amBrain

MetaTrader 5 alternative for prop firms: rent another platform or own one

Published Sep 23, 2026Facts checked: Sep 22, 2026

Short answer

Stay on MetaTrader 5 if you hold a direct licence from MetaQuotes, do not serve US clients, and your traders depend on MQL5 Expert Advisors. Consider leaving if you reach MT5 through a broker's white label, if one licence decision can stop your challenge sales suddenly, as it did in February 2024, or if a fee rise like the 20–25% reported for January 2025 matters at your account count. Match-Trader, DXtrade, cTrader and TradeLocker move the dependency to another vendor. Your own evaluation platform removes it and makes you the operator.

On this page

Why prop firms are asking this question

Finance Magnates reported that in February 2024 many prop firms "suddenly lost access to the MetaQuotes platform" due to "issues related to serving clients from the USA without necessary regulatory approvals"[1]. It also reported that MetaQuotes disliked, among other things, "grey labeling": using the platform without a direct licence, on a broker partner's licence instead[2].

The way back ran through licences, not software. Funding Pips told Finance Magnates its 2025 return to MT5 was possible thanks to "their own direct license", and anonymous industry representatives suggested MetaQuotes has no problem with prop firms as long as they buy licences directly and do not provide services in the US[1]. Blue Guardian and Maven brought MT5 back through their own licences and CFD brokerages registered in Saint Lucia; FundingPips registered its broker in the Comoros[2].

MetaQuotes does not publish its licence fees, so every MetaTrader price on this page comes from industry sources quoted by Finance Magnates, not from MetaQuotes. In December 2024 those sources put support for one MetaTrader licence (desktop, web and mobile) at an average of $10,000 a month, plus $3,000–5,000 for white-label platforms[3]. In February 2025 Finance Magnates reported, based on information from a few firms that wished to remain anonymous, that fees rose 20–25% from 1 January 2025, and noted that the final cost depends on the individual offer negotiated with MetaQuotes[4].

MT5 is software you run yourself. MetaQuotes states that "you independently deploy our software on your own hardware" and sells licences sized at 1,000 (Entry), 25,000 (Standard) and 200,000 (Enterprise) real accounts[5].

MetaTrader 5, rented alternatives and your own platform compared

MetaTrader 5 (direct licence)Match-TraderDXtradeOwn evaluation platform
Code and data ownershipMetaQuotes code on your servers; MetaQuotes states it has "no access to your servers, accounts, or your clients' trading history"[5]Vendor code; on the Server licence brokers keep "full control and exclusive access to their client database"[6]; on the two white-label tiers "Access to All Databases" is not included and API access is marked "Limited"[7]Vendor code; brokers licensing DXtrade CFD get "their own hosted platform"[8]; data-export terms not publishedYour code and your database, under your contract with whoever builds it
Cost modelNot published by MetaQuotes; an average of $10,000 a month per licence plus $3,000–5,000 for white label, per industry sources quoted by Finance Magnates[3]; 20–25% more from January 2025, per a few firms speaking anonymously[4]$2,500 a month White Label Basic, $4,000 White Label Turnkey, $5,000 Server[7]; extra accounts above the default package charged in tiers[9]Not published; the prop page says "a low cost of entry"[10]Build cost, then hosting, market data, liquidity connections and the people who run it; no licence or per-account fee
Time to launchAccess is requested from MetaQuotes[5]; in 2025 prop firms returned through their own licences and CFD brokerages[2]"Start your brokerage or prop firm in just 1 week"[7]"Launch in a week"[10]Scoped per project; longer than any rented option
Lock-in: term, notice, migrationAccess depends on MetaQuotes' licence policy[2]; traders' Expert Advisors are MQL4/5 programs[11]"We do not require a yearly commitment"[12]Contract term and notice not publishedNo vendor contract; the dependency moves to your own code and the team that knows it
CustomisationReport, Server, Gateway, Manager and Web APIs[13]CSS, logo and multi-brand CRM; own front end on the Server tier[7]Branded web and mobile apps; custom builds through "DXtrade Enterprise"[8]Any challenge rule, payout logic or risk check you can specify and test
Compliance and data residencyYou host it on your own hardware, so the location is yours[5]Hosting on AWS or Azure included[12]; "Server On-Premise" on the Server tier only[7]"Their own hosted platform"[8]; host and region not publishedWherever you choose; you also produce the audit evidence
Latency and scaleLicence sizes of 1,000, 25,000 and 200,000 real accounts[5]Vendor says it confirmed server capacity "by having 100k accounts on our own server"[6]Not published for the prop productSized to your account count and proven by your own load test
Exit costTrader re-onboarding, loss of MQL tools, archived history; bridge fees tied to MetaTrader connections ($1,200 a month per MT4 or MT5 taker at PrimeXM)[14]No yearly commitment[12]; full database access only on the Server tier[7][12]Export terms not publishedNo contract to exit; the cost is the knowledge your team holds

Two more rented options sit in the same market. TradeLocker's broker pricing page publishes a Starter plan at $5,000 a month for 1,000 live and 2,000 demo accounts, charges only for accounts with at least one open position in the billing month, and applies a minimum monthly fee, amount not stated, below 500 accounts[15]. Spotware's cTrader page for brokers and prop firms shows no prices and offers "Contact Sales"[16].

Stay on MetaTrader 5 if…

  1. 1.You hold a direct licence and do not serve US clients. That is the arrangement anonymous industry representatives quoted by Finance Magnates describe MetaQuotes as accepting after the 2024 cut-off[1].
  2. 2.Your traders' edge lives in Expert Advisors. EAs are written in MQL4/5 and can run 24/5 on a VPS[11]. Even TradeLocker's own comparison says that when an edge "is tightly bound to a complex EA portfolio or custom MQL tools, MetaTrader is still the natural base"[11].
  3. 3.You have no engineering team and do not plan one. Your own platform needs people who run the trading server, the rule engine and the price feed on every trading day. If nobody will, a licence fee is the smaller risk.

Consider leaving MetaTrader 5 if…

  1. 1.You reach MT5 through someone else's licence. Symptom: your challenge sales depend on a partner's contract you have never read. Grey labelling was among the things MetaQuotes disliked when prop firms lost access in February 2024, Finance Magnates reported[2].
  2. 2.The platform bill grows faster than your funded accounts. Symptom: a bill 20–25% higher, as reported for January 2025[4], while revenue per account stays flat, and a second bill for the prop layer on top. Brokeree's Prop Pulse, for example, "works on cTrader and MetaTrader 4 and 5"[17], so it adds to the platform licence rather than replacing it.
  3. 3.Your evaluation rules outgrow the platform. Symptom: every new challenge type needs a plug-in, and the drawdown a trader sees disagrees with the one your risk team computes. On MT5, adding functions to the trade server means code written against MetaQuotes' Server API[13].

Migration path in four steps

  1. 1.Inventory what MT5 does for you. List account groups, symbols, challenge rules, the EAs traders run, bridge connections, the Manager API integrations with your CRM and every report you send. Export the trade history of every funded account: payout disputes after the switch will need it.
  2. 2.Run the new platform next to MT5. Sell new challenges on the new platform while existing accounts finish their cycle on MT5. Funding Pips, which "suddenly lost access" in February 2024, did not get that overlap: it "quickly transitioned" to Match-Trader, while also adding cTrader and TradeLocker[1].
  3. 3.Reconcile the rules before money moves. Recompute drawdown, daily loss and profit targets for the same trades on both systems until the numbers agree. How limit checks sit inside the order path is covered in pre-trade risk checks inside the order path.
  4. 4.Cut over and archive. Stop MT5 sales, let the last accounts expire, keep a read-only archive of MT5 history, and close the bridge connections priced per MT4 or MT5 taker[14].

Cost drivers of building your own

These are the lines your own evaluation platform puts on the budget. Public vendor prices are shown where they exist; the build itself is priced per project.

Cost driverWhat drives itPublic reference point
Execution modelChallenges need simulated fills that traders accept as fairMatch-Trader advertises "VWAP-based simulation that mirrors real market conditions for prop challenges"[7]
Price feed and liquidity bridgeOne connection per price source and per trading venuePrimeXM: $2,000 a month per XCore instance, $600 per FIX maker, $1,200 per MT4 or MT5 taker; each XCore is billed at the highest of its instance, connectivity, volume and transaction fees[14]
Rule engineDrawdown modes, daily loss, position limits, auto-liquidationDXtrade lists max drawdown (EOD trailing, real-time trailing or static), max daily loss, position limits and auto-liquidation for its stocks, futures and options prop accounts[10]; the same list is your specification
KYCPriced per check whether you build or rentSumsub: $1.35 per verification with a $149 monthly minimum, or $1.85 with AML checks and a $299 minimum[18]
Prop CRM and payoutsBuild it, or keep a vendor moduleYourPropFirm Enterprise: tier-based pricing that scales with usage, no revenue share; Prop Suite: $2,749 one-time setup, no monthly platform fee, 50% revenue share[19]
Front endsWeb, iOS and Android apps, each with its own release cycleNo public reference; scoped with the rest of the build
OperationsSomeone on call for every trading session, plus backups and incident reviewsNo public reference; scoped with the rest of the build

Frequently asked questions

Finance Magnates reported that firms lost access "due to issues related to serving clients from the USA without necessary regulatory approvals"[1], and that MetaQuotes disliked, among other things, "grey labeling", the use of platforms without a direct licence[2].

The route reported in 2025 was a direct licence: Funding Pips returned with "their own direct license"[1], and other firms through their own licences and CFD brokerages in Saint Lucia or the Comoros[2]. MetaQuotes lists Entry, Standard and Enterprise licences on its broker page and asks brokers to request access[5].

MetaQuotes does not publish it; the available figures come from industry sources quoted by Finance Magnates, not from MetaQuotes. They gave an average of $10,000 a month per licence, plus $3,000–5,000 for white label (December 2024)[3], and a 20–25% increase from January 2025, based on a few firms speaking anonymously, with the final cost depending on the individual offer negotiated with MetaQuotes[4].

Expert Advisors are coded in MQL4/5[11]. TradeLocker's automation runs through TradeLocker Studio, "without needing to code in MQL", and its bots marketplace, and TradeLocker itself says MetaTrader "is still the natural base" for an edge tied to a complex EA portfolio[11]. The Match-Trader and DXtrade pages cited here do not mention MQL[7][10]. Plan for traders to rebuild or drop their robots.

Someone has to own the trading server, the rule engine and the price feed after launch, so decide that before choosing a vendor or a builder; where to start with your own trading platform covers the decisions that come first.

About amBrain

  • amBrain is a Yerevan, Armenia software engineering company building low latency trading platforms, matching engines, and real-time bidding systems in Rust.
  • Three formats: full delivery, a dedicated team, or engineers embedded in your team.
  • The client keeps full ownership of the product and the code, except our reusable components.

Product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners and are used only to identify their products. No vendor named here reviewed or endorsed this page.

Sources

  1. [1]Finance Magnates, Funding Pips Becomes Latest Prop Firm to Bring MetaTrader 5 Back After Year-Long Hiatus, Mar 17, 2025. Press · checked Sep 22, 2026
  2. [2]Finance Magnates, Two More Prop Firms Open CFD Brokerage in Saint Lucia to Offer MetaTrader 5, May 7, 2025. Press · checked Sep 22, 2026
  3. [3]Finance Magnates, Exclusive: MetaQuotes to Increase MetaTrader Licensing Fees Next Month by 'At Least 20%', Dec 6, 2024. Press · checked Sep 22, 2026
  4. [4]Finance Magnates, Exclusive: MetaTrader Fee Bill Arrives with a 25% Increase, Feb 5, 2025. Press · checked Sep 22, 2026
  5. [5]MetaQuotes, Request MetaTrader 5 access for brokers. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  6. [6]Match-Trade Technologies, Match-Trader Server Licence. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  7. [7]Match-Trade Technologies, Prop Trading Platform pricing and features. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  8. [8]Devexperts, DXtrade CFD overview. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  9. [9]Match-Trade Technologies, Prop Trading product page, "Account-based offer with tiers". Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  10. [10]Devexperts, DXtrade Prop Trading Technology. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  11. [11]TradeLocker, TradeLocker vs MetaTrader. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  12. [12]Match-Trade Technologies, Match-Trader: White Label as low as $2500 and Server from $5000, Nov 8, 2024. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  13. [13]MetaQuotes, MetaTrader 5 for brokers, "Purpose of MetaTrader 5 API". Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  14. [14]PrimeXM, XCore pricing. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  15. [15]TradeLocker, Pricing for Brokers. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  16. [16]Spotware, cTrader for brokers and prop firms. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  17. [17]Brokeree Solutions, Prop Pulse. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  18. [18]Sumsub, Pricing. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026
  19. [19]YourPropFirm, Pricing FAQ on the homepage. Vendor's own page · checked Sep 22, 2026

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