Comparison
PaperWealth vs Sharesight
A factual comparison of two different types of platforms. This is general information only.
Important: This is general information and education only and doesn't take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It's not financial advice. Consider getting advice from a licensed financial adviser before acting.
Last updated: January 2026
Quick summary
Choose PaperWealth if...
- ✓You want to practice before investing real money
- ✓You want to backtest ETF portfolio strategies
- ✓You're learning and don't have investments yet
- ✓You want the lowest possible cost to start
Choose Sharesight if...
- ✓You already have a real investment portfolio
- ✓You need detailed performance analytics
- ✓You want a consolidated view of real holdings
Feature comparison
| Feature | PaperWealth | Sharesight |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Practice investing with simulated money | Track real investment portfolios |
| Real money required | No - $100k play money provided | No (tracking only) - but you need investments to track |
| Practice investing | Yes - full simulation | No |
| ETF backtesting | Yes - up to 5 years | No |
| Real portfolio tracking | No - simulated only | Yes - tracks holdings |
| Free tier | Yes - basic features | Yes - up to 10 holdings |
| Paid pricing | $9/month | $19-31/month |
What is Sharesight?
Sharesight is a portfolio tracking platform that helps investors monitor their real investments across multiple accounts. It aggregates portfolio data to calculate performance and allocation over time.
The platform is particularly popular in Australia for its reporting and portfolio insights for long-term investors.
Sharesight doesn't execute trades. It focuses on reporting and giving you a unified view of your portfolio.
What is PaperWealth?
PaperWealth is a practice investing and backtesting platform for learning to invest. You practice with $100,000 in simulated money using real ASX prices, allowing you to experience trading without financial risk.
The backtesting feature shows how different ETF portfolios would have performed historically. Test VAS, A200, VDHG allocations over 1-5 years to understand market behavior before committing real money.
PaperWealth is educational—it doesn't track real investments, execute real trades, or manage real portfolios. It's designed for the learning phase, not ongoing portfolio management.
Key differences
Stage of investing journey
PaperWealth is for before you invest—learning mechanics, testing strategies, building confidence. Sharesight is for after—tracking real holdings, monitoring performance, and reviewing portfolio progress.
Real vs simulated
Sharesight requires real investments to track. PaperWealth provides simulated funds so you can start immediately without any capital.
Portfolio analytics
Sharesight emphasizes performance reporting and portfolio analytics. PaperWealth focuses on practice and learning rather than ongoing portfolio reporting.
Backtesting
PaperWealth lets you test "what if" scenarios with historical data. Sharesight tracks what actually happened with your real money—useful, but different.
Using both together
PaperWealth and Sharesight are complementary, not competing. A natural progression:
Learn with PaperWealth
Use practice investing to understand how markets work. Backtest different ETF portfolios to find your preferred strategy.
Start investing
When you're confident, open a real brokerage account and begin investing based on the strategies you tested.
Track with Sharesight
Use Sharesight to monitor your real portfolio and performance over time.
Continue testing on PaperWealth
Use PaperWealth to explore strategies in a simulation before implementing them with real money. Backtesting can help you understand how a strategy behaved historically.
Pricing comparison
PaperWealth
Free tier: Basic practice investing
Pro: $9/month
Full backtesting, 10-year history
Sharesight
Free: Up to 10 holdings
Investor: $19/month (up to 40 holdings)
Expert: $31/month (unlimited)
The verdict
These tools serve different purposes at different stages of your investing journey:
Use PaperWealth if you're learning to invest, want to test strategies risk-free, or need a sandbox to try new ideas before committing real money.
Use Sharesight if you have real investments and need to track performance across your holdings with clear reporting.
For serious investors, using both makes sense: PaperWealth for strategy testing, Sharesight for portfolio management.
Ready to practice investing?
Start with PaperWealth to learn the mechanics. Paper trade with $100k play money and backtest ETF portfolios before investing real money.
Disclaimer: This comparison is for informational purposes only. Features and pricing may change. PaperWealth is not affiliated with Sharesight. Always verify current features and pricing on official websites.