Last updated: 2 October 2026 Which prop firms are people actually paying attention to? We put two public, third-party signals side by side for 10 firms: Google search interest over 5 years and the Tranco research ranking of each firm’s website. None of them is sales, revenue or trader counts. No firm publishes those in a comparable way. Every number links to where it came from.
The short version
Interest in prop firms roughly doubled in a year. Worldwide Google search interest in “prop firm” averaged 76.6 in the 52 weeks to 26 September 2026, against 35.3 the year before: up 117%. Its all-time weekly peak (100) was the week of 29 March 2026.
All 10 firm names were searched more in the last 52 weeks than in the 52 weeks before, but the growth went to the smaller names. Tradeify (+313%), Goat Funded Trader (+241%) and FundingPips (+191%) grew fastest. FTMO grew slowest (+26%) and is still the most-searched name.
Topstep has nearly caught FTMO in search, at least on average. In the same Trends request, Topstep averaged 63.5 over the last 52 weeks to FTMO’s 67.1. In the first year of the window (from late September 2021) it was 1.6 to 20.2. The gap has reopened lately: 44.8 vs 63.2 over the last 4 weeks.
On web rank, FTMO leads and MyFundedFutures moved most. ftmo.com ranks 25,633 on Tranco, the best of the 10. myfundedfutures.com climbed from 104,805 (24 August) to 61,047 (1 October) on Tranco. takeprofittrader.com went from 65,561 to 56,375.
The signals don’t always agree, so don’t read any single one as market share. Apex Trader Funding and Tradeify are fourth and fifth of 10 in search interest but seventh and tenth on Tranco. FundingPips is sixth in search and third on Tranco. Search interest counts curiosity, including complaints. Domain rank counts traffic to the website, not accounts sold.
The index
Search interest is Google Trends’ relative 0–100 scale, worldwide. The peak week for FTMO in its request = 100. Firms that weren’t in FTMO’s request are put on its scale through FTMO, which was in every request. Lower Tranco ranks are better.
| # | Firm search term | Search interest, 52 wks to 26 Sep 2026 | Prior 52 wks | Change | Peak week | Tranco rank, 1 Oct 2026 | Tranco, 24 Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FTMO “ftmo” | 67.1 | 53.1 | +26% | Feb 2026 | 25,633 Tranco | 25,532 |
| 2 | Topstep “topstep” | 63.5 | 37.2 | +71% | Nov 2025 | 47,781 Tranco | 48,510 |
| 3 | FundedNext “fundednext” | 45.5 | 33.7 | +35% | Aug 2026 | 37,902 Tranco | 38,782 |
| 4 | Apex Trader Funding “apex trader funding” | 19.4 | 9.0 | +115% | Mar 2026 | 60,268 Tranco | 59,718 |
| 5 | Tradeify “tradeify” | 17.0 | 4.1 | +313% | Aug 2026 | 78,785 Tranco | 84,583 |
| 6 | FundingPips “fundingpips” | 14.7 | 5.0 | +191% | Aug 2026 | 46,163 Tranco | 48,976 |
| 7 | Goat Funded Trader “goat funded trader” | 13.3 | 3.9 | +241% | Mar 2026 | 67,682 Tranco | 62,916 |
| 8 | The5ers “the5ers” | 12.6 | 6.1 | +107% | Aug 2026 | 51,215 Tranco | 51,740 |
| 9 | Take Profit Trader “take profit trader” | 10.7 | 6.0 | +79% | Nov 2025 | 56,375 Tranco | 65,561 |
| 10 | MyFundedFutures “my funded futures” | 6.5 | 4.3 | +52% | Nov 2025 | 61,047 Tranco | 104,805 |
Search requests: request A; request B; request C. Google Trends samples its data, so a re-run can differ by a point or two. Small values are rounded to whole numbers week by week, so treat anything under about 10 as rough.
Is the whole category growing?
Yes, by this measure. In request C (with FTMO and Goat Funded Trader), worldwide interest in the generic term “prop firm” went from an average of 2.4 in the first 52 weeks of the window (from 26 September 2021) to 35.3 in the year to September 2025 and 76.6 in the year to September 2026. The last 4 weeks averaged 76.2, so it hasn’t fallen back from the spring peak. That’s interest, not proof the business is healthy. People also search a term when firms shut down or stop paying. See our regulator warning map and lawsuits tracker.
New: where in the US these firms are searched, state by state, is in Prop Firm Search Interest by State (Google Trends, 13 terms, past 12 months).
Methodology
Google search interest. On 2 October 2026 we pulled 5 years of weekly worldwide Google Trends data (web search) through DataForSEO’s Google Trends endpoint, in three requests of up to 5 terms each, with “ftmo” in all three as the anchor. We dropped the incomplete week starting 27 September 2026. We used the plain brand name as the search term. That favours distinctive names (“the5ers”, “fundingpips”) over generic ones: “take profit trader” also catches people who aren’t looking for the firm, and people who type just “apex” are missed. The change column compares each term’s own average within one request, so the rescaling doesn’t affect it.
Tranco. We used Tranco’s public rank API for each domain (39 daily ranks, 24 August to 1 October 2026). Tranco says it averages “ranks over the lists of all four providers over the past 30 days”, so it moves slowly by design. It’s an academic list (Le Pochat et al., NDSS 2019).
What this isn’t. It isn’t market share, sales, revenue or a count of funded traders. A firm can rank high because it’s in the news for the wrong reasons. We didn’t combine the signals into one score, because any weighting would be our own invention. Related: Pass-Rate Registry, Discount Tracker (heavy discounting can drive search), True Cost Index, Payout Friction Index and our methodology.
How to cite this
Prop Data Lab, “Prop Firm Popularity Index”, updated 2 October 2026, https://propdatalab.com/prop-firm-popularity-index/
The table and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: copy, chart or republish them, commercial use included, as long as you link back to this page. Google Trends values are relative, not search counts.
Common questions
What is the most popular prop firm?
By the public signals we track, FTMO. As of 2 October 2026 it had the highest worldwide Google search interest of the 10 firms over the last 52 weeks (67.1 on the Trends scale) and the best Tranco rank (25,633 on 1 October 2026). Topstep was close behind in search (63.5). This is attention, not market share.
Is interest in prop firms growing?
Yes. Worldwide Google search interest in 'prop firm' was 117% higher in the 52 weeks to 26 September 2026 than in the year before, and all 10 firm names we track were searched more in the last 52 weeks than in the 52 weeks before.
Which prop firm is growing fastest?
In search interest, Tradeify: +313% in the 52 weeks to 26 September 2026 against the previous 52 weeks, followed by Goat Funded Trader (+241%) and FundingPips (+191%). On Tranco web rank, myfundedfutures.com improved most between 24 August and 1 October 2026 (104,805 to 61,047).
Does search interest tell you how many traders a firm has?
No. Google Trends is a relative index of search interest, not a count of searches or customers, and people also search a firm when they have a problem with it. Prop firms don't publish comparable customer numbers.