Key points
- The headline price is the evaluation fee. It is rarely the whole cost.
- A monthly fee and a one-time fee are not one price scale, and Rex never orders them together.
- An activation fee is charged after you pass, which is exactly when you are least likely to walk away.
- A reset fee is the price of a second attempt, and it is usually cheaper than buying again.
The four charges
| Charge | When it is paid | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluation fee | At purchase | The attempt — one evaluation account under published conditions |
| Subscription | Monthly, while evaluating | Continued access to the attempt; stopping payment usually ends it |
| Activation fee | After passing, before funding | Turning a passed evaluation into a funded account |
| Reset fee | After a breach | Restarting the evaluation without buying a new plan |
Rex records these as four separate facts on every challenge option, with the page each was read from. None is folded into another, because a plan with a low fee and a large activation charge is a different proposition from one with a higher fee and free activation, and a blended figure would hide exactly that.
One-time against monthly
This is the split that makes price comparison across the two market branches impossible to do with a single number.
A one-time fee is a fixed, known cost. Whether the evaluation takes a week or four months, the price is what you paid. Several Forex firms refund it with a first payout, making the effective cost zero for a trader who gets funded and paid.
A monthly fee is a running cost with no ceiling. It also creates a clock: an evaluation with no published time limit still ends when you stop paying. The cheapest monthly plan is only the cheapest route if you pass quickly.
The activation fee, and why it is placed where it is
An activation fee is charged at the moment a passed evaluation becomes a funded account. Futures firms use it commonly; Forex firms rarely do.
Its position in the journey is worth noticing. You pay it after you have already spent the fee, invested the time and satisfied the conditions — the point at which walking away costs the most. That is not a criticism of the charge, which is a real cost the firm incurs at funding; it is a reason to know the number before you start rather than after you pass.
Firms publish it in three shapes: a fixed amount, free, or waived under a condition. Rex records a free activation as a real published value of zero, and marks it not applicable where the plan has no such stage at all.
Resets: the price of a second attempt
A reset restarts a failed evaluation on the same plan. It is nearly always cheaper than buying the plan again, and it is the single most useful number to know before your first breach rather than after it.
On monthly plans, resets are sometimes included with a rebill, so a failed attempt costs nothing beyond the subscription you were already paying. Where that is published, it materially changes the economics of a plan that looks expensive per month.
A reset fee also tells you something about expected difficulty. A plan with a reset fee close to the original price is priced as a product you buy once; a plan with a small reset fee is priced as a product you are expected to retry.
Discounts and list prices
Most firms display a promotional price alongside a higher list price, frequently with a code. Rex records the list price as the price and preserves the promotional figure in the value's original wording, where you can still read it.
The reason is that a discount without a published end date is marketing rather than a verifiable term. Rex only creates a Deal when a firm publishes the affected plan, the benefit and both validity dates. See Deals for what currently qualifies and why.
Working out what a plan really costs
- Take the list price, not the promotional oneThe promotional figure may not be there when you buy, and it usually has no published end date.
- Multiply monthly fees by a realistic number of monthsTwo to four is a reasonable range for an evaluation that does not go perfectly.
- Add the activation feeUnless the firm publishes it as free.
- Add one resetMost attempts are not first-time passes. Budgeting for one is realistic, not pessimistic.
- Check the refund conditionA refundable one-time fee can make a more expensive plan the cheapest route to a funded account.
Every challenge page in Rex lists the fee, its type, refund terms where published, the activation fee and the reset fee as separate rows. Filter the explorer to one-time fee options or browse low-cost Forex and CFD challenges.
Common questions
Is a monthly fee worse than a one-time fee?
Not in itself. It is lower to start and higher if the evaluation runs long. Which is cheaper depends on how long you take, which is why Rex refuses to rank them against each other.
Do I pay the activation fee every month?
Usually it is one charge at funding, but a few plans repeat it per funded account. It is published per plan.
Is the evaluation fee refundable?
Sometimes, with a first payout, and mostly on the Forex side. Rex shows refund terms where a firm publishes them beside the price and says "refund terms not published" where it does not.
Why does Rex show a higher price than the one on the firm's site?
Because it records the list price and keeps the promotional figure in the value's original wording. A discount with no published end date is not treated as the price.
Compare the options this guide mentions
Opens 3 challenge options side by side, with every field that cannot honestly be compared marked rather than averaged.