Markets available free
Basis
Every supported pair on the venue
TensorCharts
Three markets
A three-market limit decides what you can study, rather than you deciding.
A TensorCharts alternative without the free-tier caps
What TensorCharts is genuinely good at
TensorCharts was one of the first tools to make order-book heatmaps and footprint charts accessible to retail crypto traders, and its heatmap visualisation is genuinely good. A lot of people learned to read liquidity on it, including plenty who now pay for something else. That head start is real.
Why people look for an alternative
What sends people looking is the shape of the free tier: a small number of markets, restricted timeframes and capped history. Those caps land hardest on exactly the work order flow is for — watching a specific pair, on the timeframe you trade, across enough history to recognise a pattern. Basis lifts the caps and adds derivatives and research around them, at the cost of being a newer platform with less accumulated community familiarity.
The differences that actually matter
Compared against TensorCharts’s Free tier, read from their own plan page on 2026-08-24. Plans change — check before deciding.
Timeframes
Basis
One second through one month, unrestricted
TensorCharts
1h and 5m on the free tier
Order flow is a low-timeframe read; a 5m floor removes most of where it is actually used.
History depth
Basis
Loads the visible window and keeps loading as you pan
TensorCharts
Range and history caps
Recognising a repeated absorption pattern needs more than a few sessions of tape.
Chart update rate
Basis
Live, with true one-second candles
TensorCharts
10-second chart updates
For scalping, a ten-second update is a different product from a live one.
Indicators
Basis
200 built in, no per-chart cap
TensorCharts
Default scripts
Matters if your order-flow read sits on top of a trend or volatility filter.
Derivatives and research
Basis
Funding, OI, liquidations, screener, backtester, journal, AI agent
TensorCharts
Limited stats; scripts only
Turns an order-flow observation into something you can screen for and test.
Heatmap familiarity
Basis
A live depth heatmap that builds from when you open it
TensorCharts
The heatmap they are known for, with years of users trained on it
A genuine advantage to them and worth being plain about: a lot of traders learned to read liquidity on that specific visual, and switching means relearning a picture you already know instinctively.
Switch if
- The three-market limit is deciding what you get to study.
- You trade below the 5-minute timeframe, which is where most order-flow reading actually happens.
- You need more history than the free caps allow to recognise a repeating pattern.
- You want derivatives positioning and a screener around the order flow rather than beside it.
Stay where you are if
- You are used to their heatmap specifically and that visual is how you read liquidity — familiarity is a real cost to give up.
- The three free markets happen to be exactly the ones you trade.
- You want a focused order-flow tool rather than a full terminal.
Questions
Is there a limit on how many markets I can open?+
No. Any supported pair on the venue can be opened, and multi-chart layouts let you watch several at once. There is no counter and no upgrade prompt attached to it.
Are one-second candles real or interpolated?+
Real — they are built from exchange aggregate trades, not smoothed from a higher timeframe. Where trade coverage for a window is incomplete the terminal reports that rather than filling the gap silently.
Does the liquidity heatmap work the same way?+
It is built from live order book depth updates, captured continuously while the panel is open. Because it is captured live rather than replayed from storage, it starts building when you open it rather than showing history from before you arrived.
Try it before you decide
The terminal opens with no account and no card. Nothing on this page is behind a tier, so you can check every claim above in the product itself rather than taking it on trust.
Open the free terminalOther comparisons
Capability claims about TensorCharts were read from their public plan page on 2026-08-24 and describe that tier only. This page quotes no prices, because they change and a stale figure would be misleading. Educational comparison, not financial advice.