Topstep is the longest-running futures prop firm (since 2012) with $102M+ paid to traders, a structured Trading Combine, and EOD trailing drawdown on all accounts. Tradeify launched in 2022 and has grown rapidly to 60,000+ traders with three distinct account families (Select, Growth, Lightning), EOD drawdown, zero activation fees, and an instant-funding option. Topstep is the safer, more established pick. Tradeify is the more flexible, lower-barrier option with innovative features like the Elite Live Performance Reward Pool.
Topstep and Tradeify represent two different generations of futures prop firms. Topstep, founded in 2012 and headquartered in the Chicago Board of Trade building, is the longest-running name in the space. Tradeify launched in 2022 and has grown aggressively under CEO Brett Simba, reaching 60,000+ traders and over $100 million in payouts. Both support NinjaTrader and Rithmic. Both offer EOD drawdown. The differences are in structure, flexibility, and funded-account mechanics.
| Category | Topstep | Tradeify |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 (Chicago, IL) | 2022 (US-based) |
| Trustpilot | 3.4/5 (recent decline from 4.5) | 4.6/5 (2,500+ reviews) |
| Total paid out | $102M+ | $100M+ |
| Evaluation type | One-step (Trading Combine) | One-step (Select or Growth) |
| Instant funding | ✗ No | ✓ Lightning Funded |
| Account sizes | $50K, $100K, $150K | $25K, $50K, $100K, $150K |
| 50K eval cost (Standard) | $49/mo + $149 activation | ~$97/mo (Growth) or ~$159/mo (Select) + $0 activation |
| 50K eval cost (No Fee path) | $109/mo + $0 activation | All paths $0 activation |
| Profit target (50K) | $3,000 | $3,000 |
| Max drawdown (50K) | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Drawdown type | Trailing (EOD on funded) | EOD trailing (all accounts) |
| Daily loss limit | Yes (4% of account) | Growth: Yes / Select: No |
| Min trading days | No minimum (pass when ready) | 1 day (Growth) / 3 days (Select) |
| Consistency rule (eval) | 40% | 0% (Growth) / 40% (Select) |
| Consistency rule (funded) | 40% | 35% (Growth) / 0% (Select Flex) |
| Profit split | 90/10 | 90/10 (sim) / 80/20 (live) |
| Payout frequency | Structured schedule | Every 5 days (Select Flex) or daily (Select Daily) |
| Activation fee | $149 (Standard) / $0 (No Fee path) | $0 on all plans |
| Max accounts | Multiple (specific cap varies) | 5 simultaneous funded |
| Data feed | TopstepX (proprietary) | Rithmic, Tradovate |
| Platforms | TopstepX, NinjaTrader, Tradovate | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, WealthCharts, Tradesea |
| Copier allowed | ✓ Yes | Partial (no live-feed copying) |
| News trading | Restricted | Allowed |
Topstep offers one evaluation product — the Trading Combine — in two pricing paths. The Standard Path has a lower monthly fee ($49/$99/$149) but requires a $149 activation fee when you pass. The No Activation Fee Path costs more monthly ($109/$159/$209) but has zero cost at activation. There is no time limit to pass, and no minimum trading days. It is a clean, single-product offering.
Tradeify offers three account families. Growth is the budget evaluation — pass in as few as 1 day, no consistency rule during evaluation, but a 35% consistency rule kicks in on the funded account. Select is the premium evaluation with a 3-day minimum, a 40% consistency rule during evaluation, but the funded account has zero consistency rule on the Flex payout path. Lightning skips the evaluation entirely — you pay a one-time fee ($244–$510) and start trading funded immediately with a progressive 20%→25%→30% consistency rule.
Every Tradeify account — Growth, Select, and Lightning — has a $0 activation fee. This is a structural advantage over Topstep's Standard Path, which charges $149 to activate your funded account. Over multiple evaluation attempts and funded activations, Tradeify's zero activation policy saves real money.
Both firms use trailing drawdown, but the details differ. Topstep's drawdown trails your highest equity during the Trading Combine and locks once you hit a threshold. The funded Express account uses EOD trailing drawdown — the floor adjusts at session close, not intraday. This is more forgiving than intraday trailing because unrealized profits during the session do not move the floor.
Tradeify uses EOD trailing drawdown across all account families. The drawdown stops trailing (locks) once the balance exceeds starting capital plus the maximum drawdown amount plus $100. For a $50K account with a $2,000 drawdown, the trail locks at $52,100. Once locked, the floor stays fixed at $50,100 for the lifetime of the account. This locking mechanism gives experienced traders significant breathing room once they are past the initial risk phase.
Topstep adds a daily loss limit of roughly 4% of the account size. This is a hard limit — if your equity drops below the daily threshold, you cannot trade for the rest of the session. Tradeify's Select evaluation has no daily loss limit at all, while Growth has one. The absence of a daily loss limit on Select is a significant advantage for traders who experience normal intraday volatility and do not want an artificial session-ending trigger.
| Payout feature | Topstep | Tradeify (Select Flex) | Tradeify (Select Daily) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit split | 90/10 | 90/10 | 90/10 |
| Payout frequency | Structured schedule | Every 5 trading days | Daily |
| Consistency rule | 40% | None | 35% |
| Daily loss limit | Yes | No | Yes |
| Minimum payout | $1,000 | $1,000 | Varies by payout tier |
| Buffer required | Yes | Balance above drawdown lock | Balance above drawdown lock |
The most attractive funded option in the Tradeify ecosystem is Select Flex. After passing the Select evaluation (3-day minimum, 40% consistency), the funded account has zero consistency rule and no daily loss limit. This is one of the most permissive funded-account rule sets in the industry. You can have one massive winning day and request a payout without worrying about consistency math.
Topstep's 40% funded consistency rule and daily loss limit make it structurally tighter. A trader who generates 60% of their profit on one session has to keep trading until the math works. For intraday scalpers who have occasional breakout sessions, this can delay payouts.
Tradeify offers something no other major futures prop firm does — a structured reward pool for funded traders who demonstrate consistent performance. Up to $18,000 per 150K account, with a 1.5× multiplier for Select accounts bringing the potential to $90,000 across five accounts. This is a defined financial incentive for consistency that goes beyond the standard profit split.
Topstep has no equivalent programme. The closest comparison is their structured educational ecosystem, community support, and the TopstepTV content — which is among the best in the industry for trader development but does not include financial bonuses.
Topstep has been funding traders since 2012. If longevity and proven reliability are your top priority, no other futures prop firm matches this track record.
TopstepTV, coaching sessions, and an active 600K+ member community. For traders still developing their edge, Topstep's educational layer is a genuine differentiator.
One evaluation type, two pricing paths. No complex account families or payout tiers to navigate. If you want simplicity over flexibility, Topstep delivers.
Growth, Select, or Lightning — pick the path that matches your risk tolerance. No other firm offers this range of evaluation and instant-funding options.
Zero activation fee on every plan. Over multiple accounts, this saves $149 per account versus Topstep's Standard Path.
Select Flex has no consistency rule and no daily loss limit on funded accounts. For traders with occasional breakout sessions, this is the most permissive funded structure available.
Both firms support NinjaTrader, making them compatible with local trade copier add-ons. Topstep imposes no specific copier restrictions. Tradeify allows bots and algorithms but explicitly prohibits copy trading from live feeds and latency abuse — which means copying from your own lead account across your own Tradeify accounts is fine, but distributing signals from a separate live account may violate their terms. Verify with Tradeify support before running any external signal feed into their accounts.
Running accounts at both Topstep and Tradeify simultaneously is a common strategy. You diversify firm-specific risk (rules changes, platform outages, payout delays) while maximizing funded capital. A copier handles the execution replication, and an AI journal tracks performance across all accounts to surface patterns you would not catch manually.
This is an area where the two firms differ significantly. Topstep runs primarily on TopstepX, a proprietary platform designed for their Trading Combine and funded accounts. TopstepX includes built-in risk controls, position sizing, and a streamlined interface. NinjaTrader and Tradovate are also supported. The proprietary platform is both an advantage (everything is integrated, risk controls are automated) and a limitation (you cannot use Sierra Chart, Bookmap, or other third-party platforms directly).
Tradeify offers NinjaTrader, Tradovate, WealthCharts, and Tradesea through Rithmic and other data feeds. Platform choice is locked at checkout and affects pricing (Group 1 for NinjaTrader/Tradovate, Group 2 for WealthCharts). This flexibility means you can trade on whichever platform fits your existing workflow. The trade-off is that Tradeify does not have a proprietary platform with built-in risk controls — you are responsible for managing your own risk through your platform's native tools or third-party add-ons.
Topstep restricts trading around major economic releases. Positions must be flat by 3:10 PM CT, and trading during prohibited hours is a rule violation. This restricts swing trading strategies and any approach that relies on holding through CPI, FOMC, or NFP releases.
Tradeify takes the opposite approach: news trading is allowed on all account types. There are no restrictions on trading during economic events, and overnight positions are permitted. For traders who generate a significant portion of their profits during high-volatility news events, Tradeify's lack of restrictions is a meaningful advantage. The caveat is that volatility during news events can cause rapid drawdown — having the freedom to trade news does not mean it is always wise to do so.
Topstep's Trustpilot rating has dropped from 4.5 to 3.4 in recent months, driven by negative reviews around rule changes, platform transitions, and pricing updates. The volume of reviews (massive) means the score can shift meaningfully with even a moderate influx of negative sentiment. Many negative reviews relate to rule violations rather than payment disputes, which suggests the firm is still paying reliably but traders are frustrated with the evolving rules.
Tradeify maintains a 4.6/5 from 2,500+ reviews with predominantly positive sentiment. The firm is younger and has had fewer rule changes, which helps maintain a stable reputation. CEO Brett Simba has been publicly visible and accessible, which builds trust in a space where many prop firm founders are anonymous. However, Tradeify's shorter track record (4 years vs Topstep's 14) means the long-term sustainability question is less settled.
Choose Topstep if you value a 14-year track record, the strongest educational ecosystem in the industry, consistent EOD drawdown, and the lowest possible evaluation entry cost at $49/month. Accept the trade-offs: restricted news trading, no instant funding, and a recently declining Trustpilot sentiment.
Choose Tradeify if you want multiple paths to funding (evaluation or instant), zero activation fees, the most permissive funded-account rules via Select Flex, and the freedom to trade news events. Accept the trade-offs: shorter track record, platform lock-in at checkout, and more complex plan structures requiring careful comparison before purchasing.
For serious prop firm traders, running accounts at both Topstep and Tradeify — with a copier replicating trades and an AI journal tracking performance across all accounts — is the strategy that captures the strengths of both firms while hedging against the limitations of each.