Cheapest Prop Firms
Last updated 2026-07-16
Three numbers decide what a funded account really costs: the eval fee, the activation fee, and everything the firm bills you between signup and your first payout. The sticker price is just the first one. Most cheapest-prop-firm lists rank the sticker, which is exactly how traders end up paying more at a cheap firm than they would have at an expensive one.
This page ranks by our Cost Score instead, which measures the total cost of funding: eval fees against the drawdown and profit target the account gives you, activation at funding, reset pricing, rebill clocks, and data fees, with sustained discounting factored in. The full math is published on our score calculation method page, commission plays no part in it, and the order below recomputes whenever the underlying data changes.
This list covers futures prop firms at launch. Forex firms join it when our forex coverage ships.Last checked 2026-07-14
Quick Picks By Use Case
One firm is not cheapest for everyone, so start with the fee shape that fits how you trade.
Best one-time billTradeify
Every current plan is a one-time purchase with nothing due at funding, so the checkout number is the whole number.
Best cheap entry to a live pathTradeDay
No activation on its standard path and a payout structure you can reach from day one.
Best if you never want an activation fee
see our full no-activation-fee roundup, which filters for exactly that.
Best budget plan pickerMyFundedFutures
Zero activation across the lineup and four plan families that bill very differently, so the cheap path is the one that matches your style.
Best pay-once-and-forgetLucid Trading
The upfront fee covers activation too, so passing costs you nothing extra.
The Ranked List
Every entry below is ranked by its Cost Score, computed from the same data source that powers our reviews. Ties break on the composite score and then alphabetically, and the order updates itself when a firm changes its pricing, so what you see here is the current math, not a snapshot from whenever we felt like updating. Scores, fees, and key stats render live next to each firm.
- #1
Tradeify
77/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $99 to $796
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing
- Payout cadence: On demand
- 90 percent split
The 3.0 overhaul moved every plan to one-time pricing, and that single change is most of the cost story. No activation at funding, no rebill clock running while you work through the eval. What you pay at checkout is what the account costs, which is rarer in futures than it should be.
- #2
Alpha Futures
73/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $79 to $859
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing
- Payout cadence: On demand
- 90 percent split
The bill shape depends on the family: Zero and Advanced are monthly subscriptions that end when you pass, Direct is a single payment with no evaluation behind it, and activation fees are gone from the whole lineup. What is left to compare is the funded terms each family trades for its price, which is exactly the kind of fee shuffling the Cost Score exists to catch. Read the plan page before assuming the cheapest line is the cheapest deal.
- #3
Lucid Trading
65/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $100 to $840
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing
- Payout cadence: Cycle-based
- 90 percent split
One payment covers the eval and the activation both, so the funding step costs nothing. That makes the checkout price unusually honest. The trade-offs at this firm live in the rulebook, not the bill, and the review covers those.
- #4
Funded Futures Family
69/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $79 to $734
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing, Intraday trailing
- Payout cadence: On demand
- 90 percent split
No activation fee anywhere in the lineup, and the monthly rebills sit at the low end for the account sizes on offer. The thing to watch is the clock, since a slow eval month is another bill. Pass quickly and this is one of the leanest paths to funding.
- #5
TradeDay
70/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $125 to $480
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing, Intraday trailing
- Payout cadence: On demand
- 50 percent split
Monthly rebills, but no activation for life on the standard path, and the entry sizes price low. The cost math here rewards traders who move, because the subscription is the only meter running.
- #6
BluSky Trading
69/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $59 to $749
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing, Static
- Payout cadence: Daily
- 90 percent split
Plan-specific pricing across a deep catalog, mostly monthly, with a one-time fee landing at the funding step on some lines. The catalog depth means there usually is a cheap path here, you just have to find your exact one and read its page, because two similar-looking plans can bill differently at the pass.
- #7
MyFundedFutures
70/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $95 to $477
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing, Intraday trailing
- Payout cadence: Varies by plan
- 80 percent split
Zero activation across the board and a plan picker that changes the bill more than the account size does. Rapid, Builder, Flex, and Pro each meter differently, so the cheap answer at this firm is a matching question, not a price question.
- #8
Topstep
73/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $49 to $229
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing
- Payout cadence: Cycle-based
- 90 percent split
Built-in checkout pricing on a subscription model, with a choice between paying activation at funding or taking a pricier path that skips it. Neither option is hidden, which counts for something. The cost risk here is time, since every extra eval month is another rebill.
- #9
Phidias Propfirm
58/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $88 to $1,125
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing, Static
- Payout cadence: Cycle-based
- 75 percent split
A one-time-purchase option folds activation into a single payment, or you can pay per eval with activation at funding. The entry prices run cheap for the sizes offered, and the firm makes its money back in the tightness of the rules, which is a Rules Score problem, not a Cost Score one.
- #10
Earn2Trade
71/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $150 to $550
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing
- Payout cadence: Weekly
- 80 percent split
A subscription on both programs plus a flat fee at funding, priced against a genuine education layer. If you use the coursework, the bill buys more than an eval. If you do not, cheaper seats exist for the same account sizes.
- #11
Leeloo Trading
60/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $250 to $850
- Drawdown: Intraday trailing
- Payout cadence: Monthly
- 100 percent split
Steep monthly rebills paired with a minimum-days structure that guarantees at least one full billing cycle before any payout, which the review flags as the dead-account billing trap. The rulebook reads free. The path through it is not.
- #12
Apex Trader Funding
69/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $199 to $2,290
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing, Intraday trailing
- Payout cadence: Weekly
- 100 percent split
One-time eval purchases, with an activation fee waiting at funding on most sizes, so the second bill is where the real cost sits. Resets are the other place repeat money hides. Budget the whole path, not the checkout screen.
- #13
Take Profit Trader
72/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $150 to $360
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing, Intraday trailing
- Payout cadence: On demand
- 80 percent split
Monthly rebills plus a flat activation at funding. The cost math at this firm is a speed bet, because the one-step eval and zero-minimum-days funded structure mean a trader who moves fast stops paying fast. A trader who stalls feeds the meter.
- #14
Bulenox
68/ 100TrustCostPayoutRules- Evals from $145 to $535
- Drawdown: End-of-day trailing, Intraday trailing
- Payout cadence: Weekly
- 100 percent split
The activation fee scales with account size, and that one fact is the whole cost story. Small accounts pencil out fine. Large accounts get expensive at exactly the moment you commit to them, with monthly rebills running underneath. Size your entry with the funding bill in view, not just the eval price.
How We Ranked These
The Cost Score measures what funding actually costs, not what the homepage banner says. It reads eval fees against the drawdown and profit target behind each account, activation fees at funding, reset pricing, the rebill model, data fees, and hidden surcharges, all from our structured firm data, and it credits sustained discounting only where the discount pattern is real and durable. The full formula is public on our score calculation method page.
Commission never touches the math. No firm can pay its way up this list, and when a firm we have no relationship with ranks first, it ranks first. The order recomputes from the data, so a pricing change moves a firm the same day we record it.
What To Look For
The total cost of funding has five parts, and the sticker price is only the first: the eval fee, the activation fee at funding, resets, the rebill clock, and data or platform fees. A firm can look cheap on any one of these and expensive on the whole. So when you compare two firms, run the full path in your head, from signup to first payout, and price that.
One-time versus monthly is the biggest fork. A one-time firm charges you once and the clock stops. A monthly firm charges you for every month the eval takes, which means the real price depends on you. Be honest about your pace. A cheap monthly seat that takes you four months is not a cheap seat.
Activation fees in futures are charged at funding, right at the moment you have the most invested in continuing, which is why they sting and why some firms lean on them. A firm with no activation fee at all is a cleaner comparison, and we keep a full ranked list of those firms.
Resets are the quiet budget killer. You are most likely going to fail evals while you find your footing, so price the reset before you need one, and check whether the firm offers free reset credits or rebill-retakes. Make sure the reset math still works at the account size you actually want, not just the smallest one.
Last thing, and it matters: do not shop price into a rulebook you cannot survive. A cheap eval at a firm whose funded rules do not fit your style costs more than an expensive eval you can actually cash out of. Check the Rules Score next to the Cost Score before you buy, and if you are not sure which firm fits, the firm finder walks you through it.
FAQ
Which prop firm has the lowest price?
It depends on the account size and the fee model. The smallest monthly-subscription accounts carry the lowest sticker prices, but the lowest total cost usually sits with the one-time firms, because nothing keeps billing while you pass. The ranked list above recomputes from live pricing data, so it is the current answer, not a stale one.
Which prop firm has the cheapest account?
At the smallest account sizes, several firms price entry evals low enough that the eval fee is not the deciding cost. What separates them is what comes after: activation at funding, reset pricing, and the rebill clock. Check the full cost line next to each firm above rather than the entry price alone.
Which prop firm is the best and cheapest?
Cheapest and best are two different scores, and the honest answer is that they rarely peak at the same firm. Our Cost Score ranks this page and the composite score ranks the main hub. A firm near the top of both lists is the practical answer to this question, and the list above shows each firm's composite right next to its cost.
Which prop firm has no monthly fee?
Tradeify, Lucid Trading, and Apex sell one-time eval purchases with no monthly rebill, and Phidias offers a one-time-purchase option that folds the activation fee in. BluSky Trading and Funded Futures Family also sell one-time purchases on specific plan lines. The rest of this page runs a monthly subscription model, where the eval keeps billing until you pass or quit.
What is the cheapest 5K prop firm account?
True 5K futures accounts are rare on this roster, since most firms start their lineups higher. If your budget points at the smallest tier, compare the smallest account each firm actually sells using the live data above, and remember the reset fee matters more at small sizes because one mistake is a bigger share of your budget.
What is the cheapest prop firm for futures?
The list above is the answer, computed rather than opined. Every firm on it is a futures prop firm at launch, ranked by total cost of funding. The top of the list is currently held by the one-time-pricing firms, because removing the rebill clock and the activation fee removes the two costs traders most often forget to budget.