Updated 22 September 2026 · Room rules checked 22 September 2026
Best poker HUD in 2026
Every other page on this subject starts with the products. Start with your poker room instead, because on two of the biggest ones the answer is that you cannot have one.
Short answer. Check your room first. America’s Cardroom and PokerStars both allow a HUD in writing, with conditions. GGPoker prohibits external ones and gives you its own instead. Ignition and Bovada have anonymous tables, so there is nothing to track. If your room allows one, Hand2Note 4 is the most capable on Windows and PokerTracker 4 the most complete on either platform.
Does your room allow one?
| Room | HUD allowed | What the rules say |
|---|---|---|
| America’s Cardroom and WPN | Yes, with conditions | Stats must come only from hands you played. Nothing from the hand in progress. No datamining |
| PokerStars | Yes, with conditions | Own hands only, limits on what shows during a hand, and the client must be closed while you study your database |
| GGPoker | No | External HUDs prohibited by name. GG ships its own Smart HUD, free to everyone, showing the current session only |
| Ignition, Bovada and Ozoon | No, and pointless anyway | Tables are anonymous, so there are no opponents to track between hands |
Two conditions run through every room that does allow one. The stats must come from hands you played yourself, so buying or sharing a database is out. And nothing from the hand in progress may appear on screen, which rules out anything offering live advice.
Reviewing your own hands after a session sits comfortably inside those rules, and it is allowed on every room here, including the two that ban displays.
If your room allows one
Hand2Note 4 has the most configurable display of the group and now runs natively on both Mac chips as well as Windows. It is a subscription, from $15.99 a month billed yearly, and the cheaper tier caps your database at 200,000 hands.
PokerTracker 4 is the most complete package, $64.99 for small stakes or $99.99 for all stakes as a one-off, with a yearly fee after the first year to keep receiving updates. It runs on Windows and Mac.
DriveHUD 3 earns its place on coverage rather than polish. It reads the US-facing rooms that the others handle poorly, and it is Windows only. It is also still shipping as a public beta while charging full price, which is worth knowing before you buy.
Poker Copilot is the easiest to live with on a Mac, at $39 to $99 depending on stakes. Its supported-site list is the shortest here, so check your room appears on it.
Full prices and one honest weakness each are on the comparison page.
If your room bans one
You are not stuck, and you may be better off. Export your hands and read them afterwards, which every room permits and which answers a more useful question than a display does.
A HUD tells you what your opponent tends to do. Your own history tells you what you do, hand after hand, including the parts you would never notice at the table. One of those is something you can change this week.
Start with getting your hands out of your room, then the stats guides for what the numbers mean. The numbers are the same ones a HUD would show you. They just arrive later, which for studying is an improvement.
A note on GGPoker’s own HUD
GG ships Smart HUD to every player, free, and you cannot turn it off. It shows stats from the current session only, so it resets each time you sit down.
GG’s argument is that giving everyone the same tool is fairer than letting some players buy an advantage. Whether you agree or not, it is the only display you will have there, and running another is the kind of thing that costs people their balance. Our GGPoker page quotes the rules in full.
Frequently asked questions
What is a poker HUD?
A heads-up display. A small panel drawn over each seat at the table showing stats about that player, built from hands you have seen them play. It updates while you play, which is the feature, and the reason several rooms ban it.
Which poker sites allow HUDs?
America’s Cardroom and PokerStars both permit them in writing, with conditions: the numbers must come from hands you played yourself, and nothing from the hand in progress may be shown. GGPoker prohibits them by name. Ignition and its sister sites have anonymous tables, so there is nothing to track.
What is the best poker HUD?
On Windows, Hand2Note 4 has the most capable display and the deepest customisation. PokerTracker 4 is the most complete package and runs on a Mac. DriveHUD covers the US-facing rooms the others handle poorly. On a room that bans HUDs, the best one is the one you do not buy.
Is there a free poker HUD?
Every paid product has a 14-day trial, which is enough to find out whether you like it. GGPoker gives every player its own Smart HUD at no cost, though it only shows the current session and cannot be switched off. Beyond that, free HUDs are rare and usually abandoned.
What is the best poker HUD for Mac?
PokerTracker 4, Poker Copilot and Hand2Note 4 all have Mac builds. Poker Copilot ships one binary covering both Mac chips and is the smoothest of the three. Hold’em Manager 3 and DriveHUD 3 are Windows only, so a Mac user would need Parallels or Boot Camp.
Can I get banned for using a HUD?
On a room that prohibits them, yes, and the penalties are real. GGPoker lists removal of PokerCraft access, game removal, permanent bans and confiscation of funds. Read your room’s rules rather than a forum post about them.
What do I use if my room bans HUDs?
Your own hand histories, read after the session. That is allowed everywhere, including on the rooms that ban displays, and it answers better questions. A HUD tells you what an opponent does. Your own history tells you what you do wrong, which is the part you can fix.
Educational only. No real-money play. 18+. Room rules change. Check your own room’s terms before installing anything.