Does 3Commas store my API keys?

Yes. Sign Center holds them and signs trades. You whitelist official 3Commas IPs on the exchange. CryptoBud keeps keys on your private cloud box and emails you that IP for the Binance allowlist.

Is 3Commas paper trading the same as live?

No. Their help center says demo orders never hit the exchange, fills are perfect, and there is no order book. Demo is also a paid-plan feature, and live traffic gets priority when the system is busy.

Is CryptoBud a 3Commas alternative?

Yes if you do not want to build DCA and grid bots on a shared dashboard. No if you need one screen across many exchanges — 3Commas is that product. CryptoBud is a Binance Spot trading bot on a box that is yours.

How much does 3Commas cost compared to CryptoBud?

Live bots start at Starter, $20/month. Pro is $50/month, Expert $140/month. The free account does not trade live. CryptoBud is $5/week in the iOS app ($20/month, $220/year), flat.

CryptoBud vs 3Commas

3Commas alternative

3Commas is a polished trading-bot dashboard: you connect exchanges, then you set up dollar-cost averaging (DCA), grid, or SmartTrade. Their AI writes bot settings. Demo and backtest exist — and they say those are not the real exchange. Your API keys live in Sign Center. You whitelist 3Commas IPs.

Checked August 13, 2026

Side by side

Compared	3Commas	CryptoBud
Paper trading first	3CommasPartial Paid demo. Perfect fills. Not the exchange.^1,2	CryptoBudYes Paper trading is the default. No API keys.
Preview before keys	3CommasPartial You build the bot, then maybe backtest.^3,4	CryptoBudYes See the current coins it would trade, before Sign in with Apple.
Keys on your box	3CommasNo Sign Center holds keys. Whitelist their IPs.⁵	CryptoBudYes Private cloud box. Keys stay on that machine.
Practice matches live	3CommasPartial Backtest ≠ paper ≠ live — they say so.^4,1	CryptoBudYes Same bot from paper trading to live.

Yes — The normal way the product works. Partial — Nearby (a demo, a backtest) but not the same. No — The opposite, or the FAQ says contact support.

Yes
The normal way the product works.
Partial
Nearby (a demo, a backtest) but not the same.
No
The opposite, or the FAQ says contact support.

How you get started

3Commas is a dashboard for people who will build the bot themselves. CryptoBud picks a style, shows a preview, and gives you a box.

To set up a bot, 3Commas says you decide the bot type, link an exchange with limited permissions, then configure the trading rules.³
iOS app exists — 4.7 stars from 738 ratings when we checked. AI Assistant turns a strategy idea into bot settings.⁶

Paper trading

3Commas Demo is a simulator. CryptoBud paper trading is the same bot you will take live.

Demo “mimics real market conditions using live Binance Spot price data.” Orders execute inside 3Commas — they never reach the exchange.¹
No order-book simulation. Market orders fill as if liquidity is unlimited. Simulated fee is 0.1% per order.¹
“Demo trading is available on all paid plans.” Real trading is prioritized when the system is busy — demo can delay or interrupt.²

Where keys live

Both products keep coins on the exchange. 3Commas still holds the API key.

Sign Center is isolated key storage. When 3Commas trades, its servers ask Sign Center to sign — “similar to how Metamask or Ledger signs a transaction.”⁵
IP whitelist is for “official 3Commas IP addresses.” The key only works from their cloud, not from a machine that is yours.⁵

Does practice match live?

3Commas tells you that backtest, demo, and live are three different things. That is the gap.

Backtesting uses historical exchange data. Their own FAQ: backtesting is instant history; paper trading is a real-time simulation.^4,3
Demo is not Binance testnet. It is a 3Commas account with virtual funds.¹

What it costs

3Commas sells plan tiers. Live bots start on a paid plan. CryptoBud is a flat weekly subscription for the private box.

Starter is $20/month, Pro $50/month, Expert $140/month. A free account exists — it does not run live bots.^7,8
Demo trading is on paid plans. When the system is busy, real trading is prioritized and demo can delay or interrupt.²
CryptoBud is $5/week in the iOS app ($20/month, $220/year). Flat — no fee on your trades, no cut of profits.

Who should pick which

3Commas. A trader who already knows what a safety order is, wants one dashboard across many exchanges, and is willing to store trade keys on 3Commas.

CryptoBud. Someone who wants the product to pick the coins, run them on a private box, and not learn a bot builder.

Common questions

Yes. Sign Center holds them and signs trades. You whitelist official 3Commas IPs on the exchange. CryptoBud keeps keys on your private cloud box and emails you that IP for the Binance allowlist.

Sources

Every competitor claim on this page points here. We quote their help centers, FAQs, and App Store listings — not something we made up.

Paper trading first — live when you say so