Best AI tools for stock research in 2026: the shortlist
If you want one AI tool for stock research, start with Perplexity Finance: cited answers, filings, transcripts and a screener on one screen, with a free tier good enough to find out whether you like it. The rest of the list covers filings-grade fundamentals, long documents, crypto alongside equities, and charts first. Prices were checked on the date above.
Key takeaways
- Where the data comes from matters more than which model answers. Tools that name their data providers and link to filings beat tools that search the open web and summarise what they find.
- A $20 a month general assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity Pro) now covers most of what a retail trader or junior analyst used to do by hand. Specialist data terminals start at about $39 a month on top of that.
- Fiscal.ai is the quiet winner of the list. It supplies data to Perplexity and Google Finance and connects straight into Claude and ChatGPT, so you can buy the data once and use it in whichever assistant you prefer.
- Free tiers are real but capped. Perplexity, Fiscal.ai, Koyfin and Surf all let you use the core product for nothing; the limit is history, depth or the number of deep-research runs per week.
- None of these tools should place trades or make the call for you. They are for getting to a well-sourced view faster; the checklist at the end of each of our guides still applies.
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What an AI stock research tool actually is (and what it is not)
An AI stock research tool answers questions about a company or a market in plain language and shows its working: the filing, the transcript, the data table or the article the answer came from. The good ones sit on top of a licensed financial dataset, so when you ask for trailing revenue or a segment margin you get the reported figure, not a number scraped from a blog post.
The category splits in two. General assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) are models with search and, increasingly, connectors to financial data. Finance-specific tools (Fiscal.ai, Koyfin, Surf) start from the data and add the model on top. The first group is better at open-ended questions, drafting and working with your own documents. The second is better when the exact number matters.
What these tools are not: brokers, signal services or backtesting engines. None of the six here executes a trade, and only Koyfin offers a traditional screener and charting workspace in the way a Bloomberg or FactSet user would recognise. If you want an agent that trades, that is a different list, and our Tread guide covers one way to do it with a stop and a take-profit in the prompt.
How we ranked these tools
We ranked on five things you can check yourself. We did not rank on model benchmarks, funding rounds or how often a tool is mentioned on social media.
- Data source. Does the tool name where its financial data comes from, and can you click through to the filing or transcript? Licensed, named providers rank above open-web search.
- Citations. Is every number in an answer traceable to a source without leaving the product?
- Price and free tier. Monthly price of the plan a working trader or analyst would actually need, and what you get for nothing. Taken from each vendor's pricing page on the updated date.
- Depth of coverage. Years of financial history, number of companies covered and whether transcripts, estimates and options data are included.
- Fits the rest of your desk. Connectors, exports and whether the tool works inside the assistant you already pay for.
The best AI tools for stock research in 2026
Six tools, in order. Each entry says what it is best for, what it costs and who should skip it. Where we have a step-by-step guide for the tool, it is linked at the end of the entry.
1. Perplexity Finance, best for one screen that answers the question and shows the source
- Price
- Free; Pro $20/mo or $200/yr; Max $200/mo
- Data providers
- Financial Modeling Prep, Unusual Whales, Quartr, Fiscal.ai
- Citations
- Numbered, on every answer
- Export
- None
Perplexity Finance is the finance view of the Perplexity search product. The page carries tabs for US markets, crypto, earnings, predictions, a screener, politician trades, a watchlist and a portfolio, and every question you type returns an answer with numbered citations. The data is licensed rather than scraped: the page credits Financial Modeling Prep for market data, Unusual Whales for options, Quartr for earnings transcripts and audio, and Fiscal.ai for reported revenue and EPS.
The free plan includes the finance pages and a small daily allowance of Pro searches (three a day at the time of writing) plus one Research run a month. Perplexity Pro is $20 a month, or $200 a year, and raises those limits and adds model choice. Perplexity Max is $200 a month and is aimed at people who run Research all day.
What it does well: a single prompt such as “Compare NVIDIA's gross margin to AMD's over the last four quarters” comes back in under a minute with the sources attached. What it does less well: the history is shallower than a dedicated terminal, there is no export, and the answer quality still depends on how specific the prompt is. Our Perplexity Finance walkthrough covers the six tasks we set up first, including a scheduled pre-market brief.
Best suited for: Traders and analysts who want cited answers fast and already live in a browser tab. Skip it if you need 20 years of history or want the data in a spreadsheet.
Perplexity Finance website →Guide: Six finance tasks in Perplexity Finance, start to finish →
2. Fiscal.ai, best for filings-grade fundamentals you can carry into any assistant
- Price
- Free; Pro $39/mo annual ($49 monthly); Max $79/mo annual ($99 monthly)
- Coverage
- 100,000+ companies, ETFs and funds; up to 20+ years of financials on Max
- Connectors
- Claude, ChatGPT (MCP); API
- Export
- Max plan
Fiscal.ai is a financial data company first and a research terminal second. It says it covers 100,000+ public companies, ETFs and funds, with figures extracted from filings as they are published. That data layer is why it appears on the credits of Perplexity Finance and Google Finance, and the same data is available to you directly in three ways: the web terminal, an MCP connector for Claude and ChatGPT, and an API.
The terminal is free with a trial of the paid tier. Pro is $39 a month billed annually ($49 monthly) and extends financial history to 15 years and 20 quarters. Max is $79 a month billed annually ($99 monthly) and extends it to 20+ years and 40+ quarters, adds unlimited dashboards and events (calls, transcripts and slides) and is the tier with data export. The company announced a $10 million Series A led by Portage Ventures, taking total funding to $13 million.
The reason it ranks second rather than first is scope. It is an equities fundamentals product; it is not where you go for options flow, crypto or an open-ended question about a sector. But if you already pay for Claude or ChatGPT, the connector means a $39 subscription turns your assistant into something closer to a terminal, and the numbers it returns are the reported ones.
Best suited for: Fundamental investors and analysts who need the reported number and want it inside Claude or ChatGPT. Skip it if your research is mostly news, flow or crypto.
3. Claude, best for long documents: 10-Ks, transcripts and your own notes
- Price
- Free; Pro $20/mo or $17/mo annual
- Data
- Your files, plus connectors (Fiscal.ai and others)
- Citations
- To the documents you provide
- Finance home screen
- No
Claude is the general assistant we reach for when the input is long. A full 10-K, a quarter's worth of call transcripts or a folder of broker notes can go in together, and the answers stay anchored to what is in the documents rather than drifting into general knowledge. Anthropic markets a Claude for Financial Services package to institutions and lists finance connectors in its directory, including the Fiscal.ai connector above.
Claude Pro is $20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually, and is the plan an individual needs. The free tier works for occasional use but the usage limits arrive quickly with large documents. Claude does not have a finance home screen in the way Perplexity does; you bring the data, either as files or through a connector, and the quality of the output tracks the quality of what you brought.
Where it fits on a desk: pre-market summaries, earnings-call debriefs and turning a pile of PDFs into a one-page view. Our pre-market analyst prompt was written for it.
Best suited for: Analysts who read a lot and want the reading done for them with the page references intact. Skip it if you want live prices on the same screen.
4. ChatGPT, best for deep research reports and quick analysis of your own spreadsheets
- Price
- Free (limited); Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $200/mo
- Data
- Web search, your files, connectors (Fiscal.ai and others)
- Deep research
- Monthly allowance, varies by plan
- Finance home screen
- No
ChatGPT's deep research mode runs a multi-step search and returns a long, cited report, which is the closest a $20 plan gets to a junior analyst's first draft on a company or a theme. File uploads and code execution handle the other half of research work: drop in a CSV of positions or a model and ask it questions. The Fiscal.ai connector brings in reported financials.
ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month. The free plan includes limited deep research; a lower ChatGPT Go tier exists at $8 a month, and the $200 Pro plan is for heavy users. Deep research runs have a monthly allowance that varies by plan, so check the current figure before you build a daily routine around it.
The caveat is the same as for any open-web tool: without a connector, the numbers come from whatever the search found, and you should click the citations before you repeat a figure. That is why it ranks below the two tools that start from licensed data.
Best suited for: Anyone who already pays for Plus and wants research reports and spreadsheet work in the same place. Skip it as a primary source for reported financials unless you add a data connector.
5. Koyfin, best for charts, screens and dashboards, with AI as a helper rather than the product
- Price
- Free; Plus $39/mo; Premium $79/mo; Advisor from $209/mo
- Coverage
- Global equities, ETFs, bonds, macro; 2 years history free, 10 on Plus
- Strength
- Screening, charting, dashboards
- AI
- Limited
Koyfin is on this list as the benchmark the AI tools are measured against. It is a browser-based research terminal covering global equities, ETFs, bonds and macro data, with a screener, custom dashboards, 100,000+ company snapshots, filings and transcripts. If your research starts with a chart or a screen rather than a question, it is still the most complete tool here at the price.
The free plan is unusually generous: screener, unlimited watchlists and dashboards, press releases and filings, with company history capped at 2 years. Plus is $39 a month and extends history to 10 years and adds broader estimates coverage and earnings transcripts. Premium is $79 a month and adds portfolio analytics, custom formulas and templates. Advisor tiers start at $209.
The AI side is the weakest of the six. Koyfin's strength is structured data and visualisation, not conversational answers, so most people pair it with one of the assistants above.
Best suited for: Traders and PMs who want a proper screener and dashboards for under $40 and will ask the questions elsewhere. Skip it if you want answers in sentences.
6. Surf, best if crypto is half your book
- Price
- Free; Pro $39/mo annual ($49 monthly); Max from $333/mo annual
- Free limits
- 3 deep research sessions a week
- Coverage
- Crypto and stocks
- API
- Yes, for teams
Surf is an AI research product that started in crypto and covers stocks as well, bringing market data, filings and news into one chat. The home screen leads with crypto sentiment and mindshare dashboards, and its deep research mode produces source-backed reports on tokens, exchanges and themes that the equity-first tools do not cover well.
The free plan includes limited instant answers and three deep research sessions a week. Pro is $39 a month billed annually ($49 monthly) and includes unlimited instant answers and 100 deep analyses every two weeks. Max starts at $333 a month billed annually and unlocks Surf Studio with a monthly credit allowance; it is aimed at firms. The company is based in New York and has raised a $15 million round.
For a stock-only desk it ranks last because the equity coverage is not as deep as Fiscal.ai or Koyfin. For a desk that trades both, it is the only tool here that treats crypto as a first-class asset rather than a tab.
Best suited for: Traders who run crypto and equities side by side and want one research chat for both. Skip it if you never touch crypto.
Side-by-side comparison
Monthly prices are the plan an individual would need; annual-billing equivalents are noted where the vendor leads with them. Checked on the updated date.
| Tool | Best for | Free tier | Paid from | Data source | Citations | Export |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity Finance | Cited answers plus market data on one screen | Yes, limited Pro searches | $20/mo | FMP, Unusual Whales, Quartr, Fiscal.ai | Every answer | No |
| Fiscal.ai | Filings-grade fundamentals, in a terminal or via connector | Yes, with trial | $39/mo annual | Own dataset from filings | To filings | Max plan |
| Claude | Long documents and transcripts | Yes, limited | $20/mo | Your files, connectors | To your documents | Copy out |
| ChatGPT | Deep research reports, spreadsheets | Yes, limited | $20/mo (Go $8) | Web, your files, connectors | Web links | Files |
| Koyfin | Screens, charts, dashboards | Yes, 2 years history | $39/mo | Licensed terminal data | n/a | Premium |
| Surf | Crypto and stocks together | Yes, 3 deep runs a week | $39/mo annual | Market data, filings, news | Source-backed | API for teams |
Which tool fits your desk
| If you are | Start with | Add later | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| A retail trader checking names before the open | Perplexity Finance (free) | Perplexity Pro | Cited answers and a watchlist on one screen, no setup. |
| A fundamental investor who lives in filings | Fiscal.ai Pro | Claude Pro with the Fiscal.ai connector | Reported numbers first, then an assistant to read with. |
| A sell-side or buy-side analyst with a reading pile | Claude Pro | Fiscal.ai Max for export | Long-document work, then data you can put in a model. |
| Someone who already pays for ChatGPT Plus | ChatGPT with the Fiscal.ai connector | Koyfin free for screens | Keep one bill; add structured data and a screener. |
| A PM who wants dashboards and screens | Koyfin Plus | Perplexity Pro for questions | Visualisation first, conversation second. |
| A trader with crypto and equities | Surf Pro | Perplexity Finance for the equity side | The only tool here that treats crypto as a first-class asset. |
What a session looks like
The Perplexity Finance walkthrough below covers six tasks on one screen: the 60-second morning check, a side-by-side question on two tickers' gross margins over four quarters, an earnings call summarised without the hour, watchlist alerts, a scheduled 7 a.m. pre-market brief and a view of your real holdings. Every figure in the answers links back to a filing, a transcript or a data table.
That is the standard to hold any tool on this list to. If you cannot click from the number to the document, treat the number as a lead, not a fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best free AI tool for stock research?
- Perplexity Finance. The finance pages, watchlist and cited answers are free; the paid plan mostly raises the daily limit on Pro searches. Koyfin's free plan is the best free screener and charting tool, with history capped at two years.
- How accurate are AI stock research tools?
- As accurate as their data source. Tools that use licensed data (Perplexity Finance, Fiscal.ai, Koyfin) return reported figures; tools that search the open web can repeat a wrong number from a secondary source. Click the citation before you use a figure.
- How much does an AI stock research setup cost per month?
- About $20 for a general assistant (Perplexity Pro, Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus) and about $39 more for a data layer (Fiscal.ai Pro or Koyfin Plus). Most individual traders do not need more than that.
- What is the difference between Perplexity Finance and Fiscal.ai?
- Perplexity Finance is a search product with a finance view and licensed data behind it, including some from Fiscal.ai. Fiscal.ai is the data company, with its own terminal and connectors. Use Perplexity for questions; use Fiscal.ai when you need the reported numbers in depth or in a spreadsheet.
- Can ChatGPT or Claude replace a Bloomberg terminal?
- No. They have no live market data feed, no execution and no messaging. With a data connector they cover a useful share of the research and reading work a terminal is used for, at a fraction of the cost.
- How do I get reported financials into Claude or ChatGPT?
- Use a connector. Fiscal.ai offers one for both, so a paid Fiscal.ai plan makes reported financials available inside the assistant you already use.
- What should I not use these tools for?
- Placing trades, sizing positions or as the only source for a number you are about to act on. They speed up getting to a sourced view; the decision and the checking are still yours.
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Prices and plan details are taken from each vendor's own pages on the updated date and change without notice. This is an editorial shortlist, not a tested configuration and not financial advice. We have no paid relationship with any tool on this page.