# A prop firm platform with no setup fee and nothing monthly > Why prop firm platforms charge setup fees and monthly licences, what a first year costs with and without them, and what one payment from $129 includes. Source: https://www.propexecutor.com/blog/prop-firm-no-setup-fee-no-monthly Published: 2026-09-26 Updated: 2026-09-26 Publisher: PropExecutor ## Frequently asked questions ### Is there a prop firm platform with no setup fee? Yes. PropExecutor charges no setup fee and no monthly licence. A plan is a single payment from $129 that includes 50 trading accounts, and account credits never expire. ### What does a first year cost with no monthly fee? Whatever the plan cost, plus any top-ups you chose to buy. There is no renewal, so a quiet month costs nothing, and the platform bill for a year can stay at the price you paid on day one. ### What happens when I need more accounts? You buy a top-up pack at your plan's rate, which falls as you add more, down to $0.64 an account at the largest pack. Credits are permanent and unused ones carry over if you upgrade. ### Why does PropExecutor have no setup fee? Because there is nothing to stand up. A multi-tenant executor provisions your firm the same way it provisions any account, so there is no engineering project to bill a setup fee for. ### Is there a catch to no monthly fees? No. It is a one-time purchase of account credits that never expire; you top up only when you need more accounts. The model earns from selling capacity once, not from renting it to you monthly. ### How is it sustainable without recurring revenue? The same way any one-time software business works: you buy capacity, and you buy more as you grow. Top-ups and upgrades fund the platform without turning your growth into a monthly bill. ### What is the total first-year cost with no monthly fee? The plan price plus any top-ups - and nothing else, because there is no renewal or per-balance banding. A firm running 250 accounts pays $499 once versus a four-figure recurring licence elsewhere. ### Do account credits expire? No. Credits are permanent, and unused ones carry over when you upgrade, so nothing you buy is wasted. ### How does the top-up model work? You buy extra accounts on top of your included ones at a rate that falls as you add more, down to $0.64 an account. You pay for capacity when you need it, not on a schedule. ### How do I compare it with a monthly platform? Work out your platform cost per account across a year, setup fee included, and put it next to a one-time plan here. Ignore the monthly headline; the annual per-account number is the honest comparison, and it is usually a fraction of the recurring model. Every quote for prop firm software has the same two numbers on it: a setup fee to start, and a monthly licence to keep running. Both are pricing decisions, not engineering ones, and it is worth understanding why they exist before you accept them. ## Why the setup fee exists Almost always for one of three reasons: 1. **The platform is not really multi-tenant**, so launching you is a project: an environment, a deployment, a configuration pass by an engineer. 2. **It is a qualifier.** A four-figure fee filters out people who were never going to buy, which is convenient for the vendor's sales team and expensive for you. 3. **It funds the discount on the monthly.** A cheap-sounding licence looks better next to a large upfront payment. None of those are your problem to solve. If the platform provisions a new firm the same way it provisions the thousandth account, there is nothing to charge a setup fee for. ## Why the monthly licence exists Because recurring revenue is a better business for the vendor. That is the whole answer. It is also why the licence is usually banded by live accounts: it converts your growth into their revenue automatically, whether or not their cost went up. The effect on you is a fixed cost that arrives every month regardless of how many challenges you sold. A slow quarter is exactly when that hurts. ## What a first year looks like, either way Take a firm that runs 250 accounts in its first year. **The usual model:** a setup fee in the low thousands, a licence banded for that account count billed twelve times, a price that rises with the balances you offer, and a markup on the spread. The platform is a four-figure recurring line before a single trader has paid you. **One-time model:** $499 once for the Basic plan and its 250 accounts, and that is the year. No setup fee, no renewal, no balance banding, no spread markup. If you need more accounts you buy a top-up when you need it, at a rate that falls as you add more, down to $0.64 an account. The second column does not have a hidden monthly in it. That is the entire point of the model. ## What "no monthly" actually means here - **Account credits are permanent.** Your plan grants them once, packs add more, nothing expires. - **Each trading account uses one credit, forever**, whatever balance it starts with. A $5K evaluation and a $200K evaluation cost the same. - **Pay once, or pay as you go.** Start on the smallest plan and top up as you grow, or buy a larger plan outright. Upgrading later costs the price difference and grants the quota difference, and unused credits carry over. - **No spread markup.** Raw spreads, with every fill and the full trade history kept per account. ## What the one payment includes Everything the platform does, on every plan: the branded terminal on your own domain, the prop dashboard inside every trading account, the rule engine that enforces the challenge on the tick, the visual rule builder, bulk provisioning with credential rotation, and API access on every account with no tier gate. Higher plans add rule and branding depth and more accounts, not a different product. [Compare the plans](https://www.propexecutor.com/pricing). ## The one number worth comparing When you next get a quote, ignore the monthly figure and work out your cost per trading account over a year, including the setup fee. Then compare it with a plan here: $129 for 50 accounts, $499 for 250, $1,799 for 1,250, once, plus top-ups at your rate. That single calculation is the whole argument, and it is the reason people searching for a platform for a hundred or two hundred dollars are not being unrealistic. [See the price list](https://www.propexecutor.com/pricing), [book a consultant](https://www.propexecutor.com/consultation), or read [can you start a prop firm for under $200](https://www.propexecutor.com/blog/start-a-prop-firm-under-200-dollars).