Which Platform Is Better: Seeking Alpha or Benzinga Pro?

Listen to this article

If you’re someone who’s interested in investing – and particularly, in doing your own research before you add a stock or ETF to your portfolio – then you probably know that you’ve got options when it comes to finding a stock screening service.

The always-pressing question is: Which service is best for you and your needs? After all, what works for one person may not work for another.

In this Seeking Alpha vs Benzinga Pro review, we’ll compare the two services, with details about features, plans, pricing, and what users on the web think about each of them. Both services have their virtues, especially for investors who want in-depth analysis and those in search of real-time news about their investments. Check out Trust Pilot’s reviews of both Benzinga Pro and Seeking Alpha

One of the newest features on Seeking Alpha is the Portfolio Health Rating, which analyzes portfolios based on Quant ratings and how they compare to other portfolios.

A stand-out feature on Benzinga Pro is Audio Squawk, which offers users a real-time audio feed of market news and changes.

So… which platform is best for you? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to dive into our comparison and look at Benzinga Pro and Seeking Alpha side by side.

Seeking Alpha vs Benzinga Pro: An Overview

Since both are stock screening and research platforms, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Seeking Alpha and Benzinga Pro have a lot in common. Both offer investors tools to evaluate and compare stocks and read news. For example, both offer watchlists and market news.

Seeking Alpha’s features are designed for in-depth research, providing a combination of expert-driven insights and community analysis, plus ratings and advanced screeners. While beginner investors may find the amount of analysis overwhelming, Seeking Alpha’s features serve a wide range of investors from novices to experts.

Benzinga Pro has more in the way of real-time news and prices, which makes it most suitable for traders. That said, you won’t find the same depth of analysis that you will with Seeking Alpha.

Keep reading to see our Benzinga Pro vs. Seeking Alpha comparisons and figure out which platform is most suitable for your investment style and preferences.

How Do They Work?

Both Seeking Alpha and Benzinga Pro have their advantages. Some investors prefer to trade stocks in their portfolios based on the news of the day. Others prefer to read expert analysis, do their own research, and choose investments based on what they learn. Knowing which investment style you prefer is a key element when it comes to choosing an investment research platform.

How Does Seeking Alpha Work?

Seeking Alpha is, at its heart, an investment community. It has thousands of subscribers, many of whom write and post their own analysis of the market and specific investments. As a service, Seeking Alpha is best known for its:

Quant ratings for detailed stock evaluations
Crowdsourced investment insights
Expert analysis
Personalized stock alerts and watchlists
Detailed financials
With Seeking Alpha, subscribers can do a deep dive on stocks and ETFs before they buy, and then keep an eye on stocks in their portfolio going forward. Seeking Alpha’s features make it easy to find the facts and figures necessary to make smart investments.

How Does Benzinga Pro Work?

Like Seeking Alpha, Benzinga Pro is designed to provide investors with useful information to help them evaluate investment opportunities and choose which investments to add to their portfolios. Benzinga Pro is best known for these features.

Real-time stock market news
Newsfeed and stock screeners for day traders
Benzinga Signals, which offers real-time alerts for day traders
Comparing what each service is best known for and how it works, it’s clear that Benzinga Pro and Seeking Alpha are designed for different types of investors. Seeking Alpha is for people who prefer to look before they leap by doing extensive investment research, while Benzinga Pro is for those who prefer to move quickly and who may make investment decisions based on up-to-the-minute market news.

Seeking Alpha vs Benzinga Pro: Key Features

One of the best ways to compare investment research platforms is to dig into the features provided by each.

Main Features for Seeking Alpha

Seeking Alpha industry specific stock comparisons

Let’s start with a rundown of Seeking Alpha features, which offer an impressive array of stock market and portfolio analysis tools.

Quant ratings, Seeking Alpha’s proprietary rating system, rates investments from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating a Strong Sell and 5 indicating a Strong Buy. Historically, Seeking Alpha’s “Strong Buy” recommendations have outperformed the S&P 500.
Dividend Safety Ratings
Extensive portfolio management tools, including customizable portfolio views and Portfolio Health Score
Access to in-depth expert and community analysis
Access to earnings call transcripts and 10 years of financials
Stock and ETF alerts based on Quant ratings or price changes
Customizable watchlists
Personalized stock and article alerts

These features illustrate why Seeking Alpha is the gold standard for in-depth investment research. The one thing to be aware of is that while Seeking Alpha vets the community content it recommends to subscribers, it doesn’t review everything. It’s always a good idea to do your own research instead of taking one person’s recommendation.

Pro Tip:
If you sign up with Seeking Alpha Premium today, you will receive $30 off and access to an exclusive 7-day free trial!

Main Features for Benzinga Pro

Benzinga Pro is mostly suited for people who want to make investment decisions based on up-to-the-minute market news. Here are some of the most important features that you’ll find on Benzinga Pro.

Real-time market news
Audio Squawk alerts (traders can stay tuned all day to get real-time updates)
Real-time stock price alerts
News feed customization
Stock movers
Watchlists

You can see that Benzinga Pro’s features are tailored to keep investors in the moment with market news and alerts. These features are ideal for day traders, but not for those who want in-depth research and analysis to make investment decisions.

Features Comparison

Let’s look at some of Seeking Alpha’s and Benzinga Pro’s features side by side to help you understand how the two services look when compared.

Feature Seeking AlphaBenzinga Pro Investment Ratings Quant Ratings, Wall Street Analysts RatingsN/A Screeners Basic and AdvancedN/A Market News NewsfeedPersonalized news feed, Audio Squawk Alerts Alerts based on pricing and ratings changesAlerts based on pricing, ratings, and market news Watchlists CustomizableCustomizable Portfolio Tools Custom Portfolio Views, Portfolio Health Scores, no broker integrationsMinimal, no broker integrations

Pricing

You may be wondering how Seeking Alpha and Benzinga Pro compare when it comes to pricing. It’s time to answer that question.

Pricing for Seeking Alpha

Let’s look at the cost of Seeking Alpha. Seeking Alpha pricing 2024 costs are as follows:

The Free Basic Plan offers users the option to create a portfolio, get real-time alerts, and read one Premium article per month.
Seeking Alpha Premium offers a one-month trial for $4.95, then renews at $299 per year for new subscribers. The cost goes up to $499 per year for returning subscribers.
Seeking Alpha Pro offers a one-month trial for $99, after which it renews at $2,400 per year.

Few investors will be able to afford the Pro Plan, but Seeking Alpha Premium offers everything you’ll need, including access to Quant Ratings, portfolio management tools, updates, and unlimited access to expert and community analysis.

Seeking Alpha Paid Services Summary

Here’s a comparison of the Seeking Alpha services and their bundle:

Seeking Alpha PremiumAlpha PicksSeeking Alpha BundleOverall Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Service Type & Strengths:Full access to all their research; link your brokerage account to get Quant Ratings on your stocks and alerts of when to sell.2 stock picks a month that have their highest Quant Rating and most likely to outperform the market.Includes both servicesStrengths:Strong Buy Quant Rating stocks have 5x the market since 2010. Quant Rating now verified by academic study. 250,000+ Premium members.Beating the market by 40% in just 2 years; 9 picks have already doubled; over 76% of picks are profitable.Get both to monitor your portfolio & get the best picks to buy.Best for:Self-directed investors who want to easily optimize their portfolio’s return.Investors looking for specific stock recommendations each monthBoth Retail Cost:$299 a year$499 a year$798 a yearCurrent Promotion:October Sale: Save $30 and get 7-day free trial.October Sale: Save $50 & get access to all their recent stock picksOctober Sale: Save $159 when you get both.Link to Promo Page:Save $30 & get 7-day free trial to Alpha Premium on THIS promo page!Save $50 on Alpha Picks on THIS promo pageTry Both for $639 and save $159 now.

I subscribe to both of these Seeking Alpha services, and many other stock services. I don’t plan on canceling either of my Seeking Alpha’s subscriptions any time soon – Seeking Alpha Premium and Alpha Picks are absolutely worth the membership fee.

Pricing for Benzinga Pro

Like Seeking Alpha, Benzinga has three plans. Here’s how they break down.

The Basic Plan is $37 per month (that’s $444 per year) and offers access to real-time Nasdaq alerts, an unfiltered news feed, chats, price alerts, watchlists, and access to premium articles on Benzinga.com
The Streamlined Plan costs $147 per month (that’s $1,764 per year) and offers everything in the Basic Plan, plus access to Audio Squawk and advanced news feed filtering.
The Essentials Plan costs $197 per month (that’s $2,364 per year) and offers everything in the Streamlined Plan, plus Calendar, Signals, and unlockable bonuses that include free subscriptions to some of Benzinga’s premium newsletters.

Subscribers at the Streamlined and Essentials levels also have the option to add High Beta Squawk for $49 per month.