25 Questions to Ask a Prop Firm Software Vendor Before You Buy

Ask questions that force precise scope. “Do you support MT5?” is weaker than “who supplies the MT5 relationship, what does it cost, and can you provision an account for us during the demo?”

Pricing and scope

1. What is our exact first-year cost at expected volume?
2. Which mandatory third-party costs are outside that number?
3. What exactly counts as an active/billable account or trader?
4. What changes when we cross the current tier?
5. Can you change pricing during the contract term?

Trading and risk

6. Which required trading platforms are production-ready today?
7. Who contracts for platform/bridge/market data?
8. Show our daily/max drawdown rules running live.
9. How is each account bound to its rule version?
10. What happens when trading data is delayed or duplicated?

Customer lifecycle

11. Show purchase → provisioning → phase pass → funded → payout.
12. Which steps still require manual staff action?
13. How are retries, resets, refunds and failed provisioning handled?
14. How does KYC status affect funded/payout workflow?

Architecture and integrations

15. Which API reads/writes and webhooks are available on our tier?
16. Is there a sandbox and documented rate limits?
17. How do failed webhook/integration events retry?
18. Can we add another brand or platform later, and at what cost?

Reliability and support

19. What services does your uptime/SLA actually cover?
20. What is the P1 acknowledgement and engineering escalation path?
21. Who coordinates incidents caused by third-party platforms?

Data, migration and exit

22. Give us a sample full data export now.
23. What data/state cannot be migrated from our current system?
24. How long do we retain access after termination?
25. Who owns custom development and what migration assistance is included?

Ask for evidence with every important answer

The strongest response is not “yes.” It is a demonstration, documentation, dated proposal or contract clause. Record whether the answer is current product, custom work or roadmap.

Why these questions matter in the current market

Our research has found multiple cases where vendors use different commercial models, capacity definitions and migration propositions. We have also found public discrepancies within provider material. Structured questions reduce the risk of filling gaps with assumptions.

Use this guide with our 30 live tests, RFP framework and due diligence process.

FAQ

What should I ask first?

Start with your knockout requirements and exact commercial scope. There is little value in a long feature demo if a mandatory platform or budget condition cannot be met.

Should I ask for customer references?

For a material purchase, relevant references can be useful, especially for migration, support and scale claims. Treat them as provider-selected evidence and ask operational questions.