True cost to first payout: what every prop firm actually charges
The headline evaluation fee is a loss-leader. Before a first payout a trader may also pay a monthly rebill, an activation fee on the funded account, and then wait out a minimum number of trading days on each stage. This table records what each firm publishes about all of it — and, just as important, what it doesn't — normalised to one account size per firm so the rows compare like for like.
What the data shows
- Of the 23 firms whose pricing pages we have read, 10 publish every fee charged before a first payout — entry, monthly and activation — as a figure or a stated zero (Funded Trading Plus, Alpha Futures, Uprofit, Tradeify, MyFundedFutures, Earn2Trade, Lucid Trading, Topstep, TakeProfit Trader and Elite Trader Funding). For the other 13, the total is a floor: a fee exists but the amount is not published, or we have not confirmed it yet.
- 3 firms sell an evaluation whose activation fee is charged but never printed (Bulenox, Apex Trader Funding and Leeloo Trading). 1 firm prints a price without saying whether it recurs (FundingPips).
- 6 firms bill the evaluation monthly (Alpha Futures, Uprofit, Earn2Trade, Topstep, TakeProfit Trader and Elite Trader Funding), so the real cost grows with every month it takes to pass. We do not multiply by a guessed number of months — that would be a number we made up.
- Of the 17 firms whose payout-eligibility rules we have read, only 5 publish every step from purchase to first payout — minimum evaluation days, minimum funded days and any profit buffer (Hantec Trader, Tradeify, MyFundedFutures, Earn2Trade and TakeProfit Trader). Everywhere else the minimum path is "at least", and the advertised processing time is the smallest part of it.
These sentences are counted from the table below at build time, not written; they change when the data does. List prices, not promo prices. Figures are in the currency each firm charges (FTMO in EUR); nothing is converted.
The table
Month one is entry + activation — what it costs to reach a funded account if you pass in the first month. ≥ marks a floor: a fee or a step exists but the firm doesn't publish it, or we haven't verified it, so the true figure can only be higher. Not disclosed means we read the firm's page and the figure isn't there — a finding. Not verified means we haven't checked yet — our gap, not the firm's. Days are trading days. Click a firm for its sources and dated screenshots.
| Firm | Account | Billing | Entry | Monthly | Activation | Month one | Min. eval days | Min. funded days | Processing | Min. path | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forex | |||||||||||
| FundedNext | $50K | One-time | $269.99 | None | Not verified | ≥ $269.99 | 10 | 15 | 1 | ≥ 26 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| Alpha Capital Group | $50K | One-time | $277 | None | Not verified | ≥ $277 | Not verified | Not verified | 2 | Not verified | Sep 14, 2026 |
| AquaFunded | $50K | One-time | $277 | None | Not verified | ≥ $277 | Not verified | Not verified | 1 | Not verified | Jul 13, 2026 |
| BEM Funding | $50K | One-time | $285 | None | Not verified | ≥ $285 | 0 | Not verified | 2 | ≥ 2 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| FundingPips | $50K | Not stated | $299 | Not verified | Not verified | ≥ $299 | 6 | Not verified | 2 | ≥ 8 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Goat Funded Trader | $50K | One-time | $314 | None | Not verified | ≥ $314 | Not verified | Not verified | 2 | Not verified | Sep 14, 2026 |
| FunderPro | $50K | One-time | $319 | None | Not verified | ≥ $319 | 8 | 0 | 1 | ≥ 9 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Hantec Trader | $50K | One-time | $319 | None | Not verified | ≥ $319 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 11 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Audacity Capital | $50K | One-time | $329 | None | Not verified | ≥ $329 | 8 | 0 | 1 | ≥ 9 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| FTMO | €50K | One-time | €345 | None | Not verified | ≥ €345 | Not verified | Not verified | 1 | Not verified | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Funded Trading Plus | $50K | One-time | $349 | None | None | $349 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ≥ 2 | Aug 17, 2026 |
| Futures | |||||||||||
| Alpha Futures | $50K | Monthly | $129 | $129 | None | $129 | 2 | 5 | 2 | ≥ 9 | Aug 16, 2026 |
| Uprofit | $50K | Monthly | $130 | $130 | None | $130 | 2 | Not verified | 1 | ≥ 3 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Tradeify | $50K | One-time | $145 | None | None | $145 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| MyFundedFutures | $50K | One-time | $153 | None | None | $153 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Earn2Trade | $50K | Monthly | $170 | $170 | None | $170 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Bulenox | $50K | One-time | $175 | None | Not disclosed | ≥ $175 | 0 | Not verified | 7 | ≥ 7 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Lucid Trading | $50K | One-time | $192 | None | None | $192 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ≥ 2 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Topstep | $50K | Monthly | $49 | $49 | $149 | $198 | Not verified | Not verified | 2 | Not verified | Sep 14, 2026 |
| TakeProfit Trader | $50K | Monthly | $170 | $170 | $130 | $300 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Elite Trader Funding | $50K | Monthly | $207 | $207 | $177 | $384 | 5 | 8 | 2 | ≥ 15 | Aug 16, 2026 |
| Apex Trader Funding | $50K | One-time | $550 | None | Not disclosed | ≥ $550 | 1 | 5 | 2 | ≥ 8 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Leeloo Trading | $50K | One-time | $635 | None | Not disclosed | ≥ $635 | Not verified | Not verified | 14 | Not verified | Sep 14, 2026 |
Method
For each firm we read its own pricing page and payout-eligibility rules, logged out, and record one reference account size (the 50K where the firm offers it). Every figure is the list price the page shows, never a coupon price. A screenshot of the page, stamped to the minute, is linked from the firm's profile so the figures stay checkable after the firm edits the page.
A fee is recorded as a number when the firm prints it, as a zero when the firm states there is none, as "not disclosed" when the page shows the fee exists but not its amount, and left blank when we haven't checked. The distinction is the point: silence about a fee is not the same as its absence, and this table never renders them the same way.
Month one deliberately excludes a multiple of the monthly fee. How long a trader takes to pass is unknowable, and an "average" would be an invented number presented as data. The minimum path likewise sums only the stated minimums; most traders take longer.
The same arithmetic produces the cost and payout-path panels on every firm page — see the guide to the true cost of an evaluation for what to check before you pay, and the methodology for how fees feed the PFM Score. Firms without a row here are ones whose fee pages we haven't read yet; a blank row would accuse them of nothing and tell you nothing.
Free to quote with a link. Suggested citation: TradeMoneta, "True cost to first payout: what every prop firm actually charges", https://trademoneta.com/reports/true-cost-to-first-payout/, data as of Sep 14, 2026. Corrections with a source are welcome via the contact page.