PortLens compared with five other portfolio tools
Competitor details checked September 14, 2026
PortLens is built around one thing: it opens your funds up and shows which companies its sources identify across them. That is a narrow job, and for most of the tools below it is one feature among many — or, in two cases, not something they do at all. These pages set out what each tool measures, which parts of each one are free, and where the other tool does more than PortLens does.
Every fact about another product on these pages was read from that product's own live pages on September 14, 2026. Prices and tier contents move; where a figure matters to a decision, check it at the source rather than here. Nothing on these pages is a recommendation, and no other product's computed figures are reproduced.
The comparisons
- Is there a free alternative to Morningstar X-Ray?
A portfolio look-through inside a paid subscription, compared with a free scan that needs no account.
- Is there a free alternative to ETF Research Center’s Fund Overlap?
Fund Overlap and Portfolio Builder, compared with a portfolio look-through scan.
- Is there a free alternative to Portfolio Visualizer?
Return-series analysis — backtests, factor regressions, simulations — compared with holdings analysis.
- Is there a free alternative to Sharesight?
Performance, dividend and tax tracking with ETF holdings reports, compared with a portfolio scan.
- Is there a free alternative to Empower Personal Dashboard?
An account-aggregating net worth and planning dashboard, compared with a single-purpose look-through tool.
What PortLens does not do
Stating this up front saves reading five pages to find it. PortLens has no broker connection and no CSV import — holdings are typed in. It places no orders, holds no money and manages nothing. It is not a registered investment adviser, collects nothing about your circumstances, and so nothing it outputs is a recommendation. It publishes no tax content of any kind. It holds no real-time data. Its look-through opens up the shares a fund holds and names its bonds and cash by type, with no bond analysis such as yield or duration, and it is strongest for US-listed funds. A fund whose SEC N-PORT filing cannot be resolved contributes no underlying companies. A scan shows how much of your money it could open up into companies; a fund counts as opened even when its published list is partial. A fund a price provider labels an ordinary share is never opened up at all. The fund-cost figure names any fund with no published fee rather than counting it as free. The portfolio score states how much of the holdings it used. All investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.
Where to start instead of reading a comparison
If you already know what you want to measure, the tools answer faster than the prose does. A free portfolio scan looks through up to 20 typed holdings without an account; a longer list takes a free account. The ETF overlap checker answers the two-fund version without an account. How every figure is computed, and what each one leaves out, is on the methodology page.
This article is for information and education only and is not investment advice. Analytics referenced are computed as described in our methodology; see our disclosures.