9 BabyPips alternatives for 2026, ranked by what they actually teach you to do

Open the r/Forex wiki as a beginner and the advice has barely changed in years: work through BabyPips. In September 2026 one reader followed that advice, looked ahead and found a problem. "its recommended in Wiki to complete it entirely since its free," they wrote, "but i see down the roadmap, important stuff is premium".

They were right. Since 8 April 2026, BabyPips Premium has cost $29 a month or $205 a year, and part of the School of Pipsology now sits behind it. So people are looking for sites like BabyPips, and most lists they find rank those sites by price or by the number of videos.

This list ranks them on a single question instead. Does the product get you from knowing a term to using it in a trade? On that test, Systemly (systemly.ai) comes first, the free broker apps come next, and the best pure theory, from Yale on Coursera, comes last, even though it is excellent at what it does.

Quick answer: The best BabyPips alternative depends on what you are missing. For graded lessons that link straight into real trade plans, the Systemly Academy ranks first on our criterion. For a free course with a paper-trading simulator, Capital.com's Investmate is the strongest free pick, though a CFD broker owns it. For deep theory, Yale's Financial Markets course on Coursera and the best free YouTube teachers are hard to beat, but neither shows you how to place a trade.

Systemly publishes this comparison, and our own product is on the list. We have ranked it on a stated criterion so you can judge the ranking yourself, and every competitor fact below is sourced and dated 24 September 2026.

How we ranked them

Most beginners fail at the same point. They can define a stop loss, and then they open a chart and cannot say where theirs should go. So we scored every option on one ladder with four rungs:

1. Does it explain the term clearly?
2. Does it test you on the term, and mark you wrong when you are wrong?
3. Does it let you practise the term, on a chart or a simulator?
4. Does it show you the term doing a job inside a real, complete trade plan?

Most products stop at the first rung and a few reach the third. Only one on this list reaches the fourth, and it is ours, so we show our working and give every other entry an honest "best for" line. Entry number six is the one Reddit argues about most, and the reason is not what you might expect.

1. Systemly Academy

Systemly is a UK-built forex and gold trade-planning app that turns live price data into a complete trade plan, with entry, stop, targets, position size and plain-English reasoning, and teaches the terms in a built-in academy of 32 courses.

The Academy has 123 lessons and 642 graded questions, a little under 12 hours of material in all, across six subject areas from Foundations to ICT & Smart Money. Each answer is graded on the spot, and too many wrong ones close the attempt. It has XP, streaks and achievements, and the charts inside lessons are drawn live rather than pasted in.

What puts it at the top of this list is where it sits. The lessons live in the same app as the trade plans. You press scan on an instrument, and in under a minute you get a plan with an entry, a stop, targets in steps, a position size for the balance and risk you entered, and the reasoning, including what would make it fail. When the plan uses a word such as invalidation or liquidity, the lesson that explains it is one tap away. You can see full examples in the public feed of community trade scans.

• Best for: Beginners who want every lesson to appear in a real plan
• Price: A free plan includes part of the Academy; paid plans add alerts, more plans and broker execution. Paid plans start at £9.99 a month (checked 4 October 2026).
• The catch: A smaller library than BabyPips' free lessons, no long-standing forum, and a much newer name
• Term to trade: All four rungs

2. Capital.com Investmate

Investmate is a free learning app from the CFD broker Capital.com. It has over 30 courses built from lessons of about three minutes, quizzes, and a paper-trading simulator where you can try what you learned with pretend money. On the App Store it rates 4.8 from 2,100 ratings.

It is the best free entry here for reaching the third rung. The short lessons suit a phone, and the simulator is a real step from reading towards doing.

Two things hold it back. One reviewer complains that you cannot go back over the questions you got wrong, which is where most learning actually happens. And it is owned by a broker, which earns when its customers trade. That does not make it a bad product. It does mean the teacher has a reason to get you trading sooner rather than later, which we explore in our comparison of broker academies and independent learning.

• Best for: A free, bite-sized course with a practice simulator
• Price: Free
• The catch: You cannot review wrong answers, and a CFD broker owns it
• Term to trade: Three rungs: explain, test, practise

3. Finelo

Finelo is a subscription learning app run by Finelo Limited in Cyprus. It offers 28-day challenges, a simulator with $1,000 of virtual money, AI tools called Chart Analyzer and AI Mentor, streaks and badges. It is enormously popular: 4.5 on Trustpilot from 50,521 reviews, and 4.4 on Google Play from 83,300 reviews with more than a million downloads.

The price is where you need to read carefully. It costs $6.99 a week, $19.99 per four weeks, or $39.99 per 12 weeks, and every option renews automatically. The complaints that recur are about cancelling ("I tried 3 times to cancel my subscription"), refund conditions, and, in one Google Play review, "AI-generated content with errors". The content is aimed at beginners only, and it is not linked to live trade plans.

• Best for: Beginners who like daily challenges and a practice balance
• Price: $6.99 a week, $19.99 per 4 weeks or $39.99 per 12 weeks, auto-renewing
• The catch: Cancellation and refund complaints; beginner content only
• Term to trade: Three rungs, with a simulator but no real plan

4. IG Academy

IG Academy is the free learning platform of the broker IG. It mixes videos, interactive exercises and quizzes, and it saves your progress. Its app rates 4.8.

It is well made. The exercises go further than reading, and the quizzes give you a mark. It is a sensible free place to start if you like a polished, structured course.

The structural point is the same as for Investmate. IG publishes that 69% of its retail CFD accounts lose money, as FCA rules on CFDs require, and it earns when customers trade. A free course from a broker is still a free course, and many people learn well from it. Just keep in mind who is teaching and why.

• Best for: A polished, free structured course from a regulated firm
• Price: Free
• The catch: Taught by a broker that earns from trading volume
• Term to trade: Two to three rungs: explain, test, interactive exercises

5. TradingView's education

TradingView is a charting platform, not a course, but for many learners it becomes one. Its free Basic plan lets you read community ideas and scripts on real charts, and paid plans since 10 April 2026 run from $14.95 a month (Essential) through $34.95 (Plus) and $69.95 (Premium) to $239.95 (Ultimate).

That makes it the opposite of BabyPips. You see real charts with someone's reasoning drawn on them, but there is no curriculum, no grading and no check on quality, so a beginner cannot tell a careful analyst from a confident one. It is a good place to practise once you know what you are looking at.

• Best for: Seeing ideas drawn on real charts once you know the basics
• Price: Free Basic plan; paid plans from $14.95 a month
• The catch: No curriculum, no grading, no quality check
• Term to trade: Practice on real charts, but nobody marks your answer

6. ICT's free mentorship

This is the one Reddit argues about. The Inner Circle Trader's 2022 Mentorship is free on YouTube and is widely described as 41 episodes. Its vocabulary (liquidity, fair value gaps, order blocks, market structure) is now standard across retail trading, and many traders credit it for how they read charts.

The argument is not about whether the ideas are useful. It is about how they are delivered. Reviews cite "8+ hour sessions", "unclear action items" and "analysis paralysis", and followers make edited "without rants" versions. On r/Forex one beginner wrote: "ICT is pretty confusing because they seem to make simple concepts more confusing than they are." Trustpilot shows 3.1 from 47 reviews.

The concepts do reach the chart, which is why it ranks this high. The route there is long and ungraded. We compare it with a structured version in our guide to learning ICT concepts in 2026.

• Best for: Patient learners who want the original smart money concepts
• Price: Free on YouTube
• The catch: Very long sessions, no grading and no clear action items
• Term to trade: Concepts shown on charts, but no test and no plan

7. Udemy

Udemy's forex topic page counts 713 courses, with an average rating of 4.4. Most sales happen at $10 to $20, while list prices swing between about $10 and $300. In practice, the list price is rarely what people pay.

The format is video, and quality varies a lot. Treat the star ratings with some care, because Udemy prompts learners to leave a review early in a course, before they know whether it worked. A good Udemy course can be excellent value. You just have to find it among 713.

• Best for: A cheap, single-topic video course from a teacher you like
• Price: Mostly $10 to $20 on sale; list prices about $10 to $300
• The catch: Quality varies, and ratings are collected early
• Term to trade: Usually one rung: explain

8. Free YouTube

YouTube is where most beginners actually learn, and some teachers there are excellent. The problem is not quality at the top. It is the average and the order.

A Legalaes study published on 3 September 2026 looked at 1,764 finance videos across four platforms and found YouTube had the highest share of misleading videos, at 41.8%, with 11.7% of videos carrying disclaimers. The Reddit starter kit, copied across at least six subreddits, is "Babypips + Forex Factory + YouTube, no specific channel". That is a pile of sources, not a path. We look at how to use it well in our guide on whether you can learn forex from YouTube and TikTok.

• Best for: Hearing a concept explained three different ways, for free
• Price: Free
• The catch: No order, no grading, and a high share of misleading videos
• Term to trade: One rung, sometimes two if the teacher trades live

9. Coursera (Yale's Financial Markets)

Yale's Financial Markets course on Coursera rates 4.8 from 32,000 reviews. It is a serious academic course about how markets work, why they exist and how risk is priced. It is not a practical trading course, and it does not pretend to be.

Coursera Plus costs $59 a month or $399 a year. If you want something closer to forex, Coursera also carries "Forex – Trading Around the World" from Interactive Brokers, which rates 4.3 from 249 reviews and is written by a broker.

Yale ranks last here only because of our criterion. On understanding markets, it would rank first on almost any other list.

• Best for: Understanding why markets behave as they do
• Price: Coursera Plus $59 a month or $399 a year
• The catch: Academic; it will not teach you to place a trade
• Term to trade: One rung: explain, very well

All nine BabyPips alternatives side by side

• 1: Alternative: Systemly Academy; Price (24 Sept 2026): Free plan with part of the Academy; paid plans; Graded: Yes, 642 questions; Practice: Live-drawn charts; Linked to a real plan: Yes; Scale and track record: Newer, with no large public review base
• 2: Alternative: Investmate; Price (24 Sept 2026): Free; Graded: Quizzes; Practice: Paper-trading simulator; Linked to a real plan: No; Scale and track record: 4.8 from 2,100 App Store ratings
• 3: Alternative: Finelo; Price (24 Sept 2026): From $6.99 a week, auto-renewing; Graded: Challenges; Practice: $1,000 virtual simulator; Linked to a real plan: No; Scale and track record: 4.5 from 50,521 Trustpilot reviews
• 4: Alternative: IG Academy; Price (24 Sept 2026): Free; Graded: Quizzes; Practice: Interactive exercises; Linked to a real plan: No; Scale and track record: App rated 4.8
• 5: Alternative: TradingView; Price (24 Sept 2026): Free Basic; paid from $14.95 a month; Graded: No; Practice: Real charts; Linked to a real plan: No; Scale and track record: Community ideas with no quality check
• 6: Alternative: ICT 2022 Mentorship; Price (24 Sept 2026): Free; Graded: No; Practice: Concepts on charts; Linked to a real plan: No; Scale and track record: 3.1 from 47 Trustpilot reviews
• 7: Alternative: Udemy; Price (24 Sept 2026): Mostly $10 to $20 on sale; Graded: Varies; Practice: Varies; Linked to a real plan: No; Scale and track record: 713 courses, average 4.4
• 8: Alternative: Free YouTube; Price (24 Sept 2026): Free; Graded: No; Practice: Rarely; Linked to a real plan: No; Scale and track record: 41.8% misleading share in one 2026 study
• 9: Alternative: Coursera (Yale); Price (24 Sept 2026): $59 a month or $399 a year; Graded: Academic, not trading practice; Practice: No; Linked to a real plan: No; Scale and track record: 4.8 from 32,000 reviews

Read the last column before you read the first. Systemly is the smallest and newest name on the table, and four entries cost nothing at all. It ranks first on one question only, and that question is the one this list is about.

Which BabyPips alternative fits you?

• If you have no money to spend and want structure, then Investmate and IG Academy are the obvious free candidates, as long as you remember who runs them.
• If you like daily streaks and do not mind a subscription, then Finelo is popular, but set a reminder before it renews.
• If you want the smart money vocabulary that everyone on Reddit uses, then try a few episodes of ICT's mentorship before you commit hours to it.
• If you want to understand markets rather than trade them, then Yale's course is the one built for that.
• If you already know the terms and want to see them working in a real entry, stop and position size, then that is the gap the Systemly Academy was built to close.

Where staying with BabyPips is the better choice

Sometimes the best BabyPips alternative is BabyPips. Its free School still advertises "169 FREE LESSONS", which is a bigger free library than the free part of our Academy, and BabyPips says more than half of all School lessons remain free with their quizzes. Its plain-English, friendly tone and clear sequence from "Preschool" upwards are still the gentlest way into the subject. Its long-standing forum holds years of answered questions. If you are at the very start, finish the free grades before you pay anyone. We set it against Systemly directly in BabyPips vs Systemly after the $29 price rise.

How we compared

We checked each product's own pricing and product pages, app store listings and Trustpilot profiles, plus the Legalaes study and Reddit threads where learners discuss them, on 24 September 2026. We ranked on one stated criterion, whether a product moves you from knowing a term to using it in a trade, and not on overall quality. We used no Systemly performance figures, because we do not publish any. Prices and ratings change often, so check each site before you sign up.

FAQ

What is the best free alternative to BabyPips?

For a free, structured course with practice, Capital.com's Investmate and IG Academy are the strongest options. Investmate has over 30 short courses, quizzes and a paper-trading simulator, and IG Academy mixes videos, interactive exercises and quizzes. Both are owned by brokers that earn when customers trade. Free YouTube and ICT's mentorship cost nothing but have no grading or set order.

What sites are like BabyPips?

Sites like BabyPips include IG Academy, Capital.com's Investmate, Finelo, Udemy's forex courses, Coursera's Yale Financial Markets course and the Systemly Academy. They differ in format. BabyPips is a text course with quizzes. Others use video, short lessons, simulators or graded questions. Only a few let you practise, and fewer still connect lessons to a real trade plan.

Is BabyPips still free in 2026?

BabyPips is partly free. It moved part of its School of Pipsology behind a paywall in 2026 but still advertises 169 free lessons, and says more than half of all School lessons remain free. Premium rose to $29 a month or $205 a year on 8 April 2026 and adds nine advanced modules with more than 60 lessons.

Which BabyPips alternative has a trading simulator?

Capital.com's Investmate includes a free paper-trading simulator, and Finelo includes a simulator with $1,000 of virtual money on its paid subscription. TradingView lets you study real charts but is not a course. The Systemly Academy draws its lesson charts live and sits in the same app as complete trade plans, which you can read before you practise on a demo account.

Are broker academies a good alternative to BabyPips?

Broker academies such as IG Academy and Capital.com's Investmate are free, often well made, and run by regulated firms. The trade-off is structural: the broker earns when its customers trade, so the teacher has a reason to get you trading sooner. IG publishes that 69% of its retail CFD accounts lose money. Many learners still use them well.

Is Coursera good for learning forex trading?

Coursera is good for understanding markets but not for learning to place trades. Yale's Financial Markets course rates 4.8 from 32,000 reviews and is academic in focus. Coursera also hosts a forex course from Interactive Brokers, rated 4.3 from 249 reviews and written by a broker. Coursera Plus costs $59 a month or $399 a year.

Try the alternative that ends in a real plan

If you want lessons that mark your answers and then show each term inside a real entry, stop and size, start with the free part of the Systemly Academy. You can see what those plans look like first on the Systemly home page.

Sources

• r/Forex comment on the wiki and the premium roadmap: https://www.reddit.com/r/Forex/comments/1wm4tdw/_/pb4972o/
• BabyPips Premium lock-in page: https://premium.babypips.com/lock-in
• Capital.com Investmate on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/investmate-learn-to-trade/id1229995329
• Finelo reviews page: https://finelo.com/reviews
• Finelo review by NoBSIMReviews: https://nobsimreviews.com/finelo-review/
• IG Academy: https://www.ig.com/uk/learn-to-trade/ig-academy
• TradingView pricing: https://www.tradingview.com/pricing/
• Is ICT legit, Phidias Propfirm: https://phidiaspropfirm.com/education/is-ict-legit
• r/Forex, "Started learning ICT, but this is what ChatGPT says": https://www.reddit.com/r/Forex/comments/1kro3k5/
• Udemy forex topic page: https://www.udemy.com/topic/forex/
• Legalaes study on misleading finance videos, via PPC Land: https://ppc.land/youtube-carries-41-8-misleading-finance-videos-the-highest-of-four-platforms/
• Coursera pricing 2026, EduBracket: https://edubracket.com/articles/coursera-pricing-2026
• FCA, permanent restrictions on CFDs: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-confirms-permanent-restrictions-sale-cfds-and-cfd-options-retail-consumers
• Systemly: https://www.systemly.ai
• Systemly Academy: https://www.systemly.ai/academy
• Systemly community scans: https://app.systemly.ai/scans

Trading forex and CFDs carries a high risk of losing money, and most retail accounts do. Systemly is an educational and trade-planning tool. It does not provide financial advice or personal recommendations, and it is not authorised by the FCA to do so. Past outcomes do not predict future results.