Optionscanner vs OptionStrat: Strategy Builder or Rules Engine?

By Rohan Fernandes, Founder · Updated 2026-09-06 · Educational reference, not investment advice

*How this page was written: from each product's public materials as read in September 2026, and from what Optionscanner does as deployed. Features and prices change; check each site for current details. This is a description of tools, not advice about which to buy or what to trade.*

What is each product built to do?

OptionStrat is best understood as an options strategy builder and visualizer. You choose a structure, any number of legs, and it draws the payoff at expiry and over time, shows the Greeks, and lets you compare variations. It also carries an options-flow view. The question it answers is "what does this trade look like?"

Optionscanner arrives at a trade by rules: screen a universe, grade a setup, and build the spread the rules select, drawn on a price chart with its probability cone and breakeven. It then keeps working after entry: positions are checked against exit rules you adopt, and a paper-first agent can run the whole process under those rules. The question it answers is "which trade do my rules select, and how is it doing?"

What does OptionStrat do that Optionscanner does not?

• Build and visualize any structure with any number of legs, including exotic combinations; Optionscanner's engine builds defined-risk verticals, condors, calendars, straddles and strangles, and its manual ticket takes up to four legs.
• Payoff diagrams over time with adjustable volatility, a strong learning and planning tool.
• A flow view for unusual options activity.

What does Optionscanner do that OptionStrat does not?

• Screen a universe against criteria you can read and edit, and grade each setup on volatility, liquidity, event risk and direction.
• Judge open positions against exit rules you adopt, with the rule that fired and the number that met it printed on the card.
• Run a paper-first automation agent with an approval queue, a kill switch and a decision log, under the rule that no live order is placed without a click.
• Read quotes, chains and Greeks from your own brokerage feed, and place through your own account after a preview.

Where do they overlap?

Both draw a trade with its breakeven and probability figures and both report Greeks. The difference is where the trade comes from: in one you choose it, in the other the rules select it and you can override.

Which fits which trader?

A trader who already knows what structure they want and wants the clearest picture of it will find OptionStrat's builder closer to that need. A trader who wants a written set of rules to do the selecting, and software to monitor the result, will find Optionscanner closer. Drawing a trade in one and running the process in the other is a common pairing.

The honest caveats

A payoff diagram is a model; the market prices the legs. A rules engine selects from within its rules and will not surface a structure outside them. Neither product is a source of investment advice, and both leave the decision to the trader.