We are a party to this comparison, so treat this page the way you should treat any publisher grading itself: as a starting checklist, not a verdict. Every competitor figure below is dated and attributed, and prices change often, so verify each one on the seller's own site before you rely on it. The four axes are the ones we believe separate research from marketing: what it costs after the first year, not just before; what gets published when a call goes wrong; whether the standards for being wrong existed before the trade; and whether the publisher runs its own money on the work, in public.
Four axes, side by side
| Axis | Three Douglas | Motley Fool Stock Advisor | Seeking Alpha Premium | Premium independents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-year price | $99.95, founding rate | Often about $99 promotional, about $199 list, per third-party comparisons, Sep 1, 2026 | $299 per year list, with promotional offers near $269, per Seeking Alpha's published pricing, accessed Sep 6, 2026 | Commonly $300 to $500 and up per year, per their published pages, Sep 1, 2026 |
| What renewal costs | Founding rate locked for founding members | Promotional first-year pricing typically renews at the higher list rate, per third-party comparisons | Premium renews at its $299 per year list price, per Seeking Alpha's published pricing, accessed Sep 6, 2026. Alpha Picks is a separate service, listed at $499 per year, and is not included in Premium | Generally flat, at the premium price |
| When a call goes wrong | Losers printed first and larger on The Record, with a dated correction box, and old calls graded leg by leg in a public retrospective | Aggregate since-2002 return is the headline; press coverage (TechTimes, Aug 28, 2026) notes it is dominated by early outlier picks, and reviewers have documented underperforming newsletters being discontinued | Platform of many contributors; there is no single house record to grade, by design | Analysis is published; graded self-review of past calls is rare in the category |
| Break conditions in advance | Yes: 29 published and scored at The Conditions, written before the evidence arrives | Not published in advance | Not applicable; ratings change without pre-committed falsifiers | Not a category practice |
| Real money, in public | Yes: the publisher's own book, reported on The Record as percentages, worst positions first | Model portfolio recommendations | Ratings and tools; some contributors disclose positions individually | Varies; position disclosure is common, a public losers-first ledger is not |
Competitor prices and practices as of the dates shown in each cell, per the sources listed at the bottom of this page. They are their figures, not ours. Verify before relying on any of them.
Correction, September 6, 2026: an earlier version of the renewal row quoted Alpha Picks intro-to-renewal pricing in the Seeking Alpha Premium column. They are separate products: Premium lists at $299 per year and Alpha Picks at $499 per year, per Seeking Alpha's published pricing. The row now compares Premium to Premium.
The honest case against us
What the other side of this table gets right
Stock Advisor has published continuously since 2002; our public record is months old, and months are weather, not climate. Seeking Alpha offers screeners, ratings on thousands of tickers, and a contributor marketplace we do not have and are not building. The best premium independents go deeper on industry plumbing than a two-person-scale desk can. And our own book is concentrated in AI-adjacent themes, which means our results, good and bad, will be lumpier than an index fund's. If you want twenty years of history, a research terminal, or diversification, we are not the right purchase, and we would rather say so here than have you find out after paying.
What we ask you to weigh against that: everything on our side of the table is checkable today. The conditions were published before the evidence. The losers are printed larger than the winners. The one correction we have needed to make so far is still on the page, dated, where it happened. We have not found another service in this table that publishes that combination; if one starts, we will link it here.
How to run this comparison yourself
Take any service in the table, including us, and ask four questions. What will this cost me in year two? Where is the complete list of calls, including the ones that failed? Did the publisher state in advance what would prove the thesis wrong? And is the publisher's own money where its research is? Any service that clears all four is worth your consideration. We built this one because, at the price of the mainstream services' promotional teaser, nothing else cleared them.
The founding rate is $99.95 per year, locked for founding members, with a 30-day refund after first payment. The rate closes September 29, 2026.
No payment today; founding rate locked. First member mailing: mid-September 2026. Membership details
Sources for competitor figures
Seeking Alpha Premium and Alpha Picks pricing per Seeking Alpha's own published subscription pricing, accessed September 6, 2026. Motley Fool Stock Advisor and Epic pricing per third-party comparison coverage accessed September 1, 2026 (TraderHQ; Young and the Invested; CreditDonkey). Composition of Stock Advisor's since-2002 headline return per TechTimes, August 28, 2026. Discontinued-newsletter history per Stock Newsletter Club and Wall Street Survivor reviews. Premium independent pricing per SemiAnalysis's published FAQ and Citrini Research's subscription page, accessed September 1, 2026. All third-party figures belong to their publishers, may have changed, and should be verified at the source. Nothing here asserts wrongdoing by any publisher; different businesses make different disclosure choices, and this page compares those choices.
Not investment advice
This page is published by Three Douglas, LLC for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Three Douglas, LLC and affiliated persons hold positions in securities discussed on this site and may transact in them at any time without notice. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of the entire investment. Past performance is not indicative of future results, ours included.