Why we need a real Free Trial option for Market utilities & EAs

New comment
 

Hi everyone,

I've been developing tools for the MQL5 Market for a while now, especially interactive utilities, trading panels, and simulators. One major issue I keep running into—and I'm sure many of you face as well—is how limited the current Market demo system is.

Right now, a demo version only works inside the Strategy Tester. That's fine for simple automated indicators and trading robots, but for any tool with a Graphical User Interface (GUI), execution panels, or manual trading tools, testing in the strategy tester is almost useless.

Potential buyers simply can't test how the panel feels on a live/demo chart or check real-time responsiveness before buying. I think adding a proper Time-Limited Free Trial (for example 1 to 30 days, configured by the seller) would be a huge step forward for the Market.

How it helps:

Buyers: They can actually test full functionality, UI responsiveness, and memory usage on a demo account before spending money.

Sellers: Better conversion rates, more user engagement, and actual feedback to improve products.

Platform: More sales overall means higher market turnover and revenue for MetaQuotes.

Preventing abuse:

To stop people from abusing free trials with multiple accounts, MetaQuotes could easily implement a few basic limits:

Make trials available only for Verified Users (or users with a validated phone/ID).

Lock the trial license to the Hardware ID / Terminal ID, so creating a new MQL5 account on the same PC won't reset the trial.

Allow trials to run strictly on Demo Accounts.

I believe this feature would benefit the entire community. 

What are your thoughts on this? Would you use a time-limited trial option for your products?

 
Strong agree, and I think the part that gets underweighted is that the tester constraint cuts twice for GUI tools. It is not only that a buyer cannot feel the panel before paying. It is that the seller has to prove the product in an environment where the product is close to meaningless. A panel built from chart objects will draw in visual mode, so validation passes - but the things a buyer actually wants to try, dragging a level, typing into an edit box, watching the numbers recalculate against their own broker's tick value and volume step, are precisely what a tester run cannot show them. You end up shipping a demo that technically runs and demonstrates nothing. A read-only middle ground might be an easier ask than a full time-limited trial: let a Market demo attach to a LIVE chart with the trading functions disabled at the terminal level. For an analytical panel, a calculator, a journal or a dashboard that is the entire product anyway - there is nothing to protect, because the value was never in placing the order. It would also sidestep the obvious objection to time-limited trials, which is that a trial of a signal-generating EA gives the signals away for free. A read-only demo gives away nothing there, because the entries never fire. Whether MetaQuotes would consider "no trade functions" a strong enough boundary is the real question. But it looks like a smaller change than building trial licensing and expiry into the activation system.
 

I've always assumed that Metaquotes intentionally sacrificed full demo functionality in favor of ease of access.

 

Haha a free trail is an excellent idea that will never work it is bad for the business model . I long proposed a very low weekly/monthly rental and the charts reflect this and the proven good ones rise to the top and earn a tier status that charges slightly more not crazy one time fees . Then you would see the charts and it would be on merit and not scams and suspicious activities . All this would get rid of the one time money grabbing coders for profit and the glossy sham tactics . 

          The whole thing needs an overhaul, but will it get it ? .I suspect not ,the powers that be are happy with the status quo , It must benefit them in ways we don't know apart from the high one off 

 20 percent cut of all those EA's at the top of the charts  80 percent most certainly not on merit .  

 

Lots of EA builders offer 1 month rental, i think thats a good way to show how your product works

 
Ralph Ivan Simeon #:
Strong agree, and I think the part that gets underweighted is that the tester constraint cuts twice for GUI tools. It is not only that a buyer cannot feel the panel before paying. It is that the seller has to prove the product in an environment where the product is close to meaningless. A panel built from chart objects will draw in visual mode, so validation passes - but the things a buyer actually wants to try, dragging a level, typing into an edit box, watching the numbers recalculate against their own broker's tick value and volume step, are precisely what a tester run cannot show them. You end up shipping a demo that technically runs and demonstrates nothing. A read-only middle ground might be an easier ask than a full time-limited trial: let a Market demo attach to a LIVE chart with the trading functions disabled at the terminal level. For an analytical panel, a calculator, a journal or a dashboard that is the entire product anyway - there is nothing to protect, because the value was never in placing the order. It would also sidestep the obvious objection to time-limited trials, which is that a trial of a signal-generating EA gives the signals away for free. A read-only demo gives away nothing there, because the entries never fire. Whether MetaQuotes would consider "no trade functions" a strong enough boundary is the real question. But it looks like a smaller change than building trial licensing and expiry into the activation system.
That's a very creative middle ground for trading EAs, Ralph! However, the 'Read-Only' approach falls short for signal indicators, dashboards, or analytical tools. Since their entire value lies in the visual output or calculations rather than placing trades, a Read-Only mode would essentially give the full product away for free. For non-trading utilities and indicators, a true time-limited license or hardware-bound trial is still the only secure way to let buyers test the UI on live charts."
 
Ryan L Johnson #:

I've always assumed that Metaquotes intentionally sacrificed full demo functionality in favor of ease of access.

That simplicity might have worked years ago, but now that MetaTrader relies heavily on complex UI panels and interactive tools, the Strategy Tester demo limitation is actively holding back both buyers and developers.
 
Victor Paul Hamilton #:

Haha a free trail is an excellent idea that will never work it is bad for the business model . I long proposed a very low weekly/monthly rental and the charts reflect this and the proven good ones rise to the top and earn a tier status that charges slightly more not crazy one time fees . Then you would see the charts and it would be on merit and not scams and suspicious activities . All this would get rid of the one time money grabbing coders for profit and the glossy sham tactics . 

          The whole thing needs an overhaul, but will it get it ? .I suspect not ,the powers that be are happy with the status quo , It must benefit them in ways we don't know apart from the high one off 

 20 percent cut of all those EA's at the top of the charts  80 percent most certainly not on merit .  

Lowering rental tiers sounds practical in theory, Victor, but under the current Market rules, the minimum price floor for any product or subscription is set at $30. Asking a buyer to pay $30 just to test a panel's responsiveness on a live chart is still a high barrier of entry. A true free trial (or hardware-bound demo) removes that financial risk completely, allowing buyers to verify performance and trust the product before committing any funds.
 
Mohammadreza Mahdi Mavaddat #:
That simplicity might have worked years ago, but now that MetaTrader relies heavily on complex UI panels and interactive tools, the Strategy Tester demo limitation is actively holding back both buyers and developers.

Fair enough. I'm not affiliated with Metaquotes, so whatever.

Having said that, any user who is proficient with the MT5-integrated AI Assistant/MCP can reverse engineer software rather easily. The moment that you describe something online and post a picture, it's out there. A fully functional free trial would just be icing on the cake.

 
I think Metaquotes should give developers the option to easily enable a free trial, even if it is a 24 hour trial. That would be really great for what I am trying to do as well - figuring out whether a particular trading panel will work for my needs...
 
Mohammadreza Mahdi Mavaddat #:
Lowering rental tiers sounds practical in theory, Victor, but under the current Market rules, the minimum price floor for any product or subscription is set at $30. Asking a buyer to pay $30 just to test a panel's responsiveness on a live chart is still a high barrier of entry. A true free trial (or hardware-bound demo) removes that financial risk completely, allowing buyers to verify performance and trust the product before committing any funds.
Yeah I was talking they change the barrier I am talking all rentals forever no buying and 5 bucks a week or something and you earn moving up a tier  and price ( only slightly )  by real reviews and something that is totally accessible to everyone . Free trials for retail traders for the most part would not convert to money all it takes is one bad day on the first day and retail traders ditch it, thus no revenue for MetaQuotes  , rental means a constant stream of revenue at a lesser amount but higher uptake .  
12
New comment