# testfolio

Backtest an allocation on daily data to 1885, using simulated pre-inception fund series.

*https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/testfolio · Retirement & FIRE Calculators*

## Facts

### At a glance

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Vendor | testfolio |
| Category | Retirement & FIRE Calculators |
| Job | allocation |
| Website | https://testfol.io |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Free tier | true |
| Open source | false |
| Licence | none |
| Self-hosted | false |
| Tested hands-on | false |
| Last updated | 2026-09-14 |

### Pricing

| Tier | USD | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | 0 USD | month |
| Pro | 15 USD | month |
| Pro+ | 30 USD | month |
| Max | 100 USD | month |

### Coverage

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Asset classes | stocks, etf, mutual_funds, bonds, indices, commodities, real_estate, crypto |
| Markets | us, ca, uk, eu, au, asia |
| Works outside the US | true |
| Data latency | eod |
| Platforms | web |
| AI features | none |

### Interfaces

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| API | false |
| Webhooks | false |
| Scripting | none |
| Python | false |
| Spreadsheet add-in | false |
| MCP server | true |
| Export | csv, pdf |

### Capabilities

Yes: backtesting, alerts

No: charting, screening, scanning, automation, live_trading, paper_trading, portfolio_tracking, broker_import, tax_reporting, news, options_analysis

*Verified: pricing 2026-09-14; capabilities 2026-09-14; coverage 2026-09-14.*

## What it is

testfolio — the site is testfol.io, a domain hack for the same word — takes tickers, weights, a
rebalancing rule and a cashflow schedule and returns CAGR, drawdowns, rolling returns and
withdrawal statistics. Two choices separate it from the rest of this category.

The first is daily data. [Portfolio Visualizer](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-visualizer) computes from
month-end balances and [Portfolio Charts](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-charts) from annual ones; testfolio
runs daily, which is why it can model a leveraged fund's daily reset at all.

The second is the preset series: of 121 with a dated coverage range, 105 stitch real fund returns
onto a modelled segment covering the years before the fund existed — which is what lets a
Nasdaq-100 backtest start in 1986 and a US market backtest in 1885. The rest are cash, rate,
inflation and index series, beside 39 undated research factor datasets.

Around that sits Monte Carlo, a safe-withdrawal calculator, an optimiser and efficient frontier,
factor regression against Fama-French and AQR factors, PCA, tactical allocation with signals and a
set of leveraged-ETF tools. It is run by testfolio LLC, whose terms put governing law and venue in
Illinois; no individual is named anywhere on the site.

## Pricing

Four tiers, and the free one is the story. It gives **full available history** — no ten-year
truncation — along with the backtester, asset analyzer, tactical allocation, factor regression
and PCA. It allows 5 portfolios of 20 tickers, caps Monte Carlo at 15 years and 500 runs, factor
regression at 6 factors and PCA at 3 tickers, and grants zero saved runs, zero uploads and no
downloads. All of that needs an account: signed out, factor regression and PCA are unavailable.

Pro is 15 dollars a month, Pro+ 30 and Max 100. The pricing page opens on the annual toggle, where
those read 12.50, 25 and 80 — two months free. Pro buys downloads, uploads, saved runs and a
70-year Monte Carlo; Pro+ raises every numeric limit to its ceiling; Max adds PDF reports, the
Tactical Strategy Optimizer and MCP access. The trial is 24 hours. The site labels current Pro and
Pro+ rates "early member" pricing and says they will rise for new members.

## Data & coverage

US series to 1885, built from Schwert's historical stock data, S&P 500 index data and Shiller
dividends and CPI, with Ken French's library, AQR, MSCI, LBMA gold and FirstRate Data behind
others. Beyond US listings, thirteen exchange suffixes cover Canada, the UK, Germany, France, the
Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Australia and Japan, with results convertible into seven
reporting currencies — USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD and CHF — and inflation-adjusted against each
one's own CPI.

**The preset series are the thing to understand before trusting an output.** Each carries a stated
source and a stated assumption: REITSIM is the Fama-French real estate portfolio less 0.13% a year,
then STMDX and DFREX, before VNQ; BNDSIM is a VBMFX backfill less 0.12%; TLTSIM is a synthetic
bond series built from 20- and 30-year Treasury yields. The leveraged proxies are modelled outright — UPROSIM is 3x daily
SPYSIM with an assumed financing rate, 1.115x swap exposure, a 0.42% spread and a 0.95% expense
ratio. The vendor says so itself, and the size of the difference is easy to see: requested on 14
September 2026, TQQQ over its real life from February 2010 returned 42.3% CAGR, while TQQQSIM back
to 1986 returned 13.3% and a maximum drawdown of −99.98%, peaking in March 2000 and never
recovering. That near-total loss is a property of the model, not an observed outcome.

## Integrations

Thin by design. Allocations import from CSV, results and charts download as CSV on Pro and above,
and Max produces PDF reports. There is no public API — the app calls its own undocumented JSON
endpoints, which carry no support or versioning commitment, so anything built on them can break
without notice. The one supported machine interface is the MCP server sold with Max, connecting to
Codex and Claude Code today with ChatGPT and Claude listed as coming; the vendor is explicit that
testfolio runs the analysis and the assistant only reads the results back.

## Limitations

- **Pre-inception history is modelled, not observed.** Every SIM ticker mixes two different kinds
  of claim in one line on the chart, and nothing in the result marks where the join is.
- **The leveraged proxies are the sharpest version of that.** Financing spread and swap exposure
  are assumptions, and over a 40-year modelled window they decide the answer.
- **No screener, no tracker, no live prices.** It has no idea what you actually hold, and daily
  bars land a few days back — a 14 September run ended 11 September.
- **The free tier withholds persistence, not analysis.** Nothing saves, uploads or downloads, so
  every session starts from scratch or from a shared URL.
- **Anonymity cuts both ways.** testfolio LLC publishes no named principal, no methodology paper
  and no data licence terms; the series definitions are one-line summaries, not a reproducible
  specification, and there is nobody to escalate to.
- **Not a registered adviser**, by its own terms, and everything it prints is in-sample.

## Alternatives

[Portfolio Visualizer](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-visualizer) keeps Black-Litterman and rolling optimisation,
which testfolio does not offer, but charges 360 dollars a year and truncates free ticker backtests
to ten years — see [what to use instead](https://stockmarketstack.com/alternatives/portfolio-visualizer).
[Portfolio Charts](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-charts) is free and annual, models asset classes rather than
tickers, and covers twelve home currencies. For the withdrawal question specifically,
[FI Calc](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/ficalc) and [cFIREsim](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/cfiresim) go deeper. If the point is a strategy's
entry and exit rules rather than a static mix,
[backtesting frameworks](https://stockmarketstack.com/categories/backtesting-frameworks) is the right shelf.

## FAQ

### Is testfolio free?

There is a free tier and it is unusually complete — full available history rather than a truncated window, plus the backtester, asset analyzer, tactical allocation, factor regression and PCA. What it withholds is saving, uploading and downloading, and it caps Monte Carlo at 15 years. Paid plans run from 15 dollars a month.

### How far back does testfolio go?

1885 for the US market series. A run of SPYSIM requested on 14 September 2026 returned daily values from 20 March 1885 to 11 September 2026 — 35,435 points. Most other series start later; the catalogue of 121 preset tickers lists a coverage range for each one.

### What is a SIM ticker and can I trust the result?

A SIM ticker splices a modelled pre-inception segment onto the real fund's returns. SPYSIM is Schwert's US stock data, then S&P 500 index data with Shiller dividends, then actual SPY. The vendor states plainly that the earlier portion is simulated rather than actual fund returns, and for the leveraged proxies the modelled part carries assumed financing, swap and spread costs that dominate the answer.

### Does testfolio have an API?

No published one. The web app talks to its own JSON endpoints and there is no documentation, versioning or support commitment behind them. What is sold instead is an MCP server on the Max plan, which currently connects to Codex and Claude Code.

## Also worth comparing

- [Portfolio Charts](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-charts.md) — Any asset allocation, charted since 1970 in twelve countries' currencies and inflation.
- [Portfolio Visualizer](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolio-visualizer.md) — Backtest an asset mix to 1972, run Monte Carlo, regress it on Fama-French factors.
- [PortfoliosLab](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/portfolioslab.md) — Backtest an allocation on real fund prices and optimise it seven ways.
- [Backtest by Curvo](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/curvo.md) — Backtest a portfolio of European UCITS funds on index data reaching back to 1970.
- [Boldin](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/boldin.md) — A year-by-year US retirement model — accounts, taxes, Social Security, Medicare, housing.
- [FIREproof](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/fireproof.md) — The cFIREsim author's second simulator, with the taxes and accounts the first one lacks.

## Named as a replacement for

- [Portfolio Visualizer](https://stockmarketstack.com/alternatives/portfolio-visualizer.md)