The best self-hosted alternative to 3Commas is TradeArmor. It gives you the same things people use 3Commas for, a polished dashboard, automated DCA, grid, and futures, and built-in signals, but it runs on your own machine, so your exchange API keys never sit on a third-party server. After 3Commas confirmed an API key breach in 2022, that distinction is the whole point for a lot of traders.
The Core Difference: Where Your Keys Live
3Commas is a cloud service. You connect your exchange by handing 3Commas an API key, and that key lives on its servers so the cloud can trade for you. It is convenient, and it is also why a breach of those servers exposes user keys.
TradeArmor is self-hosted. The bot runs on your hardware, your API key stays in a local config file, and it is only ever sent to your exchange. The bot needs trade permission only, never withdrawal. There is no TradeArmor account holding your keys, so there is nothing on our side to breach.
TradeArmor vs 3Commas at a Glance
| TradeArmor | 3Commas | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Your machine: Mac, Linux, Windows, Docker, Pi, VPS | The 3Commas cloud |
| Your API keys | Local config only, never sent to us | Stored on 3Commas servers |
| Known key breach | None: no vendor key database exists | Confirmed API key breach in 2022 |
| API permission | Trade only, no withdrawal | Trade (keys held in the cloud) |
| Built-in signals | BTC/USDC spot, live 3+ years, included | Typically a paid marketplace |
| DCA, grid, futures | DCA on every plan, grid and futures on Enterprise | Yes, plan dependent |
| AI strategy builder | Plain-English, bring your own AI key, no added fee | Not a core feature |
| ProfitTrailer migration | One-click import of positions, legs, history | No |
| Tax exports | Koinly, CoinTracker, FIFO, LIFO, HIFO | Plan dependent |
| Price | $19.99 to $89.99 / mo, no per-trade fee | Subscription tiers |
What You Keep, What You Gain
You keep the things that make a cloud bot pleasant: a real-time dashboard, one-click strategy modes, alerts to Discord, Telegram, and email, and a mobile PWA. You gain self-custody, built-in signals at no extra cost, a plain-English AI strategy builder that uses your own AI key (so there is no marked-up AI fee), and one subscription instead of a stack of them.
Who Should Switch, and Who Should Not
Switch if the 2022 breach changed how you feel about putting exchange keys in someone else's cloud, or if you would rather pay one price than assemble a bot plus a signal marketplace.
Think twice if you specifically need an exchange that TradeArmor does not support yet, or if you never want to run software on your own machine. TradeArmor supports eight exchanges through CCXT; 3Commas supports more. Signals cover BTC/USDC spot pairs, and grid and futures are on the Enterprise tier.