Last updated: 2 October 2026 We asked ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity the same 16 prop firm questions, with web search switched on, and checked every answer against the firm’s own pages. The questions cover prices, activation fees, resets, pass rates, rules and US availability. Every grade below links to the receipt, and the full answers are in the CSV, word for word.
The short version
36 of 48 answers were fully correct (75%). 6 were wrong, 5 partly correct and 1 outdated. Perplexity got 14 of 16 right, ChatGPT 11 and Claude 11. That’s one run of 16 questions on one day, so treat it as a spot check, not a league table.
None of the three got Goat Funded Trader’s 100K price right. They answered $458, and $398 with a 25% discount, all taken from third-party listings. Goat Funded Trader’s own pricing data says $478, with a 45% code (GFT45). Its page source also carries a note that reads “2 STEP price increase 2026-08-03”. Prices change and comparison sites lag. AI answers repeat the comparison sites.
Twice, a third-party simulation stood in for a firm’s published pass rate. Claude said Tradeify “does not appear to publish an official overall pass rate”, but Tradeify’s homepage says 17.2%. Claude also gave MyFundedFutures’ pass rate as 29.2%, taken from a simulation of one plan, when the firm publishes 19.97%. ChatGPT gave Topstep’s 2024 figures from a Reddit thread when the 2025 numbers were on topstep.com. (Every published figure is in our Pass-Rate Registry.)
Answers that cited the firm’s own website were right more often. 29 of 36 answers that linked to the firm’s own domain were correct (80%), against 7 of 12 (58%) that cited only third-party sites. Going by the links they gave, all seven wrong or outdated answers took their key number from a Reddit thread, a review or price-comparison site, or a simulation.
ChatGPT tended to say “I couldn’t confirm” instead of making something up. In 3 of its 5 misses it said it couldn’t verify the figure: Take Profit Trader’s $130 activation fee, Tradeify’s $145 price and Topstep’s $49 reset. That’s less useful, but safer than a confident wrong number. All three assistants correctly said FTMO doesn’t publish a pass rate.
Scorecard
| Assistant (model) | Correct | Partly correct | Outdated | Wrong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT (gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17) | 11 / 16 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Claude (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) | 11 / 16 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Perplexity (sonar) | 14 / 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| All | 36 / 48 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
Every question, the right answer, and how each assistant did
| Question | What the firm’s own pages say (checked 1–2 Oct 2026) | ChatGPT | Claude | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q01. Topstep: How much does a Topstep 50K Trading Combine cost per month right now, and is there an activation fee? | $49/month on the Standard Path plus a $149 activation fee per Express Funded Account; or $95/month on the No Activation Fee Path with $0 activation. Source: “50K $49/month $95/month … Standard Path: Lower monthly cost. $149 Activation Fee charged once per Express Funded Account (XFA) earned.” | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q02. Topstep: What percentage of traders pass the Topstep Trading Combine? Give the figure and the period it covers. | 16.8% of Trading Combines initiated in 2025 were passed (51.8% of individual participants reached the Funded Level at least once). 2024: 12.4%. Source: “From January through December 2025, (a) 16.8% of all Trading Combines initiated were successfully completed and afforded the opportunity to advance to the Funded Level” | ⚠ Outdated Gave Topstep's 2024 figures (12.4% / 46.6%), citing a Reddit thread; the 2025 figures (16.8% / 51.8%) were on topstep.com. | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q03. Take Profit Trader: What percentage of traders pass the Take Profit Trader trading test? Give the figure and the period. | 36.22% of all Trading Tests between 1 Jan and 31 Dec 2025 (previous figure: 16.86% for 2024). Source: “between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025, 36.22% of all Trading Tests were successfully passed” | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q04. Tradeify: Does Tradeify publish a pass rate for its evaluations? What is it? | Yes: 17.2% of evaluation accounts initiated (Aug 2025-Jul 2026, calculated 9 Aug 2026); 40.3% of individual participants reached the Funded Level. Source: “Trader Performance Statistics (August 2025 – July 2026, calculated as of 9 August 2026): Across Tradeify's Growth, Advanced and Select evaluation products, (a) 17.2% of evaluation accounts initiated were successfully completed” | ✓ Correct | ✗ Wrong Said Tradeify does not publish a pass rate and offered a third-party simulation (33.5%) instead; Tradeify's homepage publishes 17.2%. | ✓ Correct |
| Q05. FTMO: What is FTMO's official pass rate for the FTMO Challenge? | FTMO does not publish a pass rate on its site (checked 2 Oct 2026). Any specific figure presented as FTMO's official rate is unsupported. Source: “(no pass rate on ftmo.com/en/ or ftmo.com/en/faq/; homepage shows only '4.5M+ Customers worldwide' and '$650M+ Paid in rewards')” | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q06. MyFundedFutures: Does MyFundedFutures charge a monthly subscription or an activation fee? | No: one-time payment, no activation fee, no renewals (monthly subscriptions were discontinued). Source: “One-time payment. No activation fee. No renewals.” | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q07. Apex Trader Funding: How long do you have to pass an Apex Trader Funding evaluation, and can you reset it? | One-time fee, the evaluation is active for 30 days, and there are no resets. Source: “ONE-TIME FEE. NO REBILL. EVAL ACTIVE FOR 30 DAYS. WILL EXPIRE AFTER 30 DAYS. NO RESETS.” | ✓ Correct | ½ Partly Said 'no time limit' and a seven-trading-day requirement (legacy rules) alongside the 30-day window; got 'buy a new one instead of resetting' right. | ✓ Correct |
| Q08. Take Profit Trader: Is there an activation fee at Take Profit Trader when you pass the test? How much? | Yes, $130 one-time PRO activation fee (waived for accounts bought with promo codes such as NOFEE40). Source: “you'll get a 40% lifetime discount off any account and have your $130 PRO account activation fees waived on that account for life!” | ½ Partly Said the fee is often waived but couldn't give the amount ($130). | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q09. Tradeify: How much is a Tradeify Growth 50K evaluation, and is there an activation fee? | $145 one-time, no activation fee (reset $95). A 30% code (GEMS) was live on 2 Oct 2026. Source: “name: '50K', … price: 145, subscription: 'one time' … ['Reset Fee', '$95'] … ['Activation Fee', 'None']” | ½ Partly Got 'no activation fee' right but didn't give the price ($145). | ✗ Wrong Said $359 (discounted to about $251), which isn't the Growth 50K price; Tradeify's checkout data says $145. | ½ Partly Price $145 right; the '$87' promo price isn't supported (the live 30% code gives $101.50). |
| Q10. FundingPips: Can US residents trade with FundingPips right now? | Yes, US residents are accepted but cannot use cTrader (restricted countries listed: Iran, Vietnam, UAE). Source: “US residents and citizens are NOT able to use cTrader.” | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q11. FTMO: How much does the FTMO Challenge cost for a 100K account (2-step)? | €540 list, shown at €439 as a 'Special Deal' on FTMO's main site (EUR); FTMO's US promo page shows $499 special (from $619). Source: “"price":"540" … "discounted_price":"439" … "Special Deal! $100,000 FTMO Challenge for €439 – only if you don’t already have one active." / US promo page (promo.ftmo.com/…/us/): "Special Offer! $100,000 Challenge for $499 – only if you don’t already have one active."” | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q12. Take Profit Trader: What is the minimum number of trading days to pass the Take Profit Trader test? | 3 days for test accounts bought from 17 Aug 2026 (older accounts and their resets keep 5). Source: “Effective immediately, evaluations are moving from 5 days to 3 days. … The 3-day eval applies to new test accounts purchased from August 17th onward.” | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q13. MyFundedFutures: What is MyFundedFutures' pass rate? | 19.97% of evaluation participants, for an unstated 'applicable measurement period'. The earlier dated figure (20.35%, Jan 2024-Jul 2025) has been removed. Source: “During the applicable measurement period: 19.97% of all evaluation participants completed the required objectives and advanced beyond the evaluation stage” | ✓ Correct | ✗ Wrong Gave 29.2% from a third-party simulation of one plan as MyFundedFutures' pass rate; the firm publishes 19.97%. | ✓ Correct |
| Q14. Topstep: How much does it cost to reset a Topstep 50K Trading Combine? | $49 on the Standard Path, $95 on the No Activation Fee Path. Source: “Reset Pricing … 50K $49 $95” | ½ Partly Said $49 but only from a Reddit post and called it unconfirmed; didn't mention $95. | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q15. FundedNext: Does FundedNext Futures charge an activation fee after you pass? | No: one-time fee, no activation cost. Source: “every product has a one-time fee with no activation cost.” | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct | ✓ Correct |
| Q16. Goat Funded Trader: How much is a Goat Funded Trader 2-Step 100K challenge? | $478 list; $262.90 with the GFT45 code (45% off) on 1-2 Oct 2026. Source: “'2-step|goat|100000': 478, … DEFAULT_DISCOUNT = 45;” | ✗ Wrong Said $458, from a third-party price-history site; Goat's own pricing data says $478. | ✗ Wrong Said $398 list / $298.50 with 25% off, from third-party listings; Goat's own data says $478 list, 45% code. | ✗ Wrong Same stale $398 / $298.50 figures from third-party pages. |
Grades: Correct means every point asked matched the firm’s own page on the day. Partly correct means part was right, but a figure was missing, hedged or wrong. Outdated means a figure that was true earlier and has been replaced. Wrong means the key figure doesn’t match the firm’s page and wasn’t true for that firm and product. Pass rates are firm-reported and unaudited.
Methodology
We wrote 16 questions a trader might ask, each with one checkable answer on the firm’s own website. We built the answer key first, from pages we fetched on 1–2 October 2026, and saved the exact quote for every figure. Then we sent each question once, with no system prompt and no follow-ups, through DataForSEO’s LLM Responses API to gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 (ChatGPT), claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 (Claude) and Perplexity sonar, all with web search on. The answers came back between 05:27 and 05:29 UTC on 2 October 2026 (1:27–1:29 AM ET). We also tried Google Gemini, but the API returned “rate_limit_exceeded” on every attempt, so Gemini isn’t included.
One person graded every answer against the key. Before grading a wrong-looking answer, we checked any firm page it cited. That’s how ChatGPT’s $499 FTMO price turned out to be right: FTMO’s US promo page shows it. Limits: each question was asked once, and AI answers change from run to run and day to day. The API models aren’t always the version you’d get in each company’s app, and 16 questions about 9 firms is a small sample. We plan to re-run the same questions every quarter. For the underlying data see the Pass-Rate Registry, the True Cost Index and the firm profiles: FTMO, Topstep, Apex Trader Funding, FundedNext, The5ers, FundingPips, MyFundedFutures, Tradeify, Goat Funded Trader, Take Profit Trader. Read the full site methodology.
How to cite this
Prop Data Lab, “AI Answers vs. Receipts: prop firm audit”, updated 2 October 2026, https://propdatalab.com/ai-answers-prop-firms-audit/
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. If you quote a single answer, please name the assistant, the model and the date. Answers change.
Common questions
Can I trust ChatGPT for prop firm prices and rules?
Mostly, but check anything you'd pay for. In our 2 October 2026 test, 36 of 48 answers from ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity were fully correct. The misses were concentrated in prices that had recently changed and in pass rates, where third-party simulations sometimes replaced the firm's own published figure.
Which AI assistant was most accurate about prop firms?
In this single run Perplexity (sonar) got 14 of 16 fully correct, ChatGPT (gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17) 11 and Claude (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) 11. One run of 16 questions is a spot check, not a ranking.
Why do AI chatbots get prop firm prices wrong?
In our test, going by the links each assistant gave, every wrong or outdated answer took its key figure from a third-party page: price aggregators, review sites, Reddit or simulations. When a firm changes its prices, those pages lag, and AI answers repeat them. Answers that cited the firm's own site were right far more often.
Does FTMO publish a pass rate?
Not on its website, as of 2 October 2026. All three assistants we tested correctly said so. Specific FTMO pass-rate percentages you see online are third-party estimates.
What did the AI assistants get wrong about Goat Funded Trader?
Asked the price of the 2-Step 100K challenge, all three gave figures from third-party listings ($458, or $398 with a 25% discount). Goat's own pricing data on 2 October 2026 said $478, with a 45%-off code.