Across pricing, rules and payout terms, the two firms are hard to separate. The decision comes down to which constraint matters most to you: entry cost, drawdown model, or payout terms.
Earn2Trade does not fund traders itself: it is a US evaluation and education platform founded in 2016, with capital supplied by partner firms Helios, Appius and Kronos. Its TCP and Gauntlet Mini programs bill monthly, $150 to $550, cover CME futures only, cap the split at 80% and run a trailing EOD drawdown.
Criteria won: 6 / 33
Founded in Chicago in 2012, Topstep is the oldest futures prop firm. It charges a monthly subscription rather than a one-off ticket, with a 6 % target and a trailing drawdown that locks once the starting balance is cleared. Its 90 % profit split and first withdrawal after five winning days are among the best in the segment.
Criteria won: 6 / 33
Cheapest evaluation for a 100 K account.
Earn2Trade
$315
Topstep
$99
| Full comparison | Earn2Trade | |
|---|---|---|
| Trust | ||
| Score | 79/100 ✓ | 77/100 |
| Trustpilot | 4.6/5 ✓ | 3.6/5 |
| Founded | 2016 | 2012 ✓ |
| Headquarters | US | US |
| Pricing | ||
| Entry price | $150 | $49 ✓ |
| Price for a 100 K account | $315 | $99 ✓ |
| Refundable fee | — | No |
| Reset price | — | — |
| Account sizes | 200 K ✓ | 150 K |
| Rules | ||
| Steps | 1 | 1 |
| Profit target | — | 6 % |
| Max daily loss | 2.2 % | — |
| Max total drawdown | — | 4 % |
| Drawdown type | Trailing (end of day) | Trailing (end of day) |
| Time limit | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Consistency rule | 30 | 50 ✓ |
| Min trading days | 0 ✓ | 2 |
| Payouts | ||
| Profit split | 80 % | 90 % ✓ |
| Max profit split | 80 % | 90 % ✓ |
| First payout | — | 5 days |
| Payout frequency | Weekly | On request: Express Funded Standard after 5 winning days at $150+; Express Funded Consistency after 3 trading days with a 40% consistency target |
| Payout methods | — | wise and bank |
| Scaling plan | Yes | Yes |
| Max allocation | 200 K ✓ | 150 K |
| Trading | ||
| Platforms and instruments | ninjatrader, tradovate, tradingview, rithmic ✓ | ninjatrader, tradovate, rithmic |
| Instruments | futures | futures |
| Leverage | — | — |
| News trading | Yes | — |
| Weekend holding | — | No |
| Expert Advisors | — | — |
| Copy trading | — | — |
| Scalping | — | — |
| Hedging | — | — |
Choose Earn2Trade if… Earn2Trade applies a trailing (end of day) drawdown, with a 2.2 % daily limit. Topstep applies a trailing (end of day) drawdown capped at 4 %. Both use the same model, so the difference plays out on the percentages rather than on the mechanism.
Earn2Trade keeps 80 % of profits, then pays Weekly. Topstep keeps 90 % of profits, allows a first withdrawal after 5 days, then pays On request: Express Funded Standard after 5 winning days at $150+; Express Funded Consistency after 3 trading days with a 40% consistency target. Payout frequency deserves as much attention as the split itself: a slightly lower share paid every two weeks compounds faster than a headline percentage locked behind a monthly cycle and a long first-withdrawal delay.
Earn2Trade is the only one of the two to offer tradingview. Platform choice is not cosmetic: order execution, available order types and the reliability of your automation all depend on it, and switching mid-evaluation is rarely possible.
Topstep has been running since 2012, 4 years longer than Earn2Trade. On Trustpilot they sit at 4.6/5 and 3.6/5 respectively. Our trust pillar scores them 94/100 and 80/100, which weighs age, corporate transparency and public payout evidence. In an industry with no financial regulator overseeing these evaluations, longevity and a verifiable payout history are the closest thing to a guarantee.
Topstep opens at $49 against $150 for Earn2Trade, a substantial gap on the smallest account. At the reference size of 100 K the comparison is $315 for Earn2Trade against $99 for Topstep. The headline fee is rarely the real cost, though: what matters is the price of a reset after a failed attempt, whether the fee comes back on the first payout, and whether an activation fee appears when you move to a funded account. Compare those three lines in the table above before deciding on price alone.
No discount code is published without being checked on the firm’s own website. An unverified deal does not appear here.
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