A handful of prop firms now let you start an evaluation for a few dollars and only pay the full fee once you pass. We compared Atlas's two Access plans against Maven Trading, Alpha Trader Firm and Blue Guardian on entry cost, drawdown, consistency rules and how fast you get paid.
“Pay later” (also called Buy Now, Pay Later or BNPL) evaluations flip the normal prop-firm model: instead of paying the full challenge fee up front, you pay a small amount to start and only pay the real fee once you’ve passed and are about to go live. Atlas runs two such plans at once, with different rules. Both are shown below, alongside three competitors that offer a genuine equivalent.
$100K account at each firm. Competitor terms come from each firm’s own website or blog — never from a review aggregator. Atlas figures are real averages paid over the last 90 days, not list prices.
Atlas — $1 AccessAtlas Pay Later · $100K | Atlas — 1-Step AccessAtlas Pay Later · $100K | Maven Trading Buy Now, Pay Later · $100K | Alpha Trader Firm Pay Later Program · $100K | Blue Guardian Instant BNPL · $100K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Entry cost, $100K What a trader actually pays up front to start. | $1.28 avg low $1.00 · 378 orders, last 90 days | $7.43 avg low $4.20 · 722 orders, last 90 days | $5 flat, every account size | $10 flat, every account size | $5 or $10 firm states both figures on the same page — see Sources |
Deferred fee, $100K The “real” fee — only charged once you pass. | $513.25 avg small sample, 31 orders in 90 days | $616.22 avg low $492.00 · 52 orders, last 90 days | $589 | $999 | $623 $467 with promo code BG25 |
Profit target Evaluation phase, before you're funded. | 4% | 3% | 4% | 4% | None Instant tier — funded immediately, no evaluation phase |
Max drawdown Evaluation → once funded. | 7% → 6% trailing balance | 10% → 6% trailing equity in eval, trailing balance funded | 10% → 8% static | None → 8% only a daily limit applies in evaluation | 6% $6,000 on $100K, trailing — no evaluation phase |
Daily loss limit Evaluation → once funded. | 5% → 3% | 5% → 3% | None → 4% | 10% → 5% | 3% $3,000 on $100K |
Consistency rule Caps how much profit can come from one day. | 30% evaluation and funded | None → 40% none in evaluation, applies once funded | None → 20% none in evaluation, applies once funded | ◷ verifying not stated on the Pay Later program page | ◷ verifying not listed among the Instant tier's funded rules |
Profit split | 90% flat | 90% flat | 80% | 80% | Up to 90% requires the 90% Profit Split add-on |
News trading | Restricted in eval allowed once funded | Restricted in eval allowed once funded | ◷ verifying not confirmed for the BNPL rule set specifically | Allowed evaluation and funded | Not allowed on funded Instant accounts |
Weekend holding | Allowed | Allowed | ◷ verifying not confirmed for the BNPL rule set specifically | Allowed | Allowed |
First payout | 14 days min. 4 trading days, then every 14 | 28 days min. 3 trading days, then every 14 | Instant once funded | Bi-weekly | Instant once funded |
A few cells are marked ◷ verifying. Those rules aren’t stated on the page each figure above was sourced from — a visible gap is better than a guess. Check the firm’s own site, linked in Sources.
Atlas runs $1 Access and 1-Step Access at the same time, and they carry different rules — not just different prices. $1 Access costs less to enter but applies a 30% consistency rule from the first day of the evaluation, has a narrower 7% trailing-balance drawdown, and pays out in 14 days. 1-Step Access costs more to enter but has no consistency rule until you’re funded, a wider 10% trailing-equity drawdown, and pays out in 28 days. Neither is strictly “the” Atlas Access plan, so both are shown rather than picking one.
No firm wins on every axis here either. If one of these matters more to you than entry cost or profit split, the other firm is the better buy.
Maven's Buy Now, Pay Later account has no consistency requirement during the evaluation phase and no daily loss limit either — only Atlas's $1 Access plan gets close on price. Once funded, payouts are instant rather than on a 14- or 28-day cycle. The trade-off is an 80% profit split against Atlas's flat 90%, and a 20% consistency cap once funded.
Atlas restricts news trading during evaluation on both Access plans; Alpha Trader Firm allows it throughout — evaluation and funded — alongside weekend holding and no time limit to pass. The trade-off is the highest deferred fee in this comparison: $999 at $100K against Atlas's $616.22 average, and only an 80% split.
Blue Guardian's Instant BNPL tier funds a $100K account with no profit target and no evaluation — you're trading real size as soon as the setup fee clears. The trade-offs: it costs more at $100K than Atlas or Maven, the firm's own page states two different upfront prices ($5 and $10), and news trading isn't allowed once funded.
$1 Access averaged $1.28 to start a $100K evaluation over the last 90 days — the lowest entry cost of any pay-later plan we could source. A flat 90% split, a $100 payout floor, and a funded fee you only pay if you pass.
Trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. Evaluation fees are generally non-refundable. Past figures describe traders who have already qualified or purchased and are not a prediction of your result — most traders do not pass an evaluation.