Compare · checked 6 October 2026

A Cheddar Flow alternative for $15 a month

Cheddar Flow's cheapest paid plan is $85 a month. Zanshin Flow is $15. It's built for traders of the index markets and their futures, SPX and ES, NDX and NQ, SPY, QQQ and IWM: every strike's dealer gamma drawn under price, live, the options tape read into plain sentences, and 50 windows you can arrange however you trade.

Zanshin Flow home page: QQQ absolute gamma heatmap in NQ prices with battleground boxes, hedging flow, trade check and key levels — The home page: absolute gamma under price, hedging flow, the trade check and the key levels, on QQQ in NQ prices.

Cheddar Flow vs Zanshin Flow

	Zanshin Flow	Cheddar Flow
Price	$15/mo	$85/mo (Standard plan)
Markets	SPX, SPY, ES, NDX, QQQ, NQ, IWM	US stocks, ETFs and indexes
What the plan includes	Every strike's dealer gamma, charm and vanna live, call and put walls, gamma flip, options tape and dealer hedging flow, session replay, 50 windows. Free trial of 3 market days.	Options flow, dark pool prints. 7-day trial (per reviews).
Source	zanshinflow.com	optionstrading.org review

Each platform's cheapest paid plan billed monthly, as listed on its source on 6 October 2026. Prices change; check the provider before you buy. All trademarks belong to their owners; this page is not endorsed by Cheddar Flow. Every platform side by side: the full price comparison.

What you get for $15

50 windows (studies), all included. Absolute Gamma, Spot over Gamma Field, the Wall Map, the Gamma Ladder, family Composite Gamma (SPX + SPY + ES layered), GEX by expiry, Dealer Exposures (GEX, DEX, VEX, CHEX, TEX), the Charm Surface, Options Barriers, Patterns and Named Levels, Levels Around Price and a Gamma Build tracker.
The options tape, read for you. A Flow Story in plain sentences, Key Trades with what each one is betting on, the full Options Tape, Premium by Time and by Strike, Net Premium, Netflow, Net Sentiment, Repeated Prints, Cashing In (deep in-the-money closes) and Dark Pool Levels.
Dealer hedging flow. A running total of what dealers must buy or sell to hedge every sided options trade, drawn against price.
Volatility. The Skew Smile, Skew and ATM IV through the session, the Expected Move, the Implied Close (where the close is priced, and how that moved) and IV Walls.
Built for futures traders. SPX and SPY levels mapped onto ES, NDX and QQQ onto NQ, with a live basis, so every wall sits at the price you actually trade. Any level, any window, one key between strike and futures prices.
Replay any session. Every archived day, live, on every symbol, with or without the overnight session.
Fully customisable. Build as many pages as you like on a 24 × 24 grid, drag and resize every window, pin any window to its own symbol, and choose your colours, background, candle body, wick and outline (each with its own opacity), one of seven fonts and the text size. Your layout follows your account to every device.
Built with the people who use it. A Request a feature button inside the app goes straight to the developer; most requests ship within days.

The Zanshin Flow Customise panel: colours, candle body, wick and outline opacity, background, font and text size — Customise: colours, candles, background, seven fonts and text size, plus every window and page.

Where Cheddar Flow may suit you better

Zanshin Flow covers index and index-futures options only, and has no text or Discord alerts. If you scan single-stock options flow and dark pool prints, Cheddar Flow covers more. If you trade SPX, ES, NDX or NQ and want dealer positioning on your own screen, live, at a price that doesn't need a winning month to justify, that's what Zanshin Flow is for.

Zanshin Flow NDX gamma levels mapped onto NQ futures prices — NDX levels on NQ prices: the walls sit where futures traders actually trade them.

Questions

Is there a cheaper alternative to Cheddar Flow?

Yes. Zanshin Flow is $15 a month after a free trial of 3 market days; Cheddar Flow's cheapest paid plan billed monthly was $85 a month when checked on 6 October 2026. Zanshin Flow covers index and index-futures options (SPX, SPY, ES, NDX, QQQ, NQ, IWM), not single stocks.

Does Zanshin Flow show real-time gamma exposure (GEX)?

Yes. Every strike's dealer gamma, charm and vanna is live, drawn under price, with the call wall, put wall, gamma flip and the next walls, for every expiry or just today's.

Can I see gamma levels on ES and NQ futures?

Yes. SPX and SPY levels are mapped onto ES, and NDX and QQQ onto NQ, with a live basis, so the walls and gamma bands sit at the futures prices you trade.

How customisable is Zanshin Flow?

Fully. 50 windows on a 24 x 24 grid, as many pages as you like, any window pinned to its own symbol, your own colours and background, candle body, wick and outline with separate opacity, seven fonts and text size, saved to your account on every device.

Is Zanshin Flow an edge on its own?

No, and neither is any gamma tool. It shows where dealers are positioned and what the options tape is doing; combine it with how price reacts at those levels, such as order flow and your own tested process.

Not financial advice. Zanshin Flow is an analytics tool; nothing on it is a recommendation to buy or sell anything.