The subscription trap
A monthly plan makes sense when you use a tool every day. Algo research is rarely like that. You spend a weekend on a batch of ideas, then a quiet month waiting for something to paper-trade. Paying the same every month for bursty use means paying for capacity you are not using.
What to compare between tools
Headline price tells you little. Ask what is included, and what is metered or locked.
- Data: is it included, and at what resolution and history?
- Backtest compute: how many runs, how large, and is anything queued or capped?
- Optimization: is it available, and how are big searches limited?
- AI help: included, metered, or bring-your-own?
- Paper and live running: is hosting a separate cost?
- What happens if you stop paying: can you still read your results?
- Tax: are prices shown with GST?
Estimate your own usage first
Before comparing prices, write down how you will really use a tool. The honest answers decide which pricing model suits you.
- How many new ideas will you test in a month, and how many backtests does each one take? Most take many.
- Will you optimize parameters, which is far heavier than a single run?
- How many coins and how many years does a typical run cover?
- Will you paper-trade or run live, and for how many days at a time?
- Are there months you will not touch it at all?
Pricing by the work instead
The Lab prices work in credits. Building and editing strategies is free. A backtest, an optimization, a Copilot reply or a day of paper deployment costs credits in proportion to how much work it is, and you see the price before you confirm. An optimization is reserved at its time budget and charged for the time it actually uses, and a backtest or optimization that fails is refunded.
You can buy credits as packs and use them for anything, or take a plan whose allowance renews each period. Neither renews by itself, so there is no subscription to forget to cancel. See pricing for the current prices; they are read live from the price list.
The AI does not have to be a line item
If you already pay for Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT, you can connect it to the Lab over MCP and use it at no extra AI cost. The backtests it starts use credits like any other run. See bring your own AI.