---
title: "Compute time"
description: "Compute time is how long a strategy's last backtest took, shown in the Compute column — a dash when it has never run, dimmed when the status reads Needs re-run."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/backtesting/compute-time"
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/backtesting/compute-time.md"
---

# Compute time

Compute time is the computation time shown for a strategy's [backtest](/docs/getting-started/backtest) — how long the engine took to produce its latest result — displayed in the **Compute** column of your strategies list. Because one result is computed per distinct setup and reused (see [shared compute](/docs/backtesting/shared-compute)), a strategy whose exact configuration has already been calculated returns in a fraction of a second instead of running from scratch. It is a read on how much work a run needed, not a quality or performance metric.

## Does a higher plan compute faster?

Up to a point, and it is about waiting rather than about what a strategy may do. Compute power is how much of one simulation Fincanva computes at the same time, and your plan sets it.

Set by your plan: 4 on Free and Starter, 8 on Advanced and 16 on Ultimate and Professional. See [what each plan includes](/docs/account-security/what-each-plan-includes).

A larger share runs more of the same work at once: it buys no extra data, no further [allocation method](/docs/strategies/allocation-and-allocation-method) and no longer history, so nothing about the strategy or the period behind the result changes with your plan. It is not a promise about how long a run takes, either: the strategy, the period covered, and how busy the service is decide that — and a setup that has already been computed comes back from [shared compute](/docs/backtesting/shared-compute) in a fraction of a second whatever your plan.

## Defaults in Fincanva

- The **Compute** column shows the time for the last run, or a dash (`—`) when a strategy has not been run yet.
- The value is dimmed when the run's [status](/docs/backtesting/run-status) reads **Needs re-run** — a dimmed compute time means the shown figure is from a superseded run.
- A result is reused only while it is still current, so a strategy that was instant yesterday may compute in full today, once new market data has advanced the [data frontier](/docs/backtesting/data-freshness-and-frontier).

## Worked example

You duplicate a strategy without changing anything and run the copy. Because its configuration is identical to the original — which has already been computed — Fincanva serves that existing result rather than recomputing it, and the **Compute** column shows a near-instant time. Change a single setting on the copy, such as its [rebalance](/docs/backtesting/rebalance) frequency, and it no longer matches any existing result: the next run computes fresh, and its compute time reflects the full work.