The free tier is real, and it is where to start
Deriv Bot, Binary Bot and cTrader Automate cost nothing. They are built into Deriv's own platforms and need no subscription, no licence and no purchase. MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 are also free to download and use.
This matters because it sets the bar. Anything you are asked to pay for has to do something these cannot, and a seller who cannot name that thing is selling you a free product with a price attached.
Pipsky is also free to use. There is no subscription and no plan tier — you connect your own Deriv account and pay only the broker's ordinary spread, which you would pay trading by hand. We say this plainly because in this market the reasonable assumption is that there is a catch.
What paid bots typically cost
Prices in the retail market vary enormously and are usually quoted in dollars even when sold locally. Ready-made Expert Advisors are sold either as a one-off licence or as a monthly subscription, and the range is wide enough that price tells you very little about quality.
The pattern worth knowing: the most expensive bots in this market are frequently the least tested. Price in retail trading software correlates with marketing spend rather than with performance, and the ones sold hardest are the ones with the most to hide.
- Platform bots (DBot, Binary Bot, cTrader Automate) — free.
- Shared .xml strategy files circulating in trading groups — usually free, and usually martingale schemes. Free is the correct price and still too high.
- Ready-made Expert Advisors — from free to a recurring monthly fee. Verify before paying anything.
- Copy trading — typically a share of profits or a spread markup rather than an upfront fee.
- Custom development — priced per project, based on how complex the strategy is.
The running costs nobody quotes
The purchase price is rarely the whole cost, and the omitted parts are the ones that decide whether a bot is worth running at all.
- A VPS, if the bot runs inside MT4 or MT5. The terminal has to stay on for the EA to work, and leaving a home computer running is not reliable enough. This is a recurring monthly cost.
- The spread on every trade. This is the largest cost by far and it scales with how often the bot trades. A bot placing fifty trades a day pays the spread fifty times a day whether it wins or loses.
- Commission on some contract types, charged on top of the spread.
- Overnight holding fees on leveraged positions held past the daily rollover.
Why the spread is the cost that matters
A trader comparing a free bot against one costing a monthly fee is usually comparing the wrong numbers. If the free bot trades three times as often, its spread cost will exceed the subscription difference within the first month.
This is the reason we do not sell a subscription, and it is worth being direct about how Pipsky is funded instead: Deriv pays a markup to the developer of an app on trades placed through it, calculated as a percentage of the stake. That is where our revenue comes from, it is disclosed here rather than buried, and it does not depend on whether you win or lose. You should know that when reading anything we write.
What custom development is priced on
A custom bot is quoted per project, and the price is driven by how much has to be built rather than by how good the strategy is. The main factors are how many rules there are, whether the strategy needs data beyond price, which platform it targets, and how much testing is expected before it goes live.
A quote that does not include testing is not a complete quote. Backtesting on real historical data with costs applied, and validating on a period the strategy was not tuned on, is most of the work in building something you can actually trust.
We build these for Deriv, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Tell us the rules you already trade by hand and we will quote on those specifics rather than a price list.
How to tell an overpriced bot
- It advertises a win rate or a fixed monthly return. Both are claims no honest seller makes.
- It cannot show results on data it was not built on.
- The backtest has no spread or commission charged.
- There is no demo trial, or the trial is a few days rather than weeks.
- It cannot name anything it does that the free platform bots cannot.
- It uses martingale — doubling the stake after losses — and describes this as recovery.
Common questions
How much does a trading bot cost in Kenya?
Deriv Bot, Binary Bot, cTrader Automate, MT4 and MT5 are all free. Third-party Expert Advisors range from free to a recurring monthly fee. Custom development is quoted per project. Pipsky is free to use — you pay only the broker's normal spread.
Are free trading bots any good?
The free platform bots from Deriv are genuinely good and are the right place to start. Free .xml strategy files shared in trading groups are a different matter — most are martingale schemes, which hide losses rather than avoid them.
Is Pipsky free?
Yes. There is no subscription and no plan tier. We are paid by Deriv through an app markup on trades placed through our software, which is disclosed on this page rather than hidden, and does not depend on whether you win or lose.
Do I need to pay for a VPS?
Only if the bot runs inside MetaTrader, which needs the terminal open continuously. Bots running on a provider's own servers, including Pipsky, do not need one — that cost is already covered.
How much does a custom trading bot cost?
It is quoted per project, based on how many rules the strategy has, which platform it targets, and how much testing is expected. Ask for a quote that includes backtesting with costs applied and validation on data the strategy was not tuned on — without those, you are paying for code rather than for something you can trust.
Trading carries risk and you can lose money. Nothing on this page is financial advice. Past performance does not indicate future results.