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Which Buffett stock screener actually surfaces the names a value investor wants? Comparison of invest-like.com, Simply Wall St, Stock Unlock, TIKR, GuruFocus, and Finviz on coverage, methodology depth, AI-feature quality, transparency, and price.
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If you've ever Googled "best Buffett stock screener" you've probably hit a wall of affiliate posts that just rank tools by how big their commission is. This is not that post. I built one of the screeners on this list, so I have a structural conflict of interest — but I also know the category in depth, including where the competitors are genuinely better than us. This post is the honest comparison I wish existed when I started researching the space.
I'll cover six tools: invest-like.com (the one I built), Simply Wall St, Stock Unlock, TIKR, GuruFocus, and Finviz. The comparison is on the dimensions that actually matter for a value investor: methodology transparency, framework coverage, AI feature quality, data quality, free-tier usefulness, and price.
Related deep-dive: if you came here looking for AI-tool comparisons rather than screener comparisons, the parallel post is Best AI stock investing tool that analyzes stocks like Warren Buffett (FinChat, AlphaSense, Tegus, Koyfin compared). And if you want the methodology behind invest-like.com's grading before the comparison, Inside invest-like.com's 7-framework stock grading walks through it.
Before the comparison: most tools labelled "Buffett screener" are actually one of three different things:
Pure ratio screeners: filter the universe on numerical thresholds (P/E below 15, ROIC above 15 percent, debt-to-equity below 0.5, etc.). Most "Buffett screener" pages on Finviz, Yahoo Finance, Stock Rover are this category. Useful for first-cut filtering; missing qualitative pillars.
Framework-scored screeners: each stock gets a composite score against a documented investor framework, with letter grades or pillar breakdowns. Simply Wall St, Stock Unlock, and invest-like.com are in this category.
AI-verdict screeners: each stock has a written narrative analysis grounded in the framework, with reasoning, not just a number. invest-like.com's Buffett Brain is the clearest example; ChatGPT prompts with stock data are an ad-hoc version.
Most retail investors actually want category 3 (a verdict with reasoning) but the marketing for category 1 dominates Google. Knowing which category a tool is in is half the comparison.
Category: framework-scored (7 frameworks) + AI-verdict (Buffett Brain).
Strengths: explicit 7-framework consensus (Buffett, Graham, Fisher, Lynch, Greenblatt, Munger, Smith) on every stock, daily refresh, multi-language UI (EN/DE/FR/ES/PT), published verdict-accuracy backtest at /track-record/, Halal Mode (AAOIFI Standard 21), AI Buffett Brain that writes plain-English verdicts grounded in the same framework, public methodology at /methodology/buffett-fit/, free tier with 3 AI verdicts per week + all sector/industry/ranking pages.
Weaknesses: smaller universe than GuruFocus (12,000+ tickers vs 20,000+), no DCF calculator in v1, no portfolio backtester for arbitrary tickers (planned). Disclosure: I built it.
Pricing: Free, Pro 15 EUR/month or 144 EUR/year, Founder's Plan 299 EUR lifetime.
Category: framework-scored (their "Snowflake" graphic).
Strengths: very strong visual UI (the Snowflake quality+value+growth+health+past chart is genuinely well-designed), excellent mobile app, good coverage of small-caps, free tier is reasonable.
Weaknesses: methodology is proprietary and not fully published; the Snowflake metrics are aggregated from financial ratios with weights they don't disclose. No multi-framework consensus (only their proprietary score). No explicit Buffett framework (closest is the "quality" dimension of the Snowflake). Pricing is high relative to the feature set ($96/year minimum).
Verdict: best UI in the category. If the visual presentation is what you want and you don't need methodology transparency, Simply Wall St is hard to beat. If you want to understand WHY a stock is being scored a certain way, the lack of published methodology is a structural limit.
Category: framework-scored + custom screen builder.
Strengths: very deep data export (every metric available as CSV), strong forecasting tools, good community of value-investing-oriented users. Methodology more transparent than Simply Wall St. Free tier supports the basic Buffett-style ROIC/owner-earnings analysis.
Weaknesses: no AI narrative layer — you get the numbers and have to write your own conclusions. No multi-framework consensus. UI is data-dense but less polished than Simply Wall St.
Verdict: best for power users who want raw data and to build their own screens. Not the best for someone wanting a "tell me what this stock is" verdict.
Category: pure ratio screener + financial data terminal.
Strengths: institutional-grade financial data at retail prices (the killer feature). 5+ years of detailed financials per stock at $14.95/month, which is genuinely competitive with Bloomberg Terminal data quality. Strong global coverage.
Weaknesses: not a "Buffett screener" in any meaningful sense. It's a data terminal. You bring the framework; TIKR provides the data. No AI verdict, no multi-framework score, no narrative analysis.
Verdict: best for serious analysts who already have their own framework and want the cheapest source of high-quality financial data. Not a substitute for a framework-aware screener.
Category: framework-scored + guru-portfolio-tracking.
Strengths: largest universe (20,000+ stocks globally), tracks 13F filings of famous value investors (Buffett, Klarman, Greenblatt, Pabrai, Watsa) so you can see what they actually own. Strong DCF calculator. Long history (founded 2004).
Weaknesses: UI feels dated relative to modern competitors. Methodology for their "Predictability Rank" and "GF Score" is partially published but not fully transparent. Pricing tiers are confusing and expensive at the top end ($499/year for premium).
Verdict: best for guru-portfolio tracking and global coverage. Worth subscribing to if you specifically want to track 13F flow.
Category: pure ratio screener.
Strengths: completely free, fastest filter UI, generous coverage of US-listed stocks, integrates well with TradingView for chart-screen workflow.
Weaknesses: zero framework awareness. You build your own screen with raw ratio filters (P/E < 15, ROIC > 15%, market cap > $1B). No AI, no narrative, no multi-framework consensus, no Buffett pillar breakdown.
Verdict: best free option for first-cut filtering when you already know which ratios you want to combine. Not a Buffett screener in any meaningful sense — but if you want a free starting point and you're willing to apply your own framework manually, Finviz is competent and fast.
Honest decision tree:
Most serious value investors I know subscribe to two: a framework-aware tool (Simply Wall St, Stock Unlock, or invest-like) plus a data terminal (TIKR or GuruFocus). The framework tool surfaces candidates; the data terminal lets you verify the underlying numbers and build your own DCF.
Is there a free Buffett stock screener that actually works? Finviz is free and competent, but you have to apply Buffett's framework manually using ratio filters. invest-like.com's free tier includes 3 Buffett Brain AI verdicts per week, plus all the sector/industry pages and the live consensus screen, which is the closest thing to a free Buffett-aware tool in the category.
Which screener does Warren Buffett actually use? He doesn't, at least not in any public form. Buffett's published method is to read 10-K filings, study balance sheets, and call management. The Berkshire investment team uses proprietary internal data sources. No retail screener is Buffett's actual workflow.
Are AI stock screeners reliable? Depends on the framework. An AI verdict grounded in Buffett's documented criteria with public methodology is reliable to the same degree the underlying framework is. An AI screener that "trusts the algorithm" without published methodology is harder to validate. The transparency question is the right one to ask before subscribing to any AI screener.
Is GuruFocus worth $499/year? Only if you specifically want the 13F-portfolio tracking and global coverage. For pure Buffett screening, cheaper tools cover the same ground.
Is Simply Wall St's $96/year worth it? If the visual UI saves you research time, yes. If you need to understand WHY a stock is rated the way it is, the proprietary methodology is a real limitation.
A few structural shifts:
1. AI verdicts have become tablestakes. In 2020, no major screener had AI-generated stock analysis. By 2026, Simply Wall St, invest-like, and Stock Unlock all have some form of AI narrative; ChatGPT does it ad hoc; the differentiator is now methodology depth rather than "does the AI feature exist."
2. Methodology transparency has become a market segment. Investors increasingly distinguish between published-methodology screeners (invest-like, Stock Unlock partial) and proprietary-score screeners (Simply Wall St, GuruFocus partial). The transparent ones get more institutional credibility.
3. Multi-framework consensus is a 2024+ innovation. The idea of running 7 documented value-investing frameworks in parallel and surfacing the intersection (the "consensus" approach) is genuinely new. Single-framework screens have been around for 50 years; combining them is new because the computational cost of running all 7 in real-time on 12,000+ stocks only became reasonable recently.
For full disclosure: invest-like.com is what I built when I couldn't find a screener that combined published methodology + multi-framework consensus + AI verdicts + Halal screening at a reasonable price. The free tier is generous enough that you can evaluate the methodology without paying. The Pro plan at 15 EUR/month is below the cheapest comparable tier from Simply Wall St ($8/month annual prepay) but covers more features.
You can compare invest-like to specific competitors at:
Educational only. Not investment advice.