Foliolytic vs Sharesight: When You Don't Want to Pay $20/mo

Sharesight is the dominant tool for dividend tracking and capital gains tax reports — and the dominant reason investors pay a monthly subscription. Foliolytic does something different: free, browser-based risk-adjusted return analytics. Here is the honest comparison.

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Quick Answer

Should you replace Sharesight with Foliolytic?

Replace Sharesight with Foliolytic if you mainly need risk-adjusted return analytics — Sharpe, Sortino, XIRR, drawdowns, alpha, beta, R-squared — and don't want to pay $14–36 a month. Keep Sharesight if your primary need is country-specific capital-gains-tax reports (AU, NZ, UK, US) or long-running multi-year dividend income summaries. Many investors run both: Foliolytic for free analytics, Sharesight for tax-time output.

Free · No signup · 70+ metrics · No holdings cap · Client-side privacy

The 30-Second Comparison

Sharesight has been around since 2007, originally launched in New Zealand and now serving investors globally. It is the most-recommended portfolio tracker on Australian and New Zealand investing forums for a specific reason: its capital gains tax reports save real money at tax time. Sharesight's free tier supports up to 10 holdings; paid tiers (Starter, Investor, Expert) cost roughly $14 to $36 per month per their pricing page (verify at sharesight.com/pricing as of April 2026).

Foliolytic launched in 2026 with a different goal. It does not produce tax reports. It does compute every risk-adjusted return metric a serious retail investor cares about — and it does so for free, with no holdings cap, no signup, and your data never leaves your browser. The tools overlap on basics like total return and dividend-aware performance, but the depth profiles are very different.

"I keep Sharesight for the tax report. I use Foliolytic to actually understand my returns." — common pattern among AU/NZ/UK investors

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

The table below reflects the public state of both tools as of April 2026. Sharesight pricing varies by currency and country; verify against their pricing page before subscribing.

Feature Foliolytic Sharesight
Price (full feature set)$0 — unlimited holdings$14–36/mo paid tiers (Apr 2026)
Free tier holdings capUnlimited10 holdings on free plan
Signup / account requiredNoYes (free or paid)
Data privacy modelClient-side — CSV stays in browserServer-side — data stored on Sharesight servers
Sharpe / Sortino / TreynorYes — all threeNot provided
XIRR (cash-flow weighted return)Yes — automaticYes (paid tiers)
Max drawdown / Calmar / UlcerYesNot provided
Alpha / Beta / R-squaredYesNot provided
Dividend tracking (P&L impact)Yes (in performance)Yes — primary feature
Capital gains tax report (AU/NZ/UK/US)Not providedYes — primary feature
Tax-loss-harvesting suggestionsNot providedManual review only
Annual dividend income summaryRoadmapYes
Brokerage CSV auto-detect30+ brokers — autoMany brokers — direct sync available on paid tiers
Direct broker API syncNot provided (CSV only)Yes — paid tiers
Crypto support (440+ coins)YesLimited (manual entry)
Multi-currency (auto-FX)Yes — historical FXYes — primary strength
Hedge-fund-grade metrics (PSR, DSR, Hurst)15+Not provided
Mobile appWeb only (responsive)iOS & Android
Ad-freeYesYes

Where Foliolytic Wins

Foliolytic is built for one thing Sharesight doesn't really do: deep risk-adjusted return analytics for retail investors who want to understand how good their portfolio actually is, not just what it earned in dollars.

Where Sharesight Wins

Sharesight has earned its subscription price for a reason. If any of the following matters more than risk-adjusted analytics, Sharesight is the right tool — and Foliolytic doesn't try to compete in this lane.

Pricing

Foliolytic

$0 / month, $0 / year. No paid tier exists. Every metric, every brokerage format, every chart is free. No holdings cap, no time limit. Funded entirely by a self-imposed budget — Foliolytic has no VC investors and no revenue obligation.

Sharesight

Sharesight runs a four-tier subscription per their pricing page (verify the current rate at sharesight.com/pricing):

  • Free — up to 10 holdings, basic features only
  • Starter — approximately $14/month, expanded holdings & basic tax reports
  • Investor — approximately $24/month, full CGT reports + multi-portfolio
  • Expert — approximately $36/month, advanced reports + larger account size

Pricing varies by currency (AUD, NZD, GBP, USD) and is billed monthly or annually. The Investor tier is the most common paid plan.

How to Move from Sharesight to Foliolytic

If you are using Sharesight only for the analytics features (not for tax reports), the migration takes minutes.

Option A — Re-upload your original brokerage CSV

The cleanest path: export the same brokerage transaction CSV you originally fed into Sharesight, and drop it onto the Foliolytic homepage. Foliolytic's format detector recognizes 30+ brokers (Schwab, Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Robinhood, Vanguard, Tiger, Westpac, CommSec, ASB Securities, IG, and many more) and reconciles tickers, dividends, and splits automatically.

Option B — Export holdings from Sharesight

From your Sharesight dashboard, navigate to your portfolio and use the "Export" function to download the holdings or trade history as CSV. Foliolytic accepts the standard Sharesight CSV layout. Note: re-uploading the original broker CSV (Option A) is usually cleaner because Sharesight occasionally normalizes ticker symbols in ways that Foliolytic's resolver handles differently.

Step 3 — Compare the metrics

The annualized return Foliolytic shows should match (within rounding) what Sharesight calls "Money-Weighted Return." On top of that, you immediately see the Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, drawdown profile, alpha vs S&P 500, and 65+ other metrics Sharesight does not compute.

Who Should Use Foliolytic

Foliolytic is the right tool for you if any of these describe your situation:

Who Should NOT Use Foliolytic

Foliolytic is the wrong tool for you if any of these are core to your need:

Many investors run both: Sharesight for tax-time output and dividend income, Foliolytic for free risk-adjusted analytics during the year.

Other Alternatives to Compare

Try It in 30 Seconds

Drop a brokerage CSV and see Sharpe, Sortino, drawdowns, and 70+ metrics — for free, with no signup, in your browser.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Sharesight cost?

Sharesight runs a tiered subscription. Per their pricing page at sharesight.com/pricing as of April 2026, the Free plan supports up to 10 holdings; paid tiers (Starter, Investor, Expert) range from approximately $14 to $36 per month depending on currency and features. Always confirm the current rate before subscribing.

Is there a free alternative to Sharesight?

Foliolytic is a free, browser-based portfolio analytics tool that ingests brokerage CSVs and computes 70+ risk-adjusted return metrics. There is no holdings cap, no signup, and no paid tier. Foliolytic is best at quantitative analytics; Sharesight is best at long-running dividend tracking and tax-event reports.

Does Foliolytic track dividends like Sharesight?

Foliolytic adjusts portfolio returns for dividends and stock splits automatically using its historical price database for over 1,400 tickers. It does not currently produce a Sharesight-style annual dividend tax report or per-currency dividend income summary. If you need country-specific dividend tax reporting (Australia, New Zealand, UK), Sharesight is the better tool.

Can Foliolytic produce capital gains tax reports?

Foliolytic does not produce country-specific capital gains tax reports. Sharesight specializes in this — its CGT reports for AU, NZ, UK, and the US are a major reason investors pay for the subscription. If your primary need is a tax-event report at year end, stay with Sharesight or use a dedicated tax tool. Foliolytic is built for risk-adjusted return analytics, not tax compliance.

Does Sharesight calculate Sharpe ratio?

Sharesight focuses on dividend tracking, capital gains tax reports, and a small set of basic performance metrics (annualized return, contribution analysis, currency-adjusted returns). It does not natively compute the Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, max drawdown, alpha, beta, or other risk-adjusted return metrics. Foliolytic is built specifically for that workflow.

Can I import my Sharesight CSV into Foliolytic?

Yes. Sharesight allows CSV export of holdings and trades, and Foliolytic's format detector recognizes the standard Sharesight transaction-history CSV layout. The same brokerage CSV that fed Sharesight will work in Foliolytic — and Foliolytic's broker auto-detect handles the original broker formats too, so you can skip Sharesight as the middle layer.

Is Foliolytic safe?

Foliolytic processes your portfolio CSV entirely client-side in the browser. Your transaction data, account numbers, and balances are never sent to any Foliolytic server or third party. There is nothing to breach because nothing is stored. Sharesight stores your portfolio data on their servers — both models are common, but if client-side privacy matters, Foliolytic is structurally different.

Does Foliolytic support direct broker API sync like Sharesight?

No. Foliolytic is CSV-only by design — that is the privacy trade-off. Direct broker API sync requires storing your broker credentials or OAuth tokens on a server, which Foliolytic does not do. If automatic broker sync is essential to your workflow, Sharesight remains the better choice. Foliolytic's compromise is that you re-upload a CSV when you want refreshed analytics.