Tools for backtesting options strategies

Options backtesting software replays defined rules (strikes, deltas, expirations, entry and exit conditions) against historical option prices. Some platforms also sell the underlying historical data or APIs.

A backtest is a software report on the past. It is not a forecast. It is not proof a strategy will work live. Slippage, fills, dividends, assignment, and early exercise can differ from a simulation. We will not claim a backtester finds an edge.

Use this job if you want to inspect how a mechanical options rule behaved in sample. Do not confuse that with a live trading system.

How to use this list

Pick by fit: automation-first versus research/scanner seat, monthly dollars you can confirm on the vendor page, whether you need optional order-send or paper trading. A listing is a job match, not a ranking. Prices below come from each tool’s verified offers on the FTT review. Confirm on the vendor site before you pay.

The grid at the bottom of this page is the catalog membership for this job. The numbered section is the live FTT reviews that center options backtesting. Stub / unreviewed products stay under Also — official links only, no invented dollars.

Tools for this job

1. Option Alpha

Options education and automation software with unlimited backtesting on Pro, plus bots, paper trading, and trade ideas. Verified Pro offers: $99/mo with annual billing or $149/mo monthly. Official path also publishes $0 Pro via a qualifying TradeStation / Tradier / tastytrade account (not a generic Free/Starter SaaS tier — see the review). Fits people who want to replay mechanical rules and optionally automate them through supported brokers. Skip if you need Option Alpha to be the broker, live Canadian broker routing (official FAQ: no active broker integrations support Canadian traders for live OA routing), or a guarantee that bots improve results. A backtest is still a report on the past.

2. ORATS

Options research / backtesting / scanning software: Options Backtester, Intraday Backtester (including Intraday / 0DTE mode on 1-minute data), scanners, Trade Builder, and Otto AI on Trading Tools. Verified offers: Individual $99 a month; Professional $199 a user a month (same tools; Professional billed per user). Data API / historical files are a separate catalog (not inside Trading Tools). Fits traders who want a research / backtest / scan seat with optional order-send to Interactive Brokers, TradeStation, or Tradier. Skip if you assumed Trading Tools includes the Data API, need a free full-seat week, or need verified Canadian-listed coverage. Plan table: ORATS pricing.

3. Option Omega

No-code options backtesting, modeling (payoff / Greeks), and — on Premium — cloud automation to tastytrade / Tradier / Schwab (thinkorswim) / TradeStation. Verified offers (homepage + /pricing 2026-09-25): Lite $24.99/mo annual through Premium $249.99/mo annual (month-to-month Lite $29.99–Premium $299.99). Free trial: 14 days on Premium and 7 days on Lite, Essential and Plus (homepage FAQ, 2026-10-08). Vendor: 1-minute bid/ask from January 2013; up to 8 legs backtest / 4 legs automation. Fits people who want a shared backtest-to-automate engine without writing code. Skip if you need Option Omega to be the broker, verified Canadian-listed coverage or Canadian live routing, or a guarantee that backtests / automation improve results. We don’t have an affiliate link for Option Omega. See also Option Omega alternatives.

Compare pages (not rankings)

Payoff vs flow (not a ranking): OptionStrat vs Unusual Whales: strategy-builder diagram vs unusual-options flow tape. A backtest is a third job; people searching that pair are usually mixing diagram and tape, not a historical replay tool.

No dedicated two-way “Option Alpha vs ORATS” or “Option Omega vs Option Alpha” compare page exists on this directory yet. Use the numbered Fits / Skip notes above and Option Omega alternatives — that is a job-fit split, not a score.

Also in this job (newer / not fully reviewed yet)

The numbered live seats above (Option Alpha, ORATS, Option Omega) cover the backtest-first products with full FTT reviews. Official links only when stubs appear here. No invented prices or last-verified claims.

No remaining stub tools currently sit in this Also section. OptionVue was promoted to a live review as a free Black-Scholes calculator (visualize-options-payoff): the public optionvue.com product we verified does not publish a backtester, so it is not tagged for this job.

Related jobs / adjacent (not the same job)

These help next to a backtest. They are not substitutes for a dedicated options backtester unless the review says they also replay historical options rules.

• Options Profit Calculator — Payoff calculator first; membership / OPCalc+ marketing also lists a Strategy Backtester with “20+ years” of historical stock & options data. Not tagged for this job yet — primary collection: visualize an options payoff. Free $0; Starter $9.95/mo; Pro $14.95/mo; Growth $49.95/mo.
• OptionVue: Free Black-Scholes theoretical calculator first. Not a public backtester on the pages we reviewed. Primary collection: visualize an options payoff.
• Trade 0DTE (same-day expiration): Same-day watch / short-dated study; ORATS’ intraday mode sits on both jobs.
• Visualize an options payoff — See the shape of a structure before or after you study history.
• Screen for high implied volatility — Name lists by elevated IV; a screen is not a backtest.
• Paper-trade or simulate options: Forward simulation / paper seats (where tagged), not the same as historical replay.
• Use a broker: Custody and order routing. A broker is not an options backtester ranking.

Canadian readers: whether a given backtester includes Canadian-listed options is unverified unless a review says otherwise. Option Alpha’s official FAQ states no active broker integrations support Canadian traders for live routing; backtesting / ideas / paper / email alerts for manual trades elsewhere remain available on that product story.

Also covered: Paper-trade or simulate multi-leg options

Paper-trading and multi-leg simulation software lets you place or replay options structures with virtual funds so you can see estimated P/L, Greeks, and sometimes assignment or early-exercise behavior without sending a live order.

A simulation is a software report, not a live fill. Slippage, dividends, assignment, and exercise can differ from the model. This job is not a broker, not a paper-account ranking, and not a claim that practice trading produces an edge.