Last10K vs BamSEC: Which SEC Tool Is Worth Paying For?
Last10K costs $99/year. BamSEC costs $828/year. We compare features, pricing, and which SEC filing tool fits your research workflow.
There are three kinds of SEC filing tools, and most investors confuse them.
Document readers like Last10K make filings easier to read. Document search platforms like BamSEC let you search across thousands of filings. Real-time monitors like Earnings Feed tell you the moment something files.
These aren't competing products. They're different layers of the same workflow. The question isn't "which one is best?" It's "which ones do I actually need?"
TL;DR: Three tools, three jobs
- Last10K ($99/year): Read and export 10-K/10-Q documents cleanly
- BamSEC ($828/year): Search across all filings for specific language
- Earnings Feed (free): Know the moment something files—before you decide to dig in
Quick Comparison: All Three Tools
| Feature | Last10K | BamSEC | Earnings Feed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $99/year | $828/year | Free (Pro $10/mo) |
| Core job | Read/export documents | Search across filings | Real-time monitoring |
| Full-text search | Limited | Yes, across all filings | No |
| Document comparison | Yes (redline) | Yes (redline) | No |
| Real-time alerts | No | No | Yes, within seconds |
| Export to Excel | Yes | Yes | No |
| Earnings transcripts | No | Yes | No |
| Insider trading (Form 4) | Limited | Yes | Yes, dedicated hub |
| Mobile experience | Desktop-first | Desktop-first | Built for mobile |
Key insight: Last10K and BamSEC help you work with documents. Earnings Feed tells you when to open them.
The Real Question: What Do You Actually Need?
Before comparing features, ask yourself what problem you're actually solving:
"I need to read and analyze a 10-K or 10-Q" → You need a document reader. Last10K does this well for $99/year.
"I need to search for specific language across many filings" → You need a search platform. BamSEC does this for $828/year.
"I need to know when something files so I don't miss it" → You need real-time monitoring. Earnings Feed does this for free.
Most serious investors eventually realize they need two layers: an awareness tool to catch filings as they happen, and an analysis tool to dig in when something matters. The awareness layer should be always-on. The analysis layer only needs to open when you have something to analyze.
That's why many investors start with Earnings Feed (free, real-time) and add Last10K or BamSEC when they need deeper document work.
What Is Last10K?
Last10K focuses on making annual and quarterly reports easier to read and analyze. The name says it: it's built around 10-K and 10-Q filings.
The core features:
- Clean document display: 10-Ks and 10-Qs formatted for humans, not EDGAR's 1990s rendering.
- Document exports: Download reports as PDF, Word, or Excel files for offline work.
- Redline comparisons: See what changed between this year's 10-K and last year's, or between quarters.
- Email alerts: Get notified when companies you follow file new reports or material 8-Ks.
- Sentiment screeners: Filter companies based on bullish, bearish, or neutral language patterns in their filings.
Last10K Pricing
- Free tier: Limited access, good for testing
- Monthly: $9.99/month after a 7-day free trial
- Annual: $99/year after a 7-day free trial (no credit card required to start)
At under $100/year, Last10K sits in "impulse purchase" territory for anyone who reads filings regularly.
What Is BamSEC?
BamSEC—short for "Better Access to Material SEC filings"—is a professional-grade research platform. It launched in 2016, was acquired by Tegus in 2021, and is now part of AlphaSense.
The core features:
- Full-text search: Search for any phrase across millions of filings. Find every mention of "goodwill impairment" or "material weakness" across a company's entire history.
- All filing types: Not just 10-Ks and 10-Qs. Proxies, S-1s, 8-Ks, credit agreements, exhibits—everything.
- Earnings transcripts: Conference call transcripts alongside the filings.
- Table extraction: Pull tables directly into Excel without manual copy-paste.
- Redline comparisons: Compare any two versions of a document to see exactly what changed.
- Collaboration tools: Share specific passages with colleagues via direct links.
BamSEC Pricing
- Free tier: Limited access with watermarked documents
- Pro: $828/year ($69/month, billed annually). 7-day trial requires a credit card.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for teams
BamSEC costs 8x more than Last10K. That gap buys you full-text search, broader filing coverage, and earnings transcripts.
Head-to-Head: Where They Differ
Document Coverage
Last10K is laser-focused on 10-Ks and 10-Qs—the annual and quarterly reports that form the backbone of fundamental analysis. It also covers 8-Ks for material events.
BamSEC covers everything: proxies (DEF 14A), registration statements (S-1, S-3, S-4), credit agreements, exhibits, and more. If a document hits EDGAR, BamSEC indexes it.
Winner: BamSEC, if you need the full universe. Last10K, if you only care about periodic reports.
Full-Text Search
This is BamSEC's killer feature.
With BamSEC, you can search for a phrase like "covenant violation" across every filing a company has ever made. You can search across multiple companies. You can find every S-1 that mentions a specific risk factor.
Last10K has search, but it's more limited—focused on navigating within documents rather than searching across the entire EDGAR database.
The SEC does offer free full-text search through EDGAR itself, covering filings since 2001. It's functional but clunky. BamSEC wraps the same data in a much faster, cleaner interface.
Winner: BamSEC, decisively.
Document Comparison (Redlines)
Both tools let you compare two versions of a filing to see what changed. This is critical for:
- Tracking risk factor changes year-over-year
- Spotting covenant modifications in credit agreements
- Seeing how MD&A language evolves
The implementation is similar in both tools. BamSEC's advantage is that it works across all filing types, not just 10-Ks and 10-Qs.
Winner: Tie on core functionality. BamSEC wins on breadth.
Alerts and Monitoring
This is where the gap matters most.
Both Last10K and BamSEC offer email alerts when companies file. But these are batch notifications—you might get an email hours after a filing hits EDGAR. For routine 10-Ks filed on a Saturday, that's fine.
For time-sensitive filings, it's not:
- An 8-K drops at 4:01pm disclosing a CEO departure. By the time BamSEC's alert arrives, the after-hours move has already happened.
- A Form 4 shows the CFO buying $500k of stock. Insider activity often files late in the day. Delayed alerts mean you see it tomorrow.
- An S-1 amendment hits during market hours with updated pricing. Speed matters.
Neither Last10K nor BamSEC is built for this. They're document analysis tools, not monitoring tools.
Earnings Feed is built specifically for real-time awareness. Filings appear in the live feed within seconds of hitting EDGAR. Pro users ($10/mo) get instant email alerts. The difference between "I saw it when it filed" and "I saw it the next morning" can be material.
Winner: Earnings Feed, by design. Last10K and BamSEC aren't trying to solve this problem.
Pricing and Value
The math is simple:
- Last10K: $99/year
- BamSEC: $828/year
If you're an individual investor who reads 10-Ks and 10-Qs for a handful of companies, Last10K delivers most of what you need at a fraction of the cost.
If you're a professional analyst, lawyer, or banker who needs to search across filings, pull exhibits, and work with transcripts, BamSEC earns its price.
Winner: Depends entirely on your use case.
Who Should Use Last10K?
Last10K makes sense if you:
- Focus on fundamental analysis of individual stocks
- Primarily read 10-Ks and 10-Qs, not proxies or S-1s
- Want redline comparisons without paying $800+
- Need to export documents to Word, PDF, or Excel
- Are budget-conscious and don't need full-text search across all filings
The typical Last10K user is a self-directed investor who reads annual reports carefully and wants a cleaner experience than raw EDGAR.
Who Should Use BamSEC?
BamSEC makes sense if you:
- Work in investment banking, private equity, or professional asset management
- Need to search across thousands of filings for specific language
- Regularly work with credit agreements, proxies, and S-1s—not just periodic reports
- Want earnings transcripts alongside filings
- Need to extract tables into Excel frequently
- Can expense the cost or write it off
The typical BamSEC user is a buy-side analyst, M&A lawyer, or due diligence professional who lives in filings all day.
What If You Don't Want to Pay Anything?
The SEC publishes everything for free. You don't need paid tools.
The SEC's EDGAR Full Text Search provides access to filings dating back to 2001, with boolean operators, wildcards, and filtering by date, company, or filing type. The SEC's Office of Investor Education provides guides on interpreting what you find.
The problem isn't access—it's usability and timing. EDGAR's interface is dated. There's no real-time feed. Alerts don't exist.
That's why Earnings Feed exists: to make the free public data actually usable. Real-time filings, watchlists, company profiles, insider tracking, and mobile access—all free. When you need to go deeper (full-text search, redlines, exports), you open Last10K or BamSEC.
The Bottom Line
| If You Need... | Use This |
|---|---|
| Clean 10-K/10-Q reading and exports | Last10K ($99/year) |
| Full-text search across all filings | BamSEC ($828/year) |
| Earnings transcripts | BamSEC |
| Real-time filing alerts | Earnings Feed (free) |
| Budget-friendly option | Last10K or Earnings Feed |
| Professional-grade research platform | BamSEC |
Last10K and BamSEC solve overlapping but distinct problems. Last10K is the right answer for most individual investors. BamSEC is the right answer for professionals who need its power features.
And if your main need is simply knowing when something files—not searching inside it—neither tool is necessary. The SEC publishes everything for free, and modern tools like Earnings Feed make that data accessible without a subscription.
Start With the Awareness Layer
The best workflow isn't picking one tool. It's stacking the right layers:
Start with Earnings Feed (free) — Know the moment something files. Build watchlists. See insider activity. Get alerts that actually arrive in time.
Add Last10K or BamSEC when you need depth — When a filing looks interesting, open your document tool. Read the 10-K carefully. Search for specific language. Run your redlines.
Most investors overpay for document tools they rarely use, while missing filings because they have no awareness layer at all. Flip that: start with free real-time monitoring, then add paid analysis when you need it.