Guides / The true cost of a prop firm evaluation
The true cost of a prop firm evaluation
A prop-firm evaluation has a sticker price, and the sticker price is rarely the whole bill. This guide lists the parts of the cost, shows the arithmetic with published list prices, and leaves the decision to you.
The parts of the cost
- The evaluation fee. Charged once (one-time plans) or every month until you pass or cancel (monthly plans).
- Resets. If you break a rule, most firms let you restart for a reset fee that is lower than the original price. See what a reset costs.
- Repeat purchases. Some firms have no reset at all: a failed evaluation means buying a new one.
- Activation fees. Some firms charge a fee after you pass, before the funded account starts. Others charge $0, or take it out of your first withdrawal.
- Data and platform fees. Level 1 data is usually included; extras such as depth-of-market can cost monthly. Check each firm.
- Trading commissions. Charged on every trade inside the account. Not part of the fees above, and not in our calculator beyond a box you can type a number into.
- Taxes and your time. Not included anywhere here.
Two billing models
Monthly: you pay again each month until you pass or cancel, so a slow evaluation costs more. One-time: you pay once for the evaluation, and the clock is a time limit rather than a bill. Apex, for example, sells a one-time 30-day evaluation and states there are no reset fees Official.
List prices by account size
List prices, before any discount. “Official” = read on the firm’s own page on 2026-10-28. Apex prices and some others were readable only on third-party pages, so they are labelled.
25K
| Plan (25K) | Billing | Evaluation | Reset | Activation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tradeify – Growth | one-time | $99 Official | $60 Official | $0 Official |
| MyFundedFutures – Builder | one-time | $105 Official | $105 Unverified | $0 Official |
| Take Profit Trader – Test to PRO | monthly | $150 Official | $79 Official | $130 Official |
At 25K we list only plans whose 25K prices we could verify on the firm’s own pages.
50K
| Plan (50K) | Billing | Evaluation | Reset | Activation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topstep – Standard path | monthly | $49 Official | $49 Official | $149 Official |
| Topstep – No Activation Fee path | monthly | $95 Official | $95 Official | $0 Official |
| Tradeify – Growth | one-time | $145 Official | $95 Official | $0 Official |
| MyFundedFutures – Builder | one-time | $153 Official | $153 Unverified | $0 Official |
| Take Profit Trader – Test to PRO | monthly | $170 Official | $99 Official | $130 Official |
| Apex Trader Funding – EOD (standard) | one-time | $590 Third-party | none: buy new | $129 Third-party |
| Earn2Trade – Trader Career Path | monthly | $190 Third-party | $100 Unverified | $139 Third-party |
75K
| Plan (75K) | Billing | Evaluation | Reset | Activation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take Profit Trader – Test to PRO | monthly | $245 Third-party | $139 Official | $130 Official |
Only Take Profit Trader sells a 75K plan among the firms we track.
100K
| Plan (100K) | Billing | Evaluation | Reset | Activation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topstep – Standard path | monthly | $99 Official | $99 Official | $149 Official |
| Topstep – No Activation Fee path | monthly | $149 Official | $149 Official | $0 Official |
| Tradeify – Growth | one-time | $255 Official | $169 Official | $0 Official |
| MyFundedFutures – Builder | one-time | $282 Third-party | $282 Unverified | $0 Official |
| Take Profit Trader – Test to PRO | monthly | $330 Official | $169 Official | $130 Official |
| Apex Trader Funding – EOD (standard) | one-time | $1,190 Third-party | none: buy new | $139 Third-party |
| Earn2Trade – Trader Career Path | monthly | $350 Third-party | $100 Official | $139 Official |
150K
| Plan (150K) | Billing | Evaluation | Reset | Activation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topstep – Standard path | monthly | $199 Official | $199 Official | $149 Official |
| Topstep – No Activation Fee path | monthly | $229 Official | $229 Official | $0 Official |
| Tradeify – Growth | one-time | $369 Official | $229 Official | $0 Official |
| MyFundedFutures – Builder | one-time | $398 Third-party | $398 Unverified | $0 Official |
| Take Profit Trader – Test to PRO | monthly | $360 Official | $199 Official | $130 Official |
| Apex Trader Funding – EOD (standard) | one-time | $2,190 Third-party | none: buy new | $159 Third-party |
Earn2Trade offers no 150K TCP. Its Gauntlet Mini has 50K, 100K and 150K; see the calculator. “Unknown” means we could not find the amount; it is not counted as $0 in the calculator’s totals without a warning.
Three worked examples (arithmetic, not typical results)
Topstep Standard 50K: three months of subscription
The subscription costs $49 a month Official. Topstep lists “a free Reset Credit each time your subscription rebills” Official; how credits accrue is not spelled out, so we model one per rebill. If you stay three months and two resets are covered by those credits, the fees are 3 × $49 + the $149 activation fee charged when you earn a funded account = $296. Without the activation fee (you never earn a funded account), it is $147.
Tradeify Growth 50K: one purchase and two resets
$145 to buy + 2 × $95 resets + $0 activation = $335. Tradeify states one-time purchases with no activation fee for current plans Official.
Apex EOD 50K: two evaluation purchases, then activation
Apex has no resets, so a second attempt is a second purchase. At the list price we read on a third-party site Third-party: 2 × $590 + $129 activation (also third-party) = $1,309. If you had a 20% discount on the first purchase only (your own assumption), the first purchase would be $472 and the total $1,191. Apex says coupons do not apply to the activation fee Official, so only the evaluation is discounted here. Apex also runs frequent sales, so check the live price.
What a published pass rate does and doesn’t tell you
Tradeify publishes that 17.2% of evaluation accounts it initiated between August 2025 and July 2026 were completed Official. Divide 1 by 0.172 and you get about 5.81 evaluation accounts per completion across all accounts. That is arithmetic about a pooled average, not a number for any one person: some people buy many accounts, some buy one, and the same page says it counts participants differently from accounts. Topstep publishes 16.8% of Combines for 2025 Official. Firms count different things, so the figures are not directly comparable. We do not use them to say what will happen to you.
Questions worth asking before you pay
- Is this price one-time or monthly, and how long might I take?
- What does a reset cost, and does a discount code apply to it?
- Is there an activation fee, and when is it charged?
- What must I do before my first payout is possible? (Payout thresholds)
- Where did I read this number, and when?
Try your own assumptions in the PropFeeCheck calculator (the link pre-fills a 50K comparison; every input is yours to change).
Sources
Each source was read on 2026-10-28. “Official” = the firm’s own page; “third-party” = another site, not confirmed on the firm’s page.
- Topstep pricing and payment questions Official
- Tradeify pricing reference Official
- Apex evaluation plan fees and access Official
- Apex list prices (third-party site, read 2026-10-22) Third-party
- MyFundedFutures Builder plan page Official
- Take Profit Trader homepage ($130 PRO activation) Official
- Topstep 2025 trader performance statistics Official
- Tradeify trader performance statistics (Aug 2025 – Jul 2026) Official