What a futures prop challenge really costs

Among the recorded programmes, three firms bill the evaluation as a monthly subscription:

• Topstep: Trading Combine 50K at USD 49^[25] a month on the Standard Path or USD 95^[29] on the No Activation Fee Path. It rebills every 30 days from sign-up until you pass or cancel; it cannot be paused^[2].
• Take Profit Trader: Test 50K at USD 170^[34] a month, charged on the calendar day of the first purchase. If you break a rule, the subscription keeps running until you cancel it yourself^[3].
• Alpha Futures: Standard Account 50K at USD 129^[39] a month, from the sign-up date until you pass or cancel^[4].

Four sell the evaluation for a one-time fee: Apex (EOD Trail 50K USD 590^[44]), Lucid (LucidFlex 50K USD 115^[55]), MyFundedFutures (Rapid 50K USD 209^[59]) and Tradeify (Growth 50K USD 145^[63], Select 50K USD 165^[67]). Apex says "One Time Fees – No recurring billing"^[21], Lucid "no monthly rebilling"^[5], MyFundedFutures "no renewals"^[6], Tradeify "no recurring billing"^[7].

The model can change. At Apex, accounts bought before 1 March 2026 stay on a subscription; the one-time fee applies to the new products^[21]. MyFundedFutures moved new purchases to a one-time payment from 25 August 2026, and existing subscriptions carry on^[22].

A subscription costs you every month you need. Three months come to 3 × USD 49 = USD 147 on Topstep's Standard Path, 3 × USD 129 = USD 387 at Alpha Futures and 3 × USD 170 = USD 510 at Take Profit Trader^[25][39][34]. A one-time fee stays the same until you buy a reset. In return, some subscriptions include a restart: Topstep banks a reset credit with every rebill^[2], and at Alpha Futures a failed account goes back to its starting balance when the subscription rebills^[4].

At Topstep the date matters: to avoid another month's charge, the dashboard must show your pass before the rebill date. With a rebill on the 5th, you must pass before trading ends on the 4th. The payment for the current billing cycle is neither refunded nor prorated once you pass^[2].

The activation fee is due once you have passed, for access to the simulated account with a profit share. On the Standard Path, Topstep charges it once per account passed^[8].

• Topstep: Standard Path USD 149^[26], No Activation Fee Path none^[30].
• Take Profit Trader: USD 130^[35] once for the PRO account; per the firm, PRO accounts carry no recurring subscription fees^[3].
• Apex: EOD Trail 50K USD 129^[45], Intraday Trail 50K USD 99^[51]. The EOD version without activation costs USD 1,190^[47] instead of USD 590^[44].
• No activation fee: Alpha Futures Standard Account^[40], Lucid LucidFlex^[56], MyFundedFutures Rapid^[60] and Tradeify^[64][9].

This fee changes too: Alpha Futures charged a USD 149 activation fee on Advanced accounts; per its help centre, accounts bought after the announcement of 8 July 2026 no longer need one^[10].

Which Topstep path costs you less depends on how long you take. The Standard Path is USD 49^[25] a month plus USD 149^[26] when you pass; the No Activation Fee Path is USD 95^[29] a month. Passing in the first month: USD 198 against USD 95. After three months: USD 296 against USD 285. After four: USD 345 against USD 380. From the fourth month the Standard Path is cheaper, and if you never pass, you never pay the activation fee. You pick the path at purchase and cannot change it afterwards^[8].

A reset puts a failed evaluation back to the start. The prices:

A reset does not move the subscription: at Take Profit Trader and Alpha Futures the rebill date stays the same and the subscription keeps running^[11][12]. Lucid offers resets for evaluation accounts only, priced by product. Lucid may delete accounts not traded for 30 calendar days as abandoned^[13].

Once you have passed, other rules apply. Where a restart exists at all, it costs a multiple of the evaluation reset:

• Alpha Futures: Qualified Reset for the Standard Qualified Account 50K USD 599, at most twice per account, only while no payout has ever been requested, and within 7 days of the breach^[12].
• MyFundedFutures: if you hit the max drawdown on the "Sim Funded" account, the account is closed; it cannot be reset, and you start a new evaluation^[6].
• Take Profit Trader: PRO reset 50K USD 649, up to three times per account^[23].
• Topstep: Back2Funded reactivation for an "Express Funded Account" lost before the first payout: USD 599 on 50K, within 30 calendar days of closure^[8].
• Tradeify: no reset for "Sim Funded" and Lightning accounts; if one fails, you buy a new one^[24]. Lightning Funded skips the evaluation, at USD 492^[71] for 50K^[7].

To add up several attempts, use the cost of repeat attempts calculator.

Futures prices are sold by the exchange, for simulated accounts too^[1]. Level 1 (top of book: the highest bid and the lowest offer) is included at several firms; market depth (Level 2) usually costs extra:

• Topstep: Level 1 for all four exchanges included, Level 2 USD 38 a month: charged at once, then on the 28th of each month, not prorated^[1].
• Tradeify: non-professional data free; Level 2 and EUREX optional, Tradovate only and billed by Tradovate^[7].
• Take Profit Trader: Level 2 free for one exchange, USD 15 a month for each additional one, Rithmic only; no market depth on CQG^[14]. Most platforms need a licence, some are free during the evaluation^[15].
• Apex: data fee per the profile none^[54]; real-time data and a NinjaTrader licence are included per the price configurator^[21].
• Alpha Futures, Lucid, MyFundedFutures: the pages we read state no data fee, and the profiles hold no value.

The low rate requires "non-professional" status. At Topstep you sign the CME data agreement on your first TopstepX login and must choose non-professional^[1]. At Tradeify you sign the Non-Professional Agreement on your first Tradovate login; if you do not, Tradeify says a professional data fee of USD 300 a month may apply^[7].

Who counts as non-professional is the CME's call. Per the form of the data vendor CQG, which reproduces the CME definition, you need an active futures trading account, among other things. You must not be registered or qualified as a professional trader or investment adviser or act for a financial institution, and you use the data only for personal purposes and your own assets, on at most two terminals per distributor^[16]. If you work in finance, read the criteria before you sign. On Topstep's "Live Funded Account", professional data fees apply, Topstep says^[8].

Firms deduct fees per contract, on the simulated account too. You do not pay them by card: at Topstep they come off the balance with each filled trade and show in your net P&L^[8]. So they eat into the buffer and the profit target.

The figures are not like for like: a round turn covers buying and selling, while Lucid lists its amounts per side and does not say whether exchange fees are included^[19][17]. Tradeify does the maths itself: 10 MES cost USD 18.20, 1 ES USD 5.76^[7].

Worked example: you trade 10 round turns of ES a day at Topstep for 20 days. That is 200 × USD 3.78 = USD 756^[19] off the simulated balance, more than a third of the USD 2,000 (EOD)^[28] loss limit on the 50K account.

A price alone says little, because accounts give you different room to lose. PropCrab therefore divides the entry cost by the loss buffer, the evaluation's maximum loss limit:

Cost per 1,000 buffer = (list price + activation) ÷ (buffer ÷ 1,000)

A subscription counts one month. The activation fee counts even though it is only due when you pass. Discounts never count. The cost per buffer table runs this for every recorded programme and lets you set the months.

With a subscription the figure grows every month. After three months, Topstep's No Activation Fee Path stands at USD 142.50, the Standard Path at USD 148, Alpha Futures at USD 193.50 and Take Profit Trader at USD 320^{[29][25][39][34]}. One-time fees only change with a reset.

What the figure does not tell you is how the buffer trails. Trailing intraday, the limit also follows open profit^[6]. So Apex Intraday Trail with USD 2,000 (intraday)^[52] is not the same as EOD Trail with USD 2,000 (EOD)^[46], even at the same amount. Profit targets, consistency rules and payout conditions are not in the figure either; the drawdown types guide explains the kinds of loss limit.

Discounts change less than the ads suggest. At Topstep a promo price applies to the first month only unless stated otherwise, and affiliate codes do not apply to resets, Back2Funded or data add-ons^[8]. At Tradeify promo codes do not apply to resets^[24]. That is why PropCrab only uses list prices.

Topstep also quotes base prices: depending on where you live, Topstep adds VAT, GST or sales tax at checkout^[8].

You get little back:

• Alpha Futures: none ("All sales are final"), except if you fail the KYC screening^[43].
• MyFundedFutures: full refund within 14 days if no trades were placed; crypto purchases never^[62].
• Take Profit Trader: within 72 hours, unused accounts only, minus USD 75^[38].
• Topstep: no refunds on resets or the activation fee; 14 days only for the very first Trading Combine^[33].
• Tradeify: none: all sales are final^[72].

MyFundedFutures contradicts itself: a footnote on the Rapid page says "Evaluation fees are non-refundable"^[6]. The profiles hold no refund rule for Apex and Lucid.

• Apex: the figures come from the product data of the homepage price configurator; we re-read the 50K figures on 3 November 2026 and they are unchanged. Apex advertises a coupon code there; the prices here are without a coupon^[44][21]. Parts of the help centre block automated requests; what only appears there is missing from the profile. Apex is also selling legacy accounts again for now; their prices and rules are not recorded here^[21].
• Lucid: the price is that of the base product in the shop, without checkout options^[55]. Per Lucid, the set-up with a daily loss limit and 40% consistency is the cheapest; without the daily loss limit or with 50% consistency LucidFlex costs more, and the page does not give the surcharges^[20].
• Tradeify Select: with the 50% consistency add-on, Select 50K costs USD 205 instead of USD 165^[67][7].
• MyFundedFutures: we did not find the Rapid reset price on the pages we read^[6].
• Data: no data fee is documented for Alpha Futures, Lucid and MyFundedFutures.

1. 1Billing: subscription or one-time, and how many months do you honestly plan for?
2. 2Activation: is a fee due when you pass, and is there a path without one?
3. 3Reset: what does it cost, and does it move the subscription?
4. 4Data: is Level 1 included, do you need Level 2, and do you meet the non-professional criteria?
5. 5Commissions: per side or per round turn, minis or micros?
6. 6Do the sums: everything together in the challenge cost calculator, across firms in the cost per buffer table, several attempts in cost of repeat attempts.

Firm profiles: Alpha Futures, Apex Trader Funding, Lucid Trading, MyFundedFutures, Take Profit Trader, Topstep and Tradeify.