Best Free Paper Trading Apps in India, Compared
Part of Paper Trading in India: The Complete Guide
If you've searched for a paper trading app in India, you've probably landed on some mix of Moneybhai, TradingView, Sensibull Virtual Trade and Neostox. All of them let you practice without real money, but they're built for different jobs. Picking the wrong one wastes weeks of practice on habits that won't transfer to how Indian markets actually work. This is a straight, factual comparison so you can pick based on what you actually want to learn.
Moneybhai (Moneycontrol's virtual trading game)
Moneybhai has been around for years and is genuinely fun. It's built as a contest-style game where you compete with other users on a virtual portfolio, which makes it a good way to stay engaged if gamified competition motivates you more than solo practice.
Where it falls short is realism. Moneybhai isn't built for serious F&O practice, and it doesn't model Indian trading costs like brokerage, STT, stamp duty and GST to the rupee. If your goal is to understand what a trade actually costs you before you risk real money, Moneybhai isn't the tool for that part of the job.
TradingView paper trading
TradingView's built-in paper trading feature is excellent for one specific thing: testing a charting or technical-analysis based strategy. If you already live in TradingView for candles, indicators and drawing tools, running your strategy through its paper trading mode is a natural fit and the execution feels smooth.
The catch is that TradingView is a global platform first. Its paper trading isn't built around Indian market costs or structure, so brokerage, STT, exchange charges and GST aren't part of the simulation. It's a strategy-testing tool, not an India-cost-accurate trading simulator.
Sensibull Virtual Trade
Sensibull is one of the more well-known options-focused platforms in India, and its Virtual Trade feature is genuinely strong for what it targets, building and testing options strategies. If you specifically want to practice spreads, straddles or other multi-leg options positions with a proper strategy-building interface, this is a solid, purpose-built choice.
It's narrower by design though. It's focused on options strategy construction rather than being a full simulator for intraday cash-market trading, delivery investing and F&O side by side. If your practice needs extend beyond options, you'll likely need a second tool alongside it.
Neostox
Neostox positions itself as a broker-agnostic trading simulator, meaning it isn't tied to any single broker's ecosystem and focuses purely on giving you a neutral space to practice order placement and trading mechanics. That neutrality is useful if you want a clean, no-frills simulator experience.
Because it's built as a general simulator, the depth of India-specific cost modelling and the breadth of gamified, sustained practice features vary compared to more specialised tools. It's worth trying if you want a straightforward, broker-neutral practice environment.
Where Tenth Trader fits
Tenth Trader is free and starts in one click, no signup form, no card, no KYC. As a guest, you get ₹1,00,000 in virtual capital instantly. It runs on live NSE prices across close to 2,700 stocks, indices and derivatives, so what you see while practising is the same market, not a delayed or narrow feed.
The part most simulators skip is cost realism. Tenth Trader models brokerage, STT, stamp duty, exchange transaction charges, SEBI charges and 18% GST down to the rupee on every trade, so your practice P&L reflects what you'd actually keep in a real account, not an inflated, zero-cost number.
It also covers intraday (MIS), delivery (CNC) and full F&O in the same account, including a live option chain with strikes, expiries, Open Interest, IV and Greeks like Delta, Gamma, Theta and Vega, PCR, Max Pain, simulated margins and intraday auto square-off. You get pro charting with EMA, Bollinger Bands, VWAP, RSI, MACD and drawing tools, plus a screener and fundamentals for research, all in one place instead of switching between apps.
On top of that, Tenth Trader adds weekly contests, a global leaderboard, XP levels, streaks and over 20 achievements and badges, which matters more than it sounds like it should. Most people quit paper trading within a week because there's no reason to come back daily. Gamification is what keeps practice consistent long enough for it to actually teach you something. There's also a Replay Trainer that lets you replay a real past market session bar by bar at up to 10x speed, with practice P&L tracked separately from your main account, so you can rehearse specific setups without waiting for the market to repeat them.
Quick comparison
- Moneybhai: best for a fun, contest-driven virtual trading game
- TradingView paper trading: best for testing chart and indicator based strategies
- Sensibull Virtual Trade: best for building and practising options strategies specifically
- Neostox: best for a neutral, broker-agnostic practice simulator
- Tenth Trader: best for realistic, full-cost intraday, F&O and delivery practice with live NSE prices, in one free app with gamification to keep you consistent
So which one should you use?
If you want a casual, competitive game to dip into now and then, Moneybhai is fine for that. If you already trade off TradingView charts and just want to test a strategy's logic, use its paper trading mode. If options strategy building is your one focus, Sensibull Virtual Trade is built specifically for it. If you want a clean, broker-neutral simulator with no extra layers, Neostox works.
If you want one free place to practice intraday, F&O and delivery trading with live NSE prices and charges that match what you'd actually pay in a real account, plus something that keeps you coming back daily instead of quitting after a week, Tenth Trader is built for exactly that. Everything on it is 100% virtual money, no real trades, no real money and no rewards of monetary value, and none of it is investment advice, it's a place to build the habit before you risk anything real.