InsiderBeacon vs OpenInsider
OpenInsider is a free screener of Form 4 filings you check yourself. InsiderBeacon is an alert service that also reads the Form 144 notice before the sale. Here is where each one fits.
The InsiderBeacon team · October 26, 2026
A disclosure first. We make InsiderBeacon, one of the tools below. We have tried to describe every tool fairly, including where the others do more than we do, and to show each price as its maker lists it. Prices are as the vendors listed them in October 2026; check their pages before you buy.
In short
OpenInsider is where you go to screen; InsiderBeacon is what tells you. One is free with ads and has no alerts; the other alerts within about a minute and reads the planned-sale notice that OpenInsider's Form 4 tables don't show. Many people run both.
Side by side
| InsiderBeacon | OpenInsider | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free during early access (every Pro feature, no card); then a Free plan with filings 24 hours behind, and Pro at $29 a month ($14 for early members) | Free, with ads |
| How you find out | Alerts within about a minute of the SEC accepting a filing; the median time is on the status page | You open the site and look; there are no alerts or watchlists |
| Planned sales (Form 144) | The Form 144 notice the minute it's accepted, typically 34 hours before the sale is reported | Not shown; the tables are Form 4 filings |
| Interpretation | Every buy scored out of 100 by a published formula; cluster buys flagged; plan sales and option exercises labelled | Ready-made screens (cluster buys, CEO and CFO buys, penny stocks); no score or ranking |
| Alert channels | Phone push, Telegram, Discord, email and webhooks; a minimum size, a daily cap and quiet hours | None |
| Congress | Every trade with how late it was filed, moves since it was reported, and a copy-the-member replay against the S&P | Not covered |
| API | API keys, webhooks and a Discord bot on every plan; the head-start study and the pulse are open endpoints | None; people export or scrape the tables |
| Ads | No ads on any plan | Ad-supported |
Each tool is described from its own site as of October 26, 2026; the quotes under "what people say" are about this kind of tool in general, not about any one of them. Prices are as the vendors listed them in October 2026; check their pages before you buy. We make InsiderBeacon.
Where OpenInsider does more
OpenInsider has years of Form 4 history in one place, ready-made screens that many people have used for a decade, and it costs nothing. If you like to sit down and screen filings yourself, by owner title, by cluster, by market cap, it is hard to beat for the price, and we keep a link to it on our alternatives page for that reason. InsiderBeacon's history is shorter and its tables are built for following people and stocks rather than for ad-hoc screening.
What people say about this kind of tool, and what we did about it
“By the time you find out, the move has already happened.”
You hear about a sale before it's reported.
The insider's notice, the minute the SEC accepts it, typically 34 hours before the sale is on the record. Buys about a minute after the filing lands. Congress reports minutes after they're posted, with how late each one was.
“There's no API. I had to scrape it.”
An API, webhooks and a Discord bot, free.
Keys, webhooks, embeds and the Discord bot are on the Developers page in the app. The head-start study and the public pulse are open endpoints anyone can read.
“No mobile app, a cluttered site, and ads everywhere.”
One app, on your home screen, no ads.
The same app on a phone and a computer, installable on the home screen with push notifications, and not one ad on any plan.
“I'm sifting through hundreds of meaningless filings to find the ones that matter.”
Open-market buys of $25,000 or more, scored.
Option exercises, gifts and plan sales are labelled or left out; cluster buys are flagged; each buy gets a score out of 100 from what the filing says.
The one claim we measure
The head start is not a slogan. Every Form 144 notice is matched to the Form 4 that reported the sale and the gap between the SEC's two acceptance times is kept, pair by pair, both filings linked. The median, the share that arrived first and every pair are on the study page, live, and the numbers for your own stocks are a paste away on the portfolio check.
Which should you use?
- You want to screen years of filings yourself, for free: OpenInsider.
- You want to be told the minute an insider you follow, or a stock you hold, files: InsiderBeacon.
- You hold the stock and want the planned-sale notice before the sale is reported: InsiderBeacon; OpenInsider doesn't show Form 144s.
Questions
Can I use both?
Yes, and many people do: OpenInsider to screen the past, InsiderBeacon to hear about the next filing. A follow in InsiderBeacon on any insider or ticker you found while screening brings their next buy, sale or planned-sale notice to your phone within about a minute.
Does OpenInsider show Form 144 notices?
Not as of this writing; its tables are built from Form 4 filings, which report a sale after it happens. The Form 144 notice an insider must file before selling restricted or control shares is a separate filing, and it lands on EDGAR first.
Is InsiderBeacon's data the same as OpenInsider's?
Both read the SEC's EDGAR system, so the filings are the same public record. What differs is timing (we read each filing the minute it's accepted), what is filtered (we keep open-market buys of $25,000 or more and label the rest) and whether you are told or have to look.
For information only, from public SEC and congressional filings. Not investment advice. Disclaimer