How to compare prop firms: a practical due-diligence checklist

Start with the account, not the ranking

Write down the instrument, platform and evaluation format you need before comparing firms. A forex CFD evaluation, an exchange-traded futures evaluation and a crypto perpetuals program solve different problems. Sharing a $100K account label does not make them interchangeable.

Then identify the stage being advertised. An evaluation, a simulated funded account and a live trading account can have different agreements, loss limits and payout rules. Do not carry a condition from one stage into another without checking the actual terms.

Translate the account label into a loss budget

For an illustrative $100,000 account with a $4,000 loss allowance, the number relevant to a breach is the $4,000 budget. Ask whether the floor is static or trailing, what moves it and whether unrealized profit can move the reference point. A rule can update at the end of the day while still being enforced during the session.

Topstep’s official loss-limit documentation provides an example of that separation: its limit updates from end-of-day balances and is monitored intraday. That is a program-specific illustration, not a definition that applies to every firm.²

Compare what you pay and what you can withdraw

Make two separate lists. The cost list contains the evaluation charge, rebills, resets, activation, data and platform fees. The payout list contains eligible days, the first request date, minimum amounts, caps, the profit split and any buffer that must remain in the account.

A monthly fee and a one-time fee need a shared time horizon before you can sensibly compare them. Likewise, a high split applies only to eligible profits; it does not cancel payout restrictions or promise a withdrawal. Use the challenge cost calculator to compare explicit spending scenarios.

Keep the evidence next to the decision

For each shortlisted program, save the exact rule-page URL, program name and access date. Record contradictory wording instead of selecting the more favorable version. If a support answer changes your interpretation, ask which written term governs the account you are buying.

Reviews can highlight questions to investigate, but a review score is not a substitute for the contract, a verified payout history or the current rules. PropFirmMatcher is affiliated with QATS and is not an independent rating. The comparison table is a navigation aid; the cited primary terms remain the place to verify a purchase.

A shortlist you can inspect

• Same instrument and account stage?
• Loss floor, reference value, reset time and stop-trailing point recorded?
• Open P&L, commissions and holding costs covered?
• All fees modeled for the same number of months?
• Payout conditions and remaining loss room checked?
• Platform, country eligibility and strategy permissions confirmed?

Return to the firm directory to inspect the programs. Eliminate programs that fail a required condition before sorting the remaining ones by price.

Continue your comparison

• FTMO: programs, rules and source links
• Topstep: programs, rules and source links
• QATS: programs, rules and source links

PropFirmMatcher is affiliated with QATS. This is not an independent rating or a recommendation to purchase an evaluation. Read our methodology.