Blog · August 16, 2026

Subscription or one-off payment: the arithmetic nobody does

Two pricing models coexist among futures prop firms, and which of the two is cheaper depends entirely on a variable pricing pages never show: how long you are going to spend in evaluation.

Of the 13 firms tracked by this comparison, 7 bill the evaluation as a monthly subscription (Topstep, TradeDay, My Funded Futures, Funded Futures Network, Phidias Propfirm, Alpha Futures, Take Profit Trader) and 10 as a one-off payment (Apex Trader Funding, Tradeify, My Funded Futures, Lucid Trading, Funded Futures Network, Phidias Propfirm, Alpha Futures, Bulenox, FundedNext Futures, YRM Prop).

Comparing the two on the headline price makes no sense. A $49 subscription looks unbeatable next to a $249 one-off payment — until you notice that it renews. By the fifth month the two are level; by the sixth the subscription is the more expensive one, and it keeps running.

The hidden variable

Nobody knows in advance how long their evaluation will last. Firms advertise the theoretical minimum — “pass in a day” — while the real distribution is counted in weeks or in months, resets included. The headline price therefore rests on the most optimistic assumption available, the one that almost never happens.

How to decide

The practical rule is simple:

  • If you trade full time and are aiming for a fast pass, the subscription is often the cheaper of the two.
  • If you only trade a few hours a week — or only during the US open, which is the case for most traders fitting this around a day job — the one-off payment wins quickly.
  • If you expect to fail at least once (statistically, you will), look at the price of the reset: at some firms it is worth one month of subscription, at others it costs the price of a whole new evaluation.
The test to run yourself

Open the calculator, set the evaluation duration to 1 month, look at the ranking. Then move it to 4 months. The order changes completely — and that is exactly the demonstration that a headline price means nothing without a scenario.

The renewal trap

A detail the pricing pages carry in small print: on several subscription plans, the promotional discount applies to the first month only. The second month is billed at full rate. An evaluation advertised at -50% can therefore return to its base price at the first renewal, which destroys the advantage you founded your choice on.

When the firm does not state whether the discount is recurring, assume it is not: that is the cautious assumption, and it is the one this site holds to for as long as the question is not settled publicly.

Figures as of August 16, 2026, recomputed on every data update. Methodology