-era Zerodha Trader product and has been decommissioned, as has its successor Pi. Any 2026 listicle still naming "Zerodha algoZ" as free algo trading software is recycling old copy. Zerodha's current routes are Streak (no-code, free for Zerodha users) and the Kite Connect API (paid, for developers).

What is the difference between a free tier and a free trial?

A free tier is permanent but capped — AlgoTest's 25 backtests a week, TradingView Basic's two indicators per chart, Coinrule Starter's two rules and USD 3,000 monthly volume. A free trial is full-featured but expires, usually in 7 to 14 days, after which the platform stops working. Most "free algo trading software" lists conflate the two. Every entry in the table above is labelled as one or the other.

Can I download algo trading software for free in India?

Almost none of the platforms on this list are a program you download and install. Streak, Dhan, TradingView, AlgoTest, Sensibull and Tradetron are all browser or broker-hosted — you log in, there is no .exe or .apk carrying the trading logic, and that is deliberate: a hosted platform can be patched centrally when a broker API or a SEBI rule changes. The only "download" most of these involve is a mobile app shell for the same hosted account. Be specifically wary of any site offering a cracked or pirated download of paid algo trading software — beyond the legal exposure, a cracked binary that places live orders on your broker account is an unreviewed piece of code with your API keys, which is a worse risk than any subscription fee it claims to save you.

What are the top 10 algo trading platforms in India?

From this list, in the order we would actually try them: Streak, Dhan (DhanHQ), TradingView, AlgoTest, Sensibull, Tradetron and Coinrule (crypto only) — seven platforms with a genuinely free tier. For a fuller top-10 including paid-first platforms such as Stoxxo, Quantiply and AlgoBulls, see our companion list of the 10 best algo trading software in India.

Pricing and free-tier limits were verified against vendor sources in September 2026 and change without notice — confirm current terms on the vendor's own pricing page before subscribing. Nothing on this page is investment advice.